Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Saturday

As mentioned before the younger 3 went over to G&G's while Sweet Pea, Dave & I worked at home. It was an excellent time to get some of those big projects done or at least make a big dent in them.

Davey's In Love
Dave bought a new steam cleaner at Home Depot. It was on sale for $50 less than Target's price or anywhere on the web for that matter. That was a nice surprise! We were going to rent one but all the places we used to go don't have them anymore. We know we will definitely get our money's worth. We certainly did out of our previous cleaner.

Who Thought It Would Be Such Fun To Clean Carpets?
I actually was the one to clean the living room & dining room carpets. Dave was practically breathing down my neck as I cleaned. Think he was a little excited to try out the new machine? I finally gave in and let him have a try. LOL!

Sweet Pea Moves the Table in Preparation for More Cleaning

Daddy in the Dungeon
That's what I call our basement. Sweet Pea took these photos of Daddy at work.



Mommy's Main Project
My main project of the day was painting the stairway both the trim & the rail itself. I knew this would be a job that is harder to do with little ones around. It took awhile to do, especially the spindles but it was well worth it.


Still Need to Finish
As you can see it used to be white. It showed every speck of dirt. We think the brown gives it a look that is more "wood-like" and makes the foyer look more elegant.

Reaching The High Places

All Set For Summer
While I was at my hair appt. Dave set up the air conditioner in our bedroom.



It was a very successful day


G&G's

After our day of working on the house we went to pick up the 3 youngest at G&G's. We stayed for dinner and hung out for a bit. Dad showed Dave & Bugs his garden but the black flies quickly drove the rest of us inside.

Playing on the Rock

Checking Out the Pond

Exploring With Daddy

Wrestling With Grandpa

Front Porch Clean Up

We're still cleaning up around here. Friday the project of the day was the front porch. We had cubbies to clean out with vinegar spray, shoes to clean out, winter items to store away, library books to sort, toys to put away and dirt to clean up. The biggest surprise were all the stray socks I found! No wonder the kids can never find their socks when it's time to leave the house! They are all on the front porch. Good grief!


A New Hat for Bugs

Cleaning Up
Everyone has a cubby and a bin to put their things in. I bought the dishpans cheap at Walmart. Everyone has their name written on them too. They are very durable & easy to clean.

Look How Tall I Am, Mommy!

Sorting Shoes

It's Felippe, Mommy! (From Handy Manny)



Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Fuzzy's Cocoon

Did I tell you we found Fuzzy? Well actually Tucker found Fuzzy a couple of weeks ago. Elvis found Tucker batting Fuzzy around and alerted us. Whew! I was amazed he was still alive! Sweet Pea put him back in his comfy box. This week he has started to spin a cocoon. Neat! Here are a couple of photos.


See him in the corner?

A Closer Look
According to the information I found on the web he will emerge as an Isabella Tiger Moth.

Tearing my Hair Out

Temp Insanity Day 2/19 It's one of those days with my kids. All but the youngest is driving me up a wall. What does it take to motivate them into being responsible? To do even one chore without being nagged to pieces? To sit down and stay sitting down for more than a minute to complete some written schoolwork? To stay out of what they have been told not to touch without permission? Sometimes I feel more like a drill sergeant than a mom or teacher. *big sigh* Both the girls have goals they desperately want to reach. Boo wants to "earn" a bird & S.Pea a hamster. These are big things for us to consent to. We made a deal that if they are responsible for a certain # of days than they would get these prized possessions. So far I don't think we've seen one full day from S.Pea and Boo started off with a bang on Sunday but that soon fizzled out.
What am I doing wrong? I just know I'm going to be bald before I'm 40. Face Plant



Dave's New Doo

Well, it was time for Dave to join the club. We all have had major haircuts in the past couple of weeks & Dave decided it was his turn. Years ago in an effort to save money on Dave's haircuts we bought some clippers at Walmart. His hair grows super fast & he was having to go to the barber every 3 weeks. That doesn't sound like much but when you are on a budget where literally every penny counts it adds up quickly. Last night we got out the clippers and it was buzz time!

Crazy Lady at Work!


He Looks Thrilled

My Good Looking Man ~ Love those baby blues!

Feeling the Breeze!



Monday, April 28, 2008

Field Trip to the Ecotarium

FINALLY! Our pictures from our field trip to the Ecotarium! Between having so many pictures I wanted to share, us being busy & Blogger having some problems it has taken me over 2 weeks to post these. I'm sorry. Be prepared as there are LOTS of photos! =)

We had a wonderful trip. The weather was forecasted as rainy but it was gorgeous. We felt very blessed. Boo wasn't feeling 100% and chose to stay at G&G's instead of going with us. We missed her a lot but didn't want her to have a miserable time so we allowed her to chose to stay. We plan to go back again so she can visit too.


Barn Owls
On the path up to the museum entrance are these owls and eagles. Neat!


Owl Diet

Eagle
At first I wasn't sure if this was real it stayed so still. It was still in the same exact position when we left hours later.

Celebrating!

Bugs LOVED the Turtles

Mr. Snake ~ See his shed skin?


Isn't He Cute?

Vogue!
I swear he was posing for me. Lol!

Dinosaur Tracks
This thing was cool. You pressed down on the end and it imprinted a dinosaur footprint. There were 4 to choose from.
Remember Dave's Last Meeting with a Moose? *shudder*
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THE CHILDREN'S CORNER





Making Dinosaur Tracks with Stamps

Bugs Enjoyed the Stamping
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Bugs had a little accident & in the midst of getting him cleaned up we discovered we had forgotten to pack him an extra set of pants. I ran upstairs to the gift shop and bought him a big t-shirt. He looked super cute running around in it the rest of the trip. It didn't bother him one bit & as it was quite hot in the museum, (actually uncomfortably so), I think he was the most comfortable of all of us. LOL.
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MORE DISCOVERIES
TURTLES!
This was the coolest thing. The turtles were in a tank & swimming around. I have never had the chance to see them swim like this. They are very graceful in the water. Bugs was mesmerized by the turtles!

Face to Face

Giving Kisses


MORE LIVE ANIMALS



No, He Wasn't Alive *wink*


A Brown Skunk

Porcupine ~ Sargent Pepper

Porcupine Skull ~ Look at Those Teeth!

Quill of an African Porcupine
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GOOFING AROUND in the AFRICAN CORNER
Posing Like the Animals





I Love This Photo


ONCE WE FINISHED EXPLORING INSIDE IT WAS TIME TO EXPLORE OUTSIDE




Dave said, "Bugs, do you see the owls?" This is his expression as he observed.

What a Good Big Sister

The Otter!
We were thrilled to see this little guy. What a fun creature!


After the museum we stopped at McDonald's for some ice cream & play time.







THE RIDE HOME



What a fantastic day!