Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I Heart Faces: Silhouettes

I decided to join in the I Heart Faces Challenge this week. This week's theme is silhouettes.

Swinging on the tree swing at Nana and Pa's is a favorite for our kids. Many hours have been spent flying high on that swing.



Check out all of the other silhouette entries by clicking on the box below!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

When Kids Go Camping

My parents took the kids camping this weekend. To say that they had a great time, would be an understatement. They did not want to come home. But, come home they did, and along with the dirty kids, came all of their dirty laundry.

Laundry is always an interesting thing in this house. The list of things that I've found in my washing machine and dryer is a mile long. So, this morning when I was switching over a load of laundry from washer to dryer, I wasn't completely surprised when two snail shells fell to the floor.

I quickly called out, "Who put snail shells in their pocket?"

Grace replied, "Oops! I did. Uncle Dave and I found them on a trail, so I put them in my pocket. They were still alive." Then she asked, "Do you think they are still alive?"

"Probably not," I told her as I laid them down on the kitchen table, "they've just been washed in the washing machine."

About twenty minutes later, as I walked through the kitchen, I screamed when I saw a trail of slime going across the table, leading to one of our UNdead snails.

The kids immediately went to work googling "snail care" and gathering the neccessities for having a pet snail. So meet our new pet, Jesse.



**UPDATE**

As I was publishing this post, Abby came running in yelling, "It's awake!! It's awake!!"

I asked her, "Oh, did your snail come out and see his new home?"

To which she replied, "No! The other snail on the table...waked up!!"

So, meet our other new pet, Sandy. He/She is not dead, just shy.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Top Garage Sale Finds of the Week

New, in-the-box patio table to replace our table that was shattered last week during harsh winds - $20

New, in-the-box ceiling light for the kitchen -$2

Cinderella dress, angel wings, halo, princess wand, Dora backpack with accessories, big beaded bracelet, three purple necklaces, and a pair of Skechers light up shoes - $4

Abby enjoying her garage sale finds - Priceless!


(Click on picture to enlarge)


I decided to participate in Today's Thrifty Treasures over at Southern Hospitality. This is my first time participating and I'm sorry that I don't have photos of the table and the light. However, it's obvious that the best finds of the week are pictured up above! But, I'll make sure to take pictures of my garage sale/thrift store finds from now on!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Piano Recital

Grace had her first piano recital last night. She played wonderfully!

There was something about seeing her up there that made me get all teary eyed. And it made her Daddy get pretty choked up, too. Maybe it was the visual reminder of how quickly she is growing up. Are we really sitting here watching our little girl play the piano before this large group of people? Or was it how she bounced up on to that stage with such confidence (even though we knew she was a little nervous), played her piece with clarity and without hesitation, then walked away from the piano with a beaming smile? Then again, maybe it was the little flashes forward to the many, Lord willing, recitals to come; knowing that this is just the beginning and picturing her all grown up, playing even more eloquently than she played last night.

Yes, all of this was going through my mind during the, oh, approximately 35 seconds that she was on that stage. In trying to keep the program from running too long, the students were allowed to play only one song; for Grace, and many others at this time, their repertoires only contain songs with very few measures. So, it was a rather quick showcase of what she has learned over the last six months. However, it was definitely long enough to fill her Momma and Daddy with an overwhelming amount of pride, joy, hope, and love.

Bravo, Gracie! Bravo.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Swimming

The kids begin their swimming lessons next week. They're excited about getting back in the pool. Abby is constantly asking when she is going to go to her swimming 'yessons'. I'm hoping to be able to spend a lot of time in the pool this summer, like we did last summer.

Here's a little video of the kids swimming, last summer.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Dirt


Around here, another sure sign of spring is...dirt!
There's dirt...
...on faces.
...under little fingernails.
...on knees.
...on bottoms.
...covering the kitchen floor.
...in a ring around the bathtub.
...on the bar of hand soap.
...in the kitchen sink.
...on my 'good' towels.

It's spring time, there's dirt everywhere...and I'm lovin' it!


Thursday, March 26, 2009

Pizza and Pins Party



We decided to have Grace and Jacob's birthday parties together at the bowling alley, last Saturday. Along with all the grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, they both got to invite a friend to come along. We had pizza, pop, cupcakes, and lots of bowling. I was surprised by how much work it was to keep things going and was worn out by the end of it. To think that I had come up with the idea to have it at the bowling alley, instead of our house, to make it easier on myself. Hmmm...my little plan backfired on me! Ha! But, as crazy and hectic as it was, we had a good time.



Paco and Grandma decided to bowl some, too. It had been many, many years since either one had bowled. Paco, having had his heart surgery back in December, did wonderfully rolling the ball down the lane. However, Grandma showed him up a little (well, all of us, actually) when on her first ball, she rolled a strike!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Geocaching with Nana and Pa

To end our busy St. Patrick's Day, we met Nana and Pa for some geocaching at the park.

Pa leads the way.


LOVE


Everybody jump!


Us.

A great end to a beautiful day!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A little St. Patrick's Day fun for breakfast.



I made shamrock pancakes with little 'pots of gold (coins).' Yes, banana slices as gold coins are kind of lame, but I was trying to keep it fairly healthy!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Signs of Spring


Daffodils and crocus in full bloom
Little girl spring dresses hanging to dry
More time being spent playing at the park

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Geocaching

With the beautiful weather that we've been having, we've been trying to enjoy the outdoors as much as we can. Waking up to a gorgeous day on Saturday, we decided to spend the day geocaching.

If you don't know what geocaching is you can read more about it here. In brief, it's basically a treasure hunt using GPS. People hide little 'caches' in all sorts of places, then they post on the internet the longitude and latitude coordinates of the hiding place. Then, we put the coordinates into our GPS and set out looking for the hidden cache. The cache usually has a log book and some little, inexpensive trinkets/toys, that the kids can swap out with one of their own little toys.

It's a wonderful way to get outside, enjoy nature, and get some exercise. It makes hiking even more exciting for the kids because they know that there is going to be a 'hidden treasure' to find.

Here are some photos from our adventures this past Saturday:

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

And the days go by...

I've been horrible at keeping our little blog current. I'll try to do better with it because I know there are some family members out there who would like their fix of stories and pictures of the kids. Hehe!

The last two months have been rather uneventful...which is a good thing. We've just been busy with day-to-day activities and our homeschooling. We've also been enjoying the little breaks in the frigid weather, which allow us to get out and play a little bit.

As you all know, we're in our birthday 'season' here, so that keeps us busy. It's hard to believe that our baby is now FOUR! I took a little photo walk down memory lane and made a little video to celebrate the past 4 years with Abby...I mean, Sweetheart. Yes, she still insists that we call her Sweetheart. :)

So, here is a quick look back on four years with our little Sweetheart.