Spartan Soldier

We studied ancient Greece this week and made this costume for Brian to go to our homeschoolers' group. He had a great time and all of the kids had a turn wearing the helmet and using the shield and sword.

Happy Birthday, Christopher!

Last weekend we celebrated Christopher's 8th birthday with a trip to the circus. The boys all said, "It was AWESOME!!!" Afterward we went out to dinner and Christopher got the birthday singing treatment and an ice cream sundae-- yum : )

Good Times

PJ and Brian

Dirt + Water = Fun

Altered/ Lap/ Scrapbook Project in Progress

In an effort to combine the benefits of lapbooking and scrapbooking I'm trying something new. About a month ago I found a book at the library called "The Altered Book Scrapbook" which looked really interesting. Then when we came home from our trip to the snowy north with pictures and lots of memorabilia which wouldn't work with a Shutterfly.com (upload pictures) type book and would be too much for a regular lapbook. So I found an old baby book at the thrift store and started by covering it in some of the brochures, maps, etc, and then used a combination of photos, memorabilia, wrapping paper and accessories to get started on inside pages:

All together now: Awwwwww.....

Isn't this the most precious little guy? Jackie saw him last night and fell in love. So we went back and adopted him today. We've been talking about a new cat since Kira Kitty entered full-time retirement which is what allowed the dreaded rodents to set up housekeeping in the first place. His name is Smokey and he's either a Russian Blue or an Ordinary Gray Housecat-- we're not sure which. He's busting with personality, plus he's got all the signs of being an excellent mouser ; )

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Back to Chicago... and Shedd Aquarium

We spent the afternoon yesterday at Shedd Aquarium right on Lake Michigan. We saw some amazing creatures including this HUGE crab, pacific dolphins, beluga whales, penguins, sharks, tropical fish, a bunch of different fresh waters fish and lizards, and a 7' foot long komodo dragon.

Forecast: Hi of 31 and 100% chance of snow

The snow started right on time at 9 am and we made our way to our 10:30 snowboarding class while it continued to fly. Below our instructor helps Brian learn to use the heel edge of the board to stop. And Brian and I stand by the tow rope before we make our own down the hill. Brian's take on snowboarding: "It's harder than I thought!" My take on snowboarding: There are many muscles in my body which have laid dormant and unused until this very day. And now they have been pushed past exhaustion to complete spaghettification.

Hello from Winterville, USA

Our first afternoon: we took the train to the bus to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Here Brian stands on a frozen lake where we watched the geese land and butt-skate to a stop : )
Yesterday we got our rental car and drove into Wisconsin where there is plenty of snow to go tubing on Sunburst Hill. We were having a great time ...

until Brian bounced off his tube half way down the hill and landed on his face : ( He's got scrapes down the left side of his face and his eye is swollen shut. The Ski Patrol people were very nice and bandaged him up. So we're having a quiet day today and will see Jackie's cousin Paul and Aunt Eddie and Uncle Mary. Tomorrow we take a snowboarding lesson... on the baby hill.

Our Recent Guest

A friend of mine at work let us Tarantula-sit for "Gabriela" the other day and wow-- what an interesting creature! Her little feet felt like a combination between a tiny sticky pad and a little hook, and she spun a silk thread that looked like smoke snaking through the air. Cool!

The Tree is Up

This is an ornament with one of my favorite pictures of Patrick and Brian in it. I try to make at least one ornament each year with a family picture, or a picture of the boys.

Trampboarding

Our thanks to Rosie! (http://www.rosie.com/)

Aviary: population 9

These three little guys are all between 13 and 17 days old and are from Sunshine's second clutch of eggs. The two bigger ones are favoring their Mom with mostly yellow feathers so far. In about two weeks they'll be ready to leave the nest.

Monarch

I love these pictures. I was going through an old SD card and found them. They're from last year when we bought plants which included catipillars and watched them every day as they crunched through leaves, grew bigger and then finally transformed inside the chrysalis. This one is resting on Brian's arm before we took it out to the front yard where it stayed for a few minutes and fluttered away.

Hatchlings

Is that most most pitiful little creature you've ever seen? This is one of the three baby parakeets which have hatched in the past two weeks. This one is one day old in this picture. So ugly and so precious.

It had to happen some time...

Well, I personally think she's got a lot of nerve doing something like this but my beloved Niecie has gone and growed up bigger than me! Only 14 years old and she's so proud. But look at me as I smile through the pain of attempting to simultaneously suck in my stomach and stand up tall. That takes effort, people.

Craziness in the camper

Who said we have to participate in the whole gravity thing? And the best part of waking up: stealing Mumma's coffee!

Amusement Park 2

This is a ride which will lift us up 125 feet into the air and then plummet us back to Earth with a zero G, Ooops-do-I-still-possess-a-stomach sensation. That's the whole point, right?

Amusement Park

Roller coasters, animals and babes on waterskiis --what more does one need?

Infestation

Isn't that inviting? There is no way to spin it: we have a small colony of little gray rats living under our jacuzzi. When we removed the paneling around it the other day we were greeted with not only the unmistakable scent of a barnyard soaked in animal pee, but also the location of every toy and small article of clothing which has vanished from our back porch. Snoopy (Beagle Emeritus) looked at us with pity and an expression that said, "Ummm... DUH!! I've been trying to tell you about them for months!" The rats have dined upon electrical wires and pulverized insulation to plump up their nest. Their main source of food has been the millet stalks we feed the parakeets. Brian and Jackie had the population count at eight the first day. Eight. Well, it must be down to seven because today we evicted Numero Uno:

And then there were.... more?

Over the past week Sunshine has laid four eggs and spends most of her time keeping them cozy and warm. We checked the first three and they don't seem to have been fertilized, but we'll keep an eye on them...