day 351: Mooch.

"Sall I got today.  Once again, for these photos, I have three of Mooch's hind end.  Had to crop thess in, otherwise I wouldn't have it at all! 
His sister is a Diva.

Mooch?  Is not.

"What YOU lookin' at?"

"I'm outta here, man."

And since I have so many of Mooch's heiner, I immediately erased them as I shot them.  So please imagine him stalking off...

...here.

The end!

Day 350: Back to School

It was inevitable, I suppose, that the summer break would end.  So this morning, mid a misty fog, we met again at the corner to wait for the bus.

I just love her smile!

Can't believe how grown up she looks here.

Showing off the recent gap, thanks to her loose tooth finally coming out last night!  Yay!

Looking forward to joining big sister on the bus next year!

Day 349: Finally--Stackhouse.

Since we didn't do Stackhouse yesterday, when we got home from church, I threw some chicken in the oven, and later on in the afternoon we went down, picnic in hand, to Stackhouse Park for an end-of summer round up before school starts tomorrow. 
I've taken so many photos down there over the past year.

Adam was collecting so many acorns and stones in his pockets, that as we were walking down into the park, he trotted on ahead and fell right down on his face.  Literally ate dirt. And because his pants were so heavy, when he got up off the ground, well, his pants stayed there.  So all the while I was kissing his owies and trying to dig dirt out of his mouth, I was inwardly howling at the spectacle of the boy with the bulging pant pockets!

When we got down to the creek, down they went again.  So he dug everything out. 

Coz it was easier to see the pockets that way.

Here are Julia's finds.  Loads of acorns.  Oy.

***

Before I go, I wanted to show hubby and Mom and whoever else who might be interested this little tidbit.

Every night Adam falls out of bed.  Even when he had his short little crib converted to a toddler bed.  He does laps around the mattress and ends up on the floor.  Sharing a mattress with him is like being next to a windmill.  To be avoided at all costs.  So last night, as per my usual routine, I go in late to make sure he's still in his bed.  I can't find him anywhere!  He's not on the bed, on the floor, in my room, in the landing, in his sister's room.  So I turn on the light and get on my hands and knees to search.  This is what I discover(sorry for the bad photo---light was horrible, and I didn't want to use a flash).

UNDER his bed on the little crib mattress that we shoved under there for want of another place to put it until the crib is freecycled.  I slowly pulled the mattress out and prayed he wouldn't wake suddenly and wack his head on the springs on the metal bar.  He didn't move. 

And now I'm heading upstairs.  To sleep on TOP of the bed.

Nighters!

Day 348: Another instrument. Sigh.

We were so tired yesterday when I took this.  On Friday I got a call from M that her husband was going to take the kids so we could go spend some time together!  What a nice, unexpected treat.  After we got back, we sat in the car and chatted for...uh...a long time.  So oh my goodness were we tired yesterday.  Kids, too.  We were going to go to Stackhouse Park in the afternoon, but when we got back from a few errands, the kids and I just looked at each other and our bloodshot eyes and decided to stay home. So I took this.  Glad to have the fallback instrument idea!

Today's instrument is a cabasa.  Related to, yes, the shekere.  I wanted to take photos of another instrument, but I didn't have the time or energy to set it up properly, so I'll try for that one later.  hehe

Day 347: Craft day and a bit of bling

Over to the children's museum to play and then participate in their weekly craft.

...hmn...what more to add...

"A for Adam!"

And lookie!  I'm sporting a new jewelery set, for which I am so pleased.  Every girl loves a bit of sparkle, and this one certainly sparkles up a charm and catches the eye to boot.  Perfect!

Day 346: Stirring up a bit o' music

The next neat instrument I wanted to show you is a stir xylophone.  Combining cooking and making music--what could be better?

You use the spoon to stir the instrument "pot," making running notes, or you can tap the bars individually.  Either way, it's a pretty cool thing!

And I love the natural wood of this instrument, too!

Day 345: A visitor

"...I spied two tiny pale-green creatures.  Their eyes seemed to be weak, for they both wore black goggles..."

..."They had six legs apiece--two short ones, two not so short, and two very long.  These last legs had joints like the springs to buggy tops; and as  watched, they began walking up the rush, and then I saw that they moved exactly like an old-fashioned gig.  In fact, if I hadn't been too big, I think I should have heard them creak as they went along."

"...They didn't say anything so long as I was there, but the moment my back was turned they began to quarrel again, and in the same old words--'Katy did'.' 'Katy didn't.'  'She did.'  'She didn't.'"

Bye to you as well, Mr. Katydid.  Thanks for the visit!  And for reminding me again of one of my favorite books, "What Katy Did," by Susan Coolidge.  When I was a child, my great-grandmother Schreiber gave me a first edition of this book.  I treasured it--but somewhere along the way it disappeared. I still have a newer addition, though, which I have shared with my daughter.  The story of willful Katy, who always gets into scrapes but who grows into a thoughtful, giving, young woman when confronted with a difficult trial has been one that I go back to over and over. 

And since living here in PA, I've seen a real, live katydid twice!  Once on a water fountain at an ice cream stop, and now right here on my front porch.  He made my day!

(note to self:  Sort out aperture and depth of field when in macro. I'm always too shallow and end up with out of focus bits.)

Day 344: shekere

A few years ago, I taught Kindermusik.  It was soooo much fun!  I loved making music with kiddos and their parents.  The babies and toddlers were my favorite groups to play with.  Too great!  Anyway, I did it for about three years when the economy started to take the downturn, and Kindermusik became a luxury that most in this town couldn't afford, and I couldn't continue it.  It's something that someday I hope to be able to do again, though.  One of the perks of teaching was acquiring a whole slew of fun musical instruments.  The shekere is one of my favorites.  I love the feel of the natural gourd in my hand and how you can play it in so many different ways.  I loved having the kids explore with it, because they always found a way to play it that I had never thought of before.

This might be the beginning of a short series of my instruments, since the kids dug them out the other day and have been performing in household bands and play-alongs.  We had them in the car for awhile, and although loud at least it was productive, fun loudness that I can deal with and not contentious or over-the-top silly loudness that is on its way to someone in tears!  Anyway, I digress. 

My pile of instruments.  Love 'em.

Love the shekere.

Day 343: It's about time

Time for a little more laughter

a few more smiles

more snuggles with my kiddos

Time to do another load of laundry.

Obviously

Time to weed the garden!

Time to think about dinner.

Time to have another happy afternoon.

What is it time for in your world?

Day 342: Rainy Sunday

This is what happens when you're a weed in my garden:

You're allowed to get nice and big and healthy!

Day 341: Freezing at the pool.

Getting a bit stir crazy at home this afternoon, we made a spur-of-the-moment trip to the pool.

It was freezing.

The kids didn't care that they were turning blue.

In an attempt after two hours of goosebumps to bribe them into getting out of the water so we could go home, I said I'd go down the scary waterslide chute.  You know the kind?  The one that goes straight down and lets you out a few feet above deep water, dropping you with blinding, swimsuit-wedgy inducing speed into the pool? 

Have I mentioned that I've never done it before and I'm really not much of a fish?  No?

I was that desperate to get into the warm car.

It was rather exhilarating.  I went down three times. 

the end.

Digging the goggles.  This was the first year that Julia could go down this curly-wurly slide herself.

She went down exactly a gazillion times.  I was counting.

I took some video with my camera, but since two years after getting my good point &s shoot, I still am unable to figure out how to actually POST any of the video I take, it's fairly useless.

This is the fellow who, less than ten seconds before was whining to me that the water was COLD and to please come in too mommy.  I had no intention of leaving my nice, warm towel poolside to get into an ice bath.  What changed?  Why did he quickly hop in and start laughing up a storm?

A cute bit of pony tail, that's what happened.  About his age.  She went in, and he was instantly in after her.

After a few minutes, she looked at me and said, "Is he yours?  He's annoying."

I laughed and told her she'd better get used to boys being annoying, cos they tend to be that way when they like someone, and she was adorable!

I think I'm in trouble.  Should I keep him in seclusion until he's 40?

Passed this on the way home and had to stop and shoot it.  Although it looked like someone already had...  ha!

day 340: Day trip

A friend and I took our kids and went to DC to visit the National Zoo.  Half way there, I thought to myself, "My DSLR memory card is still in the computer at home, and my spare one is in my computer bag.  Grk."  I had my point and shoot, which is good but still limiting.  We've been to the zoo a few times, so I didn't take many photos anyway, but there were a couple of things I wanted to do and couldn't because my camera wouldn't do as it was told!  Ah well--next time, I suppose. 

We stopped at the DC Temple visitor's center first.  The kids and I love going there.  We all love sitting in front of the Christus statue and listening to a beautiful recording of some of the words of Christ from the scriptures.  There was a beautiful display of bronze statues entitled (if I remember correctly) The Hope of Christ, which depicted a variety of scenes from Christ's ministry, including walking on the water, the raising of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and many others. After we spent some time at the visitor's center, we walked behind the temple and had a picnic lunch.

Then from the sublime to, well, the zoo.  We've been to the zoo several times before, and I've taken photos of the animals.  Since I didn't have the camera that I needed to take particular shots that I wanted, I really didn't take my point and shoot out much.  I tried a couple of things, but they really didn't work out as planned, so my zoo photos are limited.  That's OK--it was nice to have the camera stored for a change.  Several of the displays were closed, so we didn't see many of the larger animals.  A LOT of walking!

And Julia, tired and trying to avoid getting her picture taken!  I have none of Adam, and even this photo was taken mostly as a joke to snap Julia out of her sore feet.

I guess it worked!

Other highlights:

Petting the cleanest cow I've ever seen!  The cows I'm used to, well, if you decided to pet them, you'd end up with a palm full of dirt and oil.  Bleh.  This one--clean clean clean and soft!

Getting blocked into the upper level of Amazonia by two spoon-billed something or other birds that also wanted out and didn't like us trying to pass them!  I wanted to take them (and their beaks) and use them to dig into a big bowl of ice cream.  Or maybe hire them to stir a big pot of soup.

The end.

Day 339: Halleluia

And here, ladies and gentleman, I present to you, after well over two hours of intensive labour...

...a car free of a summer's worth of sand.

Thank you very much.

Day 338: Fungus amungus

When visiting Maren and their new, very neat house-in-the-woods, I was fascinated by all of the mushrooms.  So today I grabbed Maren's kids and mine and headed out to the new digs to take some fungus fotos.  hehe.

OK.  This first one isn't fungus.  But I liked it!

And there you have it!  The best of over 100 shots!  Uh..yeah.  I was having too much fun on my stomach in the leaves and dirt communing with the daddy longs legs spiders!