Polliwog

The other week, after some rains, we went on a hunt for tadpoles.  We had seen some in a puddle in our neighborhood, but wanted to locate one not so close to the road.  Thus our hunt began.  We got very muddy and wet; and saw a giant dead snake, but not one tadpole.

There has to be one somewhere!

 Keep looking

 This is getting old

 Defeat

So we went to a different locale - a local park that is essentially a muddy trail through the woods next to a fast running creek and around a giant pond.  We love this park, but it has its hazards.  We saw lots of frogs jumping into the pond as we walked by, but no tadpoles yet.

A little story: Ryan and I were leading the way down the path with the kids trailing behind.  We walked over a wide earthen bridge (covering a large drain pipe) that had no railing and dropped several feet into the pond.  Well right when I walked over the bridge, I had the thought pop into my head that I should turn around and wait for Rose to cross.  Right when I turned around, watching Rose come to the bridge, she wasn't looking where she was walking and walked right off the side and started sliding down the steep bank that dropped off to the water far below!!  Ryan was closer (he turned around when I stopped to wait) and screamed and grabbed her on her way down.  Now I'm sure had she fallen, we would have been able to quickly rescue her, but it would have been terrifying for her (and us).  That little girl has angels watching over her, I am sure!

In the end, we went back to our original sighting, caught one tadpole the kids named Jeffrey, which Ryan killed when he tried to change the water :(

Highwood General

A few weeks back, continuing with our money unit, the kids and I set up our very own general store.  Elizabeth (Claire) was proprietor.  She later hired James (William) as her stock boy and assistant.  

 The store was complete with all things old-fashioned, even the prices weren't bad!

But what's a store without some customers?  Enter: me.  My elder sister taught me well in all things theatrical.  With the help of a dress-up box and some very fine accents, I was able to assume the roles of:
*Martha Jane, a country woman
*Rich lady, complete with velvet gloves and sounded just like Catherine Hepburn, Dahling!
*A Princess (I had to wear my wedding gown for this, it was slightly immodest as I couldn't zip it up over my guns) who beat up the snobby rich lady and stole her purse
*Gypsy named Bertha who tried to steal everything under her shawl
*Jim Bob, an old country man
*Old blind lady (I can't remember her name) - I went in with my eyes closed, knocking everything over, the kids were in hysterics

at this point, I was running out of useful costumes and getting to the dregs of the dress-up box, so....

*a scary ghost names Duke
*a nice ghost who was a bit of a klepto
*a delivery guy who brought everything bought back so the kids could restock the shelves

and a few more characters I can't remember.  All in all, I think there were 15 customers.  Each time I came around the corner, the kids had no idea what to expect.  They always treated the customers kindly, helped with purchases, totaled the money, made change, and James helped me carry my purchases and even had to act as a security guard at times.  He has a firm grip.

We had so much fun.  We played for about 4 hours and we were all worn out by the end, but the kids begged me to do it again.  I think I may need to come up with some new costumes before then!

Nauvoo

Yes, this post is about our weekend to Nauvoo from a few weeks ago.  But please don't close this window - I promise to make it as painless as possible.  I don't usually like to include pics of our vacations, because who likes that?  But I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.

We stayed in a restored log cabin taken from a settlement in Wyoming.  It was affordable and the kids loved it.  We stayed in one of the smallest cabins, but here you can only see half of it.  

Our cabin.  It was a little scary how much the kids loved this place.  They already picked out which cabin they want to stay in next time.  Locals - look into it if you have kids.  If it had just been Ryan and I, we would have chosen one of the nicer hotels, but this was great and fairly inexpensive (cheapest thing besides camping)!

It wouldn't be a proper post about Nauvoo without a pic of the temple - so beautiful, that temple.

Rose was calling out happily "I am hummus!!" Whatever that means.

We had a great time.  The weather was cool, but perfect with a coat.  William refused to wear his coat - in typical boy fashion - but didn't refuse when I put a corner of my blanket on his lap on the carriage ride.  Silly boy.  We're so lucky to live so close and the drive was gorgeous (we didn't take the "main" road there, if you can call it a main road).  Spring is a good time to go: it's not hot, there aren't many people, and the kids get plenty of attention and loving from all of the senior missionaries.  Good times!

Growing

Sitting in my rocking chair the other day, talking to the kids, they suddenly looked taller.  But I just measured them a month ago; surely they haven't grown that much.  Well, William grew an inch and a half, and both girls grew one inch each in ONE month's time!  That would explain the ravenous appetites as of late.  

Here's a pic of those nasty mushrooms, or whatever they are.  

Truly icky and you can smell them before you see them.

Since the weather is amazing, I've spent a lot of time outside, catching up on yard work before the heat and humidity starts up again.  I pulled three 5-gallon buckets of weeds from our side flower bed.  It's in the part of the yard I hardly go, so I kind of forgot about it.

As we get ready for our summer plans and trips, I'm amazed at the amount of equipment needed for five people!!  Water activities alone call for many, many things.  Life vests, water shoes, swim suits, sun block, beach towels, sunglasses.  That doesn't even include the actual water equipment - I think I'll leave that part to my brothers.

I think someone is ready to go to the lake.

Thankfully, we already have some of that stuff, but since my kids have grown so much from last summer, I've had to buy a lot this year.  Hooray for gender-neutral colors that can be passed down from kid to kid (except for the baby who gets pink when I have to buy new - poor Claire has to wear blues, blacks and grays).

Oh, and camping equipment!!  We're trying to figure out sleeping arrangements. We bought our tent when we had 1 kid.  Our tent is meant for 6 people, but that's without any type of bed and no room to spare.  Cots would be awesome, but so expensive!  Do we just get air mattresses?  Or should we just get a bigger tent!  Help me people!

What the....

Let me preface by saying - please don't judge me or my family for this coming post.  After having Rose, I am a firm believer that kids have their own personalities whether we like it or not!!

As many of you know, the part of my three-year-old's brain that has to do with cursing, is over developed.  She has a talent of taking very normal words that we use on a regular basis, and organizing them in very naughty ways.  We don't cuss in our house, don't use condescening phrases, or crude language.  It only takes her hearing it once and she knows how to use it.  Rose has this amazing talent of saying very rude things that she's come up with all on her own.  For instance, this is what I've heard from her recently:

Shut up you little puke!

Buckle up, Trash!  (said to her brother when he was supposed to be buckling up)

She just called a lego man a "stupid puke" as I was writing this.

Kick my butt.

You're a jack***

You're evil! ("evil" is not said quite correctly, but we know what she means)

and a good helping of stupids, meanie, stinky, gross ,etc.


My goodness gracious.  My other two kids are nothing like this.  Nothing at all.  The other day, after hearing Rose curse someone with something highly inappropriate and scolding her, I said to Ryan "I am SO glad that we've never used bad language around her, because could you imagine what she would be like THEN?!!"

I just keep telling myself, she's only three.  She doesn't know any better.  Just do my best to help her NOT swear like a sailor when she grows up.

So thankful for,

clean sheets

headache medicine

trash men that take anything and everything

legos that keep my children creatively entertained for hours

ball point pens that make writing fun, even if it is only a grocery list

quiet days at home, with the rain coming down outside

new flowers, waiting to be planted in the front beds as soon as that rain stops

electric pencil sharpeners

and again, headache medicine.  So so thankful!

No spring in my Spring

For some unknown reason, I am unable to motivate myself to do my normal "spring" activities this year.  I have no plans to plant a garden (although it is subject to change), have done no sewing of summer dresses for my girls, and have done little spring cleaning.  So what have I been doing with myself?

• Well today at about 1pm, my husband made the decision that he was indeed going to attend the father/son camp-out tonight.  So that meant I ran around like a mad woman this afternoon getting my boys ready to camp in soggy conditions with a high chance of rain.  Our camping supplies were getting sad - we didn't even have flashlights - so I had a little shopping to do, just for a lot of little things.
• I have been studying D&C again and loving it.
• I feel like I'm always going to the store for one thing or another that we all of the sudden need.
• Attempting to not use the AC, except at night.  We're a bit clammy and sticky, but thank goodness for fans!
• Looking forward to some upcoming trips!
• Not looking forward to some upcoming major home repairs - yuck.
• Wondering about these nasty orange carrot-like fungi that have been popping up in our mulch.  They smell horrid and look like giant nerf darts.