Memorable Moments Worth Mentioning

Photo Sundries

2012-01-31T23:42:00.006-05:00

New Project

2012-01-27T00:24:00.007-05:00

I started saving some of the kids' "special" tshirts when they were each around 2. I've saved vacation shirts, tball shirts, soccer shirts, basketball shirts, and other "special" shirts. I saved them all these years in the hopes that someday I would find someone who could make a quilt out of them. Well, I found someone. Me. I found a tutorial on Pinterest the other night for making a tshirt rag quilt. I really can't sew - honestly, I can't even cut straight - but I'm going to attempt it.

Tonight I started on Danielle's quilt. This will be a work in progress for quite some time because I'll continue to add new shirts to it as she outgrows them. Tonight I got all the ones I've saved so far cut into blocks. I'll try to post pictures as I put this together. Hopefully I won't embarrass myself too much! Here is what I did tonight.

Valentine Suncatchers

2012-01-24T22:43:00.018-05:00

It's been awhile since we've had a family craft night, so, much to the boys' dismay, I found a nice valentine craft online I thought we could try. Actually, Ron enjoyed himself. I knew Tyler wouldn't be crazy about it because the craft involved getting your fingers gooey, but I had hoped he would help some. He didn't enjoy it and that meant we wouldn't have enjoyed it had we forced him to participate. So, this is a 3/4 family craft. The 1/4 mostly sat in the chair and quietly played his 3DS.

We worked on this craft over a couple days. On day 1 we dipped cotton cord in glue and arranged it on wax paper which was taped over our heart templates (which I got here).

On day 2 we filled the hearts with glue and then added paint. The original instructions said to add watercolor paint (the kind in the tube). I didn't have any, so we mixed acrylic paint into the glue.

After filling the hearts, we left them to dry for a day. Then we carefully peeled the hearts off the wax paper and hung them in the window. We made 5 but 2 of them were still drying when I took this picture. They didn't turn out exactly like I thought they would, but I like them. They look nice hanging in the window, and they were fun to work on together.

Now if only we had some sun...

Sweet Rewards

2012-01-23T21:35:00.008-05:00

Today was grade card day. To celebrate the kids' hard work and good grades, we took them out for dinner tonight and let them choose the restaurant. Afterward we went to the mall where they presented their grade cards for free Cheryl's cookies.

One of Tyler's friends gave him a sausage flavored jelly bean to try a few weeks ago. Since then, he's been wanting to buy a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans for himself. We stopped by the mall's candy shop to pick up a couple boxes and let the kids pick out a handful of other goodies.

Here is one goodie that Tyler picked out. He loves sour candy AND toxic waste (?!) so he couldn't resist. I didn't notice the warning until we got home and he had already eaten 3 pieces!

Here are the types of jelly beans in Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (from Harry Potter).

Danielle bravely tried almost all of them. She managed to swallow most of them, too! She just couldn't stomach the rotten egg jelly bean, though, and had to spit that one out. Tyler almost lost it on the booger flavored bean. Ron tried every one that Danielle tried and said most of them were quite true to their name. I politely declined. It was a nice evening. I hope grade card day continues to be this pleasant as the kids get older!

Our New Neighbor

2012-01-22T21:21:00.009-05:00

Despite having 2 noisy children, a large dog, and a rather persistent neighborhood hawk, a gray squirrel has decided to take up residence in a tree in our backyard. Well, he was building his nest today. Whether or not he'll actually stay and use it remains to be seen, I guess.

I've never seen a squirrel build a nest (officially called a drey). It was kind of interesting, but it made me worry about my tree! He yanked huge chunks of bark off the trunk and branches! You can see a huge chunk of bark above his head in one of the last pictures. (The bark has a little ball of snow above it.) In the next picture, that's the piece he's carrying off! I read that squirrels sometimes build nests in the winter for shelter. They also mate and have a liter toward the end of winter and make a nest for that. Danielle is hoping for baby squirrels, but I think (hope) it's too early.

This is an early picture of his nest; it got bigger! The pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but you can see what he's doing. And yes, the sky was pretty much that colorless today.

This & That

2012-01-20T22:32:00.010-05:00

I've been having focusing issues with my camera and had to send it in for repairs. While it's a pain to have to have it repaired, I'm so relieved my fuzzy photos weren't all my fault. (I'm sure some of it was my fault, though.) So, I'm back to my old, comfortable camera for awhile. Here are a couple male house finches and a carolina chickadee.

A couple weeks ago my aunt, who is a 2nd grade teacher, sent Tyler & Danielle some snowflake patterns leftover from a lesson she did with her class. The kids really enjoyed using them. I love how they turned out! Here are a few of them. We started a Valentine's craft tonight that I found on Pinterest. It's a multi-day project, so I'll post pictures when we're done.

We had panini sandwiches for dinner tonight. I think I need a heavier panini press. I used to use a brick, but I didn't have one handy tonight.

Up, Up, & Away!

2012-01-19T21:30:00.004-05:00

A couple months ago I ran across a photographer's blog that I really enjoyed. All his pictures were perfectly amazing, but some of them were just, well, fun. In several of the pictures it looked like his kids were flying. A lot can be done with editing software, and I'm really not prepared to invest enough time (or money) in figuring all that out yet, so I moved on. The other day I ran across someone else's blog about creating "levitating" photographs that did not involve post-processing fixes. The blog was interesting, the video was amusing, and I filed the information away in my "maybe someday" file. I told the kids about it a couple days ago, and Danielle wanted to try it. Obviously I need to work on my camera skills, but this was one of our attempts. It does kind of look like she is preparing to fly off into the sky superman style.

Just for Fun

2012-01-18T23:09:00.007-05:00

Observing MLK Day

2012-01-16T21:26:00.009-05:00

We spent our day off school reverently honoring MLK, his teachings, and ideas.

Well, maybe not. But we did enjoy having the day off school.

Tyler wanted to go bowling, so we did. We had a nice time. I managed to get a picture of Danielle's strike. (Yes, the gutters were up. They were up in every lane today. I didn't argue.)

Here is Tyler, getting ready to toss the ball down the alley.

Here is what bothers me most about this picture. In case you can't see that, it says 5/6! His shoes are 5/6!!! And that's NOT little kid sizing!!!

Afterward, I wanted to go to Cold Stone, so we did. There were lots of other people honoring MLK by enjoying over-priced (but wonderful) ice cream with their families.

We finished off our celebration by redeeming some reward coupons at the toy store. It was a very nice afternoon. We had a lot of fun together.

To be sure we're fair to all holidays, we plan to spend President's Day next month just as reverently.

For the Birds

2012-01-15T19:48:00.003-05:00

Our neighborhood cooper's hawk visited a few times today. Since the weather turned colder, my feeders have been pretty busy. I guess all the activity caught his attention. He was quite patient and even waited quietly in the neighbor's tree for a nice, long time, but he didn't have any luck today. Clara was outside when he landed on our playset. It took her a minute to notice him, then she raised the alarm. The dog's barking spooked a dark-eyed junco that had been hiding, and it took off, followed closely by the hawk. The junco darted back and forth a couple times and managed to escape those deadly talons.

I was able to snap a couple shots through the window before Clara started barking. He looks a little angry in the first shot.

Introducing the Amazing, Mystifying Danielle

2012-01-14T14:18:00.002-05:00

In Case You're Wondering...

2012-01-13T22:08:00.003-05:00

Our snow day preparations didn't pay off. In fact, we barely got any snow at all!! We were pretty disappointed. Danielle figures we should have flushed more ice cubes.

Snow Day Preparations

2012-01-12T21:06:00.009-05:00

For the first time this winter, the forecasters are predicting a couple inches of snow overnight and cold, blustery conditions. So, this is the first time so far this school year when the possiblity of a snow day seems within reach. Unfortunately it looks as though the bulk of the snow has shifted a little south, so we may not get what was originally predicted. That didn't stop us from preparing, though.

We flushed ice cubes down the toilet.

And put our pjs on inside out.

I wouldn't let them put spoons under their pillows, and I'm pretty sure we were supposed to put something in the freezer.

Hopefully our superstitious preparations will be good enough!

This & That

2012-01-11T21:26:00.004-05:00

We are 11 days into the new year and I don't have any "memorable moments worth mentioning". In fact, things are rather dull. Dull isn't all bad but, since SOMEONE has complained, I'll do my best:

On New Year's Eve day my brother and I went out in search of a snowy owl that ventured far enough south to be within driving distance. Since these owls are arctic birds, it was an opportunity I thought I should take advantage of. Apparently they had a very good breeding season and have been seen in lots of unusual places this winter. Here is an article about them, and here is my less than stellar photo. I really wanted a picture worth framing, but I had to settle for recognizable.

We are almost 8" below normal for snowfall this winter. While that makes some people happy, I see 5 wasted snow days! It's probably asking too much to get out of school for the year 5 days early, isn't it?! This Friday we will be half way through the school year. It seems like we should be so much further than that. Spring break is still a L O N G 3 months away.

Ron's parents came to visit this past weekend. I'm not sure who enjoyed the visit more. In addition to us all getting to visit, Grandma & Grandpa kept the kids for the evening so Ron and I could have a belated anniversary date. The kids had so much fun, and the happiness from all that undivided attention seems to have spilled over into our week. Both kids have been unusually pleasant this week.

After reading comments from other folks about pinterest.com, I decided to check it out. It is interesting - there's a lot of information in one spot - but I'm not obsessed (yet). I think it's a little confusing, and I don't really want everyone else seeing what I'm interested in! The other website I've checked out recently is ancestry.com. Ron's dad has been working on his family tree and shared some of it with me this past weekend. I didn't expect to find it as interesting as it is. It's actually quite addicting.

Tyler has made his way through all of his Christmas books and is finishing up a book from his new favorite author Brandon Mull. He is reading The Candy Shop Wars. He started it last night, and I'm sure he'll finish it tonight. Danielle has fallen in love with the book The Wonder Horse, which is based on a true story. We are reading the Fablehaven series out loud right now. (This is Tyler's favorite series and he thought Danielle would enjoy it.) Once we finish that series, we're going to start on the Misty books from Aunt Leah. I am reading the 2 newest books by John Flanagan. I initially started reading his Ranger's Apprentice series to be sure it was ok for Tyler, but I got hooked. If Ron's reading anything right now, I'm sure it's related to wood turning.

And there you have it.

If you're still awake, you can see why I haven't posted for awhile.

Farewell 2011

2011-12-31T20:13:00.003-05:00

We thank God for His blessings and protection this past year, and look forward to the adventures of the coming year!

Happy New Year, friends and family!

Christmas Highlights

2011-12-29T22:50:00.014-05:00

Today we celebrated Christmas with Ron's brothers and their families. We haven't seen them since last Thanksgiving, so the cousins had a lot of catching up to do. It was nice to all be together for awhile. The kids are all growing up so quickly, and they all played so nicely together!

Here is our annual couch picture. They've grown a bit since last year. (Hopefully someone else's picture turned out better than mine! My coloring is off.)

A little Christmas caroling before gifts

Caleb

Emiko

Danielle & Annalise

Christmas Highlights

2011-12-27T20:12:00.007-05:00

On Christmas Eve day we went to Christmas Eve service with Grandma & Grandpa C and Uncle Ron. After church we went out for dinner and then back to our house to visit and open presents. Tyler was most excited about receiving the camo snuggie he'd been hoping for! We had a very nice evening together.

Tyler & his snuggie

Uncle Ron & Danielle check out the Ripley's book Tyler got the night before.

Danielle enjoying one of her new books.

Christmas Highlights

2011-12-26T18:39:00.007-05:00

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad on Christmas Eve eve. We had a very nice dinner with Mamaw, Papaw, Uncle Jack, Uncle James, Aunt Nikki, Beth, & Seb. The kids opened gifts and we all visited together. Tyler was surprised with a camera from Mamaw and Papaw. Danielle got the American Girl doll Kanani. Uncle Jack gave the kids magic kits, which have proved to be rather entertaining. The kids got lots of other great gifts, too. We had a very nice evening together. It was a lovely way to kick off our Christmas celebrations!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:58:00.020-05:00

As usual, we had a wonderful Christmas day! We are are so thankful for our greatest Christmas gift - God's Son. We opened gifts, ate, played with our toys, watched movies, and hung out in our pjs all day. Since Ron is off all week, we're looking forward to a repeat performance tomorrow (minus the gift opening)!

Here are some pictures from today. (We've had 2 of our 4 relative Christmas celebrations already. I'll post pictures from those another day.)

Clara was a good girl this year and got lots of goodies from Santa. Danielle asked Santa to bring Clara a doggie bed, too.

Danielle had an American Girl Christmas. This is the Feel-Better Kit - because you never know when your doll might need a finger splint or crutches! (Actually, it's very cute.)

Tyler is learning how to play chess and requested a glass chess set for Christmas.

The item at the top of Danielle's list this year was the American Girl doll Rebecca....which is what this is.

Christmas Secrets - Revealed

2011-12-25T01:11:00.003-05:00

We decided a few days ago that we would suprise the kids with the gifts Ron made for them before bed on Christmas Eve. Ron made Tyler a pen that has a toxic waste symbol on it and is swirls of black, green, and orange. (Tyler likes to doodle pictures that involve oozing vats of toxic waste.) I would love to post pictures of Tyler opening his pen and his wonderful reaction to it; however, his pjs don't cover as much as Danielle's. So, I won't be posting those. Suffice it to say, he loved his pen and his reaction was enough to make me a little teary.

Danielle LOVED her bed. She ran over to Ron and gave him a big hug. It was so worth the time and effort! She understands my lack of sewing skills and was appropriately impressed. She picked up the pillow and said, "You really sewed this?!" It was perfect.

Christmas Secrets

2011-12-24T00:40:00.006-05:00

I had to share this because I am so excited about it! Ron made Danielle a bed for her American Girl doll. I made the linens for the bed, and they turned out surprisingly well in spite of my lack of skill! I can't wait to give it to her! (Santa is NOT getting the credit for this one!)

Basketball

2011-12-18T00:06:00.008-05:00

Danielle's team won their first game Saturday morning. I can't believe how much fun it is to watch Danielle play! We enjoyed watching Tyler, but this is different. Danielle obviously enjoys it a lot more than Tyler did. Today was picture day, too. I was trying not to get in the grumpy camera man's (aka photographer's) way, so I didn't get a picture with her actually looking at me. Here are a couple pictures from her game, too. Once again, I was lucky enough to have my camera out and ready when she made a basket!

Yes, You Can...

2011-12-17T09:14:00.002-05:00

...teach an old dog new tricks. I guess it's especially easy if the "old" dog is only 2 1/2 and the new trick involves an activity that breed is well known for.

Anyway, this is what we've been working on with Clara.

We only get the paper on Saturday & Sunday, and this is only the 3rd week (so, 5th time) we've worked with her. As you can see, it didn't take any "work" on my part at all this time. She is so smart!

Baton Performance

2011-12-15T23:18:00.002-05:00

Wednesday night Danielle's baton group performed at a retirement home in our town. At the last practice the kids made cards to hand out to all the residents after the performance. I wanted to tape this performance since something happened to our video from their performance a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately this is really not a good representation of the routine. The room was small, so the group had to split into 2 groups to perform. (We have almost 40 kids in our group this year!) Even with that the girls were crammed into the room rather haphazardly and had a hard time keeping in sync because they couldn't really see each other.

Danielle is the 3rd one in, and she is on cue most of the time (despite the girls beside her). I cut the video off about half way, but the routine just repeats for the most part. Some of the better girls usually do a "trick" at the end where they flip the baton between their legs and over their hip, but there wasn't enough room for them to do that here. Danielle is one of the girls who is supposed to do the trick, but she's about 50/50 on it (as are most of the others).

The residents seemed to enjoy watching the girls, although the staff was rather grumpy about having to put a little extra effort into their evening routine. (For that reason, we'll give this home only 3 stars and will cross it off our list of potential possibilities for our retired loved ones.) :)

A Winner!

2011-12-14T21:44:00.007-05:00

Today we had the pleasure of attending another handwriting award ceremony at the elementary school!

Danielle's teacher contacted us last week so we could make plans to attend the assembly. We were not allowed to let her know she had won, though. She was so excited about the contest, that it was a little more difficult to keep the secret from her than it was from Tyler. She asked me several times if the school had called. Thankfully they had emailed, so that was an easy question to answer. In a last ditch effort to figure out if we had been contacted she said, "I know you're not supposed to tell me if I won, so I just want you to tell me if I should be more excited or less excited." We must have played our roles well because she was convinced when I dropped her off this morning that she hadn't won.

This was her expression when she walked in to the assembly and saw us sitting there. It was so worth the effort of keeping it from her!

She came in 2nd place for the 2nd grade girls and was pretty proud of herself. We are proud, too.

O' Christmas Tree

2011-12-11T23:22:00.008-05:00

We finally put our tree up this weekend. We made a day of it yesterday and went out to a movie and dinner before hand. (We saw The Muppets. If you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your money! I thought it was painful, but the kids enjoyed it.)

It was really cold last night, so we were rather quick about finding the perfect tree. We bought the first tree Tyler & Danielle both agreed on, and we found it in under 5 minutes. Not bad! We set it up last night and decorated it today.

It's nice and tall. Ron is standing on a chair and Danielle still had a difficult time reaching the top.

We had a nice day together yesterday and fun decorating it today. The kids couldn't wait to put their gifts for each other under it.

Danielle's Busy Day

2011-12-03T22:56:00.014-05:00

Danielle's baton group performed at our town's tree lighting ceremony tonight. We have so many girls in our group this year; there was hardly enough room for them all to line up. Danielle was front and center again! (Being in the front row is quite the privilege.) The girl next to Danielle bumped her and knocked Danielle's baton from her hand within the first few seconds of the routine. Danielle quickly recovered, though, and did a great job. She put a lot of time and effort into practicing for this, and it showed. I'm proud of her.

Later tonight Danielle played in her first basketball game. Kids Danielle's age play in an instructional league, where you can't steal the ball from someone's hands, the coaches double as the refs, and the players wear color coordinated sweat bands so they know who they're guarding. Considering Danielle's team only had 2 practices prior to this game, it's probably a good thing they teach and learn as they go. Danielle had a blast! She ran her butt off, guarded her guy, and even scored once. It was really fun watching her!

Christmas Countdown

2011-11-26T19:12:00.003-05:00

30 Days Until Christmas!

Our Bake Sale Contribution

2011-11-15T21:07:00.007-05:00

I'm pretty sure we're caught in a time warp over here. The days have been speeding by lately. It's the middle of November and this is only my 4th post! We have just been incredibly busy with, well, being a family of 4 with 2 grade schoolers. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break at the end of next week! No work, no school, no doctor's or dentist's appointments, no practices of any sort for at least 3 days, 5 if you include the weekend. Sounds wonderful.

This Saturday Danielle's baton group held a bake sale to help raise money to purchase more lights for our community's Christmas tree. They performed at the tree lighting ceremony last year and will again this year, too. Danielle made turkey cupcakes. We boxed them up into little boxes and they looked so cute! They were a hit and all of them sold within the first hour. If we have time, I think we'll make some for our Thanksgiving feast, too.

We took a break from some of our home improvement projects this weekend to run to the hardware store and then out for dinner. The kids were hungry and that tends to make them cranky. They were just picking at each other. That night we had several conversations about treating each other the way you would want to be treated...not the way that person deserves to be treated. It really is a hard lesson. Danielle is much quicker to bestow grace than Tyler is. He's more of an eye for an eye type of guy. He's also a bit of a smart mouth. While we were in the check-out line at the store I saw him get up in Danielle's face and blow in her face. When I yelled at him about it, he quickly pointed out that Danielle had done it to him first. When I reminded him of our earlier conversations he replied, "I know, Mom. Since she treated me like that, I just figured she wanted me to do it back."

For the Birds

2011-11-10T22:29:00.010-05:00

This guy landed on my fence this morning. I had just refilled my bird feeders a little earlier and had lots of birdy activity in my yard. I'm pretty sure he was looking for breakfast, but he flew away empty handed (taloned).

I took these through the window, so please excuse the fuzziness. That last picture was just a split second away from being an amazing picture. Oh well. I posted it because you can really see how big his talons are, though. Scary!

I stole a couple hours for myself on Saturday and went to the park. There weren't any birds (other than a couple robins) and the only wildlife I found were squirrels. I don't know where everything was hiding, but it was rather disappointing as far as picture taking goes. It was nice to enjoy the beautiful day outside by myself for a few minutes, though.

Irony

2011-11-02T23:31:00.004-04:00

The instructor for the Lego Club at school finally installed a piece of software that Tyler recommended last year. Yesterday she called Tyler out of class and had him teach her how to use it. She was so impressed with his knowledge that she asked him to come to Lego Club today to teach some of the other students. (Tyler decided not to join Lego Club this fall because he felt there were too many kids for the amount of Legos they have.)

When I went to pick him up this afternoon, the instructor stopped me and told me what an amazing job he did. She said he stood in front of approximately 40 of his peers and delivered an excellent presentation and demonstration of the software. She was really impressed and said she'd like him to return the next few weeks to help out. On my way to find him (he was still on the computer), two other adults stopped me to praise Tyler. I was really proud of him.

On the way home he told me all about it. As he was winding down he said, "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to teach a bunch of kids who are talking, crinkling their mini-oreo wrappers, and chewing with their mouth open. Then they all seemed to decide they needed to get up and throw their trash away at the same time." At this point we were getting out of the van. I caught his eye, we looked at each other for a moment, and then we both started laughing. One of the most common complaints about Tyler's behavior at school is that he won't stop talking or making noises.

The irony was not lost on him.

All About Me

2011-11-02T21:34:00.013-04:00

Danielle was the All About Me student last week. She had to complete a couple papers telling about herself, her family, her pets, her likes, dislikes, etc. She also completed a couple papers telling about her favorite memory (Washington DC), her dream vacation (Australia or Africa), etc. She displayed one of her baton trophies and the photo albums from a couple of our vacations. At the end of the week she brought in a special snack. She picked sugar wafers (probably because I never buy them). She has been waiting for her All About Me week since the first day of school!

On Friday I was helping at the school and walked into her classroom while she was presenting everything to the class. (She was using a little pointer and looked so cute.) After Danielle's presentation, the other kids in the class wrote letters to her. The teacher laminated everything, put it all in a book, and sent it home today. Some of the letters really made me laugh. I thought I'd share a few. (Click on the pic to see it larger.)

Trick-or-Treat

2011-10-31T22:06:00.008-04:00

Although it was rainy today, the rain ended about 30 minutes before trick-or-treat started and held off the entire time.

Danielle stayed home from school today because she wasn't feeling well but she felt well enough to go out for a little while tonight. Tyler's best friend's family lives in the country and doesn't have any close neighbors, so we invited them to join us for trick-or-treating. Tyler's friend and her dad joined Ron, Tyler, & Danielle. It worked out well because Danielle didn't feel well and wanted Ron to take her home early.

Tyler & his friend were in too big a hurry to get a decent picture tonight. (This picture is from Friday's party at school.)

We had lots of trick-or-treaters. In fact, I went through almost 13 bags of candy tonight! Ninja costumes seemed to be pretty popular for the boys. There were a lot of witch costumes for the girls. Not so many princesses this year. Of course, there weren't any costumes like Danielle's. It was a good evening.

Parties & Pumpkins

2011-10-29T21:20:00.013-04:00

The kids had their Halloween parties at school yesterday. Everyone loved Danielle's costume, so she was pleased. Tyler enjoyed his party, too. Our trick-or-treat is Monday night, so you'll have to endure one more round of Halloween pictures.

We carved our giant pumpkins tonight. We could have fit a small child inside Danielle's!

Like usual, Tyler refused to touch the pumpkin guts but Danielle practically rolled around in them. The kids really didn't need much help this year. The walls on the big pumpkins were really thick (1.5-2"), so Danielle had to really put some muscle into her cuts, but she managed. I know the kids enjoyed carving their pumpkins, but I enjoyed listening to everyone talk and plan and compliment each other and watching everyone focus on their masterpieces. We had a very nice evening.

Our pumpkin family (mine, Danielle's, Tyler's, & Ron's)

This & That

2011-10-27T22:22:00.006-04:00

I've been sick this week and feel like I just can't get everything done that needs done. Ever have one of those weeks?

Tyler started swim lessons on Tuesday. Since he didn't want to play basketball this year, we thought he should find something to stay active once it got too cold to play outside every day. Swim lessons were a great idea. He really enjoyed the first class and can't wait to go back.

Danielle's baton group is practicing for their Christmas performances. I was going to upload a video preview, but after waiting for over an hour for the video to load, I changed my mind. You'll have to use your imagination.

While I was sitting at the kitchen table this morning I heard a lot of very loud squawking from the bluejays in the backyard. I looked out to see a mass exodus of house sparrows as this guy landed in one of our trees (I took this through the window):

I'm pretty sure it's an adult cooper's hawk, although it's small for a cooper's. Their eyes change from yellow to red when they become adults, and I think his still look a little yellowish. This makes me think he may not be a mature adult quite yet. You can see how his markings are different than this young cooper's that flew into our window last month, though. I love it when these hawks make a pitstop in our yard. I've never seen them catch anything, and they're so big and beautiful. I don't think the bluejays share my sentiment.

Later this afternoon we had a downy woodpecker couple visit. I really enjoy watching the woodpeckers, too. This is the male.

The kids' school Halloween parties are tomorrow. Danielle is really looking forward to showing her costume to everyone. She has tried to keep it a secret. Hopefully the day will live up to her expectations!

Home Sweet Home on a Rainy Day

2011-10-24T22:20:00.002-04:00

Halloween at the Zoo

2011-10-22T22:52:00.010-04:00

The weather was too perfect to pass up the chance to enjoy Boo at the Zoo today. We went late afternoon so we still had enough daylight left to see some of the animals. The kids rode rides once we were done looking at the animals and visiting the treat stations.

Here are my Halloween ghouls. Tyler had his heart set on being a ninja this year. This was his 2nd choice costume, but it turned out to be so much better than the original one he picked out (and it was 1/2 as much). We added the swords, and I was impressed he never once pulled them out tonight. He was very happy with his costume. Lots of boys at the zoo told him it was cool.

Danielle is Rapunzel - not the Disney character from the movie, but Rapunzel from the story. She found this costume idea in an old issue of Family Fun. We had a lot of fun making it, especially the hair. Everything came together very nicely, and she is really proud of it. She gave me permission to post these pictures because I promised no one from school would be checking my blog. A lot of moms complimented her costume.

Rapunzel and her prince.

Riding the rides.

We finished our evening with a late dinner at a favorite local Chinese restaurant. We had such a nice evening together!

Finished Project

2011-10-21T21:00:00.003-04:00

We finally finished Danielle's Halloween costume tonight. She doesn't want me to post the whole costume yet, but here is the finished hair. She's very happy with her costume. It looks really nice. Tyler ended up getting a different costume that looks much better than the original one he picked out. We're all ready for the trick-or-treating!

Leaves

2011-10-18T22:37:00.006-04:00

I had approximately an hour of free time this afternoon, so I headed over to the creek to see if I could find any wildlife to photograph. I didn't see anything other than a person canoeing (brrr), a fox squirrel cleaning himself (I gave him some privacy), and a few birds. While I was sitting there waiting for the perfect photo opp, I snapped a couple pictures of leaves floating down the creek with the current. The perfect photo opp never presented itself, so you're getting floating leaf pictures! I'm still trying to get used to my new lens and was shooting in full manual mode so, all things considered, I think these turned out pretty good. I didn't realize until I got home and looked a little closer at the pictures that the yellow leaf had a passenger.

A Winner

2011-10-17T21:17:00.002-04:00

Danielle found out today that her crabby pumpkin won 1st place in her age group! She very proudly claimed her $30 gift card to Toys R Us after school today. Yay Danielle!

The Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-15T20:44:00.017-04:00

We tried a new "pumpkin farm" this year. It was kind of a bust. It was rather pricey, and that price didn't include a hayride or pumpkins. We had a nice time, but we didn't have a great time. The place we usually go is much better. After trying the new place, we drove to the farm where we buy our strawberries so the kids could pick out pumpkins. Of course, they picked out the very largest pumpkins they could find. We probably should have stuck with grocery store pumpkins. I should add that it was EXTREMELY windy and a bit chilly. Ah, the best laid plans...

Ron's parents came to visit today, so they joined us for the adventure. Here are some pictures from our outings.

Feeling Crabby

2011-10-13T17:41:00.009-04:00

Danielle entered a pumpkin decorating contest at a local bank. They supplied the pumpkin, she supplied the creativity. I think it looks awesome!

We started working on Danielle's Halloween costume today, too. She doesn't want me to reveal what it is, but it's not too difficult to figure out, given the reeeeeally long hair. She saw a homemade costume she likes, so that's what we're working on. I tend to think that homemade = less expensive, but unfortunately that's not always so. The yarn for the hair is pricey (even w/my coupon) and I'm struggling to find the main part of the costume...which they assume you have at home and won't have to buy, but we do not. And Tyler's costume...ugh. He has his heart set on a specific store bought costume that looks soooo cheap. We can't find his size, and he's getting rather discouraged. I probably should have started looking sooner. I figure he doesn't have many years of trick-or-treating left, so I really do want him to be happy with his costume. I just may not post any pictures! Just kidding...kind of.

A Checklist

2011-10-13T09:20:00.007-04:00

I was cleaning out some of Danielle's school papers this morning and ran across one entitled "Science Safety Checklist". I must not have looked at it very closely when she first brought it home. (That happens frequently.) I got a laugh out of the last checklist item:

I will think ahead.

I will read the directions and follow them.

I will be neat with my materials.

I will take care of all science supplies.

I will clean up when I am done.

I will return all unused materials to my teacher.

I will be careful. I will follow all of the cautions.

I will not taste things I am using in an investigation unless my teacher tells me to.

By the time they reach 2nd grade, you kind of assume they're past that; however, I can still visualize a boy in my 6th grade class eating rolled up glue balls he saved in the corner of his desk. (He ate other disgusting things, too!) I guess the school figures they're better safe than sorry!

This & That

2011-10-11T22:46:00.015-04:00

I don't care for house sparrows, but I thought this sequence of pictures was funny. He was checking me out.

I found this weird bug crawling up the side of the house yesterday. He was still hanging around today. It's a type of assassin bug called a wheel bug. They are good for taking care of garden pests, but if they "bite" you it can hurt worse than a bee sting. It's hard to get an idea of scale, but he was just a little smaller than my pinkie finger.

Ron sent this to me several days ago. Probably no one else will see the humor in it, but I appreciated it.

Danielle - taking a break from riding her bike and making pixie dust out of sidewalk chalk in the driveway.

Photo Sundries

2011-10-09T23:35:00.005-04:00

A couple pictures from the backyard this afternoon. It was a nice weekend to be outside!

Fall!

2011-10-08T23:45:00.015-04:00

Today was a perfect day to be outside and enjoy the fall colors! We packed a picnic lunch and visited a new-to-us state park. It was beautiful along the trails. We hiked along a path that overlooked a gorge & waterfall. The kids had fun climbing on the trees. It was a beautiful day.

Here are some pictures from today.

Nothing New Under the Sun

2011-10-07T21:21:00.008-04:00

There hasn't been much going on around here lately, as you can surmise from my lack of posts. School is in full swing. Baton has started back up. The days are getting shorter, making it harder to fit in riding bikes and playing with friends after dinner. Ron has been travelling some. Really, nothing too exciting to report. I suppose that's not all bad. (I don't know that the chapter in Ecclesiastes was referring to the monotony of everyday life, but it was the first thing that came to mind.)

Ron took this picture. It pretty accurately sums up Danielle's general attitude lately.

I got a new macro lens. I'm still learning how to use it and haven't had time to go anywhere but the backyard to practice. I was trying to take a couple shots of this dandelion when a bee landed on it. Although I resized the pictures to post them, if you click on the pictures you can see a little more detail.

The lens takes nice portrait-type pictures, too.

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful, so hopefully I'll have the chance to capture some of the beautiful fall colors that have emerged the past couple weeks.

Growing Up

2011-09-30T23:43:00.004-04:00

I think our "tween" is looking rather grown up lately.

(Wish I would have used my nice camera for the sweater pic!)

More Balloon Fun

2011-09-27T21:55:00.010-04:00

A couple weeks ago I ordered some high quality balloons especially designed for twisting. We got them yesterday, and what a difference they make! They are so much more durable and easier to twist. The kids and I have had a lot of fun learning to make different things. The dog absolutely hates the balloons, though, and has started hiding in the laundry room whenever she hears the squeak of a balloon being twisted.

We are still working on getting the proportions correct every time. I've moved up to a couple more difficult twists, but those aren't consistent either. In addition to the standard dog, cat, giraffe, mouse, and bunny, the kids have "mastered" a snail, an octopus, and a simple hat. I've managed some monkies, parrots, and palm trees, too. Here are a few pictures of our creations.

Danielle with her snail and dog

A monkey

Danielle modeling a parrot. If you pull a piece of shirt up through his feet he'll sit on your shoulder.

Danielle thought she needed a couple palm trees to go with her parrots and monkies.

Tyler modeling his hat while working on an octopus.

His octopus (before a little "arm" shaping).

I know it's silly to spend an evening making balloon animals, but we have had so much fun doing it together. All this practicing does create a problem, though. I bought a pack of 250 balloons. What am I supposed to do with all the balloon creations?!

Wrapping It Up

2011-09-24T22:17:00.008-04:00

Tyler has finally finished up his prolonged birthday celebrations. Mamaw took him shopping on Thursday. Yesterday my mom, stepdad, & brother came over to celebrate. Today was probably what he was most excited about, though. He and his best friend (and Danielle) went to MM today to enjoy the go-karts and other activities. They had a great day!

Double Digits

2011-09-21T22:11:00.008-04:00

"AAAHHHH, I'm 10!!! " Happy birthday to Tyler!

I've tried really hard not to dwell on his age today. The time just goes so fast. In another 10 years he will be in his 2nd year of college! :(

I was rather lame in the birthday cake department this year. Danielle didn't get anything special, and neither did Tyler. After shooting down all of Tyler's cake requests, he finally said he'd just like a green cake with green icing. (His favorite color is green.) I felt guilty about making it so blah, so I made it tie-dyed, too. It looked neat. (The tie-dyed cupcakes were a big hit! Well worth the extra effort.)

Tyler is at an odd age as far as gifts go. Occasionally he'll get out some of his cars and make them crash, but usually he prefers to design things on the computer or ride his bike. Even his enthusiasm for Legos has waned a bit lately. He didn't have much of a wish list for his birthday either. I doubt he'll play with it often, but one of his gifts from us was a set of Hot Wheels wall tracks he asked for. I thought he'd be able to design the track layout and that would keep him interested, but it doesn't really work like that. Even so, he enjoyed setting it all up tonight and connecting it with some of his existing tracks.

Watching him race the cars down the track and into a bucket took me back about 8 or 9 years.

Tyler was really excited about becoming a "tween" this year, and I think he had a good day. Well, as good a birthday as you can have when you have to spend the majority of the day at school. We have a couple more birthday celebrations yet this week, including a trip to ride go-karts and play laser tag with his best friend this Saturday.

Birthday Prep

2011-09-20T23:51:00.009-04:00

Tonight I made 4 dozen cupcakes for Tyler to take into school tomorrow. There are 28 people in his class, including his teacher. Since I had to use 2 boxes to have enough for the whole class, he's going to take some in to his Enrichment class on Thursday, too.

I decided to make tie-dye cupcakes because I thought they would look nice without being too labor intensive. Wrong! It took forever to layer all the batter. They turned out nice, though. The kids added the food coloring to the batter until it got to a shade they liked. I should have watched a little closer. I answered the phone while they were mixing the colors for the first box of cake mix. By the time I hung up, they had emptied all the food coloring bottles! I had to make a trip to the store before starting on the second batch. I supervised the tinting a little closer the 2nd time!

The pictures are terrible. I was too lazy to pull out my good camera or worry about the lighting. (And, as you can see, I could really use a new cupcake pan for Christmas!) The cupcakes turned out nice, though. Tyler is excited about taking them in.

Backyard Visitor

2011-09-17T22:24:00.006-04:00

Around lunchtime today we heard a horrible "thunk" against the windows in our family room. We have 3 really tall windows that each have a transom over them. Every few weeks a morning dove or house finch will hit one of the windows. Usually they are just stunned and shake off their shock in a nearby tree before flying away. The "thunk" today was really loud and caused us all to run to the window. Turns out today's collision involved a juvenile cooper's hawk.

I don't know if it was chasing a bird and didn't notice the window or if it saw the trees reflected in the window and didn't realize the window was there. Either way, it was a horrible sound, and when we looked, the bird's body was in a heap on our patio. We were afraid it was dead,but as we watched, it slowly started moving its head back and forth. It's wing was at an odd angle to its body, so even if it was alive, I feared its wing was broken.

I called a local wildlife rehab hospital to find out how to safely bring him in to be cared for. As I was talking to the lady, the hawk managed to stand up and shake itself out a little. We decided to leave it alone for awhile to see if he would recover. He stood there and looked around for quite awhile. I managed to get a couple pictures of him from the other side of the yard and through the window (the 3rd pic). He followed me with his head, but didn't move otherwise. A little while later Danielle went in the backyard to take a picture with her camera. She got out there and within sight of the bird, and it flew away! It flew gracefully to the top of a tall tree in a nearby yard. Danielle wasn't even disappointed she missed her shot - we were so thankful he was ok and able to fly! We have seen this bird in our yard several times before and are so grateful he'll still be around! (I've never seen him successfully catch one of my feeder birds, so I don't mind his periodic visits.)

Isn't he beautiful?! Look at those feet!

Life Skills

2011-09-14T21:49:00.009-04:00

I know this is silly, but I've always wanted to learn how to make balloon animals. I finally got a book out of the library and decided to learn. The kids LOVED the idea and wanted to learn, too. So, today the kids and I learned a new life skill: how to make balloon animals. :)

I didn't have much time to look around, so I just grabbed a couple of overpriced but cheaply constructed balloon kits from the grocery store. They each included 22 balloons and a cheap plastic pump. The balloons were so cheap that several of them popped before they were ever fully inflated. They were very difficult to tie, too! We had a lot of fun with the ones we did manage to successfully inflate and tie.

Here is my first dog. Obviously I need to work on proportions! I did get better. I made several dogs and advanced to a bunny and a mouse.

Here are the kids' first attempts. Tyler's dog's tail was too long, so he added a couple extra twists just for fun. Danielle wanted to make a dachsund. It looked just like the picture in the book.

Danielle went on to make several more dogs of varying sizes, a giraffe, and a mouse. Tyler made some dogs, a giraffe, a mouse, and a sword.

I can't believe what a good time we had learning how to make these! It would have been even better if the balloons hadn't popped so easily. I am going to order some better quality balloons online so we can learn to make more things.

Photo Sundries

2011-09-13T22:19:00.006-04:00

Sorry for all the photo posts. With school well under way, there really isn't anything to blog about right now!

Here are a few photos from last week.

A Significant Anniversary

2011-09-11T16:46:00.009-04:00

Until this year we really hadn't discussed the events of 9/11 with the kids in any detail. We had mentioned it briefly in the past, but never spent much time discussing it. Explaining such a specific horror to your children is difficult, and as parents we spend so much time trying to shield our children from evil. They're older and we felt this year was different, though.

Tyler's enrichment class spent a lot of time discussing 9/11. When he came home and we discussed it further, he remembered details that I had forgotten. Of course, listening to our conversation, Danielle had questions, which Tyler & I tried to answer. I'd say it was a "good" conversation, but that doesn't sound right. It was an important conversation, and I could tell that hearing about that day meant something to Tyler.

A local high school errected a "Field of Honor" for the victims of 9/11 by displaying a flag for each of the victims. It's one thing to hear how many victims there were, it's another to walk through a field of nearly 3000 flags. Tyler joked "We're in public, Mom, so don't start crying" as we started walking through the flags, but after awhile he got pretty quiet, too. It was a little overwhelming to remember that each one of those flags represented someone's husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter.

I remember where I was and what I was doing when the planes hit. I remember all the feelings of that day and the days immediately following. Our children weren't born yet (Tyler was just a couple weeks away), so they can't remember those feelings. It's our job to be sure they understand the significance of that day and what it meant to America.

Photo Sundries

2011-09-06T23:03:00.009-04:00

Farewell to Summer

2011-09-05T21:51:00.010-04:00

We've enjoyed a nice long Labor Day weekend. Today we said our farewells to summer by digging out our jeans and jackets and attending a rib cook-off. (It was 97* on Saturday, only 63* today!)

One of our neighborhood friends hosts a rib cook-off every Labor Day. This year was the biggest cook-off with 10 rib entries. Ron got to be a judge again this year. The top 3 positions are named, with the 1st place winner getting his name on the cook-off trophy and the 2nd place winner getting a whipped cream pie in the face by the 1st place winner. We all sample the ribs and other good dishes and the kids run around and play.

Someone else in the neighborhood is a magician and he performed for the kids. We've seen him a couple times, and he is probably one of the best magicians I've seen. It was fun just to listen to the kids giggle. Both Tyler & Danielle got to help with tricks. After the magic show the kids played some games. This one involved spinning around on a bat and then running (or attempting to run) to retrieve a ball. After the kids' games the adults played a cornhole tournament.

It was a fun afternoon. We live in an awesome neighborhood. It's so nice to live next to people we genuinely like and consider good friends, and who are in the same stage of life as us. It's neat to be able to watch all our kids grow up together.

It was a good way to bid farewell to summer.

Tree Frog

2011-09-01T14:40:00.010-04:00

Saw this little guy on an outing with my brother yesterday evening. The lighting was bad and my hands were shaky, so some of these pictures are out of focus. I wanted to share them anyway because the little frog was just so cute!

I think he had a classic case of "my eyes are bigger than my stomach". He was quite interested in the spider, but didn't make a move for him. It's a good thing - I'm not sure the frog would have won! They were about the same size.

Going for a Walk

2011-08-28T13:35:00.011-04:00

Tyler and I escaped to a nearby park to take a walk and enjoy the beautiful weather yesterday afternoon.

It's funny the things he notices - like one screw, out of a hundred on the bridge, that was sticking out too far, or the small sign on the bridge indicating the maxiumum acceptable weight, or the couple mostly hidden piles of dog poop left by negligent dog owners, or the partially covered drainage grate in the gravel walkway. How many times have I walked by all those things (except maybe the dog poop) and not even noticed them? Yet Tyler does, and he wonders if the loose screw will affect the bridge's stability or exactly how the grate works and why it was placed in that specific location, and why they had to put a weight sign on a bridge way out on a path that vehicles can't access. (He just thought it would be amusing to take a picture of the dog poop.)

The wheels never stop turning with Tyler. That's one thing I love about him.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon stroll. (Tyler took the bridge picture.) If you click on the picture of the dragonfly with the red body, you can see holes in his wings, which I thought was kind of cool. The brown dragonfly's wings look pretty tattered, too. For the record, it's kind of difficult to get good shots of dragonflies when the wind is blowing! It was a lovely breeze, though.

Butterflies

2011-08-24T23:45:00.006-04:00

1 chrysalis eclosed yesterday. 2 of them eclosed today. We released 2 of the 3 - a boy and a girl. (This is the male we released today. He was huge!) I think the 3rd butterfly has the butterfly disease OE, but I'm not sure. He was a rather sickly caterpillar. We found him curled up in the mulch one morning and put him back on the milkweed. Another time he kind of wandered away from it, like he forgot where he was supposed to be. His wings, abdomen, and proboscis are deformed. Thinking that he has OE, we wouldn't have released him anyway, but he can't fly or eat. I don't expect him to make it through the night. I know it's the way nature works, but it's kind of sad. Danielle enjoyed holding him, though.

We have one more chrysalis left, which I think will eclose tomorrow. Danielle is going to take it in to share with her class. Typically they don't eclose until a little later in the morning, so hopefully this gal will hold off until Danielle makes it to school!

While we were outside tonight, I noticed this bug on my lantana. It caught my attention initially because it looked like a wasp, but when I looked closer, I thought its wings looked more moth like. Thanks to my brother for the id - it's a peachtree borer moth.

Back to School

2011-08-23T22:11:00.016-04:00

Today was the first day of school. Our elementary school building is brand new this year, and both kids were excited about their teachers and classmates, so today wasn't as painful as it could have been. I started working part-time as the cashier in the Jr. High cafeteria today, too. It's been almost 10 years since I've "worked", so it was a big day for all of us.

Here is a picture I took yesterday of the new elementary school building. This is just a small portion of the beautiful new building. It is huge! It is air conditioned! It has security cameras and locks on the doors! Most classrooms are nearly twice as large as the classrooms at our old building...which doubled as a bomb shelter. I found it pretty amusing when the kids told me about someone throwing up down the stairs and in the hall today. When kids are involved, "new" doesn't last very long!

My 4th grader

My 2nd grader

We are now considered walkers. The kids have been looking forward to riding their bikes to school all summer. We had a bit of an issue with the bike helmets, though. Our kids always wear helmets, but they really didn't want to mess up their hair before their first day of school. Since they ride on sidewalks and the ride isn't too long, I agreed they could go without them on the way to school. I brought them with me when I met them after school and they wore them home.

Our annual back-to-school cake. Last year's cake is hard to top, so I didn't try. I didn't have as much free time today, either. Hopefully you can tell these are supposed to be books! Tyler could tell from a distance, so I felt like I was successful. (The top book is actually a brownie because Danielle doesn't like cake.) Our annual cake has become something the kids look forward to, and it's a fun tradition. It's one of those "mom jobs" that I really enjoy!

Speaking of jobs, mine went just fine. As odd as it sounds, I was actually excited about going in today. The kids aren't sure what to think about me having a job. At first they were disappointed I wouldn't be volunteering in their lunchroom again this year. Yesterday I asked Danielle if it would be easier or harder to go back to school knowing I wouldn't be home anyway. She said, "It will be easier because I won't be worried about you." I think it's sweet that she worries about me being lonely while they're at school. If she only knew. ;)

Vacation Pictures

2011-08-21T22:40:00.014-04:00

I meant to post a few beach pictures from our vacation once we got home, but I never got around to it. I don't have anything else to post tonight, so thought I'd share some of those pics now. Better late than never, I guess.

Balloons

2011-08-20T23:50:00.022-04:00

The neighboring town hosted a hot air balloon festival this weekend. We drove over late this afternoon to watch the balloons launch. We didn't actually pay admission and go to the festival. We hadn't planned to, but even if we had, the traffic was so bad we wouldn't have made it in time anyway. As it was, we made it to the place we intended just as the first balloon took off.

Although it was a cloudy and gray day, the balloons made a colorful scene on the horizon. This is another one of those times I was thankful for a zoom lens! There were some "normal", colorful balloons and some special balloons like a strawberry, football, soccer ball, and rocket. There was also a darth vader balloon, but it never made it off the ground. Unfortunately we only got to see the back of his head. The kids really enjoyed watching the balloons take off. After the balloons took off, a plane dropped 3 skydivers. The kids enjoyed that, too.

After we watched the launch, we went to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant to pass the time until the balloon glow. The food was good, and the tortilla chips were huge!

After dinner we went back to the same spot to watch the balloon glow, but it never happened. There were storm clouds in the distance, so we assume it was cancelled due to the weather. The kids were disappointed, but we had a fun evening anyway.

(Yes, we stood on the tracks to watch the balloons....along with lots of other people. No trains came.)

Another Bug Post

2011-08-19T22:39:00.007-04:00

I found this bug on my lantana plant yesterday. It looks like someone painted little white flowers on its wings. I was a little confused because it appeared to be drinking nectar from the plant but didn't have wings like a butterfly or moth. Turns out it is an ailanthus webworm moth, and they keep their wings rolled up when they are at rest. Isn't it pretty?!

Photo Sundries

2011-08-16T00:41:00.021-04:00

A peep

Changing

Summer storm

Snipe really do exist!

A "wild" caterpillar

Not a good picture, but yes, that's a woodpecker on my hummingbird feeder!

Making memories with Grandpa R

Sunset over the wetlands...which are almost dry now.

Chrysalis Time

2011-08-15T00:34:00.006-04:00

All 4 of our caterpillars are now in the chrysalis stage. We got to watch one of them make its chrysalis. We've seen it before, but it's still amazing to watch the transformation. Hopefully we'll get to witness one of them eclose again, too.

This was the last one to change. It made its chrysalis yesterday. Although it looks like you can see a wing, that's just the pattern in the chrysalis itself. Most of the chrysalis is empty at this stage. I'll post another picture when it's a little further along. I'm posting this pic full size. If you click on it, you can see all the detail, especially around the silk button.

Although this picture isn't as crisp, if you click on it, you can see enough details to determine if this butterfly will be a male or female. (If there is a vertical line in the segment directly under the bottom set of black dots at the top of the chrysalis, it will be a female. No line = male.) Can you tell?

Gone Fishing

2011-08-13T00:42:00.015-04:00

Ron and I did a bit of fishing while we were on vacation. The last time we fished from the beach (several years ago) we didn't need a fishing license, but this time we did. We bought ours online before we left. It was very convenient, and we could even set the start date & time.

We surf fished most of the time. I had a really good night on my birthday. After that, I didn't catch a thing. I did feed the fish a lot, though. On my birthday I caught a decent size Atlantic sharpnose shark. They don't get very big, maybe 4' for a large one. Mine was between 18-24". Tyler said he prayed that I would catch a shark. (I told him I'd really like to see an octopus next, but that prayer wasn't answered with a yes.) I also caught a stingray. It was HUGE. Several passersby got pictures of it, but I didn't. It was easily 2 1/2 ' across and felt like a log to reel in. I was amazed it didn't break my line.

The kids wanted to fish but found it to be too boring because the fish were biting so infrequently. Danielle "helped" Ron fish one evening and they caught a shark, too. She was really excited.

At various times during the week Ron also caught skates, stingrays, croaker, a mystery fish that we failed to get a pic of so we can't identify, and a gulf kingfish. He also caught several hardhead catfish. Early in the week while he was trying to take a catfish off the hook, he got punctured by one of the catfish's barbs. He said it was terribly painful, much much worse than a bee sting. It got red and angry looking as the evening went on, too. When we came in for the evening, we looked up information about it and found that there is venom on the barbs. Many times a puncture will require a trip to the ER. Ron soaked his hand in hot water for awhile, which was recommended on a couple different sites. We looked up the closest Urgent Care, said a prayer, and decided to wait until morning. When we woke up the next morning, the redness was gone. The area was tender to the touch, but it was a lot better. Phew! Later in the week another passerby told us she stepped on a dead catfish's barb earlier in the week. (It seemed that lots of people want to stop and talk when you're surf fishing.) It punctured her heel and got stuck all the way in her foot. She had to have it cut out at the Urgent Care. Ick!

The fishing pier had been rebuilt since the last time we visited, so we decided to try fishing from there once. When we first got there around dusk, the water was full of giant moon jellies. They were so pretty! I didn't have any luck fishing on the pier either. Ron caught a large barnacle covered shell, a couple croaker, and an Atlantic spadefish. Someone at the end of the pier told the kids he saw a hammerhead shark, but we didn't see it.

We primarily fished with frozen squid. Tyler wanted to try mullet, but nothing even nibbled on that. We had to buy fresh squid once, and that didn't work well either. Ron didn't like the fresh squid either. One of them inked him. Guess what...squid ink doesn't wash out. Now Ron has a beach souvenir, too.

Beach Craft

2011-08-12T00:46:00.010-04:00

I wasn't sure if the kids would be bored spending a week at the beach, so I planned a couple beach crafts just in case. Turns out they weren't bored, so we didn't do any of them except this one, which I found on Family Fun's website. We did this one more because we thought it would be fun. In hindsight, it would have been more fun if it hadn't been so hot. It was almost unbearable to sit out of the shade & water long enough to make the mold and put the shells in.
Here's how we did it:

Create a mold in the moist, compact sand just out of the surf's reach. The kids had a little trouble digging the mold, but I think a lot of the problem was that it was too hot to sit still that long. Tyler made a fish. Danielle made a heart.

Press shells and other beach treasures into the mold, face down. (The surface you want to see should be facing the sand, not you.)

Fill the mold with plaster of paris. We brought plaster of paris down with us, poured it into a beach pail, and mixed it by hand with ocean water.

Let the mold sit for 30 minutes or so before gently digging it out of the sand. Several hours after it dried I brushed the extra sand off and tried to clean it up a little.

I put wires in the plaster before it dried, thinking I could use those to hang the pieces, but the pieces are just too heavy. Now I'm thinking about using something like you use to display plates. Tiny bits of sand still fall off occasionally, so we are going to try spraying these with spray adhesive before displaying them.

Our homemade beach souvenirs!

Spa Day

2011-08-10T00:07:00.009-04:00

Danielle enjoyed her birthday gift from Mamaw & Papaw tonight - a little pampering at Sweet & Sassy. Thanks for a fun & glittery evening! :)

Happy Birthday, Danielle!

2011-08-08T21:57:00.008-04:00

Today is Danielle's "golden" birthday - she's 8 years old on the 8th. I wanted to make it special. I had good intentions of having a party when I first started thinking about her birthday several months ago. When the months whittled down to weeks, those intentions turned into thoughts of just inviting a couple friends over. Then, with vacation right before her birthday, I settled on hoping we could just do something nice together as a family. Well, vacations are expensive and tiring, so when I asked her what she wanted to do (and didn't have anything to suggest) she said she just wanted to stay home and stay in her pjs all day. I can appreciate that.

She stayed in her pjs until dinner time and only changed because she wanted to ride bikes with her friend. I honored her meal requests: Krispie Kreme for breakfast, quesadillas for lunch, grilled pizza for dinner, birthday brownies instead of birthday cake. We colored together, played cards together, watched a little tv together, and just hung out. It was a rather boring day, and I struggled with feeling badly about that all day. I felt like we should be doing something but nothing was what she wanted.

Tyler gave Danielle some small horses for her birthday. We got her some American Girl stuff, including a horse that happened to be 1/2 off when I was looking for gift ideas a few weeks ago! Hopefully it wasn't as dull a day for her as I felt like it was.

I can't believe she's 8. Both kids are growing up so quickly. I am proud of both kids, but since it's Danielle's birthday, I will brag about her for a minute. She is such a sweet, thoughtful girl who genuinely cares for others and tries to put their needs and feelings first. She is a good friend and very forgiving of those who don't always treat her the way she treats them. She has a kind heart. She is smart and creative and sensitive and fun to be around. She's strong willed and determined. She loves Jesus and wants to do what's right. She's beautiful inside and out, and we are so lucky to have her for our daughter.

Milkweed Visitors

2011-08-07T23:26:00.007-04:00

When we left for vacation, my milkweed was pretty much overrun by aphids and I wondered if it would survive. We returned to find fewer aphids but many of the leaves are covered in sticky aphid secretions. I also found several of these:

This is a ladybug larva. I've read that they sometimes eat monarch eggs and/or the first instar caterpillars, which is a con, but they also eat aphids, which is a big pro. I don't know if they just did a remarkable job cleaning up the aphids or if some of the aphids died off on their own. Either way, I'm glad to see the ladybugs. (As you can see in the background, they still have work to do!)

We also found 4 monarch caterpillars! And they are probably in their 4th or 5th instar already. That means we must have had eggs or 1st instar caterpillars before we left. I have a lot of milkweed and a lot of milkweed pests, so I guess I just didn't notice them. I noticed a couple holey leaves before we left but attributed it to the other visitors. Interestingly, almost all of the milkweed I have this year sprouted from seeds that must have dropped from my plant last year. The seeds survived the winter and sprouted where they landed. This stuff has the pink flowers, which is not my favorite. The stalks are thinner and more fragile than the kind with the orange flowers. My milkweed with the orange flowers did not go to seed before the frost last year. I ordered some seeds online and did plant a little of that this spring. If the aphids don't ruin the seed pods, I should get some before it frosts this year.

This guy still has a couple drops of water on him from our brief downpour this afternoon.

A Little Crabby

2011-08-04T23:30:00.015-04:00

Tonight we enjoyed fresh, local seafood for dinner. Ron loves the royal reds (shrimp) and has been talking about making some for as long as we've talked about coming back here for vacation. The kids really wanted to try some crab. So we drove away from the touristy areas to the area along the bay where the shrimpers, crabbers, & fishermen bring in their catches. We bought some live blue crabs and some royal reds. We also stopped by a local southern BBQ carryout for me since I don't care much for seafood.

The drive was a little longer than we had anticipated, and we didn't bring a cooler with us for the crabs. They double bagged the crabs in lots of ice, but we kept watching for movement all the way home. We made it without incident, though. In fact, the crabs were cold enough that they didn't move much before meeting their fateful demise in a pot of boiling water. I think the kids were hoping for a little more action.

The kids really liked the crabs. Danielle especially liked them and went back for seconds. She didn't even need her backup hotdog. Even I liked the taste (but I was still glad for the BBQ). Since the kids had just learned all about these crabs on our nature cruise earlier in the week, they felt the need to identify the sex of each crab. I was ok until Tyler said, "This one is a girl. See where she keeps her eggs." The insides of the crab were rather gross, too. I think I would have enjoyed the crab more if it was already shelled and served to me on a plate. Tyler tried the shrimp and said it was pretty good, too. Danielle and I declined, which was fine with Ron. It was a good experience overall. The kids were really excited about finding the food, cooking it, and trying it. We had a nice time together.

Our Nature Cruise

2011-08-03T00:04:00.013-04:00

I wanted to go on a dolphin cruise or something similiar for my birthday. When I started looking for tours, I found someone who offered a nature cruise instead. Since we have all seen dolphin before (we even swam with them once), I thought the nature cruise might be more interesting for the kids. It was suprisingly affordable, even including the little extra we paid so it would just be our family. The 2 hour cruise included oyster collecting, crabbing, and shrimping. At the captain's recommendation, we went on a weekday to avoid the heavier weekend boat traffic in the backwaters.

We had a really nice time. The charter was offered by an older man who has been doing this for 12 years. Prior to that he lived on his 48' sailboat for 10 years! He was very knowledgeable and kind to the kids. And of course he was friendly....he was from the south! The cruise was on his covered pontoon boat, so there was enough room to move around and a little bit of relief from the relentless sun.

We pulled up oysters and learned a little about them. We checked a crab trap and learned a little about the blue crab that was in the trap. The part we all enjoyed the most, though, was the shrimping.

They are only allowed to drag their shrimp nets for 18 minutes. While we were dragging the net, the captain's regular dolphin friend started following the boat. Feeding the dolphins is illegal, but the dolphins know the extras from the shrimp nets get scraped right back into the water. It was fun to watch the dolphin surface closer and closer to us. Eventually the dolphin was right next to the boat, which is much closer than we would have gotten on a dolphin cruise.

The catch from the net was dumped into the aquarium and from there the captain dropped net fulls on the trough for us to sort through and identify. We weren't allowed to keep any oysters or crabs but we could have kept the shrimp. We chose not to, but the captain kept several of the larger shrimp. We saw lots of neat little things - lizard fish, catfish, croaker, moon snails, jellyfish, 3 different types of shrimp, and various other little fish. My favorite was the squid. The dolphin waited at the bottom of the trough and ate some of the stuff we tossed back. He wouldn't go near the catfish, but his favorite also seemed to be the squid.

We had a very nice time. I think it would be fun to do an all shrimping trip the next time.

Turtles!

2011-08-02T00:55:00.010-04:00

Tonight we had the privilege of watching the sea turtle hatchlings emerge from their nest and scurry down to the ocean. It was so neat!

The kids spent a lot of time this afternoon/evening talking to one of the turtle volunteers. She was so patient and answered all kinds of questions from all the kids (and adults). They listened to more waterfall sounds of the sand shifting as the turtles hatched under the sand, and we knew it would be soon. Reluctantly we came in for a late dinner around 9. While we were eating, one of the volunteers called to let us know they were seeing movement in the nest.

We hurried back down and got there in time for the kids to see the first couple turtles poke their heads through the sand, then several others followed. I was standing a little further down, so I first saw them when they paused on top of the nest. After a minute or so, the scout headed out and then they all started scurrying down the path and into the trench the volunteers had dug to help guide the hatchlings to the water. They were so little (2 could easily fit in the palm of your hand) and their little flipper feet kept moving the whole time. They were easily distracted by any light, including cell phones, so we weren't allowed to have any flashlights on or take any pictures. The volunteers had red lights they used that allowed us to see the cute little turtles hustle down the trench. When they headed the wrong direction, one of the volunteers turned them around and set them back on track. It was amazing how quickly they moved. Once they got down to the water they fought to get out past the waves. Even in the dark we could see their little bodies floating back and forth with the waves.

It was such a neat experience. The kids loved it. Danielle gave several of them names as they hurried by. Tyler kept exclaiming about how precious they were. We felt so lucky to be a part of this.

There were 110 eggs in this particular nest. I didn't hear a final count as to how many hatched tonight. The volunteers knew how many eggs there were because they had to move the eggs from the original nest location. The female laid her eggs too close to the water, so the volunteers moved them back further where they would be safe. Loggerhead seaturtle eggs hatch in 55-75 days. (These were laid 55 days ago.) A female turtle doesn't usually lay eggs until she's at least 25 years old. They can lay eggs 2 or 3 times a nesting season (which is May - August, I think).

The volunteers return to excavate the nest 3 days after the first turtle emerges. We were told they usually find live turtles when they excavate the nest and were encouraged to return then to get decent pictures in the daylight. Since it's just a few houses down from where we're staying, hopefully we'll be able to catch them excavating the nest. I'd like to get a picture of all the little flipper tracks in the sand, too.

Here is a picture of the barrier and the nest before it hatched. That's one of the volunteer's towels and it was removed before the babies came out. There is also a slightly out of focus picture of the top of the nest. You can see where the sand had started to sink. (Tyler took both these pictures earlier this evening.) It will be difficult to top this vacation memory!!

A Great Start to Vacation!

2011-08-01T00:33:00.011-04:00

We arrived at the beach yesterday late afternoon. As soon as we finished bringing in the luggage, the kids had their suits on and were eager to get down to the business of vacationing!

We stayed out for quite awhile and finally went back to the house for a late dinner. As we were finishing our dinner, we noticed a crowd of people gathering near the stuff we left down on the beach. When we looked closer, we saw a sea turtle crawling up the beach! It was right behind the house next to us. It must have came out of the ocean right around where we had been playing.

As you can imagine, it was rather amazing to see the huge turtle crawl up the beach and start digging in the sand. (You can see her kickin up the sand in the last pic.) I don't think the pictures do justice to her size. We felt so lucky to get to see it. There were crowds of people on our section of the beach the rest of the night. The "turtle police" (as we like to call them) made sure no one made any loud noises or shined flashlights on her. When she was done and turned around to return to the ocean, they trapped her in an open top box and tagged her. They also did some bloodwork and other tests to check for any effects last year's oil spill may have had on her. They had her contained for a couple hours while they did their tests and allowed the epoxy on the tracker to dry. This morning more volunteers checked to be sure there were actually eggs in the nest (there were) and then roped off the nest area to keep it safe.

A couple houses further down on the beach is a turtle nest that is ready to hatch. Tonight the "turtle police" let the kids listen to the special instrument that detects the "waterfall" sound the sand makes as the turtles hatch and the sand shifts around them. There were several waterfalls, and we could see an indentation on the top of the sand in the middle of the nest. It could take several hours or even days for them all to hatch and begin to emerge from the sand. The "police" asked for our phone # and promised to call when the hatchlings begin to emerge so the kids can come watch.

Misc Nature Pics

2011-07-27T23:31:00.005-04:00

More Milkweed Visitors

2011-07-27T13:26:00.012-04:00

I've had a couple other visitors since I posted the other day.

Don't know what this is. It looked like a bee when it was flying but it doesn't look like one when it's sitting still.

A Japanese beetle, so interesting looking but so destructive

Another bumble bee, going about his bee business

Milkweed bugs - Suddenly I have a ton of them! See the vicious sucking "tube"?! Also very destructive.

Finally, a lone ladybug. Sadly, I think she's in over her head. Hopefully she'll invite some friends over for an aphid tasting party.

Vacation Prep

2011-07-25T22:48:00.007-04:00

We are eagerly anticipating our upcoming beach vacation. While looking for some beach craft ideas, I ran across Family Fun's duct tape beach bag craft. I thought the kids would enjoy the craft (who doesn't love duct tape crafts?!), and they could use their bags not only at the beach but to hold their special travel items for the long car ride.

If we hadn't used up all our duct tape for crafts awhile ago, this would have been a pretty cheap craft. Since I had to replenish our stock, I let them each pick out a unique duct tape color and I picked a neutral color to match. We started with a 16"x30" rectangle measured out on a kitchen trash bag that had been cut open & taped to the table. Tyler chose to make his stripes run parallel to the short side. Danielle made hers follow the long side. I can see how younger kids might have a hard time putting the tape on by themselves, but Tyler & Danielle did great. After all the tape was down, we cut the rectangle out and added (2) 2' lengths of cord to each short side, folding a small section over and taping it down to make a sleeve for the cord. We folded the rectangle in half and taped up the sides. Then we tied a cord from one side to a cord from the other side and repeated it with the other cords to create a drawstring. The drawstring is long enough the kids can wear the bags on their backs or over a shoulder.

The bags are really cute and feel like they could take a beating and still hold up.

Milkweed Visitors

2011-07-24T23:37:00.009-04:00

I've had lots of milkweed visitors lately...

Different varieties of flies

WAAAAAAY too many aphids (I just can't keep up with them. Was hoping that alien shaped bug on the left is a lady bug larvae, but I don't think it's the right shape/color.)

Bees and wasps

Even a young hummingbird

But still no monarchs!

We had eggs around this time last year, but didn't have any until early August the year before. Hopefully they're still coming. (And hopefully the aphids won't suck my milkweed dry before they get here!!)

Uneventful Update

2011-07-23T23:21:00.006-04:00

I have thought about blogging several times this week, I just haven't had anything to blog about! It has been extremely hot this week. With the heat index, the temps have been over 100* every day. It's just too hot to do anything outside, so we really haven't done much of anything worth writing about.

On Monday Mamaw took us to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. It's nothing like the book, but it's a very cute movie. (The book was really cute, too.) We didn't leave the house during the day on Tuesday or Wednesday. That's extremely rare for us. I actually managed to get my house clean, but it didn't last long. On Thursday we went to Donatos for lunch. The kids redeemed their summer reading program coupons for free pizzas, so lunch cost <$1.50 for their drinks. We saw Rio at the $1 theater. Although the movie has been playing there for several weeks, everyone else must have had the same idea. The theater was packed. That movie was really cute, too. I have to confess that I brought snacks from home. I did buy a pop for the 3 of us to share. It was the most expensive part of our day - $4.25 for 1 pop!! Believe me, if I could have smuggled that in in my pockets, I would have! After the movie we used some coupons we had to get free ice cream sandwiches at the ice cream stand in town. I got groceries on Friday. See how exciting our week has been?!

The kids attended VBS at Mamaw's church in the evenings this week. They really enjoyed it. Our church is charging $25 PER KID for VBS this year, so we've ruled that one out. They have gone with Mamaw the last 2 years and loved it, so we were going to go there anyway. By the time VBS was over and we got home each night, it was pretty late, so there was a lot of sleeping in this week, too. The VBS theme was Pandamania. That seems to be one of the popular themes this year. It looks like it was vaguely based off Kung Fu Panda's popularity. Although the mask is cute, I think Danielle looks kind of creepy with a panda face. And I wish someone would outlaw kazoos as VBS crafts or birthday party prizes. (Sorry, Mamaw. ;) The pandas on them were cute, though.)

This coming week we plan to go to the library, go swimming, possibly fit in an ice skating trip with one of Tyler's friends, and get ready for vacation. It would be nice if the heat would let up just a little. The kids are dying to ride their new bikes, and the near-by fishing pond was recently restocked. There's still so much to do before summer is over.

Blast from the Past - 2002/2003

2011-07-21T00:06:00.024-04:00

In my BC days (Before Children) I enjoyed scrapbooking. When I had Tyler, I bought a nice baby scrapbook to start for him. It is now nearly 10 years later and it's still sitting in the original bag in a storage container in a closet in the extra bedroom. I'm pretty sure it's been 10 years since I've scrapbooked anything, baby book included, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. So, I finally gave up the idea that I would get to it eventually and decided to make photo books online since all of our photos are digital anyway. I am making one book for every year. That adds up to a lot of books, especially since I'm getting such a late start. I'm just doing them a little at a time, though, and am buying them when there's a good sale or coupon. So how many do I have? Just one per kid so far. They are a hit, though. The kids enjoy them and I feel better about having actual photos in print of my children's first year of life.

This week I have been working on pictures from Tyler's 1st - 2nd birthday. He was soooo sweet! Here are some pictures I wanted to share.

New Bikes

2011-07-16T23:31:00.007-04:00

One of our kids' favorite pasttimes is riding their bikes. They haven't ridden much lately, though, because they've outgrown their bikes. Danielle's was especially bad. Although her seat was up as high as it would go, her knees were practically bumping her arms every time she pedaled. So we suprised the kids by taking them bicycle shopping today.

I say shopping, but we didn't look around too much. Ron and I did a little reseach online, found that Walmart was by far the least expensive, and narrowed down their options to only a couple choices. I can't believe some people spend $200 on a bike for a kid! Thankfully our kids don't care about that and were super excited over their choices. They both needed new bike helmets, so we got those, too. (Danielle's was held together with duct tape!)

They spent the evening happily riding around the neighborhood with their friends.

Butterfly Visitor

2011-07-14T23:33:00.008-04:00

A question mark butterfly visited my lantana plant tonight. It was quite a treat since I've never seen one in my yard before. Here are some pictures. If you click on the first one and look at its hind wing (you may have to enlarge it), you can see how these butterflies get their name.

Spray Park Fun

2011-07-14T00:44:00.011-04:00

Danielle has been talking about getting her hair cut for a few weeks. I told her she had to wait until baton and softball were over so it would still be long enough for ponytails with cute ribbons. :) Everything finished up this past weekend, so I took her to get it cut yesterday. Although it needs washed and brushed, it looks really cute.

She is a little more sunkissed now. Thankfully she doesn't seem to mind. Personally, I think she's beautiful and the freckles just complete the look.

Can't believe how much older the kids are looking. :(

Our Misadventure

2011-07-14T00:00:00.004-04:00

Have you ever had one of those days that just doesn't go at all the way you had planned? Today was my day. Ugh.

I had plans to take the kids to a new park downtown (like downtown in the "big" town, not here). Last week a super huge spray park opened in the park, and the pictures on the news made it look wonderful. I packed a picnic lunch, grabbed a BOGO coupon for ice cream afterward, and headed out for a fun new adventure. Well... it was an adventure.

When we got there, all the parking garages were full. There wasn't any metered parking or any other type of parking available. Traffic was bumper to bumper and at a stand still most of the time. It was miserable. We drove around looking for a parking spot for about an hour. At one point we passed the water park and were amazed at how many people were there. Bodies were shoulder to shoulder. It was crazy! I finally found a $5 lot that still had an opening, although it was several blocks from where we wanted to go. At that point the kids decided it was way too crowded to be fun anyway. So, we found our way back to the interstate and didn't look back. It was so frustrating. At one point both kids were in tears. (Danielle was disappointed. I hurt Tyler's feelings.) I was so disappointed.

We found a place to eat our picnic lunch and decided to visit the local spray park instead. We managed to fit ice cream in, too. But, when we got to the spray park, we discovered they changed their hours this season. They were closed from 1-3pm. Sigh.

The kids wanted to wait, so we waited. Finally, at 3pm, nearly 4 hours after starting out, the kids got to play in the water. They had a nice time, but it took awhile to get to that point!

I saw on the news tonight that there was a march by some children's group at the statehouse regarding the budget today. I am sure that's why things were so crowded everywhere. I just picked the wrong day for our adventure.

Later Tyler said, "Mom, I could tell you were really upset because you said a word you never say!" I cringed and tried to think what I might have said. Almost afraid to ask, I said, "What did I say, Tyler?" "You said, 'GOODNIGHT!' when that car wouldn't turn and people started honking at you. You never say that!" Phew. Thankfully that is about as bad as it gets here.

This & That

2011-07-10T23:17:00.007-04:00

Danielle's final softball game didn't go well in that we didn't win. Danielle did a great job, though. Her highlight during this game was making an out at 2nd. She's disappointed the season is over, but I'm sure we'll find something else to fill our time.

Here is a recent picture of Clara. She's looking a little over-grown at the moment since the techinical school where we started having her groomed is closed for summer break. She's such a good dog.

Danielle's baton group had an end of season award/pool party on Saturday. It was very nicely done, and the coach had a lot of nice things to say about each girl. Siblings were allowed to come, so Tyler took full advantage of the cupcakes and pool. It was a very nice afternoon. I can't say enough good things about our coach and our overall experience with twirling this season!

In anticipation of our upcoming vacation, I was looking at pictures of the last time we vacationed in Gulf Shores. We went there several years in a row until Katrina hit. We were supposed to go last year but changed our plans when the tar balls started washing ashore. Anyway, the last time we were there was May 2005. Here is a picture of the kids enjoying the beach. I can't believe how little they were!!!!

Temporarily the Only Child

2011-07-07T23:34:00.029-04:00

Tyler is enjoying his visit with Ron's parents. Ron's mom sent several pictures yesterday. This one was my favorite. I didn't hear from Tyler tonight, so I assume he's having too much fun to think of home. I'm glad.

While he's gone, Danielle has enjoyed being an only child. Yesterday she and I went ice skating. I have the blisters to prove I skated, too.

Danielle had her first tournament game last night. It's a single elimination tournament. We were the 5th ranked team and played the 4th ranked. Suprisingly we ended up run ruling them and won the game with a decent lead. Danielle had her best game yet with several great hits. She is so fun to watch. Tomorrow night we play the #1 ranked team in the semi-finals.

Finally, here are some pictures of Danielle in her baton uniform. I was hoping to get something to put with the rest of her sports photos. Maybe someday we will actually hang all those. Right now all those professional tball, soccer, football, basketball, & softball pictures are just sitting on a shelf in my closet. I suppose at the very least I can pull them out for the kids' graduation parties.

This & That

2011-07-06T00:33:00.012-04:00

Earlier in the week we went to visit my mom and deliver some flowers to my grandparents' and great aunt's graves. It's important to me that my children remember my grandparents and aunt. Even if their own memories of them fade, I want them to hear the stories of our family and be reminded of exactly what their lives meant to all of us because of the legacy they left us. While we were at the cemetery we visited the WWII memorial and talked a little about the sacrifices so many people made for us. The kids found my grandpa's name, and then Danielle decided to count all the people who died (just in that county). They at least pretended to be interested. I'm sure it all meant more to me than it did to them, but I was glad we stopped.

We had a wonderful 4th of July. Danielle's baton group tossed candy in the local parade Monday afternoon. It was just too hot to march and twirl. (The girl holding her head said Danielle hit her with a piece of candy when she threw one to Ron. Danielle said she didn't.) Tyler opted not to ride with the Cub Scouts and watched the parade with us instead.

Does anyone else feel like lecturing the folks who don't bother to stand when the honor guard walks by with the American flag?!

Danielle's baton group performed around 8pm that evening. This was her last performance for the season. They will probably start back up in October and begin working on a routine for our town's Christmas celebration. Baton has been a great experience, but it will be nice to take a little break from everything for a few weeks. (This picture is from the video clip, so it's a little blurry.)

We spent our afternoon/evening hanging out with some of our neighbor friends. (Danielle and I snuck out for an hour for her baton performance.) It was a very nice evening. We all have children who are around the same ages. The people who hosted organized games for the 16 or so kids. We ended our evening by sharing sparklers and glow sticks while we waited for the fireworks to start. It was a very nice day - one that left you feeling all warm and fuzzy when it was over. I can see why the 4th of July is Tyler's favorite holiday.

Here is our summer harvest so far. Danielle planted some beans in a cup at school. At the end of the year she brought them home and we replanted them. All of the sprouts died off except one, which has provided us with a total of 4 green beans so far. Tyler won't eat them, but Danielle loves them - raw of course. (My children won't eat cooked veggies.)

This is Tyler's week to stay with Grandma & Grandpa. He couldn't wait for his much needed "break from the family".

Danielle and Clara caught lightening bugs together tonight. Clara can jump a lot higher than Danielle, so she catches more. The drawback is that most of the ones she catches don't survive. (It's kind of cool to see her teeth light up, though.)

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-03T21:17:00.007-04:00

Summer Fun for Scouts Only

2011-06-27T23:25:00.006-04:00

Yesterday evening Danielle's GS troop had a summer get-together. It was a 4 hour event on a weekend night in the summer...and it was not a family event. See why I'm not crazy about that organization?! (One family didn't see that the scout could only bring 1 guest and actually came together. The dad and older daughter quietly slipped away when they realized they weren't invited.)

Anyway, Danielle really wanted to go but I didn't have anyone to watch Tyler. Not wanting to be "that mom" again, ahead of time I talked to the mom who was hosting the event and she told me I could bring Tyler to hang out with her older daughter. She is in Enrichment with Tyler and the two get along pretty well. As it turned out, I'm pretty sure Tyler had a better evening than Danielle did, and Danielle had a really good time.

The girls played games, ate dinner, played together, and sang songs around the campfire. They did not make the promised s'mores, so that was a bit of a tease. I enjoyed watching the kids play, though, and would say the evening went pretty well overall.

Softball

2011-06-25T23:51:00.011-04:00

Softball season is wrapping up. We have one more game next week and then regular season play is over. It has been a lot of fun to watch Danielle play. It took her a little while to get used to softball pitching (tball was overhand pitching), but she seems to have found her groove. She got on base 4 times tonight and only struck out once. The best part of all - she really enjoys playing.

Here are some pictures from tonight's game. Danielle played center field twice, third base, and catcher. (We only played 4 innings because we run-ruled the other team.)

Look at that grin!

Playing 3rd.

Running to cover her base.

Summer Fun

2011-06-24T23:51:00.016-04:00

Today we visited the farm. We have visited this farm several times before, including with each child's kindergarten class. (The link is to the first time we visited in 2007.) It is always a hit. It was cooler than usual today and we didn't have anything else to do, so I thought it would be a good day to fit in a visit. I was right!

We rented a "pony" for a 1/2 hour and I lead them around the ring. We fed the deer and visited the barn and played on the playground. The kids loved on the kittens and held the bunnies and giggled at the peacock's call. It was a very nice afternoon.

Horse Camp Pics

2011-06-24T00:13:00.010-04:00

This is the first horse Danielle rode this week. Her name is Oprah and she's huge.

Danielle and Cinnamon

The girls got a day camp patch and a horseshoe from one of the horses they rode this week.

Horse Camp

2011-06-23T22:16:00.004-04:00

Today was the last day of Danielle's horse camp. Danielle had a great time and really enjoyed everything she got to do. Unfortunately today didn't end well, though.

The entire week the instructors told the girls they would get to show their parents what they learned and would even get to ride for us on the last day. Danielle was super excited about showing us what she learned and talked about it all week. Ron rearranged his schedule and cancelled a couple meetings to be sure he could make it because it meant so much to Danielle. Then, yesterday after class, they told us we would only be able to come for a few minutes at the very end of class and take a picture of our child sitting on a horse - not riding or leading it or anything else. Just sitting on it.

Danielle was SO disappointed. I mean crying disappointed. So we tried to contact the farm or even Girl Scouts to make arrangements to come a few minutes early to watch her ride. We tried to do this because the GS made it clear in their camp information guide that parents are not permitted to stay to observe their child at any camp. No one had the farm's phone number, including the Girl Scouts who organized this camp. All the listed numbers for the farm had been disconnected. Try as we might, we just couldn't reach anyone. So, this morning I asked the instructor (who might be 18) what time Danielle would be riding and explained that Ron had already rearranged his schedule to be there to watch her ride. She told me and didn't seem to have a problem with us coming early.

When we got there, the gate to the parking lot was closed. (We opened it.) When we finally got back to the stables, the owner was in with Danielle's group and refused to let us watch. He was very rude and quite unreasonable, and finally told Ron that he was causing the girls to miss out on their instruction time. Ron is very even tempered and rarely gets mad, but he was MAD! I loved Tyler's unprompted comment afterward, "Wow! If I had talked to Dad like that I'd be in my room waiting for a spanking!"

Honestly, we didn't care so much about whether or not we got to watch Danielle, but we knew how important it was to her. We left to sit in our car until the designated time when we could photograph Danielle sitting on a horse (which we could do for about $4 - considerably less - at our zoo). While we were sitting there, we watched Danielle come out and could tell that she was crying. It was so frustrating.

Later, after the girls took turns getting their pictures taken, we noticed another girl had her head buried in her mom's side and was sobbing because she thought she was going to get to show her mom and grandparents what she had learned. It was such a sour way to end the week. There were other issues we had with Girl Scouts themselves beforehand, and I was disappointed with some of the misuse of time during this camp, but Danielle wasn't aware of any of that and was having a great time. Sadly, I feel like today cast a shadow on all that.

Despite our ending, Danielle confirmed her love of horses this week and became a lot more confident around them. She's positive she wants to do a full day week long camp next year and is hoping to get some money for her birthday to take a lesson that we can watch. Of course, we'll go some place else for those things! I will share some pictures from today in another post.

Sign of a Good Time

2011-06-22T22:15:00.001-04:00