So, that’s left us with our two black furry babies, Annie the dog and Max the cat. They’ve pretty much always ignored each other. But both have great, laid-back personalities and have never been hostile toward one another.

Just now, I went to get something out of the fridge and caught them snoozing together in the laundry room, on Annie’s blanket. At first, I thought it was Annie and that someone had dropped a black shirt next to her. How funny to see it move and look up at me!

I guess they’re officially buddies now. How cute is that?

Jonah, now recovered from his hernia surgery, sitting up in the living room. He’s getting so big. He can hold himself up pretty well, but the pillows are there, just in case!

Eli with the cat grass planter he painted and planted for the kitties, and Miss Lily checking it out:

Max mowed it down in a hurry!

For more SOOC photos, visit Slurping Life.

1. I was working on Sunday’s column when I realized that doing a Friday Fill-In would be a fabulous way to avoid the torture of culling 100 words from my article at this very moment.

2. I went to the library earlier tonight, to escape the chaos that has been my life with kids today, and I left my books in the drop-off bin and walked out with just ONE novel for myself instead of the usual three-bags-full of Henry and Mudge, Hank the Cowdog, and assorted other kids’ titles.

3. Why does my poor son Zach get so gaggy/pukey with a sore throat and postnasal drip? I am almost certain he just caught the cold Eli’s had, but he hasn’t been able to keep anything down today.

4. Escaping for an hour of “me time” was in my thoughts today. And I did it when Donnie got home. Yay. And Chick-fil-a cooked our dinner, too.

5. One of my father’s favorite sayings was “Let’s get rolling!” And he always said it way, way too early in the morning.

6. What it’s like to perform a toilet-side fish funeral–I know that feeling! (Eli’s fish Mary/Molly died this morning. Poor kids. Two pets lost in two weeks. I’m thinking pet rocks need to make a comeback.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to making homemade pizza with my boys, provided that Zach’s over his nausea, tomorrow my plans include Zach’s softball game, if his health and the weather permits, and grocery shopping, regardless,  and Sunday, I want to go to church and spend the rest of the day relaxing!

1. Hot Coffee or Iced Coffee…and why?

I love coffee any way I can get it, but I gravitate more toward hot in the winter and iced in the summer, for obvious reasons.

2. Front Porch or Rear Patio…and why?

Both! Nothing’s prettier than a big, wrap-around front porch with a couple of rocking chairs. But unless I lived out in the country, I’d definitely spend more time on a rear patio because relaxing requires privacy.

3. Dog or Cat…and why?

We have both, and I must admit preferring the cats. I like their aloofness, and how they’re lower-maintenance than dogs. Dogs are sweet, but sometimes that constant neediness annoys me. And dogs make bigger messes.

4. Blackberry or iPhone…and why?

Can’t answer, because I’ve never had either, but really want one or the other!

5. Morning or Night…and why?

Certified night owl here. Mornings are bright, and come too early. I can’t think in the morning. But at night, wow…that is when my creativity kicks into gear. I’ve tried so many times to make my schedule match my morning-loving husband’s, but I always go back to being a night owl. It’s just how I’m wired.

Who let the morning people rule the world?

6. Beef or Chicken…and why?

I eat more chicken than beef, because chicken is generally cheaper and healthier, and easier to digest. But we do indulge in the occasional pot roast, steaks and hamburgers. It’s all good!

And for more Saturday Six posts, click here.

Above: Zach with Molly and Tonya, the day we got Molly

Below: Eli meeting Molly for the first time (The boys look SO young!!)

It took a while, but he finally caved.

We often call our house the Apted Zoo. Dad the Zookeeper had long refused to add aquatic creatures to our menagerie of pets. But for years now, the kids have begged for a fish named Tonya to honor our sweet dog that died in 2007. I’d promised them that someday, it would happen.

He’s a stubborn one, that zookeeper. It took nearly three years and the failing health of another dog to convince him to let the Easter Bunny leave a couple of female betta fish for the boys. You never saw two happier kids than mine this past Easter. Zach promptly named his fish Tonya, and Eli named his Mary, after Jesus’ mother.

Until Mary and Tonya 2 came on the scene, we were strictly a dog and cat family. At one time we had three dogs and two cats. Then Tonya passed away, and unfortunately, last week our sweet chocolate Lab, Molly died too.

You might remember my column from four years ago, when the unsinkable Molly Brown came to us. She was a rescue dog, and we never could understand why someone had abandoned her. She was almost no trouble at all; obedient and sweet as Labrador Retrievers are.

She was sunny and bumbling, klutzy and beautiful. Someone had trained her well. She would not take a bite of her food until you told her it was OK. She had the loudest, scariest bark. It boomed so loudly the windows seemed to vibrate in its wake. Of course, nothing else about her was scary. But that bark was fearsome.

When Tonya died, Molly looked for her, for days, and lay in Tonya’s special spot. It was enough to break your heart.

After Molly came, we rescued another pup named Annie. She’s a part-Lab mutt, and she and Molly were instant BFFs. They looked so much alike. But Molly was 75 pounds and brown, Annie half Molly’s weight, and black. Molly seemed to enjoy mothering little Annie. Now Annie is our only dog, and she misses her mentor.

Molly was just a really good dog; a faithful, pleasant soul in the background of life. She loved pleasing us, burying and digging up her favorite bone, loping around the yard with the boys. About the craziest thing she ever did was break out of the fence one day and chase after the geese in a nearby lake.

I hope God had a big lake full of geese and ducks waiting for Molly when she got to heaven.

Molly had always been healthy, but suddenly, everything hit her at once. She became severely diabetic, had a tumor appear on her leg, and began to suffer from hip dysplasia. There was no way we could afford all the expensive treatments she needed to maintain her quality of life, and since we didn’t know exactly how old she was, chances are good that no matter how much we spent, she’d soon succumb to something age-related. No rescue groups were able to take her. So the only humane option was euthanasia.

Donnie took Molly to the vet one last time and my valiant, kind-hearted sons insisted on going with him. Zach had held Tonya as she breathed her last, and I was amazed and proud that he was brave enough to face such sadness again. I’ve only experienced euthanasia once, and found it devastating. I am such a coward compared to my sons.

Zach and Molly had a special connection, and I think that was it—that faithful spirit willing to stay with you always, til the end.

There were lots of tears that night as we mourned our loss. When it was time to feed the fish, Eli had a request.

“Mom, I want to call my fish Molly now.”

Of course, I knew that Molly’s time was short when I got the fish, but I wasn’t going to suggest Eli name her that when our dog was still with us. But when he chose the name Mary on Easter morning, I smiled inside.

“Did you know that Molly is actually an old-fashioned nickname for Mary?”

He grinned. “No, I didn’t. That’s cool, Mom.”

Tonya and Molly together again, in the fishbowl, and in heaven.

Rest in peace, sweet Molly girl. We’ll miss you and love you, always.

To see other (and I’m sure, happier) Wordless Wednesday posts, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

This is Tonya. Zach named her in memory of our precious husky/shepherd who went to dog heaven three years ago.

And this is Mary. Eli named her in honor of Jesus’ mother, since the fish was an Easter present.

These boys were just tickled pink to finally have their hearts desire: pets they could keep in their room.

But the best part about having fish? The boys spent more time staring at the tank today than playing video games.

My husband just informed me that our 7-year-old took it upon himself this evening to rid our cats of stinky breath and body odor.

He took an old toothbrush (undoubtedly most recently used to scrub gunk from around the faucets) and his Crest Sparkle Bubble toothpaste and attempted to do their teeth.

Then he applied deodorant to their “armpits.”

Poor, poor kitties.

But good, GOOD kitties for not clawing and biting him during the process!

Summertime equals critter time around the Apted house. My youngest boy, Eli, is fascinated by animals. If it were up to him, he’d have a long row of jars and cages in his bedroom, housing every little creature he finds outdoors.

A few months ago, I let the boys bring in two caterpillars and we created a habitat inside a large plastic jar. Alas, one died before cocooning. The other made an impressive shelter, but never emerged from it. I also allowed Eli to keep a slug in a jar for just one day. Last week, he tried to catch lightning bugs, but wigged out over their scratchy feet and wings before he could get them into the jar.

Caterpillars, slugs and lightning bugs, I can handle. But Mama doesn’t do reptiles, amphibians, or rodents in any form. I wish I had a dollar for every time these children have begged me for a hamster or a gerbil. But it just isn’t going to happen.

Typical boys, they recently found a maggoty, dead rat in a ditch near our home and proclaimed it the coolest thing ever. Though they swore they hadn’t touched it, I made them wash their hands anyway. They kept begging me to come look at it, and as a homeschooling mom, I really should’ve taken advantage of that teachable moment. But I had no desire to see how big it was, and then wonder whether it had tried to enter our house before dying.

This year’s rain has left us inundated with frogs. The woods behind our house are filled with rocky shoals that collect water and make excellent frog breeding grounds. My kids have loved hiking back there and examining the puddles filled with hundreds of tadpoles.

Most of the frogs we see are big, bumpy, brownish-colored things. But last night, Eli found an unusual species on our driveway. It was a tiny, brick-red, black-spotted frog and oh, how Eli wanted to keep him.

“We can put him in a jar, Mom. And I’ll feed him fruit and bugs. I promise!”

Every few minutes, he had a new reason why Froggie would be happier as his pet, but I remained firm in my refusal. After 20 minutes of debate, he finally asked, “What if I keep him for just one day?”

In retrospect, maybe I should’ve agreed to just one day. But I really believe that it’s cruel to do that to wild creatures, and explained that they are happier in the wild. Then I did a little mom-embellishment on the truth to gain his sympathy. I really shouldn’t do that, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.

“Eli, the frog probably has a family to get back to. They’ll be worried if he doesn’t come home tonight.”

My exaggeration reminds me of the time I ran over a squirrel when my oldest son, Zach was about 4. He was appalled, but there wasn’t time to swerve out of its path. Zach’s little face crumpled in concern and he wanted to know if the squirrel was going to be OK. And I lied before I knew it, telling him that the little squirrel’s friends would take him to the little squirrel hospital and he’d be just fine.

Some day my sons are going to use these stories to prove that their mother was indeed certifiably insane.

At least we haven’t had the snake encounters my friend Dana has experienced this spring. She has seen several huge black snakes, and came home one day to find a fat four-footer devouring a nest of bird’s eggs in the corner of her porch.

Sadly we lost a nest of birds’ eggs this spring, too. But ours were dropped by the hands of a curious Eli, who, after weeks of examining the nest from afar, could no longer resist the temptation to get a closer look. We were all sad over the loss of the baby birds, and it was a valuable lesson about leaving wildlife alone.

Eli finally relented to just enjoy playing with the little red frog on the driveway for the evening. He truly wanted Froggie to hop home to his family and live happily ever after.