Spider Craft

We made a cute little craft with the kiddos yesterday. First, we took a black paper plate and punched holes around the outside. Then we took white yarn and strung it through the holes back and forth to look like spider webs and to finish it off we glued on some puff ball and pipe cleaner spiders. Here's the finished product for each kid:

Chukar

We went camping last weekend in the desert, looking for Chukar (kind of like a partridge). We had such fun riding around on our ATVs and 4-wheel drives that the pictures just can't do it justice. Here they are anyway...

What to Make

This couldn't be easier. Well, maybe a LITTLE easier, but not much. This morning I realized our apples were about at ripe as they could be without going bad so I made the most simple applesauce recipe ever. First, peel and dice your apples and put them in a pot. Next, add a little water to cover the bottom of the pot. Cook this on medium heat until they are soft and easily mushed. Mush them and add some cinnamon sugar. That's IT! Easy, moderately good for you (depending on how much sugar you add) and a delicious breakfast for the kiddos on a crisp autumn morning.

Legoland

For his third birthday, our little prince was treated by Nana and Grandpa to a day at Legoland. It was just the three of them, which is a neat treat since he usually plays understudy to his big sister. Here's a few of the highlights:Riding a lego train with Nana.Riding a lego helicopter with GrandpaShooting alligators and frogs with a water cannon.
And flying with Nana in a Lego airplane. The boy had a great time and was so excited to bring his sister back with him "next time".

A Night for Racing

We had never been to Irwindale Speedway so when some free tickets landed in our laps we took the opportunity to bring the kiddos to a night of racing. It was a fun evening and the kids were relatively well behaved. Mostly they enjoyed wearing the earmuffs and eating treats. It wasn't until the last race that they really came alive (especially our little guy). Can you guess why? Here he is, all aflutter...
There he is, pointing out the object of his affection (he screamed his little throat out)...
Yep, that's right, the machine, the myth the legend - LIGHTNING McQUEEN!! It was the stroke of pure genius that reawakened the kids' excitement for racing. What a fitting end to an evening of racing under the stars.

Grandma Tanyon's Pool

About a week ago we went down and visited Grandma and Grandpa Tanyon for the night.
The kids were excited to see them and after working in the hot sun all day, Daddy was excited for a little time in their pool. Here he is playing with both kids in the water. Is it that obvious which of the kids is the daredevil? Well then it should be no surprise to you that she swam all on her own for the first time that day. What a big, brave girl.

Thank You Cousin Jess

The kids got these two awesome kites in the mail a couple weeks ago from their cousin Jessica who was on vacation in Bali. Then last weekend when we went camping, their uncle Dennis brought them each a donkey puppet (newly named "Daddy" and "Tulip") from her as well. Thank you cousin Jessica for the gifts. The kids really enjoy playing with them (and luckily mommy's good at untangling them!) They're adorable.

Here's a 2 minute clip of Uncle Dennis's puppet show during camping. It was night so the vision is limited, but my favorite part of the show is hearing the kids giggling in the background. This video features narration by Uncle Dennis, lighting by Nana, and video recording by mommy. The actors are Tulip & Daddy (puppets), Nathan, Daddy, Great-grandma Tanyon and cousin Catie....

A Lost Art

There must have been a time when it was one of the rights of passage for a young man to learn from his father how to clean a fish. Our little man certainly was pleased to get to experience it with his daddy. I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of grown men these days haven't ever even seen it done. Cheers to tradition~

Saddlebag Lake

While on vacation up in Mammoth last weekend we went on a 5 mile hike near Saddlebag Lake. The weather was crisp but beautiful up there at over 10,000 feet. I'm not sure there were really 25 lakes we saw, as the locals claim, but there sure were a lot of them. I was very proud of our little hikers. My little girl hiked almost the whole way with only a few bouts of complaining and her brother hiked about 1/2 of the way, which is awesome for a 3 year old considering he takes 3 steps for one of ours. What a great way to spend time in the great outdoors.

Why He's Insufferable

From time to time I have had people (okay maybe more than "from time to time") tell me that my husband thinks he's so great that he walks on water. In fact once or twice (okay, maybe just once) I've had someone tell me that they think he is so great that he MUST actually walk on water. I have to admit, when it comes to life, he got the lion's share of luck. Well, here's our latest camping trip where he caught upwards of 30 fish in two days. You know that parable where Jesus says "If you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish he eats forever"? Well, apparently fishing wasn't all Jesus taught him.

Before

Why do I get the feeling that this will someday be used as a "before" picture...

What to Make

This recipe is not for those of you watching your waistlines. Unless of course, you are watching them outgrow your belts.

First, take a pat of margarine and melt it in a skillet. Then saute an onion, chopped fine, until it's aromatic and tan in color. In a seperate bowl, mix together 1/3 c light mayonnaise, and 1/2 c each of cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Add to the mix some garlic and a few splashes of hot sauce. Add the sauteed onion to the mix and heat through in the oven or microwave (depending on how much patience you have). This dip is good on bread or with crackers or chips. It's not great for you but it sure TASTES great.

I made some last night and shared it with my kids and hubby. I'd like to tell you I only ate 1/3 of it (with the other thirds equally between kids & hubby), but I'm pretty sure that'd be lying.

I Finally Got My Float Pictures

We had a great time on the float this year in Laughlin. Here's the girlies with our animal prints on. Goldie had hers under the tank top, you'll just have to take my word for it. As it turns out, most of the pictures (read: all but 2) are from the day before the float, when we were on lake Mojave. The only other shot from the day of the float was my ridiculous brother...
Oh well. We still got some great pictures on Friday:
The first one is my "little" brother, jumping from the cliff. We all took turns making the leap. Even Goldie showed her character by overcoming her fear and taking the plunge. I was SO proud of you Goldie.

We attached the raft to the boat so people had something to hang onto when they got into the water. Of course, this led to a little mayhem. Note the location of my hubby's foot...At over 100 degrees, we were happy to have the shade on the boat every now and then.
The boys in particular took advantage of the shade.
While we girlies spent more time in the water -By the end of the day, there were several antics going on. Yes, that's a squirt gun in his mouth.
There were two big highlights of the day. First was, like last year, feeding the wild donkeysand the other highlight was getting to skim board with some nice guys who offered to let us girls use their equipment. I got up on the first try. Yay for liquid courage!

Labor Day

I understand that Labor Day has it's foundations in the trade unions and labor forces in New York back in the late 1800s and, other than being related to the military involvement in the Pullman strike, it really has no military background. But Labor Day often reminds me of Memorial Day since both seem to be the bookends of summer. So today I am thinking along military gratitude lines and watched a film on Utube that a friend of mine sent me the link for recently.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:
Forgotten Star Spangled Banner Verse

I am grateful every day for many things. The military and our freedom provided by them is one of the many blessings we all should be grateful for.

For those of you interested, it's actually the FOURTH verse...here's the full lyrics by Francis Scott Key -

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Thanks Suzy Kaboozie

A friend of our family, Suzy Kaboozie, recently gave the kids some magnifying glasses with which to go exploring. They have been having such fun walking around the house (inside & out) looking at all of the little things there are to discover. Luckily my little man has yet to discover how to melt things with the magnifying glass but I figure it's only a matter of time.

And So It Begins...

September 1st is a marked calendar day at our house. It is the opening day for dove hunting season. Hubby's an avid upland bird hunter and love hunting season. This year is no different. It's 9:40 in the morning and the guys are already home with their limit on birds.My son was holding one and I asked him what it was and he said "A ground squirrel"...um, NO little buddy....but we DID catch one of those too today!
That'll teach those little demons to eat from my garden.

The Speed of Kids

I have often noticed that as fast as my camera could possibly close it's aperture, my kids seem to be able to move faster. Nowhere is this more obvious than when we are at the zoo. It's like they have little sensors in their brains that see my finger begin to move to take the picture and they wince, grimace or jerk so that the picture is ruined. I have figured out a way to catch them unawares however.....from BEHIND! I got some cute pics of both kids, sitting nicely with their friends who went to the zoo with us, and all of the clear ones were of the backs of their heads. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. Luckily, my friend M has a little baby M who isn't big enough to have learned the jerk & jive maneuver yet so I got some cute pictures of her.

Party Animals

Our theme for this year's float was jungle prints and we had a fun time dressing the part...
Stay tuned for more pictures (they're being developed) of our fun weekend in the sun in Laughlin.

Burn Baby Burn

One of Heidi's goals for her vacation to visit us was to get a nice crisp burn on her shoulders. Where better to do that than the pool?

A Bunch of Wild Animals

Monday was SUCH a hot day at the zoo and with the summer crowds it was even rougher to navigate the million acres of animals, but somehow we managed to have a good time. The best was that around 5PM everyone seemed to evacuate like the place was on fire and by the mid-evening we had the place essentially to ourselves and it cooled down to about 85 degrees. We even managed to get a glimpse of the new 5 month old baby panda. My favorite part was finally getting to see the big cats in action though. Around 6:30 or 7ish the lions, jaguar, panther, cheetah and other felines woke up and began to pace around their cages. It was VERY cool to see. Here's some of our highlights:

Just the Girls

My best friend from high school came to visit us this week from Oregon. I was so very pleased to get to spend time with her and catch up. Her family will be here Friday so we decided to squeeze in a little girl time before they get here. About 7 of us got together for some Indian food (never had before, but it was quite good) and then pazooki and drinks. Thanks ladies for a little R&R even if it was just for the evening. Cheers!

Horsing Around in Solano Beach

We took some time off last weekend and went down to the San Diego area for a mini-vacation at the beach. On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the races, which was our draw to get us there, because Zinyatta was racing and we got to try all of the samples for the chili cookoff and test the salsas from the salsa competition. The kids loved playing on the playground and seeing all of the horses. Really, the best part though, was all of the rest of the fun we had away from the track. We stayed at one of our friends' house that is about 2 blocks from the beach, so we were able to go for a walk along the beach after walking down to dinner at a local taco shack, then we got up that morning and spent some time at the beach where the kids dug in the sand and Daddy buried us to our knees...For all of the things we want and think we need at home, it sure was simple being able to live out of two suitcases and a cooler. Oh yeah, and winning $160 on a trifecta made it all essentially a free trip. Not bad for 48 hours away from home.

Sac Town

We went up North last weekend to visit Uncle Eddie and Erika and Trace....who's Trace you ask? Oh, Trace Adkins. We got to see him in concert with Toby Keith and "Jaron and the Long Road to Love" (why doesn't he just call himself Jaron?). The highlight of the concert was the finale when both TA and TK took the stage to sing "Courtesy of the Red White & Blue". They brought a soldier in uniform up out of the crowd to sing the "Kick your Ass" line and it was awesome. The next day we went to the state fair to see the animals, ride the rides, and try some crazy confections like chocolate covered bacon (served frozen if you can imagine that). It was a fun trip and the kids just loved playing with Uncle Eddie & Erika. Thanks guys for inviting us to share the weekend with you. Here's 8 quick pages of highlights from the weekend:

Concert in the Park

We went to see Leann Rhimes last week in Beaumont with one of our friends from the area. Although she's not even remotely a country fan, she was a good sport and escorted us because she knew we are huge country fans in our house (refer back to our Stagecoach posts).

The afternoon was perfectly mild and we got there with plenty of time to lay out our blanket about 50 yards from the stage. What a great opportunity to see such a big name up close in concert. It wasn't too crowded either although the crowd behind us almost tripled by the time Leann took the stage. The kids had fun playing with their glow-in-the-dark wand/sword while we waited and we got to enjoy a nice evening of music and pizza in the park. Thanks Jill-b-sue.

Christmas in July

My nutty little girl decided to play dress up the other day and what better in our 100 degree heat than to try out her winter gear? Crazy kid.

In Over His Head

We are having a fun time with the kiddos at the pool this summer. Our ultimate goal is to try to get them both to swim without the aid of flotation devices. I'm sure Daddy has visions of going on rafting trips with them and boating and all sorts of adventures, but Mommy's vision is more along the line of getting to take them to the pool without having to get in and out thirty times to assist them....and a nice suntan wouldn't suck either.

So ahem, where were we? Oh yes, we want them to be able to swim. Well, along the path to this ultimate destination there are several obstacles. The first of which is them having the courage to float alone, without holding onto either of us. We worked at this all summer last year and they have pretty much accomplished that feat this summer. The next hurdle we are facing however is getting their heads in the water without them throwing a fit once they resurface (it's easy if you don't count the tantrum). Our solution with our little girl was to get her "swimming princesses" that Santa brought her last Christmas and have her dive for them. Thanks Sunshyne for that idea. But her brother has been more difficult. Granted, he IS a year younger, so I'm cutting him some slack, but man, he sure can throw a fit when he wants to.

The breakthrough happened last week when Daddy came with us to the pool. We brought the camera and our little darling wanted his moment of glory captured on film. It took Daddy several takes to finally get the timing of the camera down correctly (our poor little guy got several dunkings but was patiently cooperating). But we finally got our proof...

Heebie Jeebies

My little guy and I were washing the car the other day when he reached up toward the driver's side mirror and said "Mommy, there's cobwebs." In my best "I'm not going to give my son a phobia" voice I said "Oh, those are no big deal" and took a swipe at them with my itty-bitty, might-as-well-have-not-been-there cloth. Imagine my shock to see a clump of dirt the size of a quarter fall from the mirror. On IMMEDIATE closer investigation (note to self - dirt clumps do not live in spider webs), I realized that this was not only a large spider, but it's legs were tucked in toward it's body and it was a VERY VERY large spider.

I ushered my son as quickly as I could away from the car without trampling him and lept the stairs toward the kitchen to fetch a jar in what can only be explained as super-human majesty. In the process, I called to hubby "You've GOT to come see this", which must have sounded sincere since hubby was close on my coattails by the time I reached the car.

Now, as a side note, I hate spiders. Well, I guess hate is not the right word. I can appreciate that spiders are good for the ecology of the earth and eat flies and whatnot.....that being said, I abhor, nay LOATHE spiders. Ever since growing up in Northwest Oregon we have been on bad terms. You see, in Oregon, they not only have poisonous brown recluse spiders but also the less dangerous but much more ugly and unfortunately for me, much more prevalent in my father's wood pile "Wolf Spiders" (aptly named due to their color, hair and size). Did I mention I moved AWAY from Oregon? It wasn't just the rain. As much as I also hate black widows, they travel in solitude so once you kill or, in my case, catch one, there is unlikely to be any more of them.

Side note aside, I cannot squash any spider larger than, say, the head of a pin. I cannot bring myself to feel or hear that squish/cracking noise they make underfoot. I can, however, smash, slam, stomp, flick, catch (in a jar), and attempted in high school to freeze them to death. Adrenaline does weird things to a person.

Flash back to me quickly trapping this dirt clump spider into a glass jar for further inspection. After some review online I have concluded that what we found is an Orb Weaver. Now, this may mean nothing to you, but perhaps a picture will help:See his two devilish horns sticking out of his back? Coincidence? I think not.

Now, mind you, this creature was the size of a quarter WITHOUT the legs outstretched. It is closer to the diameter of a fifty-cent piece with legs. Go ahead, ask me, "Was I happy to have almost grabbed this beast?"

No. I was not happy.

However, I am now in a conundrum. It is too late for me to stomp, smash, or slam this thing. There is still the adrenaline in my system when I see him, but that reaction window has long passed. I am certainly not going to let it GO within a 20 mile vicinity of my home either (what if it returns with it's friends for revenge?). Alternatively I am not going to put it into my vehicle to take it elsewhere to release because what if I get to said destination and the spider mysteriously is no longer in the jar? I would have to sell my car. Right there. At said destination. Because I could never get in it again.

Then again, I cannot freeze this monster because in high school I took biology. In biology I remember we collected bugs. One of the suggested method for killing our biology collection was by putting them in a jar and then putting the jar in the freezer (or putting a cotton ball soaked in alcohol in the jar) and waiting for the bug to die. However, there were strict instructions to make sure that the bug actually DIED before removing it because inevitably, as was the case with our class just like all others, someone would try to stick a pin into their bug (or succeed) only to find out the little sucker was still squirmy. Picture me 30 years from now peering into my freezer trying to decide if my dirt clump spider was dead? No. Freezing is not an option. Nor is the cotton ball method.

So here I sit. Unable to kill this Orb Weaver and even now I look over at him in the jar every 22 seconds or so to make sure he hasn't mysteriously disappeared (I might have to move). I get the heebie jeebies just seeing him in there, watching me. Just THINKING about him watching me. I do not even like the picture of him on my website. It makes me uneasy. This whole business makes me unhappy.

We are at a stalemate.

Superman

My son came walking down the stairs this evening, proud as all get-out that he had dressed himself in his pajamas. I could hear him coming (3-year-olds are not quiet walkers, especially on stairs), but had to look when he declared "Mom, I'm Superman!"...I wasn't sure how to react when I saw him dressed like this:
I'm thinking that he just FELT like Superman for having dressed himself (albeit in mismatched jammies with the shirt on backwards), so my response was "You sure ARE buddy, you sure ARE" :)