Nothing Much

Nothing much or at least nothing exciting has been going on around here.  Our days are full of school work, tending to the too many animals we have accumulated and trying to keep sane. 

Speaking of animals, our rabbits (well, at least the boys) have become yard bunnies. Long story short, we'll leave it at that.  It is kinda neat seeing them run around the yard, and we don't have to feed them because we have plenty of grass for them to eat!  Don't know how long we'll have them as a friend said she could take them when they move in October.  They are becoming just another thing to take care of on my to do list.   The cats have taken to them.  Patches doesn't really bother them.  The just co-exist in the yard.  Toothless likes to run around and chase them.  Did I ever tell you all that we changed the kitty's name from Licorice to Toothless??  Maybe not.  He wasn't quite a Licorice.  If you've ever seen the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" and you've ever met Toothless (our cat, that is), you'll know why we changed his name.

(Pictured:  Patches and Buzz) 

This child of mine amazes me.  She is a creature-loving child!  There isn't a newt, toad, frog, cat, dog, horse, SNAKE this girl wouldn't love to hold or explore!  One of her favorite subjects is Science.  She informed us ignorant folk that there is a difference between bugs and insects.  Did you know that?

Last week before some friends of ours went back to school, we met them at the park for the afternoon.

 Nothin' like being entertained with a plastic cup . . .

and some Red Light, Green Light! 

And now I introduce you to the newest member of the two-wheeled bike riding club . . . Madison!

Two weekends ago now, she learned how to ride her bike without help.  So far she's only ridden in the front yard on grass.  It's probably a good thing since she's already flipped over the handle bars!

Last weekend, I came home after being out most of the day.  Daddy had the two younger kids with him while he worked outside.  For some reason I had the camera out and all three kids were together.  Always looking for an opportunity to get a picture of the three of them together -- as you can tell, it didn't work out well this time either. 
 

Attempted a picture of just the girls since the "sister" frame in their room has a picture from when Madi was about a year old!

Zaya didn't want his picture taken and thought if he closed his eyes I couldn't take his picture!

Well, I guess that bike riding part was a bit exciting, but other than that we are just trying to get a hang of this homeschooling thing!

What We've Been Up To Post 3,453

I feel like I do this kind of post often -- a hodgepodge of everything going on -- because I don't have time to post every happening individually. So here it goes!

We've been super busy. I've worked one day a week with Rick for a couple weeks now plus worked a church a couple days. Let me just say I don't know how working moms do it! One day a week just about puts me in a tailspin!

I have been able to get a few things accomplished . . . We finally got Makenna's room moved around since Madi moved out in (cough) November. In my defense, Madi's bday in November, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's just all run together and leave little time for projects. Here's what we ended up with. Financially, we were limited to moving things around and picking up a couple odds and ends. We had to get a hammock to hang up all her stuffed animals, so if any of you (grand parents) think she needs another one, here's proof she doesn't! She loves horses. I'd love to redo her room to reflect a grown-up girl theme like the horses, but this vinyl horse on the wall will have to do for now. She has quite a few horse toys that I'll probably move over to the bookshelf to display.

We'd like to get another mattress to replace Madi's, so we can put hers back on the bottom bunk. For now, we'll just laugh hysterically when Patches tries to walk over to the basket where he naps and falls through the rungs under the sheet.

We're waiting for the mirror to be repainted that goes with her dresser. Makenna's new bean bag chair also doubles as Elizabeth's bed (her American Girl Just Like Me doll she received for Christmas).

This girl loves her artwork. I'm thrilled she purged some of her toys and "junk" when we cleaned out her room. Would like to come up with a way to neatly display all her pictures though . . . so proud of her that she's kept her room neat for the most part. I actually took these pictues a couple weeks after the project was completed.

We've been stuck inside due to snow and cold weather. I think it's starting to affect us. What do you think?

Poor Patches is about ready to go stir crazy with no one / nothing to chase. He's pretty much been in the house since the beginning of December. Last year he was in for a month during the coldest temps, but we've only had a couple days that barely topped out at the freezing mark. This week it was -6 one night!

But maybe being stuck inside is a good thing . . . I let the girls ice some cookies and actually served them to company which goes against every bone in my perfectionistic body! They had fun, and I got over it without much therapy! =)

For those of you out-of-towners and non-football fans, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been doing well this year. We've had people at our house for almost every game this season. We survived the playoffs (some older folks not as well as the younger folks), and now we're headed to the SUPERBOWL!

These may or may not be the aforementioned "older folks" watching the post game after we won the AFC Championship.

Here's (most of) the gang discussing the Superbowl Party! Can't wait!

Random Photos

I was looking thru some photos yesterday and decided to put a couple of them on the blog. In no particular order from various dates . . .

Madison painting a piggy bank she received at her birthday party.

Makenna was lying on the couch because she wasn't feeling well and Patches jumped up to be with her. He must know he's her cat.

Isaiah still loves his "ractees"! This was after Christmas when he acquired a few more tractors.

We've had over 12" of snow. The girls love to go out and play in it, but it has also been bitter cold. I did let them go out once. They had a great time.

Don't know why, but they feel the need to clear off as many surfaces that they can.

Isaiah and his (lactose-free) ice cream with "GO STEE-RS" (Steelers) black & gold sprinkles. Can you tell the kid LOVES ice cream?!?

Momma has given in and let the cat in on the really cold night. I'd say he enjoys being warm and cozy inside.

The Butterflies & Their Great Release

On Day 11, we had emerging butterflies in our little nature adventure. Four out of the five made it out okay, but we did have one fatality.


We saw the one on the top left trying (being the key word) to crawl out of its cocoon. The others were much quicker about it and we didn't have the time to watch them emerge one by one. You can probably tell the coloring of the one I mentioned is much darker than the others. I believe it had problems from the beginning. For those of you wondering, the mother in me did kick in and I tried to save it by helping open the cocoon with a couple pair of tweezers. However, the chicken in me came out when I realized I had no idea what I was doing and that I could possible pull wings off or it could release quickly and come flying at me! My philosophy: 4 out of 5 ain't bad. (In case you are wondering, the "red" non-bloody substance is something they secrete while releasing from the cocoon.)


The butterflies were a little crinkly when the came out (as you can kind of tell in this photo). Within 5 minutes or so, the looked perfectly normal.


The white thing you see on the right is a scrunched up piece of tissue with sugar-water on it. The instructions said the butterflies prefer carnations but tissue will work. Um, I don't get flowers, even cheap carnations. There's no way I'm buying flowers for a temporal insect. (Not that I didn't look for a floral arrangement at the store that happened to have a few carnations in it. We can all suffer for the cause within reason.)

It was difficult to get a good photo of a butterfly with its wings open. You've probably noticed that the outside of the wing is very neutral colored. The inside was beautiful. My shutter wasn't fast enough to catch the inside but this once. I even set it on continual shots and didn't get a good pic.

Just hangin out -- I just want to say "the 3 amigos" when I see this photo.

Momma got tired of feeding the butterflies and them taking up space on my counter, so it was time for them to go , um, I mean time for them to be released into their natural habitat. Besides one of them (who we affectionately named "Flippy" because he was spastic and was flipping out all the time) was begging to be released. I'm pretty sure he was the one that escaped when I opened the top the slightest bit to take a few pictures before we let them go.

Each of the girls were able to hold a butterfly for a couple minutes before they flew away.

Madi's little friend stuck around for quite a while. She'd put it on a plant for a little while and come back to play some more. It made her day. I think that one was rather docile and may have not been healthy. The next morning she found him on the plants where we had put it the day before. Not sure if it was too cold or if something was wrong with it. She brought it in and wanted to hang it up in her room! We did press it in some waxed paper. I'm trying to find a clear box or a biology display to put it in. Anyone know what I'm talking about and know where to get one?

This picture cracks me up -- what you can't see is our cat coming closer and closer to Madi. One day while the butterflies were still in their garden, I placed it outside to give them fresh air (and to get them off my counter). The cat came up on the back porch and was batting at the butterflies. Madi looks petrified that Patches was going to jump up and try to get her butterfly. I asked Makenna to put Patches in the shed until the butterflies all flew away. Another tragedy averted!

Brrr! Fall is definitely here!

The temperature in NW Pennsylvania has dropped over the last few days assuring us that fall is here! We've noticed a slow turning of the leaves this week (which we are thankful for -- last year they changed very quickly and all fell off after a bad rain storm). I'm not quite ready for temperatures in the 50s, but I guess I better start digging out warmer clothes because it's here -- ready or not!

Yesterday after I came home from shopping, Patches climbed up on the hood of our vehicle and warmed himself. He even took a warm bath!

Tonight the kids wanted to go outside and play on the swings, so we bundled them up and headed outside.

Zaya likes to climb up the slide, but he was having a hard time since his pants were a bit slippery.

Who said these boots weren't made for climbing?? Madi made it to the top as Daddy and Zaya looked on.

Makenna didn't have such effortless results, but she finally made it! (The girls were too lazy to put there tennis shoes on, but it made for a few good laughs.)

Daddy decided to play around with Zaya . . .

. . . the girls saw and each wanted a turn!

I'm sure next summer will be a blast out on the swingset. Isaiah loves to go on the slide, but he needs help since he can't climb up the steps yet.

Daddy decided to join in the fun of climbing up the slide, but Madison didn't think it was too funny.

Crazy 'Round Here

This summer has been a whirlwind for us and these last few weeks were no exception. We knew in May we had a lot planned, but I guess you don't know how crazy it will be until you live through it! We have vowed never to plan that much again. We had fun and it was exciting, but it bordered on not being fun since we were so busy. All in all, I'm glad we made many memories and that I have pictures to prove it.

Makenna did well with school. Her only complaints were that she didn't get a big and a little recess (I think her First Grade teacher used to take them out for 5 minutes to release some energy - hence the little recess) and that she didn't have snack time (again, something they did in First Grade since they had a later lunch slot). Here is a picture of her school friend, Shelley, from the school Open House last week. The picture of the flag and Eagle are a compilation of all the student's school pictures strategically placed to create an overall picture. It was on display at the Open House.

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Last Wednesday in a last ditch effort to get some moms and kids together before school started, we met at a local park to have lunch and let the kids play. All but 3 families present are homeschoolers from our church, and there was about 50 people there. The kids had a great time, and it was good for us moms to fellowship for a while.

Picnicking

Madi making sand pies. Makenna and a few of her friends.
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We had run a few errands before attending Open House on Thursday, and we ended up with some extra time. So we stopped by a nearby park that we had never been to before. The kids were thrilled to get out of the car and play!

Isaiah was fascinated with the wood chips. He didn't seem bothered that he was getting dirty -- I guess that's the boy in him -- it's a first for me since the girls didn't like being dirty.

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Saturday was the first weekend in a long time that we didn't have "plans". We just played with the kids, cut grass and did housework. What an enjoyable time together as a family! These pictures make me laugh. Madi is a little mommy and has to tell everyone what to watch out for and explain all the rules. She was telling us that we aren't supposed to eat or touch these berries because we could get sick and they will stain us. (A little side story . . . yesterday she had some red kool-aid. She keeps calling it "stain juice" because I'm always telling them to be careful not to spill because it will stain. Madison always makes me laugh. I'm not quite sure if it's her personality or that she is 3. Recently we went to Taco Bell, which she affectionately calls the Ding-dong Place because of the bell she sees on their sign. We keep asking her questions knowing the answer will be kool-aid, Taco Bell, etc. just to hear her say it her way.)

Zaya still loves to ride on Rick's tractor. I love to see him spending time with his Daddy. The girls also took some time to spend with Daddy. He loves to tease them, so they decided to gang up on him.

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Good old Patches . . . he's such a loving pet. He still possesses kitten-like tendencies and loves to run, play and jump around. Yesterday, we received our first trophy. I looked out the window while working on dishes to see Makenna carrying a dead chipmunk up to the back porch. (Eeck!) I explained to the girls that cats are predators (in not so big words) and told them never to touch anything dead after which we had a hand scrubbing session!! I'm sure this is only the beginning of dead things ending up on my porch.

PS: Had some problem with formatting. My spacing between paragraphs wouldn't take, so I inserted lines to break between stories.