Sickos

About a week before Dave and I went on vacation (and Dave's stepmom and halfsister came to watch the kids), the kids came down with colds. Children can look so miserable when they are sick, can't they? At the same time, I was silently thankful for the relative calm that sickness brought to the house. All the kids wanted was juice and Cheerios and fruit and videos, which I gladly gave in to. As I type this, the sickness is a far off memory and all is well once again. Another thing to praise: healthy children that bounce back so easily from illness.



Timothy felt miserable. All he wanted to do was suck on his fingers and cuddle with his blanket, A.K.A. "Soft One". I would have given that look, too, if someone took my photo when I felt like that!



All Rachel wanted to do was suck on her sippy cup. She wasn't too fond of the juice inside, though...






Rachel giving a smile. :)

Need a Better Deal on Auto Insurance?

I think I might be able to help. ;) We caught this guy right outside our front door. When Dave picked him up, he was a medium tan color. After we put him in the glass jar, he turned a bright green! It took less than 15 minutes for him to change. We were amazed-we didn't know that they turned colors. What a bunch of Yankees! The kids all wanted to keep it, but we decided we had better let him go, as he would probably die inside there with no food and not much air. I think I heard him say an accented "Thank you!" as he took off into our bushes out front...

When Will It Be Winter?

These are sights from our backyard this past December 2008. Now, don't hate us. Take comfort in the fact that the air force sends us where it wants to and we'll probably be freezing our bums off next winter as you all are as I type. For now, though, we'll take what sunshine and warmth we can get! :D



Rachel horsing around and Timothy emerging from the boys' "secret cave" they found in the backyard.




Rachel sits just like I used to as a baby.




Matthew showing off interesting berries he found on some bushes (yes, we warned them all NOT to eat anything outside!)









Rachel loves to hug things. :)

Flower Pot Farmers

Since we don't have our nice, big garden anymore (boo hoo!!) to grow yummy things in, we have to resort to using mama's flower pots. This time, the kids took some dry pinto beans and planted them. They grew like crazy! We had a string trellis for them to grow on (I think I posted photos of that before). Then, harvest time came and all the kids circled around Dave very excitedly to see what was in the pods. It was fun for all!




Here are some homegrown pinto beans. Note the "watchful eye" of Timothy!



Matthew carefully opening a bean pod.



Timothy opening his bean pod.



Stephen and his prize bean!

Random Kid Shots...

Timothy rubbing Rachel's hair, which usually leads to this...








Silly Stephen!




Matthew and Stephen hamming it up for the camera...

Larry, Moe, and...

I just LOVE Rachel's curls. I really hope she doesn't lose them. I think I might cry! :)

The Helper Elf

Rachel is getting more and more to be a big helper around the house. She helps pick up toys, grabs a kitchen towel and cleans up messes on the floor, and helps sort laundry.

I am so thankful for all her little "helps" every day. :)

Slimed

The Indian stood no chance...


On a rainy, dreary day, I found a long-ago, tucked away recipe that brought a good hour of joy to the kids. Slime. Dyed with a ton of food dye and made with a secret ingredient: psyllium powder.

I had a tiny bag of it on hand for a raw food recipe for pumpkin pie- an experiment I have still not braved. So, I decided to use it for the slime experiement. It worked great! It just doesn't store well (which I learned, unfortunately, the hard way...)

Unless you have gone to a health food store and purchased the powder (like I did), the name you will find it under is Metamucil. Yes, you read that right. Metamucil. Just don't think about it too much and all will be well. :D

Kid Shots

Every once in awhile, the kids like to ask if they can take a photo on my camera. I usually let them, at least if I am right there with them. It is always interesting to see how it turns out.

The Spectator

Rachel was the only fan in the stands during the boys' race car driving. Well, I was there, too, but I was the photographer. That doesn't count...

She was actually quite annoyed that the car chased her around, and swatted it each time it got near her. I think the last picture says it all. She needs a little white flag to raise! :D






I LOVE those curls!!

New Finds

Matthew has wanted a remote control car for who knows how long. Last weekend, we went to a ton of yard sales and Dave came across this roadster. :) We got it home, dutifully charged up the battery for a few hours and when the kids woke from their naps, decided to test it out in our driveway.

There was just one problem.

The rotten thing only goes backwards and side to side, but not forward! :( Trying to make lemons into lemonade, I casually remarked that they can pretend the back is the front... They honestly could not care at this point, 1. because they are young enough to not care and 2. because it zips around and makes noise. For any little boy, that is about all it takes.

What more do we expect for $3? ;)

















The car didn't want to stay in the driveway!