A little creepy

Apparently we're celebrating Halloween early this year. Notice the spider inside the skeleton cup?


I guess that's what we get for leaving two cups in the sink overnight...

Monkey

Connor's nickname has been Monkey for pretty much his entire life.  As he started getting mobile as a baby, the nickname seemed quite fitting, considering how many hours a day he spent climbing on things around our house!

And look how comfortable he is, hanging out in trees...

Newest Pets

I've been neglectful in introducing our three newest pets.  We've had them for about a month or so.

We have Kermit, who was our first frog: (his two favorite places are either IN the tipped over flower pot we put in there as a hiding place, or back BEHIND the tipped over flower pot, wedged into the corner of the tank)


And Jumpy, who was our 2nd frog: (Jumpy is the most active of all three frogs, and we find him climbing all around, dangling from the mesh cover of the tank, etc)


And Miss Piggy, who was our 3rd, and final frog: (Miss Piggy can usually be found right about where you see her in this picture)


Connor would continue adding to the "collection" if he had his way, but I'm not looking to go totally crazy!

We had a little scare yesterday where we couldn't find Kermit ANYWHERE, and Miss Piggy was looking significantly more fat than the day prior...  I was pretty sure she must have managed to eat him, but then a few hours later, Kermit was back.  I have zero explanation for it.  I moved the moss around, checked in all his usual places...  At least he turned up again!

The boys get a kick out of watching the frogs eat the crickets we feed them.  I try to stay hands off the whole cricket thing, but have ocassionally needed to be the one to feed the frogs.  It IS pretty neat to see them snatch up the crickets!

Happy 8th Birthday Jared!

Dear Jared,

I'm not quite sure how 8 years have passed since you were born... I guess what they say about time flying when you're having fun is true! You make life fun and interesting, either with your sense of humor, your creativity, or your passion to learn!

One year ago, you were barely willing to put your face in the water at swim lessons, and now you are almost fully through level 8! Swim team is most definitely in your future at some point! It's been so much fun watching you learn to swim and sticking with it until it was something you could do WELL. You set a goal for yourself back on day 1 that you would get to level 8 in less than a year, and you succeeded! I anxious to see what other goals you set for yourself as you explore life?

One year ago, you were blowing my mind by FLYING through the Harry Potter books, despite the fact that you were only in first grade. This year, you've read so many books I can't even keep track! You've gotten interested in greek mythology and have read numerous books on the subject. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you had a photographic memory the way you can spout off greek mythology facts out of the blue! Last I checked, your average comprehension test score was 96%, and you'd earned over 200 pts for the school year. That's crazy amounts of reading! I love it!

You've turned into quite the little negotiator lately, and I'm secrety convinced you're going to be some kind of lawyer. We've joked about it for years, but I get more and more convinced by the day. It will be interesting to see this skill progress, and how you use you it in life. As long as you aren't using it against me, we're good!

You are strong, smart, talkative, athletic, and creative, and you have so many other amazing qualities as well. I wish you another healthy year full of books, swimming, Legos, Wii, family/friends, etc. You deserve great things Buddy!

Love you,
Mommy

geocaches of all sizes

Look at this tiny little cache Emily and her friend Katie found!

Facetime

Now that we have wireless Internet at our house (I know, we're seriously behind "the times"!), my kids are LOVING that they can use the free texting app on their iPods, we're loving that my iPad is now usable for more than just games (checking Facebook from my bed in the morning? LOVE! heehee), and Emily is enjoying this little thing called FACETIME.

We've pretty much created a "monster" !! She and her friend Rane Facetime each other several times a week. Or they attempt it... I got onto my iPad yesterday and saw 6 missed Facetime calls from Rane for Emily. *grin*

This was their very first Facetime conversation, which was actually held at the pool during the boys' water polo lesson (we got our wireless router later that afternoon).


It's pretty cute seeing the girls show each other their rooms, their pets, their family members, etc.

Did you hear the one about the cow?

So, this cow walked into the kitchen, got down on all fours, moo'd loudly (but sounded more like a goat), then shouted, "UDDER ME!"


Maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious!

Where do kids come up with this stuff? hahahahaha!