Introducing . . .

Gracie!

Gracie is the newest addition to the Sanford household.

She is a 1 1/2 year old guinea pig, and yes, she is HUGE!

How in the world did we come to allow a rodent in our house?  Well, it all began on our ferry ride home from Daufuskie Island, where Hanky and Maddie began their conversations on Hamsters.  By the end of the ferry ride, Hanky looked at me and said with the most sincere and precious face ever, "Thank you Ms Bekah for giving me a hamster for my birthday."

Um, I don't remember ever hearing your mom agree to this, but when you put it that way . . . you're very welcome.

So at this point Maddie was planning the new addition to our household.  However, I wasn't so keen on the idea.  She was incredibly persistent and REALLY wanted to buy it with her own money.  Well, ok.

We headed over to Petsmart on Monday to check it all out.  I never owned hamsters as a kid and knew nothing about them.  I quickly realized that hamsters would not work in our house.  A) Maddie wants to hold and play with these little creatures, B) there's Mason (enough said), and C) there's Harley (again, enough said).  Hamsters just wouldn't work.  Gerbils, with their long tails and beady little eyes were not going to work either.  And then there were the guinea pigs.  They are larger, sweet, and cuddly creatures.  Score!  These totally met are requirements.  The only problem?  Maddie couldn't afford the guinea pig, along with the cage and accessories with what she had sitting in her piggy bank.  We went home and pondered our situation.  We turned to craigslist in hopes of finding a cage and accessories that would fit into her budget.  Low and behold, we found a lady selling her guinea pig along with the cage and all accessories, and she lived only about 20 minutes from us!  Last night we rolled coins to help her make the rest of her "monetary requirements". 

The kids were beside themselves with excitement over the prospect of their new pet.  I knew we wouldn't be leaving without this "pig" once the kids met her.  I wish I would have filmed their reactions when they met her because it was absolutely precious!  

Maddie got to name her, and as many 6 years old little girls would do, she named her after herself (Grace is Maddie's middle name).  Much to my surprise, Mason has been incredibly gentle with her and Harley just ignores her.  I think this may just work!

My hope is that Maddie will learn to feed and care for Gracie.  I'm not holding my breath on this one, but she seems to really want to be Gracie's caregiver.  While I'm not too keen on having a rodent in our house, I'm loving the opportunity to turn this into a lesson.  I can only hope that Maddie's "getting" it.