Can it really have been a whole month since I posted on my blog???

Wow, I can't believe it has been that long. what have we been doing? We went to a strawberry farm and picked our own strawberries (my plants are babies this year so they aren't producing much). Don't ever take 5 kids under 10 when you want to pick alot of strawberries, they will be bored in 5 minutes. Danny ran all over the fields smashing strawberries in every row. The strawberries were delicious though. Dan made a surprise visit to CA to visit his brother for a weekend. He had lots of fun. The electric fence was turned off (by Danny I can guess) and the dogs left the yard. Chopper came home on her own but Kylie had to be picked up at the pound. It was a frantic day. I just finished 7 sets of borders for a border swap and they were exhausting but I think they were my best work yet. Madison went to Vacation Bible School with our neighbors and she loved it. I went to a Stampin Up party for the first time. I think it may be addicting. I had a great time. I also met some new people and that is a good thing. I am desperately lonely for my CA friends and while no one can replace them, I need to find some local friends. We are potty training Danny or I should say trying to potty train Danny. He is not so sure. So far it is not going so well. We also went to see the monster trucks. Danny really liked those. And we went to see the movie Cars. It was Danny's first trip to the theater. he loved the movie and I can't believe the little boy who can't sit stil,l sat through the whole movie fascinated.

Lightning Bugs

Today we saw the first lightning bugs of the season...in our backyard. We were all so excited. Dan was able to catch one in a jar for the kids and we sat outside mesmorized by them. The only time I have ever seen them before is when we have been on vacation in WI in the past. it is pretty cool to have them in our own yard. It was library day again today. The Discovery Center was putting on the program today. They are the local children's museum. The kids had a lot of fun trying pirate inspired science experiments.

Finally a New Update

Well it has been a while since my last post because Madison decided to get sick on Wed. She had a really bad case of strep throat and an ear infection. She ran a fever for a few days. Luckily she is getting back to normal. We did get to meet our new pediatrician. She is really great. I like her gentle disposition. I really liked the office we went to. It is nothing like Kaiser in CA (and that is a good thing). Madison attended Vacation Bible School for the first time today. She really liked it. I think it is going to be a very fun week for her. I spent the weekend painting the kids bathroom. I was so proud of myself. It is a beautiful color, it looks like chocolate to me. It's called warm nutmeg. The only problem is that I painted water based paint over oil based paint. So basically I made even more work for myself. It looked so pretty until we peeled the painters tape away and the paint started peeling right up with it. I was near tears. Lesson learned!!!

Ahoy there Mateys

Today was the start of the summer reading program at the library. They kicked things off with a pirate party today. The kids made pirate hats, colored pirate photos, listened to pirate stories and played pirate games. It was a lot of fun.

Peonies

I have to say I am loving these!! They are so pretty. They started popping up through the grass at the beginning of spring and luckily I noticed them. I made Dan promise not to mow over them. I had no idea what they were but figured they would be something nice. I didn't have any idea what a peony even was before. Now I have 14 peonies plants 7 in front an7 in back in 3 different colors. I am learning how to drive the ride on lawn mover. It is not that it is hard but it is stick shift of course. It takes about 2 hours to mow our lawn on a ride on mower. Thank goodness we have a ride on mower (there is no way it would get done otherwise).

Our Visitor

Anyone?

Anyone know what this bug is? He is visiting my home today and he seems fairly tolerant to people. I have never seen anything like him before.