WW# 18 How Do I Feel About the Election Process At The Moment?

Look closely at the faces

Animal Adventure

On Saturday we decided to keep our fun family weekend going and take the boys to the Meijer Gardens. A few weeks back I posted about the Butterfly exhibit there that we went to with Noah's class. Since Steve couldn't go, we decided to go as a family since our Children's museum membership has dual membership just for the month of May.

We have been there many times, but this time we actually LOOKED at the statues instead of beelining straight for the children's garden. The boys actually enjoyed looking at the statues and both wanted to go hunting for pennies in the fountain.














In the children's garden, Aaron wanted to play in the water...



















while Steve and Noah went to dig for dinosuar fossils.














Then we discovered a path that I didn't even know was there and decided to take a walk. I am so happy I have become more lax about Aaron riding in a stroller. We never would have survived otherwise.

After walking for a little while, I noticed we were coming up to some water. We ended up walking right along a somewhat large lake and when we stopped to look at the water, I said"I bet if we wait long enough, we'll see a turtle." So we all waited...

and waited...



















and waited.



















Then, Daddy spotted it sitting on the end of a branch in the water.














After watching it for awhile we stopped a little further to look for another turtle. A BEAVER was hiding under a dam right out where we could see it. Later, a muscrat was swimming right near where we were crossing.

A little while later, while we were stopped to see yet another turtle, another passerby saw a huge green frog hiding in the water. It was fun to watch, even though neither of the boys could see it until I took a picture of it and then enlarged it on my viewer.



Can you see it?












Continuing along, we then found geese sitting on their eggs...















and a final turtle.














I know this seems a bit trivial, but I am not usually the most fun person to take a nature hike with. I don't like being sweaty and the bees are usually attracted to me above anyone else. So for me to have enjoyed this adventure was indeed momentous for Steve.

I even found myself taking pictures of pretty flowers along the way.














How girly is that?

Thank You Daisy

We received a fun box from Daisy at A Daisy a Day on Saturday. She had written this post telling about some K'nex they had gotten to test. I found the post especially enticing because I have been wanting to get these for Noah for quite awhile now. He LOVES his little legos, so I thought they would be perfect for him.

My friend, Beth, told me that Alex loves them but that they were not compatible with legos and she spent way too much time looking at each little piece to see which set they belonged to. So I was pretty excited when I read Daisy's post saying that they are now compatible. I commented on her post that I thought I would get some for Noah for his birthday now that I don't have to worry about keeping them separated.

This extremely kind woman actually offered to pack them up and send them to us, FREE OF CHARGE because her grandchildren wee too small to enjoy the TRULY TINY pieces as of yet.

The box was here when we got home from the Meijer Gardens on Saturday. I had a picture of Noah with the box, but then realized it had ALL of my personal information on the front. Probably not the BEST idea. Noah ripped it open right away.














He started trying to make something but Steve felt it was necessary to read the directions and make the car that the set was made for.














Now I knew what the result of this would be, but I just let it go, hoping to be proven wrong. But, unfortunately, I wasn't and about two hours later, Noah threw a hissy fit about how the car Daddy made was falling apart and he couldn't fix it. That was when I told him what I wanted to all along, "Just make your own creation". Now he was free to do as he pleased and he made several "robots"














And Aaron made a "flower"



















So this post is mostly for Daisy, who made a little boy so happy this weekend that he slept with his creations under his pillow and took them to school with him this morning for Mystery Bag (his class' version of show and tell). Thank you for your kindness.

This Is SO Me

This was today's For Better Or For Worse Comic. Steve actually stopped me to read it because it is me way too often. It is kind of funny when art imitates life.



Double Click on it to read the captions more clearly








Does anyone else ever feel this way?

The Friday I Spoiled My Kids

I don't know what possessed me yesterday. I woke up in a very strange mood and decided to go with it.

It has been a very good week with Noah. That little grump that was here all last week went away and my sweet little boy returned. He was so good all this week. There are only four days of school left for him and they are all pretty much fluff days, which is what inspired my naughtiness yesterday. Here it goes...

The school day was supposed to hold a huge number of activities that would NOT have been good for Noah. He had stressed about the Hot Dog School cook-out ALL WEEK. He literally panicked about it at one point...he hates hot dogs. So I decided to keep him home and go do something fun instead.

With our tax refund, I had purchased a year membership to the Children's Museum. We love this place! The boys were so excited when he woke up and I gave Noah the choice; school or children's museum. I figure once he's in first grade, cutting school for a day will not be an option so this was the last chance.

They ate breakfast and got dressed in record time and we headed out. It was a major field trip day and the museum was PACKED. But the boys both still found fun things to do. Noah sat for 25 minutes with this plastic construction set putting screws together in different configurations. I loved watching him.



















Meanwhile, Aaron just hung around.



















They also spent A LOT of time trying to fix plumbing.














After a couple of hours, every one was getting hungry and we headed out. No fights about leaving...amazing!

We had a coupon for Noodles and decided to do that for lunch. I can't believe how good Noah is at using the chopsticks and it is fun watching Aaron try.

We got home for quiet time. Aaron feel to sleep pretty quickly and after about 45 minutes, I let Noah get up to watch Scooby Doo Scary Stories.

When Aaron got up, we decided to check out a few garage sales on the street. Noah had a few quarters left over from vacation so I told him he could bring them. After going to a couple of sales and not finding anything he would want, we decided to walk over a block to the church where there is a carnival for the weekend and look at the rides.

Along the way, an ICE CREAM TRUCK drove by. Guess what mom did? Oh yeah, we had ice cream for snack.

After dinner, Steve and I had decided that for the first time, we would actually let them go on a few rides at the carnival. Usually, we can't justify the money but we had A TON of quarters left over from the garage sale. So off we went.

They told us that Aaron could go on the tilt-a-whirl as long as I went with him. Noah keeps calling it a "turbo war". Apparently that is what it sounds like to a five year old.

I think this might be our Christmas card picture this year.














Aaron was actually TALL ENOUGH to go on the flying saucer ride so they both did that














and then Aaron rode his first solo carnival ride.














As we were leaving, we ran into our neighbors who have a little boy Noah's exact age. We had three tickets left but I wasn't going to let the boys use them because there wasn't enough for both boys to ride. But Nikki (my neighbor) and Bradley (Noah's friend) were going on a ride and invited Noah to go with them, which I agreed to since Aaron was too short to ride it anyway.














As we were leaving, there was a little quarter carnival put on by the church that the boys wanted to visit. I figured that at this point we have blown through so much money, what is two more dollars. The duck pond got them both a little prize (I don't have a picture of Aaron's because he was in the bathroom at the time.



















Daddy got his elephant ear














And we were finally on the way home.

Of course, it was after bedtime when we got home. But did I put the boys to bed? Of course not, we stayed up and colored for another half hour before we finally put their PJ's on and sent them to bed.

I was exhausted from all of the fun, but then I read this post from Deb, and decided that we HAD to go out. So I called her, picked her up, and we got out for some girl talk. I think it did us both some good.

So, yes, I SPOILED my children beyond all spoiling yesterday. The nice thing is, I can have a day like this, and the boys will not EXPECT it again. They just appreciated it. I am lucky that they see special times for what they are. And I am left with yet another memory of a fun day with my boys.