Just Another Day In Paradise

An afternoon at the pond.

 

To begin our study on ponds, I wanted to take a little field trip over to a nice pond area that I knew about. I wanted to the kids to see exactly what constitued a pond....murky bottom, lots of vegetation, and lots of creatures. It didn't disappoint.

 

 

 

We came armed with nets, mason jars (with holes poked in the top), and ziploc bags. We forgot our portable microscope though!

 

 

We saw lots of minnows, some frogs, butterflies, water bugs, squirrels, deer tracks, armadillo tracks, wood bees, wasps, pretty flowers, towering oak trees, and even a snake!

 

Stitch and I spent a lot of time attempting to locate some tadpoles in the pond. My intent was to catch some, take them home, and let the kids see them grow into frogs. I read that tadpoles are supposed to hatch in the spring. Obvsiously, they hadn't hatched yet because we didn't come across a single tadpole. Hundreds of minnows and a few dozen frogs....but no tadpoles. So we struck out on that front.

 

 

 

However, we did manage to catch some minnows. And we caught a frog to observe in one of our mason jars, but we released him before we left. Boo carried this little guy around like he was her prized possession.

 

 

 

 

Though our tadpole search didn't work out, it was still fun to explore the pond area. While attemting to catch a large minnow, I ran across a snake, a few feet out from the edge of the pond.

 

 

Boo was amazed at all the butterflies, flittering from flower to flower in search of nectar, and tried her best to capture a photo of them with her iPod Touch...they were just too quick for her though.

 

 

Daddy even managed to catch carpenter bee! Though it was a bit difficult to observe through the net, and we weren't about to attempt to get that thing into a mason jar, it was still neat to see up close. That thing sure wasn't happy after we let it go.

 

 

I urged the kids to grab a ziploc bag and collect a few items to tape into their nature journals at home. And I also urged them to observe the pond setting so that they could sketch it one day this week during school. Boo had a great time collecting all the colorful flowers.

 

 

 

Thumper just enjoyed the ride on my back....fast asleep for most of our adventure.

 

 

And tomorrow we get to fill out our nature journals, observe some pond water under the  microscope, and learn about the life cycle of a frog!

 

Leprechauns!

 

Despite the fact that St. Patricks Day was three days ago, I still wanted to post about the kids leprechaun adventures.

 

For the second year in a row, those little green guys have eluded us.

 

On Thursday the kids prepared their leprechaun traps. They created alluring houses, they made signs offering promises of gold coins, and even crafted together tiny beds for little leprechaun bodies....all in hopes of capturing just one tiny green guy.

 

 

 

The spoke in excited voices, wondering what in the world we would do with a leprechaun, should we capture one. They turned to me, questioning, and I just said with a smile "I have no idea what to do with a leprechaun. I'm not even sure what they eat!"

 

 

Eyes wide and smiles hidden, we crept outside on Saturday morning to see if the traps had managed to capture anything.

 

 

But those little green men are sneaky ones, I tell ya.

 

They had managed to bypass the booby trap, steal the fake gold, and make a clean getaway. However, every good Irish person knows that if you attempt to capture a leprechaun and fail, the leprechaun leaves a little consolation prize for his wanna-be captors.

 

There, beside the trap, amidst the leprechaun dust (glitter), sat some chocolate coins and a small pony for each girl.

 

 

Those leprechauns had left a trail of glitter and fake gold all the way across the porch and into the bushes. They were surely long gone, only to venture out on the next St. Patrick's night.

 

I guess we'll have to try again next year.

 

Soaking up the Springtime.

 

Today was another perfect springtime day. We don't get too many of these down here in The Land of Scorching Temperatures, so I like to enjoy them when they are bestowed upon us. Usually our area bypasses anything even remotely resembling any type of springtime weather. We pretty much go straight from hot to hotter down here. That's why, on days like today when the sun is shining and the temperatures only reach into the 70's, I like to soak it up.

 

Upon waking this morning, I opened all the blinds in the house to allow the sun to stream in, opened the windows in the sunroom to catch the breeze, threw a picnic blanket onto the tile floor, and proceeded to declare a day of Sun Schooling. We did some grammar, ate some lunch, and read the Bible, all from the sunroom picnic blanket.

 

And this girl was looking all decked out for summer time, sporting her new sun hat and monster shoes.

 

 

 

This afternoon, Stitch had her second practice of the season. And if I do say so myself, my girl is looking pretty good out there! She took her first ever shot on goal today! Yes, it was only practice....and yes, it was stopped by the goalie....and I'm sure that no one else on the entire soccer field realized what a defining moment it was....but this mama did! My completely reserved little girl got control of the ball, dribbled it a few times, and then took her shot. I couldn't have been prouder. I can't wait to see what she will at her upcoming game.

 

Darn camera lens was acting up, but I just happened to be aiming at her when she took her first ever shot on goal!

 

 

And what a wonderful afternoon it was for a soccer practice.

 

The girls and I situated ourselves in the shade, stretched out on the picnic blanket on the sidelines of the soccer field.

 

Attack of the baby sister.

 

We watched sissy and silently encouraged her practice.

 

 

The playground was at our back, where Boo eventually meandered.

 

 

After practice ended, the rest of us were sure to follow. After all, there were swings.

 

And as you know, there's a brand new swing lover in our house.

 

 

**Okay, so I totally lied about putting up shots of the new vehicle today. I forgot to take them...but then I remembered as it was getting dark outside. I'll remember tomorrow!

This -n- That

 

Today we introduced a half hour of solo reading time into our homeschool day. Previously, I'd been having Stitch read leveled books aloud to me. Recently I decided that she was ready to begin her very first chapter book. I pulled a Magic Treehouse book from the shelf, handed it to her, and sent her off to lie in bed and read. Thirty minutes later she emerged with the first three chapters behind her.

 

I was very proud of her.

 

 

Later on, I noticed that it was awfully quiet in the playroom. I just figured the girls were being good, so I went about my business of tending to Thumper and doing some chores around the house.

 

They emerged about 45 minutes later, Stitch grinning from ear to ear.

 

My little girl had finished her very first chapter book on the very day that she started it. She read the remaining chapters of the book aloud to Boo. To check reading comprehension I even flipped through the book, asking her various questions. She answered each one of them. There were a few words that she skipped over after trying to pronounce them, but all in all, this girl rocked that book. Take that dyslexia!

 

As a reward, I let her download a new Magic Treehouse book onto the Kindle app on her iPod Touch. She thinks that's the coolest and is currently reading in bed before she falls asleep. Makes a mommy very proud (especially one who has jumped through hoops to help her learn to read)!

 

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 She makes me smile.....

 

 

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Can you guess what this princess is going to do for her upcoming 5th birthday? Plans are in the works! We'll be shopping for party supplies tomorrow while big sis' is at homeschool group.

 

 

Goodnight everyone!

 

All's been quiet here on the blog....why?

 

For the past week, all has been quiet here on my blog......we've been away!

 

We packed up the kiddos, loaded up the van, and headed on down to our home away from home.

 

It was nice to be "home" again! We hadn't had a real Disney vacation since last February, aside from a one day visit in May.

 

 Needless to say, the kids were really excited about getting back there and five nights away was a welcome treat.

 

We spent one day at the Magic Kingdom, one day at Animal Kingdom, one "down day" where we went to the Science Center and had dinner with my father-in-law, and our final day was spent at Legoland.

 

 Upon arrival we checked into our hotel, unloaded our luggage, and headed on over for dinner at Fuddruckers and an evening at Downtown Disney.

 

 Stitch, who is a Pixie Stick addict, found the mother of all Pixie Sticks at Goofy's Candy Shoppe. Of course, she just had to have one.

 

 

 

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Have I mentioned that I absolutely *love* to watch Boo as she watches Disney parades? I've never seen someone with such joy on their face. She believes in every detail of the magic. She literally jumps up and down at times. She makes exclamations such as "MOMMY!! Did you see that?? Ariel just waved at ME!" I'll be so sad when she's past this magical stage.

 

 

*One of Boo's favorite floats holding a few of her favorite characters.

 

And being the Disney fan that I am, I love seeing anything to do with the makings of Disney. We stationed ourselves where we could watch the parade go through the large gates and into the backstage area. Not that you could see much, but hey, it was still backstage.

 

 

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With this being Thumper's very first trip to Disney (well, outside the womb, that is) we sort of had to improvise where we hadn't needed to before. Both Stitch and Boo had to ride with Daddy on the Tomorrowland Speedway since I had to sit out with Thumper. Stitch was hoping to grow another two inches before going on this trip so that she could drive herself and Boo alone....but the growth spurt eluded her and she remained a mere 50 inches instead of the 52 that she wished for. At least she still got to drive though.

 

 

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As far as characters go, our girls current favorite by far is Rapunzel. We decided to wait the 45 minutes to see Rapunzel this time. We'd only seen her once before and that was prior to the release of the Tangled movie. Back then, the wait was minimal. Ever since the movie released, the wait time has been crazy. But the girls were really wanting to see her again, so we went straight to her queue when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom. Boo tells me all the time that she loves having long hair like Rapunzel.

 

 

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If you've ever been to Disney, you know how big pin trading is down there. Stitch has been into it for a few years now, but this was the first time Boo has really been into it. In fact, she chose pin trading over rides at times! 

 

 

In order to save money, I usually go online to eBay and purchase big lots of various Disney pins. It really doesn't matter which ones we receive because the girls use them for trading at Disney World. They bring these pins that they don't like and in turn, trade for all the princess ones that they do like. 

 

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Apparantly, during some point on this trip, I've become the minority in my family. For the first time, Boo was tall enough to ride Splash Mountain.....and loved every minute of it. She's been checking her height against that stick at the entrance to Splash Mountain during each trip over the past year. And she's finally reached 42 inches! However, Splash Mountain just whet her appetite for fast rides and she proceeded to ride every fast ride she was tall enough for during the entire trip.

 

 

 I happily kept my feet on the ground with Thumper while everyone else rode the fast, nausea inducing thrill rides.

 

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As opposed to the 80 degree heat that we endured that first day at the Magic Kingdom, the following day at Animal Kingdom brought much cooler weather. It was cool enough to dress Thumper in the Minne Mouse outfit that I purchased even before she was born.  

 

 

A 3 month old baby dressed in Minnie Mouse ears is absolutely irresistable. People loved her.

 

 

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Meet our friend, Dusty.....

 

 

I seriously love this llama.  We make sure to visit him each and every time we go to Animal Kingdom since a certain 4 year old adores llamas. And this one is particularly entertaining. Aside from his endearing toothy smile, he does this thing where he stretches his head backwards and sort of swings it around. Boo began copying his actions when she was only two years old and we found it completely hilarious at the time. We'd ask her "what does a llama do?" And she'd smile and strech her head back as far as it would go.....all thanks to Dusty (yes, we asked his name).

 

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Each time we go to Disney we give the kids $25 to use it on whatever they choose (as long as it passes the "no junk" inspection by mommy). Anything else they may want to purchase must be bought with their own money, if they have any at the time. This time both girls were instantly drawn to Rapunzel in her wedding dress. Rapunzel quickly found a place in Boo's backpack and went along with her everywhere.

 

 

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The kids favorite place at Animal Kingdom is The Boneyard.  It has a huge gravel filled pit complete with dinosaur fossils, shovels, and pails. They could easily spend hours here, but we allowed them a good 45 minutes and they were happy as a clam. I failed to get pictures during this time, but imagine smiling little girls shoveling bucketfuls of gravel LOL. 

 

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Boo is my "wanderer", in a certain sense of the word. She tends to get into her own little world, taking in the sights around her, occasionally bumping into strangers and losing track of her family's whereabouts. She's the one who tends to always hide in your blind spot and you spin in a complete cirlce trying to find her. I have to keep my eyes glued on her in crowded places. I feel like my mantra to her is "Boo, hold someon'e hand....hold onto the stroller....stay with us....watch where you are going."  She decided to hold onto Daddy's back pocket this particular time.

 

 

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When we do Disney, we seem to do it a little differently than most people with small children. We never go back to the hotel for a midday break. It just takes up too much time and we've raised our children to sleep when their body needs it and not on a schedule. So they can easily fall asleep in a stroller when they need a rest during long days. Instead, we try to take "down time days" between park days. Usually, we try not to have two park days in a row, but this time we didn't have a choice. We didn't have a down day between the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, but we did have one between Animal Kingdom and Legoland. On our down day, we chose to hit the Orlando Science Center, where we'd never been before. From what I'd seen on the website, it looked like a pretty neat place. (And thankfully we weren't outdoors in a park today since it was the coldest day yet).

 

 It was filled with all sorts of interesting exhibits. The girls got to pet a small alligator.....

 

 

Learn about stingrays and watched them being fed.....

 

 

Take a look at the world's ugliest frog.....

 

 

Had a blast in the hurricane simulator....

 

 

 

 And play in the kids village, among many other things.

 

 

 

 

These girls were loving the pizza in the cafe at the museum.

 

 

 

And Thumper watched as her big sisters played....

 

 

We managed to have a reasonably early night at the hotel that night and the girls got to hang out together, playing with their iPod Touches.

 

 

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Our last full day of vacation brought perfect weather and temparatures, low crowds, and a brand new amusement park....Legoland. I didn't know what to expect and I knew it wouldn't compare to Disney, but I was pleasantly suprised.

 

 

Turns out, our girls are at the prime ages to enjoy a place like Legoland. They could pretty much ride every single ride there, rollercoasters and all. Boo got her first feel of a real coaster here at Legoland. She smiled ear to ear the entire time. I actually forked out the money to purchase the photo that the parks take because it was so darn cute. And it pretty much summed up each coaster the three of them went on. Mr Incredible and Boo were smiling and Stitch was grimacing, despite the fact that she claims that she likes the rollercoasters...just not the really fast parts LOL. What's a rollercoaster without the really fast parts?

 

 

 One of the neatest rides at the park was the Ford sponsored Driving Schools. There were two separate tracks....one for kids ages 3-5, and another for kids ages 6-13. So our girls drove on different tracks. The little kids track was a simple circle, but the older kids track was a more elaborate series of two lane roadways, stop signs, turns, traffic lights, and curves. And the best part? The kids actually got to operate the cars themselves. There were no tracks or automated vehicles. The kids controlled the steering, the brakes, and the gas all by themselves. The older kids even went through a short driving "class" before they were allowed on the roadway. The Driving School was a hit with both kids.

 

 

 

 

It was neat to go through the park and see all the things created with Lego bricks. There was everything from miniature pigeons created with only 6 bricks, all the way up to entire skyscrapers using thousands of bricks.

 

 

 

*Waterfall is real, but check out the Lego otters in the corner.

 

 There was a lot of unique rides that we'd never seen before.

 

 

 

 

 And this little face just went along for the ride and took it all in....

 

 

And one of the plusses to jam packed days? The kids are flat worn out each night and fall asleep about two seconds after their heads hit the pillow.

 

 

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Valentines morning dawned with our second character meal of the trip (the first being at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom). I wanted something special for this special holiday so we started our morning with breakfast with Alice and the Mad Hatter before heading home.

 

 

 

 We arrived home safe and sound....and very tired. Hopefully next week will bring a lot more down time. We need it after five days at Disney!

 

Big Sis.

 

From the time she was 2 years old, she's been an excellent big sister.

 

She has always been so protective of Boo, even as a toddler.

 

I remember one morning I set infant Boo on the bed to wake her big sister up while I ducked down and hid beside the bed, within arms reach of Boo. Stitch opened her eyes, bolted up right, and grabbed onto her baby sister to keep her from falling off the bed, all the while calling for me to come and help her.

 

She was protective from the start.

 

 

And now, as a 7 year old old little girl, she's an amazing big sister once again, this time to Thumper.

 

 

Sure, Stitch is moody....quirky....7 going on 17....but there's no doubt about it, she has this big sister gig down pat.

 

 

 Spit up, crying, rocking....she handles it all.

 

 

I know of two little girls who are very blessed to be able to call her their big sister.

 

Currently.

 

Currently, this what our girls do most mornings when they awaken....clearly, the baby is not loved at all. (image will not look large and distorted once you click play)

 

 

Currently, our living room looks like this....

 

 

Yes, pathetic, I know.

 

Would it help if I had excuses ranging from "we've been sick", to "we've been busy", and on up to "I had surgery and my husband hurt his back"?

 

Yeah, still pathetic, huh?

 

Currently, 2/3 kids are sleeping for the night and the last is lying in bed making her stuffed animals talk.

 

Currently, Thumper has been slightly less than pleasant. See, doesn't she look happy? Not sure what's been up with her.

 

 

Currently, we just finished Chapter 21 of the Skylanders game. Chaos, here we come!

 

Currently, I'm planning a certain 4 year old's upcoming birthday.

 

 

Currently, I'm 16 pounds under what I weighed before I got pregnant with Thumper and will be closing in on my goal weight in exactly 9 pounds.

 

Currently, all dirty clothes in the house (including the dogs towels) are clean. It will stay that way for approximately 3.2 seconds.

 

Currently, I have a busy day tomorrow and it's time for me to bid everyone in the blogosphere a goodnight.  

 

Value....A Date With Daddy

 

We had originally planned to set out and walk some nature trails this weekend, however, the kids are coming off of a cold and I didn't think it would be wise to have them out in this chilly weather. Yes, Florida is actually experiencing some chilly weather at the moment!

 

Instead, I urged Mr Incredible (because come on, we all know that sometimes guys just need some prodding) to take the big girls out on a date. Usually, we do our dates one-on-one, but since both girls had mentioned wanting to see Beauty and The Beast in the theater, it only made sense to bring them both together. Upon asking them, Boo exclaimed that she didn't want to wear the 3D glasses. I can totally commiserate with that. When you already wear glasses on your face, it's a pain to sit 3D glasses on top of them. But then it seemed pointless to take the girls to the theater to see the 2D version since we own it right here at home.

 

So Mr Incredible took the girls to the store and let them choose a special treat. Then they came back home, we had a bite of lunch, and the girls settled down on the couch with Daddy for their very own in-home viewing of Beauty and The Beast.

 

Value time with Daddy. It fits right into our theme for the year. Value is so much more than money. It is so much more than tangible items. It is so much more than a toy that will be tossed aside in a week's time. We are rediscovering value in carving out family time and making memories.

 

 

And seriously....I'm not sure that he let her pick out a big enough candy bar. What do you think?

 

I know that in a previous post, I mentioned that we will be purchasing less toys, less unnecessary items, and less unneeded clothing and household items in order to focus on the true meaning of value. But I have been willing to drop a bit of money within the last week on the newest craze hitting the nation.....Skylanders. It's a new video game consisting of small figures that you must purchase in order to play them in the game. Stitch fell head over heels for this game. And I look at it this way....it's a common bond. We can sit down as a family and play this game. Mr Incredible is much more willing to play this game with her rather than make My Little Ponies walk around and talk. We find ourselves discussing the characters, which ones we need, which levels they are at, and whether or not we found the hidden treasures in each world. It's a way to connect....and honestly, that fits right into my value theme for the year. I don't mind spending money on some things that will build a common bond. Now, if you know me then you know that I'm not one who allows a lot of screen time for my kids. Actually, for myself either. But my kids are not "screen time addicts" so I don't have a problem with a little more screen time during the rare occurances that they find a game that captures their attention. There are many other days where they have absolutely no screen time, by their own choice.

 

All in all, our new theme for the year seems to be working out pretty well so far. We are cleaning out the playroom so that we can sell toys. That's one area where I can give my kids some credit....they don't mind cleaning out and giving away their toys. They don't form attachments to them. If they don't use a toy, they are not afraid to give it away. In fact, sometimes I'm the one saying "Hey! You can't get rid of that!" LOL

 

Nature Calls

 

No, no, not *THAT* sort of nature calls....but real nature! Trees, trails, and treasures! Today we ventured out into nature to do some geocaching. This fits right into our theme for the year of valuing experiences and time together as a family.

 

My dad found a neat place about a half hour's drive from our house. It's a park with lots of trails and bike paths. Scattered among them were 8 different caches and we found them all! We set out after church with the family in tow.

 

 

It was Thumper's very first geocaching adventure!

 

 

Found this cache underneath the boardwalk.....

 

 

This is the strangest tree that I've ever seen in my entire life. These huge nasty looking black things fell off of it and onto the ground. And you can't tell from the photo, but this tree had tons of spikes that were each about 3 inches long! It's called a honey locust and it's just plain weird.

 

 

 

And no, this is not excatly how the Ergo baby carrier is supposed to work. The baby is supposed to ride facing inward and not outward. But Thumper had other plans. She wanted no part of facing inward. She wanted to see exactly what was going on around her. She spent hours standing up in the carrier, facing forwards as we walked down the trails and searched out caches. And she fell asleep the exact same way. She loved every second of it and only cried out when she was hungry.

 

 

That was our Sunday afternoon adventure!

 

I need to have a talk with Santa about this elf.

 

This morning, I awoke to this sight.....

 

 

The kids were thrilled, let me tell ya.

 

Me? I think that this may be one of the biggest messes the little elf has ever made. Well, possibly ranking right under the "Great Yarn Wrap of 2009".

 

 

 

I must give him credit though....he's been pretty tame for the past few days.

 

Dining with Pinkalicious....who looks like she quite possibly just rolled out of bed.

 

Breakfast for the girls...Little Debbie Christmas Trees with grapes and chocolate milk. He brought Santa plates and napkins and a table cloth, and hung snowflakes from the light fixture.

 

Climbing Mount Cereal Box

 

But yes, I believe the "Post It Note Blizzard of 2011" will go down in history.

 

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And this little girl scared the daylights out of me yesterday.....

 

 

The bigger one, not the smaller one.

 

I had all three kids at the Starbucks check out yesterday in Target. My mom and sister were with me but had left to go to the bathroom. All of the kids stayed with me. As I reached for my frappuccino that the lady handed to me (a tall caramel cream blend with no whipped cream, if you are curious), I glanced around to make sure the kids were staying close. Thumper was in  my arms, Stitch was on the side of the buggy, and Boo was.....was......WHERE WAS BOO???!!!!! I spun in a complete circle looking for her. She has a habit of standing behind me. Nope, no Boo. I looked further out, in the checkout lines, towards the front door. THE FRONT DOOR! Starbucks is right next to the front door....anyone could have quietly grabbed a little four year old and waltzed out the front door in two seconds flat. Boo is not a wanderer so I knew that she wouldn't have just wandered away on her own.

 

I turned to the customer beside me, who had just commented on how Boo resembled Cindy Lou Who with her hair done up like that. "Did you see where my little girl went?" I asked frantically. She hadn't. The cashier heard my question and saw me looking around, beginning to panic. "Code Yellow!" she called to the Customer Service Desk. I'm assuming that Code Yellow refers to a lost child.

 

I hurriedly dragged my buggy over to the bathroom, attempting to clutch Thumper, the frappiccino, and be sure that Stitch was still with me as well. I threw open the bathroom door to find Boo, standing there with my mom and sister, unaware that her mother is on the verge of a panic attack.

 

She said she was staying with me. She said she wasn't going to the bathroom with my mom and sister. But she must have run off when I turned my back! I quickly shouted to the Customer Service Desk to cancel the Code Yellow....she had been found. Then I made sure to inform Boo that she is *never* to leave my side unless she tells me first. I seriously felt sick to my stomach....I'm a worrier who jumps to the worst possible conclusion and I had already concluded that someone took my baby, right here a few days before Christmas, and I'd never see her again. Yeah, I'm crazy like that!

 

So glad my little Cindy Lou Who look alike was safe and sound.....and that her mommy didn't pass out from a heart attack.