animals

As far as official pets, we only have one: a rabbit named Gilbert. But because of where we live, we are surrounded by many more. The kids think it's great fun, most of the time.

This is our neighbor holding up a snake that Drake was stepping on and didn't even notice.

We see them once in a while, usually out by the garden.

Our other neighbor's German Shepard had puppies this year, and they invited us over to check them out.

This was when they were just brand new.

Here they are a little bit older, but still very young.

Avery loves dogs. The boys do not.

We've had dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and even pheasants wander through and around our backyard. We've even seen an occasional owl swoop over our yard at dusk. But my kids get the most pleasure out of pretend or stuffed animals.

Probably because these types of animals can't do anything to scare my kids.

Here, Drake was sharing his breakfast with his animals.

And I have no idea what Drake is doing here, but he's got animals around him.

I need to get rid of some of the stuffed animals that have slowly collected over the years (some of which I had when I was a little girl).

But then I see how much fun the kids have with them, so I hold on a little longer.

Speaking of animals... Shad recently introduced a game to us called "Foxes and Geese". When our grass is plenty long and in need of mowing, Shad will mow a certain shape into it.

Then one person starts out as the "fox", and they have to tag the other players (the "geese"), which turns them into foxes.

You have to walk/run only on the mowed down part, which makes it a little harder.

The kids think it's great fun.

We've played it several times since Shad first introduced it.

And I'm sure we'll play it many more times (not that we always let our grass get too long...).

Yeah for animals (and animal-related stuff).