our very own charlotte

This past Saturday night I opened the front door to take Bella out before going to bed. It's a darn good thing I turned on the light or I would have walked right into this HUGE web! It seems as though we have our very own resident spider. Trevor and I sat on the front porch watching her create her web for about an hour. It was fascinating. Just wish we had a better camera. The moon was full and we kept commenting how the scene was a photographer's dream. Too bad we only own a "point and shoot"!

Sunday night she was back! Same place, new web. I am astonished how she carefully spins a new web every night. It takes a couple of hours of non-stop work for her to complete her web. This night we woke up the kids and let them watch. They even had the pleasure of seeing her catch a moth, wrap it up and carry it to the center of her web where she dined while patiently waiting for another catch.

Night three Charlotte moved her web a few feet off of our front porch to between some bushes and has been there every night ever since. She's really big and looks as though she could potentially be quite dangerous, but she has now become sort of a "pet". We check for her every night before we go to bed to make sure she's there and again in the morning when we get up. She's always gone (as is her web) by the time the boys leave for the bus at 7:10 AM.

Six nights and counting...

a long time a comin'

It's official! My baby got on the bus yesterday (@ 7:35 AM!) for all-day Kindergarten. Just look at that happy face (unlike that of the bus driver's). The smile was even larger when she got off the bus yesterday afternoon! My neighbor asked me if I was going to cry. Not after 9 years of a half-day schedule. Trevor called me about 10:oo am to ask me how my day was going. My response was, "The house is soooooo quiet and I'm loving every moment of it!" Maybe after a year+ of not blogging, I'll now be able to find some time to post.

Jonathan (5th grade) has graduated to the "early" bus this year and gets to ride again with his big 7th grade brother.

Look at all that stuff they had to haul to school the first day. It looks as though they're leaving for good!

Hannah (3rd grade) is now the last one to leave in the morning. I think she is enjoying having a 1/2 hour of just the two of us each day.

Humble Pie

A week ago last Saturday my boys had a baseball game.  OK, they have a baseball game just about every Saturday, but this one was different; they played the Cubs.  Unbeknownst to me (until after the game), the Cubs are the best team in the league.  They have the biggest kids, the best pitchers (at least 5 deep, I might add), the best hitters, the best fielders and the most overzealous, obnoxious coach on the planet.  You know, the kind that makes you sit on the sidelines quietly thanking the heavens above that your kid didn't end up on his team.

The game didn't go so well.  By the end of the 2nd inning we were down 9 to 1.  Apparently, however, this wasn't a large enough lead for the Cubbies' coach as he would still yell at his players, "C'mon we need more runs!"  Turns out, his goal of every game is to "mercy rule" the opposing team.  He got his wish.  After 4 innings, the score was 14-4 and it was over.  Our Braves were down, but our coaches kept telling them to keep their chins up as they played a great game.  And they did.

I guess 42 games isn't enough for 9 & 10 year-olds to play in a season because we get to play each team twice.  Last night was our second match up with the Grizzly Bear and his Cubs.  The Braves were fired up, just like we wanted them to be.  You should have seen Jonathan during the game, so focused, so intense.  Trevor made the following statement to our team parents after we scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning:  "There are two kinds of people in this world:  those who are humble and those who are about to be."  That's right, our boys fed Mr. Grizzly Bear some humble pie by pulling off an 8-4 win.  It was awesome.

I didn't get a lot of great video last night, but I was able to catch Jonathan getting a great hit (and an RBI).  Hopefully I'll get enough video by the end of the season to do another iMovie for your viewing pleasure.  Until then, you'll have to live with this:

And just to make things fair, here's one of Timothy from Saturday's game:

He may not have the best stance (I keep trying to help him but he doesn't want much help from his mom) or run the fastest, but I'll tell you what, he can sure hit the ball!

Way to go Braves!

The Timbertec Deck

Our deck is finished (well, almost-just a couple of minor things to fix and some staining of the storage doors)!  Dummy me forgot to take before photos, so these are what I could find of the old deck...

See how tiny the darn thing was?  Don't ask me what we were doing with a sandbox on it--nothing else would fit (taken Easter 2004)!

Not a great shot of the deck, but you get the idea of how old and ugly it was (taken Easter 2006).

The boys had an absolute blast ripping out the old deck.  No need to pay the contractor for demolition--just hand the boys a crowbar and a hammer and they'll take care of things!

(Sorry about the black lines in these photos.  I had to take them from inside the house through the screen!)

Notice how conscientious we were about safety:  Gloves? Check.  Safety glasses?  Check.

It kept them entertained for several days.  You certainly can't beat that!

And now, for the finished product.  It's approximately 3 times the size of the old deck, is maintenance free and we won't get splinters if we walk out there barefoot!  Woo hoo!  See the lattice door that's open?  Those are the doors that have to be stained.  Behind them is firewood storage...enough to hold a cord + of wood!

Look at the size of that bench.  Think we can host a few people?  We're looking forward to many a b-b-q.  All we need now is a table and some chairs and we're in business!

n. i. n. e.

Just before his birthday (about a month ago--I'm so on the ball), Jonathan announced his plans for an elaborate "Star Wars, Clone Wars" birthday party.  As my kids get older, the less I look forward to birthday parties--the planning, actually sending invitations, cleaning my house, games, a bunch of wild banshees running around my freshly cleaned house.  You get the idea.  When Jonathan presented his fantabulous birthday party idea, I enthusiastically replied, "How about you invite 1 friend and we hit Kings Island instead!"  I couldn't believe when he consented and was even excited about it.

Sooooo, we had our traditional "family party" complete with green pasta (rotini with pesto--better than you can get at any expensive italian restaurant), ice cream cake (yes, he requested the Carvel cake from Kroger) and a few presents on his "real" birthday.

I know the cake looks disgusting, it's actually pretty good.

I'm not sure what he was wishing for, but I'm pretty certain it didn't come true.

The following Friday, I loaded up the car, loaded up on Dramamine and Advil and headed to KI with 5 kids in tow.  The boys were stuck with me and the girls in the Nickelodeon area until Trevor arrived from work.  After loading up on pizza, we parted ways with Trevor and the girls and headed for the "big rides".  That was a brilliant thing to do after loading up on pizza.  There were hardly lines for anything, so we just kept riding.  One. after. another. after. another.  I told the boys that my limit was twice in a row for Vortex.  My 37 year-old, post-partum (4 times) body just can't take that kind of beating any more.  We were able to ride just about everything (longest wait:  30 minutes for Firehawk) except for Diamondback (they chickened out on me--except for Jonathan) and then finally got kicked off the Vortex (at closing) after riding it 8 times in a row (they never even had to get off).  Lucky for me, the boys (and apparently the girls) proclaimed, "This was the best night of our life!"

"Mom, why are you torturing us?  Let's get to the rides!"

Plankton's Plunge is deceiving and they are all feigning boredom...

I love how they can't hold back the laughter...

This one actually makes me laugh--especially Hannah's missing teeth!

Mom does it again!  :)

Easter

While Trevor and Timothy were out on the "AT", we were in need of some fun activities at home.  I'm usually not a fan of "messy" fun (I can't stand Play-doh, glitter or other childhood obsessions that find themselves stuck between the grooves of my hardwood floor).  However, my kids begged me to dye easter eggs and I gave in.  I even allowed a neighbor friend to join in.

Applause, please.

I tried really hard not to be too controlling and dye all of the eggs myself so my table and their clothing wouldn't get stained.  I succeeded in letting them do it themselves, and they succeeded in getting the dye all over the table (even though I covered it in garbage bags) and on their clothes.  OK, in reality, there was a tiny bit of dye on the plastic and Hannah got a tiny bit of dye on her shirt.  They decorated 2 dozen eggs in record time and I was one happy momma to get it all cleaned up!

Believe it or not, this was Rachel's first time dying eggs!

This takes some serious concentration!

The happy clan.  I was just as happy as it was time to clean up!  :)

The result.

I know, you think my kids are deprived.  So do they.

Hardly.

Left Alone

Picture this:

It's Sunday morning and it's time to get the girls in the shower so I can help them get ready for Church.  I help Rachel take off her jammies and pull-up and this is what I find...

Upon questioning how this ginormous band-aid got stuck to her cheeks she replied,  "Yesterday, I kept yelling for someone to help me wipe my bottom and nobody came."  (Hannah and I were at the boys' baseball game and Trevor was out mowing the lawn).    I'm not quite sure if it was meant to protect the bottom or the undies.  This is a girl with some serious problem solving skills.  She showed me just this morning that she knows where the Desitin is kept and that she knows how to use it.  Trevor and I were in tears and we couldn't resist documenting the moment for the future.

Poor kid.

She's going to be in need of serious therapy when she grows up.

P.S.  Why does she feel such a strong need to get into band-aids?  Remember this?