We can "wear" bare feet!!

One of the last days in April - close to 80 degrees!! The kids were excited to "wear" bare feet, putting it in their words :)

A new experience - Starting tomatos inside

We decided to try growing our tomatos and peppers from seed this year - something that I have never done before. The kids did all the planting, and they were to water them daily, but that seems to be the job I inherited :) But they do go and check on them every day and comment on which ones are taller, or whose seem to be growing better.





They are all doing well so far!

Flat Stanley Visits Us

We were excited when we got "Flat Stanley" in the mail from Leanna. We had never heard of him before, but this project was interesting to Devon and Kylee. It was based on a childrens story that Leanna's class is reading, where a boy named Stanley gets hit with a bulletin board, and it flattens him. His family decide it is a great time to send him on a vacation - cheaper than airplane ticket, just stuff him in an envelope and send him that way. It tells of his experiences he has on his vacation.
For Leanna's school project, we were to take Flat Stanley around our area. We were to take pictures, get some postcards, souvineers etc. We were to mail them back to Leanna's, along with Flat Stanley. It was a fun way for the kids in her class to learn about different areas.
Devon and Kylee had fun with it (so did I, as I got to make a mini scrapbook with the pictures and postcards :)
Here are a couple that we took


Well, this one we didn't take, but it is the Flat Stanley that Leanna colored and sent to us


By the lighthouse close to our house


On our beach - Lake Huron

The creepy crawlys that come in the Spring

Yes, I have to thank my husband for all the "nature science projects" that we quite often have going on in our house. If it was me, we would learn from a book or online, but Scotts way is - why not bring it into the house and learn hands on :) I have to admit, as long as I don't have to touch anything and it can't get out, it is kinda interesting.

Our latest is the spotted salamander and collections from our pond. In the fish tank we have frog eggs and salamander eggs, and we are going to watch them "hatch" Also have a water beetle in there and another "thing" pictured below. It looks like a bunch of teeny sticks and grass, but at one end it has a hole where the "bug part" comes out. It seems attached to the other stuff. No, I will never step into a pond again in my life!!

Scott was very interested in the spotted salamander. We learned that they come to the same pond every year (for only 2 nights) and mate and lay their eggs. Then the salamanders go back to the woods and live there. Scott happened to see them one of those nights they were in the pond!



And I would prefer if the kids didn't touch, but you can't get Scott to think that way:)


The frog eggs are the smaller ones and the salamader eggs are the larger ones.


The bug thing that we don't know what it is

Spring Break - Trip to Grandma and Grandpas

We had a great spring break - was great to have the kids home all day. Through the week, we didn't do anything too special as I was working and would only be able to get away for a day, but enjoyed the layed-back schedule of vacation. It was awesome weather and we spent alot of time outside. Was also great to be able to bring both kids to work with me! They played outside alot at the Dr's house so it was pretty quiet inside so I still got my work done easily. I work in her basement which is a walkout with huge windows and patio doors, so it was easy to keep an eye on them.

On Thursday, Scott flew to NM, rented a penske truck and drove our stuff from storage back home. The kids were super excited to see their bikes and all their toys they have been asking for!! And... they had all the toy boxes emptied within an hour and were exclaiming "Oh ya, I forgot about this!!" Was fun listening to them :)

So, for the weekend - and our spring break vacation, the kids and I went to my mom and dads. Just about missed the maple syrup season, but did get in on gathering up the buckets/lids/spiles. (1200 of them!!) Was a beautiful day, although we did get rained on for the last 1/2 hour. The kids helped for most of the morning, but then had fun riding on and running behind the 4-wheeler.

Wow, alot has happened this past year!

Its amazing what life brings in a year. We were just remembering that a year ago today we were on our long trek towards Tucson!! Was fun to take some time this afternoon to look over my blog posts (memories) over the year. Many changes.. many fun times... many experiences that we won't forget...many new friends made... kids have grown alot...a learning year!!

Its 54 degrees out!! Good day for a walk.

Scott is in New York right now, so the kids and I decided we HAD to do something outside today because it was so beautiful. Was nice enough to walk along the water in just sweatshirts :) This is what Lake Huron looks like right now.






The lighthouse in the winter




Silly Kids!!


Trying to break up the ice.

Our Snow Fort!!

There wasn't any snow banks at all this year, so I helped the kids make their fort this way.

Its a beautiful day in Michigan!

Enjoying my day off and getting caught up on some things. Loving the signs of spring here, the sun is shining bright, water is dripping off the roof and down the driveway, the birds are singing loudly - beautiful!!

We usually are very healthy, but the last few weeks have been a little crazy! Starting with Scott's visit to the ER, and finding his kidney stone, to me with the achy flu, to Kylee and I with strept throat, to Devons strange rash on his face... enough dr's for a while! Scott did pass his kidney stone a few days ago, so he's glad thats over with. We sent it into the lab, and they will tell us what in his diet could be causing it so we can try to prevent any future ones.

Scott found out today that he is to go on a road-trip for work to JFK airport. He will leave on Sunday, for however long it takes to finish the job. He is kinda glad as it has been so slow at work the last few weeks, he is tired of looking busy, but with nothing to do, just cleaning and re-cleaning, or organizing shelves etc. It will be a couple of more weeks before they will have a plane to work on. No talks of layoffs this time, so thats good!

The kids have the last week of March off for Spring Break, so we will have to do something special, but just not sure what yet. Makes it a little harder to go somewhere with me working out of the house now. But hopefully we can work something out. School is going well for both kids - hard to believe there is only a couple more months left. Kylee asks alot how much longer til she goes to Kindergarden, and can't wait. That will be a huge change for me to have them both gone all day, every day. I think I will get lonesome!

Not much new with the border patrol thing, except we have learned that it probably won't be before the end of the year. They are changing the order they are doing the hiring with a whole bunch of things in the factor now, not just the date that you pass all the hiring steps, so between that and the decrease in positions available due to cutbacks, it will be a long time yet. I guess the easiest way to deal with it, for me anyways, is try not to stress about it too much, and know that if its meant to be it will happen at the right time, if not, it won't :) We need to plan a trip down to New Mexico and pick up our stuff that we have in a storage unit down there pretty soon. We left most of the stuff we had in Arizona there, thinking we would be back down way before summer for the academy for the border patrol. We left all the summer clothes and bikes, rollerblades etc. down there, and spring will be here soon!

Work is going well for me. I do enjoy the challenge, and it feels good to get out of the house a little. The dr. is a great person to work for, and so glad that she is willing to work with my shedule, taking Kylee with me etc. I know I will never find another situation like this! It will really be nice in the summer, won't have to think about daycare etc. I can bring both kids with me!

Looking forward to having a garden this summer. I picked up my tomato seeds this week and the starter pots for them. I have 44, so if they all grow, I will have lots of tomatoes again!! We really did like the spegetti sauce and salsa I made 2 years ago, so planning to do that again. Scott will have to re-til up the garden, as when we were gone last summer, it totally grew in and you can't even tell there was a garden there! He just cut down two trees that were shading the garden a little, so hopefully that will help the garden a little.

Whew, I guess thats all the news :)

Had a great weekend in Guelph

The kids were on their mid-winter break from school, so we decided to take a long weekend and go to Guelph to see and the family there. We all had a great time. Was great to see Grandma too, and to get in on a one-year birthday. Hard to believe that Tayah is one already!!
The guys went on a fishing trip up to Lake Simcoe, to my cousin Martins fishing hole. They had lots of fun, and came back with a few fish that are alot larger than what they catch here in the winter. Had some exciting stories to tell too - guess they went over a few pressure cracks, and one they lost the back end of the 4-wheeler through the hole - glad they had a trailer on to hold it up!! Kinda scary and exciting for Devon for sure! He won't forget that fishing trip for a while.
On Devon's first day back to school, at share time they were to share what they did on their break. Devon tells me that he told all about his fishing trip, all the fun things that he did with his cousins in Canada etc etc. The teacher finally said, Ok Devon, you only have time for a few more sentences!! :) Guess he enjoyed his time and had alot of things to share :)






Tayah is One!!


The little tea party!


Didn't last all night though - maybe next time :)




This is what we did while the guys were gone fishing.

Making Valentines Cookies

The kids had a blast making Valentines cookies. They did everything themselves this year. After snacking on the dough, icing, candies etc. while making them, they only ate a few bites of a cookie. That tells how much snacking they were doing while making them!!

Valentines Day

This year, I went to Kylee's Valentine party at school, but Devon missed his because he ended up with the flu that morning. He spent the afternoon sleeping on the couch

Guess we better take him camping this summer :)

Last night at supper, we were talking about camping and how much fun we had when we went. So, Devon gets the brilliant idea that him and his dad should go camping up in the woods behind our house - TONIGHT!! So, we suggested Devon get his sleeping bag, and sweatshirt etc. that he thought he should sleep in and spend 20 minutes on the deck to try out the cold. Excitedly, he goes and collects all he wants, and tells us to tell him when the 20 minutes are up. Here is where I found him 10 minutes later :) By the way, it was 21 degrees!! After the 20 minutes, he continued to bug his dad about going. That sure didn't stop him. Crazy kid!!!






And this is where he ended up camping for the night.
Hurry up summer!!!