Be Back Soon!

Hey All! We'll be heading to my hometown for a little vacation while daddy's working so hard at Camp! Be back soon!

Looking forward to:

~Seeing my parents (and grandparents!)

~The beach

~The boat

~Westside

~The beach

~Writing time

Nature Fun

Friday we went to a Frog themed mini-adventure at the National Wildlife Center. L had a great time, all though there was a bit too much sitting. But he did like singing Five Little Speckled Frogs, seeing froggy photos, and looking at the two teeny weeny froggies the lady had caught.

Sitting on his "lily pad."

When it was over, Aunt Lindsay and I took the boys for a short "hike." I suppose it's time for me to go and get some "real" shoes, so I can keep up with this big kid of mine... It was great fun, and L came home enthralled with frogs.

And here's some wildlife at our house...

Totally My Kid

Off on a grand explore, as Pooh Bear might say. Crashing through the far, intentionaly untamed regions of our back yard, staff in hand (an old tent pole), and climbing, for hours at a time. Oh, I pray that we'll someday be near some real woods for him to enjoy!

And the question of the day... Now I would never, ever eat an unidentified berry. Growing up in South Florida you learn never to even touch something you're not totally sure of. So don't anyone get their knickers in a twist thinking I'm feeding the kids these! But the question is this - does anyone know if blackberries or raspberries grow on trees? I thought it was bushes. But these come in every year, and they're absolutely brimming with juice.

I'm really hoping someone knows a bunch about berries. See, when you picture citrus, everyone thinks of those little, round-topped things the grovers have. But in the wild orange and grapefruit trees get 30+ feet tall, and they look absolutely nothing like what they have in the groves. So, here are the berries, let me know if anyone knows anything!

And here's the tree...

M got a little pooped out after a bit, so I tied him up in the mei tai, and he was thrilled. That's our house in the back that the camera's focused on, and here's one little foot swinging happily about...

L with tiny nature treasure. The two little flowers were subsequently tucked into his pockets. He actually remembered they were there when we came inside. He always remembers that kind of stuff. It totally amazes me, the stuff this kid can recall. He's still tells me that he's gonna get more 'candy beans' from Unky Kevn when we next see him. Kevin shared some Jelly Belly Beans with him at Easter. If he can articulate it, he's going to tell you about it, no matter how long ago it happened!

Lemons, Lots and Lots of Them...

Okay, so we've all heard that "when life gives you lemons..." so many times, and it is totally cliche, but we keep using it, because it sums up that kind of thing so nicely. It's seems like we've had lots of lemons lately.

I figured we should have some real ones to match. Just kidding. I wanted to make lemonade with L. We had a blast doing that, by the way.

Anyways. First the move fizzled out. And then this weekend Hubby's kidney stones flared up. My bestest (okay, that's not a real word, but it totally describes her!) friend came over and watched the boys while Hubby and I went to the hospital, which turned out to be most of the day. He's fine now, taking it easy and all.

And then yesterday we had L's speech screening. It was a preliminary thing, with a bunch of families in one big room with a bunch of screeners (they check for more than just speech). I don't think they got a very good handle on who he really is.

Maybe if someone had asked me to rate him on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being extremely compliant and 10 being extremely stubborn, I could have told them that he's about a 12. Next thing is we have a private screening (gee, there's an idea) in a couple of months. Good thing is I have 2 months to pray about it.

Today was a really fun day. We squeezed lemons, saw horses in a trailer (L was able to tell me what color they were after we pulled away), and Mama even let him get out the scissors and practice cutting again (I've been saving this till I knew he was old enough to find it fun rather than frustrating. Aah - the things I learned at GraceLand Preschool). We even went to look at puppies with A. Lindsay (she's looking for one).

M using the colored pencils. Right now, as I am typing, he is at the table shredding that paper and dipping it in his yogurt...

Oh, and isn't this cool? I looked over and L was teaching M how to sign 'more.' So M quit grunting and pointing at L's goldfish, made the sign for 'more,' and L handed over a few, praising his little brother for doing it right!

So that's where we're at. Lots of things I could stress over, but I'm choosing to trust Him instead. Hope you're doing the same, whatever you're facing!

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." - Ex. 14:14

Daddy's Socks

Happy June!

Oh how happy this makes me - our clothes sitting in the sunshine to dry!

We went out to play yesterday, and to water the mud-block, er... garden... and the boys got all wet. L played at the edge of the puddles, using sticks to direct a sink-or-float experiment. M walked right into the middle of the puddles, so I drug the sprinkler off to the side and he toddled in and out of it until he was naked and dripping and laughing his little toddler head off! Oh, how I wish I'd had the camera!

Well, here's what's left of the garden post tree incident. I'm afraid the soil's not that great (even our grass won't grow in places), but I've started some more little seedlings in the house, hoping to try again. The tomatoes are supposed to mature in two or three weeks, but we'll see. Maybe we should build a frame around this and fill it with soil, like SouleMama does... Anyways...

Happy June everone!

What I learned today...

Bubble Thief! Sneaker-into-Bathrooms!

Awww.... I love how you can see M tugging on my pantleg!

And the best photo-moment for last...

"No, L, you have to put those on first. They won't fit like that... fine, go ahead..."

Shows how much I know. You can force your undies on top of your shorts. What did you learn today?

Tee hee.

Oh, and note to all, we have brought our stuff back in and are unpacking in our old home. The other place didn't work out. There's a chance we might move there in the fall, but we'll see...