And shine she does

She is hilarious.Seriously... Seriously funny. I can not believe how fast she is growing up! How brilliant she is. The things that she says some times make my jaw drop. My heart aches for the baby she is leaving behind though. I see little glimpses now and again and that's it. It's proving really hard for me to let go and admit that my last little baby is growing up. I can't really call her a baby anymore and hardly a toddler! With her 5-6 word sentences, her independent nature, her drive to keep up with her brothers. She is not one to be coddled that's for sure {not that I coddle, but I do have to fight the urge with her sometimes} she lets me know in no uncertain terms that she is capable and demands that I let her grow up. Sigh. She is a little me, and so I understand and I swallow the urge to keep babying her and I step back and let her shine.

And shine she does, like the brightest star in the sky, or the prettiest fish in the sea. She's one of a kind sparkly, my girl. And I'm not just saying that because she's my daughter. ;)

Snakes and such

I took the kids to the Reptile Zoo last Saturday. They LOVED it, almost more then the regular zoo I do believe!There were all kind of amazing creatures there. Turtles, snakes, lizards, alligators, even spiders and frogs.
There were actually two sections to the place, it's a good thing we had met up with friends there that knew all about it or we might have left only seeing one side. It would have still been cool, but not nearly as amazing as the whole thing!

Ira was quite the snake charmer! Seriously. And he was super into everything there, especially the snakes. No fear at all just a lot of curiosity. Good thing we don't have poisonous snakes in our area.

We got to met up with these wonderful friends for a fun filled day. {Melody also has an awesome blog, check it out!} After the zoo we went to a park for a picnic and a nature hike as well as playing on the play equipment. {We had so much fun that the day just flew bye and before we were ready we had to say goodbye.}

They even got to hold some snakes, boy were they excited! {Can't say the same for myself...} Atty was a little bit distracted, he gets overwhelmed easily so he couldn't focus very well but I still got a few photos of him and he held the snakes for a moment before moving on. I was just glad he held it together and didn't have a melt down. That use to be a big problem with him, but it actually hasn't happened in a while thank goodness.
He's just really scattered and wanders around randomly from thing to thing, it's hard to keep an eye on him and can be sort of stressful at times, especially because he is very impulsive. I caught him trying to lift a lid of a spider cage when we were there, yikes!

Spike's face just glowed the whole time we were there, he was really into the whole experience. :) {I just hope he doesn't some day ask for a "pet" snake, ack!}

Bubu was also really excited about the whole thing, and so gentle with the snakes, a bit more timid then Spike but just as willing to hold them.

A bowl of snake anyone?

Atty in awe.

There were the most adorable frogs in here! My favorite part. I prefer things with out strong jaws, sharp teeth, venom and the ability to strangle you. But maybe that's just me.

Bubu's super excited face. :)

At the end I decided to spring the extra so that the kids could hold the big snake and get their picture taken. I'm glad I did {not something I would normally do being the frugal lady I am... some would say cheap or stingy, ha ha!} it ended up being the highlight of the whole trip for the boys and Lala was really excited too. She had no fear of this thing what so ever! I had to keep stopping her from trying to pet it's face.

Spike did not want to give it back. At all. I think he could have hung out with it all day! He was very excited to get a chance to be on the head end for a moment.

Such a great experience. I really had to swallow my fears and enjoy the moment with my kids. My husband was not as excited to see the kids so close and personal with the snake, when I showed him the pictures he was less then thrilled, ha ha! At one point when they were holding the snake it started to wrap back around Bubu's neck and he said "Mom it's trying to hug me!" Um yes son that's what it's trying to do... sure. I just smiled and nodded while unwrapping it, quickly. Why take that special moment away with the reality that snakes don't hug. Bubu told everyone, all day long, that the snake liked him so much that it tried to give him a hug and it was because he was so gentle with it. Sweetness.

The only thing that had the potential to ruin our visit was the rude girl that worked there that had no customer service skills what so ever and lacked in class in a big way. She was pretty nasty and I really had to bit my tongue and let it go, some thing I'm trying to get better at.

All in all is was a superb day and we hope to go back again soon, the kids really want to bring their daddy next time... I can't wait to see how that goes. :)

Emotions tied up in a song

I identify so strongly with this song. Word for word. I can listen to it over and over again. The emotion in her voice takes my breath away. I think of my life, what I've gone through and then I think of my husband and how he saved my life. I'd be lost with out him. This song is so tied into my life it's like I wrote it, but I could never write something so eloquent. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Listen to it as loud as you possibly can, close your eyes and feel it. Does it speak to you as well?

Good Grief...

Banden spent some time tonight examining my face, he had all kinds of comments and questions. One of his comments was "mom you have a really big nose, but I like that, I like that about you". Ha ha ha... oh my. Great self esteem booster.

Speaking of self esteem I am struggling with my weight right now. One minute I feel really down about it and the next I just don't want to care about it. I'm a healthy person and that's really what matters the most. But. But. But. Sigh. With all the stress and the focus on Atty's health issues and his MAS diet, with Leiella almost done nursing and my cycle coming back {not that you needed to know that, but OMGoodness do I crave sweet food like crazy once a month, it's ridiculous!}, with four children and a daycare to run, with a house that turns messy in the blink of an eye, I just don't have the time or the energy for me. I really don't. I want to but I just don't. I mostly just need to make time to really workout, but making that time ends up on the end of a really long consistent to do list. A lot of the stuff on that list can not be changed or ignored so me myself and I end up on the waiting list. That's just were I am in my life right now. I know that there will be a time when I will have moments where I can do things like work out or really take a break for me, but now is just not the time. I frustrate myself with feeling down about my weight. Because I don't want to fall victim of the "must be the perfect mom, women, daughter, wife" thing. There are so many pressures piled against us that I don't want to be my own worst enemy and I hate seeing other women that are obviously buying into it and stressing themselves out over it. My husband truly doesn't care, and I really shouldn't be so vain. Who am I trying to impress? But as much as I say all these things in my head I find myself dwelling on it on and off all day long, and now I find myself writing about it, so obviously it's bothering me a great deal. I've been trying to change the way I eat, and also my portion sizes because now that Leiella is hardly nursing I don't need as many calories as before. I've been pregnant or breast feeding for the last 6 years so I really have to change my eating habits. Get back to normal portion sizes. And I have to get a handle on this cyclic eating I've been doing, good grief. My first cycle I gained about 15 pounds, I kid you not! That's in one month people, yikes! It's not that bad any more but that was a nasty wake up call. Anyway I don't really need to go on and on about it, I just needed to get this out. It helps me to write things down some times and then I tend to stop dwelling so much.

On a happier note I was also told tonight by my cute little boys that I am beautiful, that they love my hair and freckles and that I have nice eyes. Sigh. They are sweet just like there daddy. Apparently this girl needs a lot of nice comments... and they have no problem handing them out. :)

Projects, good food and fireworks, what a day!

Happy Fourth!!! {yes, yes I know it's way past by now, but all the same}.We had a wonderful day. Spent working on projects together, then a yummy dinner out on the back deck, followed by a pretty cool fireworks show viewed at a local park.

This girl is such a daddy's girl. If it looks like she is glued to him in every picture it's because she is!

My adorable little flower children.

Can you tell daisies are an all time favorite of mine? I let the wild ones grow in my garden, I figure a plant is only a weed if you don't like them. Since I love the wild daisies that grow around here I openly invite them into my garden. :) I think it's a horrible shame they are considered weeds. They do have a tendency to take over if you let them, but you don't have to.

My littlest boy, such a sweet heart he is. Lately he always wants to hold my hand, hug or kiss me, tell me he loves me, pick flowers for me, tell me I'm beautiful, etc... It's really so adorable.

Snuggling daddy and waiting for the show to start. {which took forever!}

Actually sitting still for a picture, and not making a silly face for once, wow! Rare indeed.

Fire works! Lala was super quiet the whole time, but she didn't freak out so that's good. Atty still said he was scared but this was the first year he wasn't sitting on someones lap clinging on for dear life. Plus I think he actually did enjoy it. Growing up.

See all smiles. We had a blast, and even got out of there with out a problem. Sometimes you get stuck in some serious traffic, yuck.

When we got home our new crazy {and I mean seriously crazy party animals} neighbors down at the end of the block were lighting off some really big fireworks. J said they had been at it since it first got dark. {and they kept at it until midnight!} While the hubby and I were getting the other sleeping kids out of the car Bubu went in and grabbed a blanket and settled down on the sidewalk to watch. It was so cute that I just had to let him stay out there with me for a while longer. Even though it was really, really late at that point. He was wide awake and so excited. It was nice to have a moment with him and then a bonus moment when J decided to join us. He didn't go to the fireworks show, so it was nice to get to watch some fireworks with him after all.

Okay so now I am pretty much caught up and I really need to remember to never let it get that bad again! I am really trying to pack a lot of exploring into this summer and a ton of yard projects as well but I will need to make time to post now and again before I let weeks get away from me!

Yummy, yum, yum!

Our first egg! {They didn't lay the egg here, I just wanted a picture after the boys brought it to me.}

It was super little and the boys found it out in the yard. Since then they have found two more eggs in the yard, but they were soft shelled. I'm thinking I need to go get them some oyster shells. I've heard they need them for the calcium so that the shells will be hard.
I'm not sure why they are laying them in the yard. They have nesting boxes. I only let them out on the weekend too {to give me time to clean up chicken poop, yuck} so it's not like they are out there all the time. If they were I would understand more why they would be confused and laying in the wrong spot, but this isn't the case. I'm at a loss as to how to get them to lay eggs in their nesting boxes. Will have to brain storm and do some more research I guess. They are actually laying early too, we weren't expecting any for another month or so. Anyways regardless of where they are laying, we are so excited to see some eggs!

{and yes I still have even more catching up to do...}

An inspirational outing

A weekend ago we went to this really awesome park. Actually it's a few parks in one area. There is a wild life sanctuary with a boardwalk, a fragrance garden and an old homestead park with animals and gardens, plus it's right next to a river. If it was closer to us we would be there all the time! I got some serious inspiration from the gardens, the fragrance garden as well as the vegetable gardens at the other park. It was a beautiful warm day and we spent the whole day there. We also met up with family as well. Neenee {grandma} Aunties and a niece. So fun!I must have this in my garden.

And this.

I am all about organic gardening and adjusting tolerance levels, but this sign cracked me up! There were NO plants there. If you are going to place a sign advocating this sort of gardening at least have a healthy looking plant by the sign!

Because dry empty dirt does not get the right point across I do believe.

Smelling the flowers.

Auntie Rissa! Lala loves her auntie I promise, she is just focusing on those sunglasses. She was waiting for her moment to seize them off her face, and or put her fingers all over them. She's crafty like that.

Board walk fun. The kids loved this walk, I was a little nervous myself and praying the whole time one of them didn't stumble or step off in their excitement. It wasn't all that deep, just nasty.

Can you tell I'm exhausted already? And it was still before noon. We didn't leave the park until close to 6 pm. It was a looooonnnnggggg day.

My little explorers.

Had to get a picture of the boys on this pig bench, they loved it.

I am going to do my new garden beds {where the pond use to be} like this. It's a four by four foot bed split up into one foot squares with string so it looks like a grid. They were amazing. This type of compact planting fits a ton of vegetables into a really small space. Exactly what I need!

The kids loved the animals. I was a little sad and shocked that there wasn't very many animals at this park anymore {and just by the condition of the fragrance garden and park in general}. I use to go to this park as a kid and they had so many more animal, plus the park was obviously taken better care of back then. With all the cuts in budget and stuff this park has really suffered. Still a cool place, but it really has been neglected over the last 20 years. A volunteer at the fragrance garden told me that the garden is pretty much only run by volunteers at this point. If I lived closer I would most definitely want to be one of those volunteers. I couldn't help but think about all the stuff I would love to do to fix up the garden as I was walking through.

Cousins! These two are just the cutest. They were looking a wild birds, since there were no other animals in this pen. Leiella is still calling most birds spooky or spooky eagles {ever since the baby crow incident}. After the fragrance garden, the boardwalk and the park we decided that it was just too hot and headed down to the river.

Lala sat down in this pud puddle before I could even get her swimsuit on. Ahhhhhhh refreshing!

Rivers make me nervous so they were only allow to put there toes in, but it was enough to cool off. They still had tons of fun in the sand and squishing in mud puddles.

These two were just plain adorable as usual. Some how they ended up both wearing green sunhats and pink swimsuit and they were just too much!

Love.

So there you have it, I managed to drowned you once again in pictures. And believe it or not... I am still not caught up with my posts. Good Grief.

Garden beauties...