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***************************** Dog Days of Summer June 29, 2002 Yesterday I drove to the town where I grew up to make beads with a friend. I drove by the farm I grew up on. It seems everything has changed with time. It's now a 4 lane highway from here to there. The farm has changed a bit too. Different trees, a few outbuilding gone. No sheep in the pasture. But very well kept up.
Bead making was great yesterday. Talking with a friend, sharing ideas. It was a wonderful day, I really enjoyed it! I hope we find time to get together more often. Adventureland Revisited
Here's a picture of me and the boys eating ice cream at Adventureland called 'Dots'. It's actually tiny frozen balls of ice cream and if you stick your tongue in the bowl, the tiny balls will stick to your tongue! Guess who figured that out - hint - it wasn't me!
**************************** Pool Sharks July 5, 2002 We're Indian givers when it comes to pools! We had a cheap Wal-Mart above ground pool at our old house and we gave it away to friends when we moved to our new home last year. Well this summer we were really missing a pool to cool off in. And it just so happens that our friends decided they didn't want the pool and didn't know what the heck they were going to do with it. So now we (We, being me and my 2 sons) have to convince dad of the desperate need we have for a pool again......Actually, it didn't take much convincing! So now we're in the pool building business again...
Now comes filling in the bottom with sand. Do you know what it's like to shovel 850 lbs of sand?!?!?!?! .......... Me neither, but my husband sure does! Then you add water and next thing you get is- SEA MONSTERS (or should I say "Sea Monkeys" ?!)
Does "Ham" and water mix?! (Notice Chase finally lost that front tooth! I thought for sure he's have that hanging by a string till he was driving age!)
Ok - ok, I know these pictures are totally posed, but this is what you get when you try to get a natural shot around this house-
Surf's up Dude. See you at the ocean!
******************************** Nature Walk July 7, 2002 Chase & I decided to take a nature walk this morning and we took some pictures of what we found-
The most beautiful moth! The colors really are yellow and pink/mauve! My bug book identifies this as a 'Rosy Maple moth'.
Hunter found this newly hatched locust hanging on the side of his clubhouse.
When I talk about 'my bug book', it's actually 2 books I've had since I was a little girl. I've always loved bugs and creepy crawly things. My bug books are well worn, but I still use them today. One is 'Insects' and the other is 'Butterflies & Moths'. Both little 'Golden Nature Guides'. And last, but not least - a tree frog update. The tiny frogs that we set free in our shade garden are doing nicely! They are about twice as big now with fat bellies. (You'd think with all these frogs around I'd be able to make one on a bead!!!)
********************************* Art July 10, 2002 My sons are very talented artists. I thought I might share a few pieces of their work. Every boy loves to draw monsters - Chase included:
Check out his 'Horny Monster' !
Chase has always been fascinated with skeletons. He has studied books about skeletons and drawn them alot. (Hhhmmmm - maybe a doctor when he grows up?)
Here is a poem that Hunter wrote over a year ago. It pretty much sums up what kind of a boy he is:
We need more people like Hunter in the world.
*********************** Art revisited: Since I've been showing off the boys artwork I figured I would share some of mine from when I was a teenager. Here are a couple sketches I've kept over the years. A lead pencil sketch:
********************************* When Neatness Counts July 3, 2002 Are children born naturally messy? Is neatness a learned skill (as in - say - beadmaking)? Or does neatness just allude some people? OR.....does neatness just allude MEN & BOYS altogether?! My boys have a toy room. (First mistake.....bedroom AND toy room to clean up) I am always harping on them to "PICK UP"! After a half-hearted attempt on their part I usually give up and they get to go outside or play computer. Well the other day I told the boys to clean once again. I specifically told Chase - my 7 yr old prolific artist - to do something with his stacks of pictures. So after awhile I check on him, and he is methodically taking a picture off the 'bookcase pile of pictures' and SHOVING them into a drawer! So I tell him forget the pictures, work on the toys with your brother. Now Hunter, my soon to be 9 on the 4th of July - boy....my schemer, decides he wants to SELL his old toys. Chase decides that's a good idea and wants to do the same. (Can you see what's coming?!) Well, then the bickering starts...."It's MY toy!" "NO, it's my toy" So mom intervenes and says, "You SHARE the profits". So the sorting starts again. (Can you see what's coming now?!) Mister Hunter is trying to coerce his little brother into selling all his toys! So then it's decided by MOM that the toys will be donated to children who don't have any. (Ok, you can see this one coming from a mile away?) So now all of the toys start going into the "keep pile" and only bits and peices go into the "donate pile"! "ENOUGH! ENOUGH! You two win! Go outside and play!" So a large hefty bag and an hour later mom has finally taken care of the mess! That bag must have weighed 25 pounds..... And just in case you don't believe me.....check out their clubhouse. I'm NOT cleaning that!
See the broom in the left corner? I have no idea what they do with that!!! (no cleaning involved with it, I'm sure!)
This is a blue EASTER EGG in a baggie that is nailed to the side of the clubhouse! I didn't even ask.......stink bomb maybe? MEN! Thanks for stopping by ************************************ Mom, can I get my drivers license? I know this question is right around the corner. Seems I will blink and the boys will be in high school. I worry about them so much already, how will I ever be able to watch them drive away for the first time on their own? But then I've heard how puberty does wonders for 'letting go'! But for now the only kind of driving they are allowed to do is with remote control cars. It usually starts out fine-
The cars hit the ramp-
and fly through the air-
But eventually comes the crash-
Then the pit crew is called in with the 'big boy toys'-
Can you believe it takes huge tank to fix these little cars?! Actually - it's an air compressor.... I have to wonder what blowing on these cars with pressurized air fixes? Uhhh-um....anyway- Yes, that is my wonderful husband. Look fast, he may just get rid of this picture if he sees it on the net. (Damn him, he thinks he's funny!) ** note his 'rubber clogs'. They were calf length rubber boots that developed a leak. So out came the pocket knife and now they're clogs, altho I'm pretty sure that's not what he would call them. Pretty funky looking! **
*********************************** Big Question What would you do if you knew you could not fail? ********************************** Lil' Devil
My 7 hr old finally lost that other front tooth! (It's in his hand) He has quite a snaggle-tooth smile going on now. He lost it in the middle of a ballgame and had to run in from the field to give it to me. Boy, that tooth fairy sure has gotten quite a substantial raise since I was a kid! |
