mom's night

It was a beautiful thing walking into the living room and seeing Kaiden on the couch surrounded by piles and piles of books and quietly reading. He looks up and says, "we're going to read ALL of these Mommy!". When we went to the library the other day we took home more books that we could carry! Most of them were about animals (Kaiden's passion) and science. We didn't have much luck with finding any faerie books but we aren't giving up the hunt. We made a pretty big dent in the pile and have some lists of science experiments we want to try soon.

Today we went to my mom's house for some more swimming to beat this rotten heat. Somehow Kaiden and Samantha suckered my mom into a sleepover at their house tonight so I'm all by myself and I'm going to make the best of it! I've got lots of sewing plans, some good chick flick, pizza, and the sound of of rain on the roof. I couldn't ask for more right now!

June 28

Kaiden and Randy went to the beach today for some "boy time" while I went shopping with my mom and sister for some "girl time". Kaiden and Randy had to leave the beach early due to a mud fight gone bad but I had a blast doing girly things like going out for lunch and shopping for lotions, clothes, and jewelry- all things the boys would have dreaded! I did buy one thing that was just for Kaiden - a pair of clip on earrings! He's been so into dressing up lately - and yes, even dressing as a girl- that I knew he would LOVE them and I was right :)

This is the opposite side of that Kaiden. He was in the back yard calling in a horrible voice "Who's getting their hands cut off next?????". Of course I had to be the volunteer and he continued to "cut" off my hands with his pretend circular saw.

Photos courtesy of Randy. While I was gone he thought the world was coming to and end, or at least a tornado was getting ready to touch down. He said he was about ready to pack Kaiden up in the car and leave the animals to fend for themselves!


Yesterday we had a water balloon fight - and I lost big time.

The strategic planning.

The ammo.

My battle wounds....with only a few tears and a raw face. Randy plays mean.

potty talk

"Hey Mom! My poop just had a chrysalis!"


"Oh really?", thinking this butterfly study might be getting a bit out of hand.


"Do you want to know what poop is really called?"


"Ummm...not really"


"A chrysalis!!! muahahahaha!!!!", laughing hysterically at his own joke.


Indeed, it has gotten out of hand. lol

Randy's School of Dance

Welcome to Randy's School of Dance, where you can learn all of his moves in just once session! And if your lucky you might even get your own personal performance of his infamous booty dance! As you can see, Kaiden has some of his daddy's talent in that area :

adventure

This is what adventure looked like today :

"Two different times- Summer with hot air and winter with cold air. A flower in the summertime in a pretty pot and a butterfly in the wintertime searching for nectar. A meadow and an underground spring." - Kaiden

We've been inspecting our milkweed plants and counting out all of the caterpillars that are chomping away at the leaves and this has sparked an interest in learning more and more about them. So we've started our quest beginning with a magnifying glass to take a closer look at our little friends!

We've also collected a few books about butterflies and caterpillars : Waiting for Wings, The Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar's Wish, From Caterpillar to Butterfly, and Inch by Inch. We even have a movie dedicated to the little guys : Little Einsteins Big Huge Adventure.

Kaiden is also getting more curious about fairy lore. Any book suggestions?

picnic celebration

He's only been gone for 2 days but jeez, it seems like he grew a foot! We had a picnic to celebrate Kaiden's return and it just wouldn't have been complete with out juicy red watermelon.

During our meal Kaiden says randomly to me:

"Mom, did you know some people come back down from heaven once they get up there?"

We spotted this little miss sneaking around our picnic blanket

Another KITTEN UPDATE: The kitten's new name is Kip and is settling in and enjoying his new home and family. Another success story!

for a special someone

Two posts in one day, a bit much I know...but I really wanted to give a special someone (you know who you are) a sneak peek at who showed up this morning! Are you excited? A bit curious? She'll need a new home soon - it's a bit crowded over here!

kid free weekend

Kaiden has been at Great Aunt Jane's house for another fun weekend and Randy and I have been enjoying our kid free time! It's nice having a little break from the "Mommy! Come wipe my buuuuutt!", "Why aren't you playing with me? Can we play now? How about now?", "I don't want to go to the grocery store. It's so BOOORING!!!", and oh so many more that we hear a million times in a 24hr period.

We finally got our butterfly garden planted and we have caterpillars on our milkweed plants! Randy was amazed that the butterfly garden was actually "working". Did he think the idea was a gimmick? I have no clue, but here's a picture of one of our little visitors:

I had a fun girls day with my mom too. She NEVER buys anything for herself, as mothers tend to do, so it was nice to see her looking all pretty in spankin' new clothes. And look! She's not wearing a polo shirt! There is hope!!!

And since Kaiden wasn't home our other kids got some special treatment and some new toys. They were really excited and couldn't bother sitting still for a nice photo:

June 21

What have we been up to today? Oh, a little of this and a little of that and most of all just enjoying being with one another without any bickering!

We've had some dressing up,

intense Star Wars battles,

movies,

Popsicles,

playing in the mud,

whip cream masks

and some awesome oatmeal play dough.

And there you have it, friends!

We're not up to much right now,

just livin' a luxurious life of leisure!

We leave you with these words of wisdom...

bits of our trip

It took about 11 hours to get there but it was worth it! Here are some pics...

The new little mama.

We hiked up Johns Mountain through a recently smoldering forest fire with 2 dogs, a very brave pregnant woman, and a 4 year old. We were truly looking forward to cooling off in the Keown Falls but were very disappointed to find it all dried up! We had fun anyways!

A cannon at Kennesaw Mountain.

Exploring a hidden creek.

Kaiden's favorite part - the simplicity of playing in a lake.

Do you think this guy might be a relative of Smokey the Bear?

Ice cream in the city!

Check out Flickr for more pictures!!

on the road again...

We're sitting here at 5am printing off mapquest directions for our big trip today. We're headed to Atlanta to see Randy's sister Melissa and her husband Mike. We can't wait to see you guys!!! I'm not sure if we're supposed to spill the beans or not but I'm gonna risk it.......

They're having a baby BOY!!!!

We couldn't be more happy for them - Congratulations you two!!!

old friends

We got together with an old friend this morning for some more summer fun! Its amazing how Kaiden and Lucas picked up where they had left off - bickering and all! The boys were up to their usual stick shooting,

tree climbing,

and gator wrestling

We also wanted to share Kaiden's new style of coloring with you all. Many of you have received mail from the little man so you know how crazy his pictures can be! All of his art recently has been like this one - very colorful and abstract.....i wonder who he gets that from?

Summer

What could be better on hot summer days?

KITTEN UPDATE: A very sweet woman, who is one of Randy's clients, is giving the little guy a forever home! We're so excited for him. He is the kind of cat who really needs to be pamperd and given tons and tons of affection and he will be getting that and much more in his new home. Pickle, as Kaiden has named him, has settled well here with our 5 cats and 3 dogs. Hopefully he won't miss his new buddies too much.

a walk through the trees

Our friends Jenn and Vee came to visit the other day and we had another awesome adventure! We went to Myakka River State Park to check out the Canopy Walkway. We walked through all of the different layers of the forest to above the tree tops. The tower was a bit shaky but the hike up was worth the view.

We hiked, climbed LOTS of trees, spotted gators waiting for their lunch, and even saw a family of spotted hogs crossing the road.

Oh, and I can't forget the never ending game of Taboo! We'll be treking up to the SantaFe River at the end of the summer to stay at the Dancing Bear Lodge and we can't wait!!!