Katie has been saving up her money for what seems like forever to buy her own hamster and hamster cage.

We’ve made weekly visits to PetLand to visit the hamsters, which only made her want one more… and FAST.

We rewarded her with points for chores done, for manners, and double Good Samaritan points for random acts of kindness to her little sister {the hardest-earned points of all, it seems} and told her that when she earned 500 points we would add enough money to what she had saved to buy the hamster.

BECAUSE, you know, being a pet owner requires responsibility, and she had to show us that she was responsible enough.

And oh, she worked hard.

‘Hamster responsibility’ became a catch-phrase in our house. In fact, one time Annie found that someone had left the back door unlocked, and let him know that ‘that’s not hamster responsibility.’

Oh yeah, and we offered Katie an obscene amount of points for bravery and conquering fears. SHE WANTED TO, OK? GOSH.

In the end, it was the Texas Giant that pushed her past the point quota, and let me tell you, I SAW that roller coaster, and I would have bought her a Shetland Pony for riding that (but don’t tell her that).

She named him Pipsqueak, and we’re all living happily ever after.

Though we still haven’t perfected that Good Samaritan, kind-to-little-sister thing…

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