Zhu zhus. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. Geesh..they were THE thing for kids to get for Christmas this year. Uncle Adam and I were totally out of the loop of course because we never heard of the freaking things. Well, Calissa got one and they are pretty cute. They are hamsters that scoot all around on their own and you can get accessories that are obviously made in some strange country because they don’t work very well (like a ball and a car that the hamster can drive…duh, all hamsters drive cars). The other thing that we didn’t understand is why zhu zhu kept mooing and cockadoodling and making other strange noises…

Santa didn’t bring Madison a python. Phew. Enter big *sigh* of relief. What he did bring her was an albino corn snake that she named slyther. “Aunt Shana, he’ll only get three or four feet long.”. We’ve asked for periodic growth updates for any future visits that we may make to their home.

For some reason Calissa, aka #6, took to calling Adam just plain Uncle this weekend. Not sure why this is but it was pretty comical. Before we left yesterday she did refer to him as Uncle Adam. Ahhh, his sense of security restored.

My brother-in-law had a little mishap on his bike last week. He is an avid bike rider. He has a trainer that he usually rides inside in inclement weather but one evening last week decided to ride one of the bike trails in Kearney. Somehow he wrecked. I’m sure it had NOTHING to do with ice. He swears the trail was just wet, no ice…even though it is December…just kidding, Rick. In his defense….he HAS to get some form of exercise. He is way better at this than ANY one that I know. He’ll ride his trainer in the basement for miles and miles and miles. Anyways…his accident is proof of why you should wear a helmet because he’d probably still be in a snow pile somewhere. His helmet was dented and cracked. He fractured his hand and also dislocated one of his fingers. When it dislocated it popped through the skin. Lovely it was. He had surgery and goes back this week and may need another surgery. He’s kind of a gimp right now and I mean that with all of the kindness in my heart, honestly. Here is a picture of him enjoying a new pair of biking gloves his kids got him for Christmas….with his one hand.

Finally, a lot of times when we leave my sister’s home she’ll send us with a bag or two of baby things that she is done with. Sometimes, big things. Like a crib even. This time it was the crib mattress. The kids always ask “are you having kids, Aunt Shana and Uncle Adam”. Our oldest niece, Jordan who is 20 has declared that she might as well be an aunt to any children we have because lets face it…that is kind of old for a cousin. I guess she is right. Adam and I went through everything we have baby-wise that is not too long ago because we wanted to sort through to see what we might have for a boy as we knew pretty much everything I’ve gotten from my sister is girl stuff (she does have five girls, one boy). We put out some totes and declared this one tote for “boy” stuff. At the end of it all…all that was in that one tote was one itty bitty blue receiving blanket. So the question is…would it be cheaper to chose the gender of our child so we don’t have to purchase really anything (seriously) versus having to start over with everything if it is a boy???? Deep stuff. Just kidding.