Great white hunters!!

We went on a ride across the road to find coyote dens...

Cooper in the bubblie!

I wanted to show Carra that Cooper loves to play in bubbles too! The kids love to fill the tub with bubbles using the jets!!

Coconuts . . . .

Remember that trip that Ryan and Ruth took to Hawaii and I watched their three kids while they were gone?

Well, they ever so graciously brought me back my own souvenir!

I opened the package and Carra yelled - "Come look! Mom's got coconuts!"

Ryan's comment was "That is the LAST time I want to see those!" Well, I agree that I am not doing any modeling, but Carra and Owen were dying to try them out.

Now backpacks - I had never considered that before . . .
that might be a useful tip!

Nothin' special...

Here are two of my most recent 'favorite' pictures. I love the first one cuz it has such contrast, but yet the color is layered... does that make sense?! The other one I just thought was pretty. I took the pictures behind the house sitting on the island in the irrigation pond.

My entries

I am taking a photography class "Taking pictures that talk" through UW Milwaukee with a friend and we have been given a few assignments.

The first assignment was to take a picture of a person - but there could be no body part of a person in the picture. Yeah, my head was reeling too when I heard the assignment. He talked us through it and this is what I came up with: (It is the same picture, but in different tones). Who would you say it is?????



The class is Wednesday night so I am eager to hear the teacher's critique.

Assignment #2 was to take a picture of a person in their environment. Now that one was a bit easier. Here is what I am turning in: (We have to turn in 3-5 different pictures.)

I am a sucker for sepia tone pictures but I think I am going to submit them in both color and in sepia just to get the teacher's honest perspective. I do have more than 2 kids, but for some reason these two do cuter things when the camera is out.







Any critiques from you professionals??? (Other than the fact that I can't count. I am aware that the assignment is 3-5 pictures and I have 6 . . . )

I have a few other entries I am considering. Do you care to see those too?

Out of the mouth of babes

This weekend, Owen said a few cute ones . . .

1. We were in a garden store and he asked me for the 100th time, "What's that, Mommy?"
Everything you explain to him, he has to repeat it back to you in the form of a question.

You may have to read this one out loud to understand it.

"What's that, Mommy?"

"It's a statue, Owen." I explained

"A statch me?"

Do you get it? He thought I said "statch you" so he changed the pronoun to "me" when he repeated it back to me! Not only is it cute, it amazes me how much they understand about the English language without ever being formally taught! The mind is an amazing thing! And we think they are so innocent! It makes me wonder what else he knows . . . . .

2. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Ruth pull into the driveway at church on Sunday.

"Mommy, look, it's donkey Ryan." states Owen very matter of factly.

Out of the mouth of babes!

The Cake

Brice got a bright idea in his head that he would like to bake a cake. The bright idea came a little to late last night so we made him wait until this morning. He really wanted to make a cake that was unique, and decided the best way to make it unique was to decorate it - well, uniquely. He recruited Mikayla to help him and away they went!

They had a LOT of fun, made a BIG mess, and got along BEAUTIFULLY! It was a positive experience overall! (Because I made THEM clean up!)

A side note: That is not frosting on Mikayla's nose. She had an encounter with the swing and the ground. Yeah, the two don't usually meet - but Mikayla found a way!

So here is their work of art. It is their "Just Because Mystery Cake".

Ta- Da

The creators
It is decorated with "potty treats."
(They raided the bucket of treats I use to bribe Owen to go potty.)

Blowing out the candles - Brice has unique form -
we may have to work on that!

Carra helping with the last stubborn candles.
(Notice Mikayla "helping" in the background. I think it is the same reflex that causes us moms to open our mouths every time we put a spoon in our babies mouths! :0)

Apparently you can have your cake-
and eat it too!

More pictures

Just some pictures from our week last week . . .

Potty training . . . in the "still smiling" stage.

Only kids love the dandelions . . .

School outside!

Super Cute

Buff called me this morning and he is coming home from Azerbaijan - today!

I explained this to Owen as he woke up and he quickly explained to me that,

"Daddy, bye-bye on a apwane. Daddy's over by John."

Actually, on Sunday someone explained to me that Carra had explained to them that Buff was visiting some guy named John. Now I get the connection! Too funny!

Tulips

Last year when Buff went to South Africa he had a layover in Amsterdam and found authentic Holland tulips for sale in the airport and bought me some. Now we all know how much better the authentic Holland ones are versus the ones you buy at your local garden store! ;0) Somehow you just can't pass up buying them from Holland. It just seems like the right thing to buy at the time!

Nonetheless, I was tickled. I love tulips and I have had a lot of fun enjoying their blooms. I put them in a circle around my lamp post out front. I wish I would have clustered them - can I move them again once they die down???

So come, put on your wooden shoes and tiptoe with me through my tulips!

And which of you by being anxious
can add a single hour to his span of life?
If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that,
why are you anxious about the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow:
they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Luke 12:25-27

Pictures

Just some fun pictures I found of the kids on my camera !

Testing the wind direction.

Is that Carra with a buzz?

Project Time

This year the kids have been able to attend a homeschooling co-op where they were able to take two classes. Once class was art and the other was a world culture class. Last night they had their grand finale where the kids were to submit two projects for their World Culture Fair.

The art project was for them to create "Something from Nothing." Apparently we are dealing with little deities because the only person I know to ever accomplish that task was God. Needless to say, we came up with something. The task was to take something and turn it into something else.

I set some ground rules for my kids. It had to serve a purpose. I didn't want to work hard on a project that they would throw away next week. Here is what they came up with!!!

A wind chime made from kitchen gadgets!

I know, I know, Family Fun had this in their magazine this month - but truth be told, she had the idea first. I saw the magazine and tried to hide it from her so that she would come up with the ideas herself, but I didn't succeed - she was very excited when she saw their version. So yes, we stole some of their ideas from them. It really is neat though hanging on our deck!

Brice originally wanted to make a bug house out of a coffee can with windows and everything, but we couldn't figure out how to cut the openings without losing a finger. So we went with the bird feeder instead. It is hanging outside our kitchen window waiting for visitors.

The other project they had to do was a country study.

Madagascar

Some interesting facts we learned about Madagascar:
* It is the fourth largest island in the world.
* 75% of the animal species found on Madagascar are found nowhere else in the world.
(Apparently 25% are either good swimmers, flyers or hitchhikers.)

Azerbaijan

Interesting Fact:
* Azerbaijan means "Land of Fire" because it is very common for natural gas leaks to catch fire throughout the country. Apparently it is one of the leading causes of death - people caught in these fires that just start up out of "nowhere."

They did a great job! We learned a lot - everything from art to culture to how to manage our time better! (Yeah, we were finishing projects last minute).

Working moms

I found this interesting report on my Yahoo page this morning! I am still waiting for my paycheck!

Reuters Reports:

Stay-at-home mother's work worth $138,095 a year

Wed May 2, 2007 3:04PM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.

This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.

The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.

The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.

A mother who holds full-time job outside the home would earn an additional $85,939 for the work she does at home, Salary.com.

Last year she would have earned $85,876 for her at-home work, it said.

Salary.com compiled the online responses of 26,000 stay-at-home mothers and 14,000 mothers who also work outside the home.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst)

Brother - Sister Bonding

I caught a rare moment on camera. I know they love each other, they just don't want anyone else to know. They can't fool me!

American Idol Hopeful

I promised to write about some of Carra's dance moves. She loves to sing and when she sings, it is usually a mixture of worship songs from church edited and altered with her own lyrics. It makes for some interesting theology!

Here she is dancing on the trampoline with a dress Grandma Hawk gave her to play dress up. That usually puts her in the dramatic mood. Her microphone is a flashlight. I think she can see her reflection on the kitchen window so that is why her moves are so dramatic. (Do you notice the dress coming off the shoulder - yikes!)

If you scroll down rather quickly, you can kind of get an idea of her dance moves.

Carra, you make my heart smile!