Recent "Highlights" In Photos

 You never know where you might see Spiderman next!

SO thankful our new house has a nice view of the sunrises and (pictured) sunsets. 

Makenna cashed in her gift certificate she received at Christmas for a beautiful manicure. 

This is the current project we have on the game table. 

First night's progress -- sort end pieces and assemble. 

Most recent photo a couple weeks later -- we had to put the puzzle away for company last week.  Haven't brought it back out yet.  Probably a good thing as Daddy and Mommy tend to spend too much time there.  We've set time limits for ourselves. 

Toothless tries to help too.  Although I usually notice missing pieces when he's done.  He just likes to knock them on the floor. 

Speaking of . . . we purchased collars for the cats.  Don't know that they'd venture too far from home, but just in case.  (Side note:  I think the cats are holding a grudge against me since I took them away from their home.  They rode with me to the new house.  They honestly do not come near me much and usually run away when I try to pet them.)

I couldn't have a post without including all my kids.  This is precious Madi with her new doll, Avery, in the matching pjs from Gramma.

Don't know if you've ever heard of Pinterest, but I've recently jumped on the band wagon.  I've found lots of ideas from crafts and science projects for the kids not to mention a lot of decorating ideas for the house!  I'm pushing for definition #2!  Can't wait to start putting my "pins" into action.

Because Memorible Things Aren't Supposed To Happen Right Now

This is just how life goes.  We haven't seen a deer in our yard for months and months, but sure shootin' as soon as I turn my camera in for repairs, boat loads of them show up! HA!

Yesterday a few deer showed up further down the driveway.  I called the kids to come look as soon as I saw the deer.  After I gathered the kids and went back to look myself, I saw Toothless was sitting right in the middle of them all.  What was too hillarious is that he bolted after a while and scared off the deer!

Please enjoy the lovely cropped cell phone quality photo.  Seriously.  Sorry.  It's the best I can do under the circumstances.

This morning the kids yelled "Mom, the deer are back!"  They were way closer this time.  We hadn't let Toothless out of the shed, so he didn't get to have any fun. 

We only saw two deer at first, but after a couple minutes a third deer came walking out from behind that clump of trees.

A couple weeks ago, the kids were playing with those sticky slap hands.  You know the ones . . .

Yes, those are the ones.

Anyway, sticky slap hands have left numerous hand prints on my ceilings.  Fortunately for the kid's sake, we are going to painting the ceilings soon!  The kids were told not to stick anything to the ceiling for future reference.

Yesterday, the girls were quietly doing schoolwork and Isaiah was no where to be found.  I walked into the livingroom to find Isaiah's favorite pet shark attached to the ceiling!  He must have bolted once the shark got stuck.  It was actually very humorous at the time, and it still makes me laugh when I think about it.  (I'm living on very little sleep, so you'll have to bear with me.)  The first thought that came to mind was that even this ferocious shark couldn't handle the stress and chaos around here and hung himself from the ceiling! HA! 

It was funny at the time.  You'll just have to trust me.  Yesterday was actually a pretty calm day.  The girls finished school by 2:00 which is a record lately.  {SIGH}  Don't know if it will last, but I'll enjoy it one day at a time if it does.

Well, life is calling.  It's 12:06, and I'm sure the children are almost turned into dust as lunch is supposed to be at noon on their time clock, and I'm running late!

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!