Who needs toys ...

when you have great imaginations!

The kids were outside playing with their cousins the other day and after riding bikes and then swinging for awhile they decided to make up their own things to do. We took a little walk down to the fruit trees and they each picked a pear or an apple. Lauryn, of course, was chowing down on hers (I don't blame her ... I tried a ripe pear the other day and it was very yummy!) but the boys had another idea! They began poking sticks into the fleshy parts of the pears ... at first they thought they would make airplanes. However, the first attempt at flight landed in a crash and burn with flying sticks. The 'objects' then progressed to helicopters, fans and then spiders! I was pretty impressed with their great idea! So, they all got new pears, lots of skinny sticks and poked them into the sides of the pears for legs. They had a great time playing with the spiders, running with the spiders and even taking the spiders for rides on the neighbor's skateboard! I love watching them play!

The Life Cycle of the Cicada

I cannot tolerate bugs ... I don't get creeped out by spiders, I don't get creeped out by mice or even snakes ... but if it has 3 body parts, 6 legs and crunches and it's visible to me, I can feel my heart race and my body go numb. I like to blame it on a suppressed memory from infancy while living in apartments in Texas where roaches made their way into our home (no matter how hard my mom cleaned ... I have to put that in there for her sake!) but in reality I'm probably just weird and thinking about it too much. I don't like the fact that they fly, jump and crunch. Anyway a good friend shared her cicada woes with me last summer and at the time I did not fully grasp what she was telling me ... but we are OVERRUN with cicadas out here! Just when I think it's safe to look up at a tree or put my hand on the swingset I see their carcasses EVERYWHERE! I am trying hard not to freak out in front of the kids, as for most people this is just another part of God's creation. However, it has been very hard for me to relax in the yard for the past couple weeks! The kids love them, thanks to Ron's informative science lesson and explanation of their life cycle and the fact that he plucks them of trees daily for them to examine! Ben likes to collect their skins in empty plastic bottles, Lauryn likes to stomp on them. I like to imagine that they will be gone soon!!

"Happy Birthday Dear Lauryn ..."

Dear Lauryn,

It's so hard for me to believe we celebrated your 2nd birthday today and now you are a big 2 year old girl! We had a fun day going to the fair and having our family over for a Princess Party! You tried your first funnel cake at the fair, saw, smelled and touched lots of animals, pretended to be a farmer and sat on a tractor. You had fun helping us get ready for the party and telling daddy where to hang the decorations and put the balloons. You didn't have so much fun when mommy made you put pretty clothes on and fix your hair! We played outside, ate some of your favorite foods (Spaghetti, Salad and pickles!), ate lots of chocolate cake and ice cream and opened presents. It was so sweet to watch the excitement in your eyes as you watched Daddy and Ben sing "Happy "Birthday" to you! It took a little coaxing for you to come inside and open presents (you were the ONLY one still playing outside!) and then when you did come in you started passing out your presents to other people to open! But once you realized they were your presents and you got to open them all you oooohhhed and aaaahhhed over each one!

You are our precious little girl and we love you very much! In some ways, our day today reminded me of lots of wonderful things about you that I've discovered over the last 2 years! I love the way you cuddle, the way you get so excited about the things we do, the way you love to be with your family, the way you do enjoy some time by yourself, the way you laugh hard at the craziest things, the way you smile 'just because', the way you look up to Ben and the way you take care of Baby Nate. I love the way you hug really hard when you know the way you acted wasn't the best. I love that we'll have a funny story to tell when you're older (and farther removed from the situation) about the way you acted in the car! While it's hard to say, because in some ways I selfishly always want you to be my little girl, I can't wait to see how God uses you and the special things about you to Glorify Him! I know He will use you and pray that I can teach you to become a beautiful lady in His eyes! I love you my sweet, sweet girl! Love, Mommy

Calling All Botanists!

So, we've discovered a couple of interesting things growing from trees in our yard. Being a city girl, my knowledge of trees goes out the window past a Maple or Bradford Pear! We've researched these trees ourselves now, but I'm curious if any of you out there know what types of trees bear these fruits/seeds! Sorry, no cool blogging prizes for the first correct answer, just the fun of seeing how smart you all are!

Picnic on the Grounds

Ben had a great idea today ... a spontaneous picnic in our backyard! We packed our peanut butter sandwhiches, water bottles, chips and cookies and found a nice shady spot to spread our blanket. Ben also asked if we could pick a couple of apples from our trees to eat with our lunch ... I didn't see the harm in doing so (although they are not ripe and quite tart!) Hopefully, there's not some sort of stomach issues that can develop from eating unripe apples! Anyway, that was the kids' favorite part of lunch. They both love apples and to actually be able to pick them from their own trees was just over the top exciting for them!

It was fun enjoying our lunch in the backyard and watching their excitement about actually having a picnic at home. Their enjoyment made me forget the extreme humidity, sounds of locusts in the trees above us and the spider crawling on my shirt that neither of them would help me remove! (well almost forget, anyway!)

Birthday Surprise

I have been plotting a surprise trip to Gatlinburg, TN to celebrate Ron's 30th birthday and finally the day arrived to reveal the plan! We met his family there last Saturday afternoon. We headed out in the morning jam packed into the van. We stopped at a neat little park to stretch. Ron, Ben and Lauryn got out of the car to feed some overly-tamed ducks and geese ... it actually was a little unnverving watching them from the van as I fed Nate. Since I'm not a big fan of birds of any sort (thanks to Hitchcock!) I just kept thinking there wasn't much I would be able to do if these things started attacking my family! Everyone survived and it was funny ... the ducks actually got bored with our snacks and moved on to the next group that had driven up with bread. We were giving them Cracker Barrel biscuits, which they preferred, and generic Archer Farms cheesy crackers, which they did not prefer (neither did we which is why we were trying to dump them on the birds!) The kids did great on the rest of the trip until we hit Pigeon Forge where we were met with bumper to bumper Saturday check-in traffic!! Nate (who never cries) cried for the good part of an hour and Ben and Lauryn (who typically adore him) were pretty much fed up with him. Everyone perked up as we drove up to the cabin, got out and explored its five floors! Of course, I'm sure seeing Nana had something to do with improved moods, too! We managed to pull off the surprise in spite of Ron's sneaky attempts to discover what his mom and I were planning. ..we were up against a professional ... he IS the guy that still has the Private Eye badge he made in 4th grade! We had a great time relaxing in the Smokies, enjoying each others company, playing games, visiting a small amusement park, shopping and swimming in the pool INSIDE the cabin! We celebrated Ron's 30th birthday and had a great time looking at his '30 Book' ... a scrapbook put together by his mom to give on the kids' 30th birthdays. It was fun spending some relaxing time together and celebrating Ron!