Our little “Town Crier”.

There has been a lot of holding going on around here.  What with Peyton not feeling too well and all. 

She gets held a lot, and I still have to do my      job(s).  She, and the box of Kleenex, seem to be new appendages to me.  I have thought about just letting her tough it out, sit on the couch and snuggle up with a blanket and a good movie, so I can get along, unencumbered.  But really, how long will she be this small and actually want me to comfort her?  I need to eat it up, right?  What else is really more important?  So I hold her. 

I hold her while I bake, clean, type, scrapbook, sew, read to her (or to myself), watch a movie, watch Curious George 64 times (and the same episode at that!), do the dishes, help the girls with their homework… etc.  I do things as they need to be done, like when the situation with the number of clean spoons in the house is getting quite desperate.  That happens a lot, with the amount of cereal, chocolate milk, and oh, don’t let me forget the mean streak we are on with tomato soup.  But most of the time we ae sitting and snuggling.

Peyton has gotten quite comfortable perched on my hip.  She has also become very familiar with my upper body.

Multiple times a day, I receive an update on the number of boobs I have.

“Mommy, you have one (point at righty) and two (point at lefty) boobs.”

“I am glad to know they are still there.  Thank you.”

“They are big boobs mommy.”

“Well that is more Victoria’s Secret than me.”

“I like them.”  She adds a little pat.

“Thank you Peyton.”

One time, after she again took inventory of my front lumps, I blew her mind.

She finished informing me about the current state of my chest and I told her, “You have two boobs, too.”

She looked down at her flat little chest in amazement.  Then back up to me.

“They are there, they are just small.  They are little Peyton boobs.”

She patted her chest.  “Yup, I have little Peyton boobs!”

So our time together, holding and what not, has given me a little “town crier” of sorts.

“Mom has two boobs and all is weeeellll!”

That is not all that she has given me, she usually leaves a snot streak on my shoulder, just to make sure that I will not forget our time spent together.

More in Store Monday.

Just a smattering of the new goodies available today at Jessica Sprague.

First up, “Essential Masks v. 3” from Carina Gardner.

Other credits for this page:

Papers & accents:  Carina Gardner “Affection: Mega Kit”.

Font: Antipasto.

New from Splendid Fiins:

“Think Spring Borders”

 

Other Credits for this page:

Paper: “Brilliants” Splendid Fiins.

Staple: Crystal Wilkerson

Photo Frame: Brush from Deviantart.

Font: Firefly Castle.

(I just discovered some awesome staples, and other office supply essentials of Splendid Fiins here.  Love these!)

This layout features products entirely from “In The Making Design”.

“Moments” papers and elements.

Template: “It’s a Start – Templates 2”.

quite excited to get started on my new class this week too.  I got my kit in the mail this last week..

Look at how fun!

All tied up with that darling welcome tag..  all of that fun stuff!  Who wouldn’t be excited?

Did you sign up for Mouse, Paper, Scissors?

I {heart} days like this..

So right now, we have lots and lots and lots of snow.

I love it.  I cannot lie.

But I doo look forward to days like this:

I am sure the girls do too.

It’s “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes” week at I Heart Faces.  Head over to  and see who else has entered the toe end of the human body.

What is this?!

Really..

I thought this was extinct in my life.

Non-existent.

A traditional, paper goods, and glue, and scissors, and punches, layout.

  

There’s just something about touching all of these little, wonderful things..

Actually writing!

The physicality of it is just fun.

I’ve missed it for sure.

(I absolutely LOVE digital, don’t mistake me.)

But this feels good.

I had to make my craft room more of just that.  It has been more of a sewing room lately.

That, and looking at all the goods I have stashed away in there, I have to use them.  Have to.

(Although I think it’s safe to say, if there were a natural disaster of sorts, or another depression, I would be set with all things that are needed to craft.)

(It’s that bad people.)

(Or maybe good?)

Signs of aging.

The other day, I started to take stock of my life, what just doesn’t work the same as it used to. 
It got pretty funny after the first couple of minutes.
There was a moment that started it all, and I will get to it, I always do; but bear with me as I list the other signs of my aging.
Our neighbor’s daughter has a boyfriend (a punk kid really), who likes to boom.
(For those of you who are deeper in the aging process than I am, that is when you have some major sub-woofers in your car, and you listen to your bass-driven music loudly.)
I am so annoyed by it!  During the day, he’ll show up, I’ll check to see if he’s smoking pot again, so I can call the Sheriff, again..  at least he lets me know he’s there, right?
Even more annoying is when he shows up late at night with the daughter, and they sit out in the driveway.
And boom.
I went on for awhile about it one night to Merrill, telling him I was going to call the Sheriff.  Then I looked at the clock to see that it wasn’t even 10 pm yet.
Old, old lady I am…
Then there’s the kicker..
It wasn’t too long ago, that was me and Merrill.
(Well, all of that except the illegal drug part.)
Even during the daytime, when I hear somebody booming down the street in front of my house, I have to rush to the nearest window to “tsk” at them for a minute.
Whipper-snappers.
Somehow I know when it is Merrill (cause he can boom now), and not one of those whipper-snappers.  Usually it’s because I hear with the booming, the accompanying sound of the garage door opening.
I have began using the sayings that my parents would.  Things they would say when we would stand with the front door open, conversing with a friend.
“Shut the door!  You are heating/cooling the whole neighborhood!  When you pay for the electric/gas bill, then you can do that.”
Or one of my favorites, especially this wintry time of the year is when they stand with the fridge or freezer open, trying to decide what to nosh on.
“Shut that!  Decide what you want to eat out of there before you stand there with the door open, cooling off the house and making the furnace work harder than it needs to…”
While we are on the subject of what our parents did..
I am the light nazi.  I go turning off lights that are completely unnecessary.  When I turn around and see it on again just two minutes later, there are usually some stern words expressed.
Then there’s the food not eaten, left on the plate routine.
I could go on.
The one that really got me though the other day, was when I was cleaning.
What does this look like to you, my dear friends?

Please tell me that you think is is smooshed, melted chocolate with a hair on it like I do….
(Just say it to make me feel good, kay?)
Well, that is what I thought it was..
I scrubbed at the thing with the steam mop far too long.  It wasn’t even shrinking!!  So I gave in, got down on my hands and knees (like a sucker) to more closely inspect.

It is not chocolate.
It isn’t a hair either.
Just a burn mark, maybe a small knot in the wood.
I clearly need to wear my reading glasses now while I clean.
Oh, and tomato soup gives me heartburn.

Freebie Friday!

I almost forgot!!

(Okay, I totally forgot..)

There is a wonderful FREEBIE from Splendid Fiins.

Remember, it is only free until Sunday..

(So go get it!!)

(NOW!)

Credits:

Papers & Elements:

Splendid Fiins (FREEBIE!!)

Stitching:

Splendid Fiins

Font:

Courier

Splendid Fiins

This is one designer that I just eat up everything she creates.

Really.

Not to mention she pretty much coined the word “wonky” and I love it!

Some of my well-used (i.e. used over and over and over again..) favs:

- Messy stitching

- Feedsack elements 1 & elements 2

- Brilliant Solid papers

Today is her day to shine at Jessica Sprague.  Go read some fun facts about her, and while you are at it, go and peruse her store, get anything (or everything) you want at 25% off!

(Sale ends Sunday at midnight.)

See all the good things she does?

The door to “Neverland”.

My children are obsessed with Peter Pan these days.

Obsessed.

Not the cartoon version produced by that “crafty” (wicked/evil crafty, not cutesy ribbon and hot glue gun “crafty”)  “get your child addicted to our flicks so as to make them desire to watch them repeatedly on a daily basis”machine, otherwise known as Disney. 

Nope, my kids are hooked on the live action version produced by someone (or some bodies) equally as crafty, being that my children would probably not argue if I suggested they watch it repeatedly, all the live-long day.

And I wouldn’t because they would whole-heartedly accept.

So, some background for this story of mine..

Many homes here have crawl spaces.  My old house did, and I miss the heck out of my crawl space!  It was the perfect area for storing all of those seasonal decorations that I did not desire to see on a daily basis and did not want to take up valuable room with.  (It is also the perfect place for all the spiders on earth to live, especially during the winter months, and create dozens of webs just for sport.)  It was pimped-out too.  The moron who lived there before we did, framed in a good section of the floor, padded and carpeted it, put in a light switch, insulated the heat ducts and pipes that ran through there..  he did many other things moronically though.  Kind of canceled-out his “pimping-out” of the crawl space.

(Sorry about the vivid images of spider families that were planted in your head mom.)

This house, sadly, does not have a crawl space.  I do dream that one day, the guts of my garage floor will self-excavate themselves, and then allow me to have a bigger, much taller version of a crawlspace.  (I can dream about it.)

My parents’ home (the home where I grew up) has a crawl space.  When I was little, it contained the Christmas decorations, food storage items (like wheat, salt, and old two-liter pop bottles that had been washed and refilled with water), and other things my parents basically didn’t want to see. 

The summer after I graduated, mice decided to take-up residence there.  Many thanks go to the neighbors who moved in next door, kept their dogs, and their dog food outside, and helped in bringing these mice to our neck of the neighborhood.  (It has been suggested the dog food attracts mice.)

We removed all items of value from the space and left what was left of the wheat that the mice had gotten to, and the water, which we later learned, needed to be treated with bleach to make it usable in the future.  It was basically emptied and left to the mice and the spiders.

So now, the contents of my parents crawl space include the above items, mouse traps that probably have little mouse skeletons stuck in them, Decon, and lots and lots of spider webs.  And probably HUGE spiders.  (And moths that are breeding at record-setting levels.)

(Will that keep you up tonight mom?)

(I know, I had to throw moths into that mix, didn’t I?)

(Sorry.)

Oh, and some old glass milk jugs that I should go snatch…

When we were teenagers, we would wait patiently, for our turn to have the “storage room” as our bedroom.  That is where access to the crawl space is.

It (the idea of the crawl space) never really creeped me out.  The only thing I didn’t like about it was when you needed to go in it.  You had to step out a little ways into the darkness to pull on the little chain that would turn the light on.  It was a little unnerving.  I could imagine the giant spiders with their multiple eyes checking me out, waiting to pounce on me.

(Is this bothering you mom?)

On to the story!

Present day, the grandchildren find that mysterious door so exciting.  There have been stories circulating about that door, and who resides behind it, for years.

(Some of them are true..)

(I kid, I kid.)

(Kind of.)

So it’s no surprise when they want to go play down in the storage room.  With the lights out.  Yielding flashlights.

Adventurous kids we have in this family.  Eh?

The other day, while we were there for our “Grammie day”, there were just a couple of us and our kids still there, clean-up was in full swing, when mom alerted me that “my girls” took the door to the crawl space off and I “needed to put it back on”.

Pfftt.

I responded very wise__ like: “How do you know it was my girls and not these Mayes boys?  Huh?”

(Really, I love and respect my mom.  We just tease a little..  I only talked back to her one time.  ONE TIME.)

To which she came back with: “Because they told me they thought it was the door to “Neverland”.”

Yup.  That confirmed it.  It was “my girls”.

Do you think they are obsessed much?

I went downstairs to put the door back on, and I will tell you the truth…  the first thing I noticed was all of the spider webs and little spider cocoons attached to the backside of that door, hanging from the frame of the door...

(Shudder.)

And spiders don’t really bother me.

(But they bother my mom.)

:D

Then I noticed the old glass milk jugs, and at the time, my life really wasn’t more important than reaching in and snagging those.

I am now thinking that it wasn’t “that bad”.

Or maybe I am just saying that for my mom.

(I love you mom!)

Strictly for fun.

It is nice to have a reason (motivator) to scrap, but it is even funner to just do it for fun.

My friend Mandi created this template and I couldn’t wait to play with it.

I am learning a few things about myself as I scrap..

1- Music really influences the choices I make as far as style is concerned.  (That should be a no brainer.)  The pink was added in as the music I was listening to became a bit more gentle.

2- Scrapbooking pictures of Peyton is difficult for a plethora of reasons.  Besides the obvious (baby hungry, will be forever!!), I can see flaws in the way I was taking pictures before.  (Thanks education.)  Not to mention the quality.  The quality of the cameras I was using is not quite the quality of what I use now.  (Darn those megapixles!)  Some pictures are more pixilated than others, I can tell I was zooming way in.

3- I get to know my stash so much better when I am not focusing on must one designer.  It’s quite fun to hunt for the perfect elements for a page, from all over my hard-drive. 

4- I also know I need to get better organized.

5- I also want more “stuff” to play with.  But when don’t I? ;)

Credits:

Papers:

- Cream, Charcoal, and Mustard papers: Splendid Fiins.

- Pink: Jessica Sprague

Lace:

- Kitschy Digitals

Buttons:

- Small grey, white and yellow (I did change the hue & saturation on this one a bit): Kitschy Digitals

- Large grey button: Queen of Quirk

Fabric Flower:

- Kitschy Digitals

Stitching:

- Splendid Fiins

Staple:

- Crystal Wilkerson

Frames:

- Carina Gardner

Overlay:

- Queen of Quirk

Font:

- Firefly Castle from Kevin & Amanda

A Valentine-y Re-cap.

If you know Merrill, he isn’t a real romantic kind of a guy.

(Love you just the way you are!)

That being said, we don’t really do (and I don’t expect) much for this holiday.

We make it all about the kids.

This year, he made their day, and as a result, melted my heart.

I do special things for the whole family, making a fun dessert (chocolate covered strawberries and the like), and a fancy-ish dinner.  We always have a small gift for the girls too.

When he came home, the girls were outside playing.  As soon as he came in, he ran to the bedroom and came back with a single red rose for each of us.  I only wish I could have captured their faces when he gave each of them theirs.

He made them feel so special!

  

I made the girls these:

(You can see more about them here.)

They also got kids “Just Dance” (I am already tired of those songs!) and “Bedtime Stories”.  We all enjoy that movie.

 

He, yup, he melted my heart!

Hope you all had a fantastic Valentine’s day as well.

Valentine’s Revisited.

As I began taking down my Valentine’s decorations, I realized that I never posted the fun stuff that we did here this year for the (card company/candy maker)holiday.
I planned on changing up the decorations last year, but never quite got around to making all the things I wanted to.
I bought paper at Heartland, that had me singing Beatles songs.  The name of the line “Love me do”, something that Merrill says all the time, especially when he is tired/worn down.
I love the colors.  So non-traditional.
And then there’s that turqois-ey/teal-ey color I so love…

Call me crazy, but I would really love to paint a piece of furniture in this color.
A friend and I had a cookie making day..  we made lots of them.
 
We even got more artsy than usual with the decorating.


Another addition this year was this banner.  Inspired by the same paper line and color scheme.  I dreamed about it at night.

All about the details… 

But I knew it needed something more.. 
Tissue paper balls.
(And some other things that I never got to, but I probably would have if I just knew when to stop!!)
These are so fun to make!
(Now I know that I am not the first, and I am also aware that they have been around for a while now, but c’mon..  in these colors?  I had to share..)
I also learned a few tricks that make the whole process a lot easier.
(Those will come in another post, perhaps?)
But a tip for now: Target has the funnest colors right now..  the turquoise is in, and the “wish” color of blue (light blueish-greenish) is in the baby gift wrapping area along with the yellow.

Last but not least, and one of my favorite parts of our day were these bottles:

I got all excited watching History channel’s program on soda, they showed Jones soda company.  Did you know that you can go to their website and order their soda in bottles with YOUR picture on the label?!
Isn’t that so cool?
I thought so…  until I saw the attached price tag.
Pair that with the idea of my kiddos getting a 6 pack a piece, thinking that they need to drink it all that night, then the sugar high that would follow…  I so don’t need that.
So I did it my way.  I changed it up a bit, not being able to find the clear bottles with the fun red soda..  (sniff) so I kept the colors simple.
I went and bought my own little 4-pack of rootbeer, and printed off my own labels, using double-stick tape to hold it all together.
The girls loved them.
You can too!  Here’s the PSD template so you can make your own.  Just clip down the picture(s) you want to use (Control G my friends..  Control G..), print off on regular copy paper and stick away!
I am thinking of doing another version of these, making my custom nutrition label or something fun like that. 
With a little adjusting of the text, I think they would be a blast for a shower (be it baby or bridal) or a birthday party.
P.S. The font I used is “You Are Loved” form DaFont.com.

I was the most awesome mom yesterday..

But there might be some who beg to differ.

I shall give you both sides.

I decided to release my children from their prison of a home for a venture out to Grammie’s house. (+10)

Cousins were present. (+5)

I stayed. (-9)

I made pizza. (+8)

In the event of making the dough, I attempted to be the cool aunt and have one of the “littles” sit on the counter to “help” sorta like I do at my own home. (+5)

In the process, said “little” got a pen and a little letter opener.  Guess which one cut the tip of her finger? (-12)

Bribed the poor thing to like me again with pepperoni and black olives. (+5)

Then she remembered the band aid on her left hand.(-8)

I tried again to be the cool aunt/mom and played monster with the middles. (+7)

The youngest of the bunch ended up either a) getting the pee scared out of her or b) run over.  I am not sure, I was at the back of the pack of screaming and stampeding children. (-10)

I made my kids clean up so we could leave. (-20 on the kid side of it +20 on the Grammie side of it.)

I allowed the children to watch “Peter Pan” (story to come on this one later..) in the car on the way home. (+6)

When we arrived home, I really wanted something chocolate covered for dinner (see previous post about ovulating and then figure in the amount of estrogen coursing through my body and it makes sense).  So I decided to convince Merrill that Farr’s Fresh would be a great dinner choice.

(It didn’t take much convincing.)

Ice cream + toppings for dinner = 30 points gained.

Turning down the idea for Papa John’s for “dessert” took me down another 10 points.

Keeping the FHE lesson short and to the point won me points with everyone. (+15)

We then had popcorn and watched a family-style flick. I even let the girls stay up a little later than bedtime. (+15)

Later, like in wee hours of the morning, I let Peyton come climb in my warm and oh, so comfortable bed where she promptly fell asleep, again.  (+12)

Left my warm and oh, so very comfortable bed to go sleep with Ashley so she wouldn’t be scared in the middle of the night. (+10)

See, I think I did pretty well.

I really don’t know how it all adds up.  I am just hoping that the ice cream for dinner won it all for me.

Ashley: my future cowgirl.

This is Ashley:

She wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up.

How do I know?

Well, first of all, I am her mother.

And B, she told me.

A little background on Ash, she was born via emergency cesarean section. 

Some people aren’t so hot on them, I loved it.

(Besides all the worry and the unknown aspects of it.)

It wasn’t so bad not having to deal with sitting on sore spots during that post-partum recovery period.  The entire recovery wasn’t too shabby.

She, is freaked out by the whole notion.

She also thinks it (i.e. the c-section) will be genetic, for some reason.  She is slightly fearful of bearing her own offspring for this reason.

So, to add to that train of thinking, we also told our girls that kissing leads to babies.  (Well it does..)  So kissing is out of the question for Ashley.

She also understands that there is to be NO kissing, until she is married.

Now, to get to the cowgirl part of this..  kind of..  she has a best friend named Jessie.  She only talks when you pull a string that comes from her back, but according to Ash, she is the best friend ever.  I think she likes her a bit.  I believe that is where part of the recent love for cowgirls has come from.

Now we get to the other night.

We were watching “The Princess Diaries” as a family, and at the end, just as the girl is about to get her guy, and the kissing begins, Ash lets us all know how disgusted she is.

“EWWWWW!!  Kissing is GROSS…”

“Good.  You need to think that way for a couple more decades.  Remember, you don’t get to kiss ANYONE until you are married.”

“I’m not going to get married.  When I grow up, I am going to be a cowgirl.  Cowgirls don’t get married, they don’t kiss, and they don’t have babies.  If I have a baby, it might have to get cut out of my stomach.  So I am going to be a cowgirl.”

Sounds reasonable.  Doesn’t it?

Sweet girly stuff.

You know that is what I am so all about.  Been that way for years!!

So it should come as no shock that the name of a product line would grab me and hold onto me like a child who is being chased and teased incessantly by their older sister (can you tell what my weekend has been like?).

Let me introduce you to Echo Park’s “Little Girl” line:

Dreamy, and perfect, and oh, so girly!!

Look for this line, new to Jessica Sprague today.

Paper

Elements

Alpha

Let’s be completely honest here..

Maybe even a little good old fashioned TMI (don’t say I didn’t warn you..  leave NOW if it makes you squirm..) but this weekend has been a doosy!

Peyton has been battling a cold that leaves her hoarse (but it’s kinda cute) with a chafed nose-area, and me with a box of Kleenex as my newest appendage.

Every five minutes or so, I am needed to wipe the boogers that are “falling out” of her poor nose.  I usually get to dab at tears (with a different Kleenex of course) that spill over her sick and tired little eyes onto those cheeks that are usually adorned with crusted streaky boogers that didn’t get wiped by the Kleenex in time.  She cries because (well let’s just state the obvious here) she is tired and feels crappy!

All of this fun does not end at bedtime, oh no.  It, like the tears and boogers on the cheeks, spill over into the nocturnal hours. 

Poor Peyton isn’t the only one (besides me) who has been experiencing sleep disturbances.  The older two have been plagued by bad dreams these past few nights.  I am plagued by their waking me up, asking me what they should do.  The answer is always the same..

Pray.

(Pray that I can make it through the next day sleep deprived.)

(No, not really for that reason.)

That is just the best way to bring peace to your mind.

(A lesson I recently re-learned.)

I have personally been enjoying the throbbing, aching, sometimes stabbing pain of ovulation (warned you..).  If you have not fully experienced this phenomena, just take my word for the uncomfortableness of the whole situation.  It is a pain like nothing else.

I begged Merrill to take it away from me last night.  He agreed to, until he knew just what that meant.  I think my wagging eyebrows and grin gave me away.

(And I almost had him!!)

(Drat.)

Merrill tried to convince me that he was experiencing a similar pain, “sympathy pains” I believe he called them.

I quickly corrected him.

“You could not EVER feel this.  You have no ovaries, (helloooo Captain obvious!) and if you did feel this, you would beg ME to impregnate YOU.”

So, since I am currently out of Ibuprofen, I have been drinking children’s Ibuprofen like it is my life-source. 

The only thing that is possibly more exciting than that would be Peyton, by my bedside for the second time last night, me, trying to wake up more fully, only to be jolted awake by the sound of urine, splashing into my carpet.

Good times ensued.

She thought morning for the both of us had arrived at 7:30 am.

I will not disclose just how many times I was woken in the night, or by whom.

Thank heavens it is a three day weekend.

Pee Ess: I am not whining, merely finding the humor in this series of events that are my life at the moment.  I laughed pretty hard while proof-reading, until my ovaries begged me to stop, and I obliged.

The perks of politics.

As you may (or may not) recall, my father-in-law ran for state legislature this last year.  I would like to say that our sign holding/t-shirt wearing/waving and the honking that followed helped him to win the race, but I am more convinced that he won it on his own merits.  You see, he’s not a stranger to this.  He has done it all before, maybe not quite so recently, but he knows how to play the game all the same, and I’d like to think that he rather enjoys it. 

As do we, now.

Merrill’s dad, Representative Pitcher, has perked-up our life considerably these last couple of weeks. 

We have been able to have a couple of fun family adventures, along with other representatives and their families. 

I have to be honest here, and say that I thought we would show up to these events, and see the groups hosting them with their hands being held out, hoping for the state to gift them some funds.  Not quite so.

We added extra adventure (!) to our first adventure, which was to The Living Planet Aquarium.  We have been there before and it was fun.  What’s even nicer, they add to or change their exhibit every so often, so it wasn’t exactly the same as it was the last time we were there.

In our journey there, we were met with wind, snow, and the trucks on the interstate that were spraying the salt water solution on the roads.  It made for a longer, slower drive, and many interesting questions from grandma.  It is fun to see things through her point of view.  Imagine all that she has seen in her life!

Peyton fell asleep during the drive and woke up needing to go to the bathroom.

A snowstorm on the interstate, where traffic is mostly at a stand-still, and literally nowhere to go to the bathroom, made for a soggy bottomed Peyton.

Thank heavens for that one last pull-up that was hanging out in the car.  That and the fact that she was wearing a skirt that got hiked-up in the car seat, mostly being around her waist, thus not getting a urine shower.  The first order of business when we arrived, was to find the restroom.  The garbage can was then gifted a pair of very wet, Jasmine underwear.

(I warned of excitement!)

The adventure commenced.

  

I was rather proud of Lynn for being brave enough to touch the Stingray this time.  In fact, she couldn’t get enough of it!

I was also proud of Merrill who allowed me (sort of) to get a picture of him and his new girlfriend.

We saw sharks, an octopus (did you know that they are shy creatures?  well, they are!), a 100 year-old lobster (that looked rather tasty), a huge sea turtle trying to eat a fake plant, various fish (including the one that had the hotts for my hubs), crocodiles, an anaconda, frogs, and even pet a snake. 

The kids got balloon flowers and there was food everywhere.  I wasn’t quite in the mood to eat anything, what with the smell of all this aquarium-ish in the air.  It wasn’t too appetizing to me.  Merrill would disagree.

I was all about the diet coke I snagged for the trip home though.

This week, for our next adventure, we went to Clark Planetarium (or do you remember it as Hansen Planetarium like I do?).

This was incredible.

The kids had a blast!  Ashley didn’t want to leave the dome theater.  We convinced her that we would come back again.  We really wanted to go to the IMAX theater to see “Hubble 3D”, which did not disappoint, and I was wrestling with our two youngest while trying to watch.  Yup, it was that good.

(And to be narrated my Leonardo DiCaprio?  Yeah, no disappointment here..)

We learned a bit more about our galaxy and what lies beyond, learned a little about the phases of the moon, spotted a few constellations, touched a 4.5 billion year old meteorite, walked on the moon, then mars, and explored some of the other displays.

It was all incredible!  By the end (which came all too quickly) the girls realized that it was more fun than they had anticipated, the wished they had listened and gotten ready to go faster than they had, and were set on coming back.  I would really like to get more pictures…

It just further cemented my testimony in God.  That He has created all things, the He continues to create.  It is amazing.

Miss Chace

So it’s what I do now I guess..
Babysit kids, and coerce them into posing for pictures.
(Only because my own offspring are totally turned-off by the notion.)
This is my darling niece who will be sandwiched by boys for the rest of her life.
(Lynn likes to refer to it as “boy-trapped”.)
Either way, my little brother and his wife are expecting another boy!
Congratulations guys!
(See Chace’s other shoot here.)