Speaking of crafty

My mom is amazing with a sewing machine, no matter how much she says she is not. A while back I gave my Mom several yards of material that I wanted made into some type of quilt. I can sew, but I am unable to get my pieces to go together the way my Mom does, that and I am impatient. Usually when I am working on something I want it to be done right away which causes me to make mistakes. My Mom though, she's got patience. Maybe it comes from raising seven kids or helping Dad run a business and keeping the house running. Maybe it was growing up in a family of 12.... who knows, she just has patience.


This is Alex's quilt. They are almost the same except that one has a blue back and the other has a red back. Jack's has the blue back. I will never understand how my Mom gets the corners on the patchwork quilts to line up so perfectly. She herself said it was a technique that she learned from my recently departed Aunt Yvonne.
Whatever the method or however my Mom does it, these quilts came out beautiful.



So this is the end product of the several yards of material I had given her who knows how long ago.

Lizard, lizard

While Andy was mowing the lawn he accidentally came across a lizard who unfortunately was too slow for his own good because Andy caught him with ease. It was a real treat for Jack because lizards are the next best thing to dinosaurs and Jack LOVES dinosaurs.

I was especially impressed with him when he was brave enough to touch it because he normally gets so freaked out over things like that. As much as he likes to talk about things like dinosaurs and lizards, it is a completely different matter when it comes to touching them. He stopped just short of holding the lizard himself.
I think this lizard had some bad luck before because it looked as though his tail was growing back from some previous run-in with either being caught or accidentally whacked by a lawnmower or weed eater. He was a big lizard though. Pretty neat!

SAFARI!!!

Going on a safari in our own backyard, Jack and Alex manage to crawl back under the giant cactus that is in one of the corners by the fence and get stuck. I am pretty sure they could have crawled out if they wanted to, but I think they just wanted to get out the other side which was not very possible because of the cactus growth.
Poor little Alex was shoeless and just following his brother trying to be like him. I almost coaxed him out but he decided he didn't want to chance it.
This is wher they wanted to come out, but the cactus was growing along the ground and considering they had bare feet it would not have been a very fun process to try and walk through it.
This is them stuck behind the bulk of the cactus. It was even hard getting this picture because the cactus is pretty dense and grown together.

Alex looks so small just crouching there like some little trapped animal.
Enter Daddy to the rescue with his jungle machete to chop a way out of the cactus jungle.

Children this is why you never make Daddy angry. It looks like Andy is ready to sacrifice the boy instead of rescuing him from the cactus. He had to pull him up through the cactus so he wouldn't step on any thorns. Alex is pretty strong for as little as he is, he can hang on to Andy's hand by himself.
Alex wanted to see the machete that Daddy used to help rescue him... but not without Daddy's close supervision.

Science in our back yard

So we were in our backyard not so long ago and my son Jack brought to my attention what appeared to be an infestation of really creepy looking bugs that were black with orange spots. They were all over the backyard and on all the play equipment and fence and plants and you name it, they were on it. I had no idea what they were or where they came from so when Jack asked me about them I just told him they were Ugly bugs and to stay away from them. I thought that they would probably just go away or if they didn't then we would figure something else out. I didn't know whether they were poisonous or stung or bite.

This is a picture of what we saw all over the backyard and they are just so gross looking.

I had pretty much forgotten about them until today when we were again playing outside. Andy and I were playing Badminton and Jack and Alex were playing safari behind the giant cactus in our back yard (that is another post). Anyway, when they got stuck trying to climb back out and I was taking pictures while their Daddy was helping them escape, I noticed a little something different. The fence was covered in those Ugly Bugs, but they were not moving. I also noticed that there were several large lady bugs around all of these Ugly Bugs and decided I would check it out on the internet.

On a brick by the back fence.

Turns out that Ladybugs don't start their life out looking so cute. These Ugly Bugs were the larva stage of the ladybugs and our yard is full of them. This is actually a good thing for our yard because I have noticed we do not have any flies around, but they are really disgusting looking. After reading up on the subject I realized these bugs must be feasting somethign fierce in our backyard because the full lady bugs were giant.

On the fence.

They also became less disgusting when I realized what they were turning into, but when I first saw them I was nervous because they looked so gross. Nature is a little disgusting, but who would have thought you could see an actual process like this happen in nature in our own back yard. Amazing for me and my kids. Good thing I didn't try to poison them all. Maybe my garden will have a chance this year.


This is Jack looking at all the bugs on the fence. You can't see them because they are so small, but the entire fence is covered in little groups of them.

First trip to the Dentist

So for some reason we had an almost 200 dollar overpay with our dentist from about two years ago that we needed to either get a refund on or have work done so we decided to get some work done. I scheduled an appointment for myself and the kids for today since my mom would be here to help me.

I had four silver fillings replaced with the nice ceramic ones that look like your teeth and then two cavities filled too. I then took the boys both in and I was so happy at how well they both did.

Jack was the first to go and the dental technician was so very patient showing him everything that was going to be used and letting him touch things that he was unsure about. He held his mouth open for the cleaning and even for the dentist when he had to stick the poky instrument in his mouth to count his teeth. he even stayed really still for the x-rays to be taken. He also got to see the x-rays where it showed his baby teeth and his adult teeth coming in behind them. It looked pretty weird to see big teeth in the x-ray when there are none showing in his mouth.

Alex watched his big brother go through this process and when Jack got out of the dentist's chair he climbed right up into it to be examined too. Of course, they were not able to clean his teeth like they did Jack's, but the dentist did stick the little mirror in his mouth and saw that there were no cavities and that he had a couple of his molars coming in.

They were both so good that the dental technician let them each have a tooth brush, several stickers, and some goodies from the treasure chest. Everyone was so impressed at how well they acted and how they didn't cry or misbehave or anything. They did exactly what they were supposed to do and were perfect for the dentist. Such good boys.

This is one of the toys that they got out of the treasure chest of goodies. Alex liked these a lot.

This is what happens...

So after dinner we let the kids have a bowl of ice cream if they finish everything on their plate. They like to eat it in the family room watching their cartoons because they don not like watching the news with Mommy and Daddy.

When it gets really quiet and you don't hear from them for a while, I should have known from previous experience to go and check to see what they are up to. I failed to do so and the result is this:

My fault. I should have known. Jack let the ice cream in his bowl melt and Alex thought he would drink it, but missed his mouth and down the front of him it went. So into the tub they both go, because what one does the other must do also. I was lucky it didn't get all over evrything and the only casualty was his clothing.

Boys luv Puddles

Since it has been raining for the past week or two, my poor little boys have been confined to the house. Even since it has stopped raining a big puddle of water has formed right at the base of the slide in the backyard, which means there is no sliding or playing in the backyard without getting their shoes completely soaked.

I thought I had come up with a great plan for them to be able to play in the water and also to keep them from getting their little feet wet by buying them galoshes to protect them from the water. However, this plan went completely awry when it was discovered that the harder you stomp, the higher the water splashes. Soon both of their pants were soaked as well as their socks inside the galoshes. So we ended up taking their pants and socks off and they just wore their galoshes to keep from stepping on anything sharp that may be lurking under the water.

Even this plan seemed to have minor set backs as I witnessed when Jack pulled his boot off and used it to scoop water. Thank goodness it was warm enough outside for them because they were both so wet. They did have a lot of fun pushing their little trucks around and through the water and jumping and splashing and running around.


Next time, however, I think we will go to the park where it is dry.