Painting Pottery

We'll try this again - the program crashed before I saved my typing the first time.

It's been another gloomy day in North Carolina. Thanks to the gas crisis here and all my bosses being on a company trip to Destin Florida (part of the trip includes designing and building a boat and rowing it 150 feet - our Raleigh team is "Escape from Alcatraz" complete with orange jumpsuits and handcuffs.) I got to have today off. After a few quiet hours at home - I picked up Gabriel and Delaney and we headed to Meg Art. I am proud of myself, since the compulsive obsessive anal-retentive part of me ( i like to call it CORD for short) demands perfection, it's hard to sit back while Delaney slathers color after color onto the item. (one of the reasons I can't do playdoh with kids - I can't mix colors, drives me crazy). But, while on the inside I was cringing, I let her slather away, and figured we'd love it no matter what. I admit the trip to Meg Art was part of my strategic plan since Randy has been away on a business trip - keep myself and the kids occupied.

Well, let's hope the post saves this time. I hope all is well out there. Feel free to leave a comment - or follow my blog so I know I'm not just talking to myself - of course, I do that too.

No baby turtles yet on the turtle watch. 90 days is october 5th, so it's coming up fast. I hope they do hatch.

The pictures have nothing to do with today - and were taken back in May - the baby horse Walter that we fell in love with and his mom Gorgeous, and the kids with Shadow and Delaney with Roxy. They love the horses.

Nightmare Manor

I thought I would share the link to my sister's haunted house website.

www.nightmaremanor.com

it's in Rochester, and starts up this weekend. She's always loved halloween and this is their third or fourth year doing it on a grand scale. Look for Tammy and Mark and I think Amanda is in those pictures also. If your in town or around, check it out!

We survived Camping

Just a few minutes into packing, began to realize why we hadn't yet tried it - it's the preparation. Maybe if we had been going for more than one night it would have been easier to justify all the preparation in my mind. But, it was just for a night and we didn't even have to do half as much as if we had gone on our own, but dad and nancy had the camper and most of the groceries, water, milk, etc. We got to the campground and set up in record time - partly due to the fact that Delaney and I had a Princess birthday party to attend in Statesville. We got back in time to join the boys for some fishing. After dinner was the camping favorite - SMORES! Delaney of course, didn't even eat a whole one. Gabriel, had three. YUM. Randy and I didn't sleep well, the people next to us were loud, and then there was a baby crying a couple times during the night- the trips to the bathroom, and then Delaney asking "how many minutes until we get up" that did me in. Packing up wasn't half as much fun going home as it was going to the campground (not saying much since I wasn't impressed with packing up to get there at all) but we managed it and are now faced with "when are we going camping again?" from Gabriel. We're thinking a nice cabin in the mountains next time.

Time to wrap up, hit the sack and NOT have my coffee tomorrow morning thanks to bloodwork. Needless to say, Randy just needs to duck and cover tomorrow morning :o)

Lazy 5 Afternoon

It was a perfect afternoon for Lazy 5. Not to hot, a nice breeze, no humidity, hardly anybody there. We arrived a little after three and were suprised that there was a fair amount of cars in the parking lot -nothing like a weekend but still, people around. We walked around, saw the lemurs, pheasants, goats and chickens, then piled in for a ride through. Delaney was very good at pointing out all the messy things that the animals had left behind, and then staying as far away from most of the animals as possible - except the pigs. Delaney is the feeder of every potbelly pig, and there are a lot of them. My poor truck has slobber from half a dozen varieties of animal - the worst being the bison who drooled all over the tailgate, but not to lessen the mountain sheep who wanted to climb up in with us. We had a great time, and by the time we finished the drive, and arrived back in the parking lot, we had the place to ourselves. The kids checked out the playground and finished up the bucket of food. We hope they have the aviary, chicken coop and Kangaroos ready in the spring, they still weren't done with the exhibits. (oh, and the lemurs are getting a bigger home too!) Kids and grandparents had a good time.

A Beautiful Friday

It's a beautiful friday in the south. low humidity, low temps, just wonderful. I am headed out from work early to grab the kids and grandparents and head out to Lazy 5 Ranch up in Mooresville. They've added some new stuff - kangaroo's, walk thru aviary, chicken coop. All sorts of fun for the kids! And, all sorts of pictures for me to share I'm sure! My dad and Nancy have been here 5 days now and I haven't taken a picture yet, so it's time. Tomorrow we are off to the state park for a night of camping - the tent is set up in our yard to verify this fact. We had to make sure A) we could find the tent, B) we could put the tent up C) we would all FIT in the tent. It seems it will work for us. And if all else fails, we pile in the camper with Dad and Nancy. We hope to do some fishing and biking while we are up there, so the kids will be in HEAVEN and exhausted by the time we are done I'm sure.

I checked on the turtle eggs yesterday and no dirt movement yet. we'll hope they don't appear then disappear this weekend while we are busy!

Cheers Ya'll.

Gloomy Wednesday

It's a gloomy Wednesday and while I continue to remind myself that we need rain (drought conditions), it doesn't really help the fact that I would prefer to see the sun. My dad and stepmother arrived late Sunday, and I haven't gotten my camera out yet. They jumped right into Grandparent duties, picking Gabriel up from school and then going to get Delaney early also. They were tested their first time out also - Delaney didn't make it to the restroom in time. The good news is they were in Wal-Mart - so a trip to the clothing section eased that situation. They picked them up yesterday and plan to today also. A person could get used to this- not having to pick up kids, rush home, work on dinner....just go home! (Nancy has been helping with dinner, she made a yummy sweet potato dish last night to go with my crockpot chicken.) I hope to get us to Lazy 5 on Friday - Nancy hasnt' been there and we want to see the new exhibits that they have opened (Kangaroos, chicken coop, aviary).

On the turtle watch, I dodges some raindrops last night to fill my bird feeders and check the status of the "nest" and I didn't notice any movement in the dirt.

It's good I decided to write this - while outside last night - I turned the hose on for my pond- i had moved the waterfall hose and it was leaking outside of the pond - so it lost water - so I turned on the water, and hey, just remembered that fact 17 hours later. AHH Usually our well filter gets clogged and we wake up without water when I do this (YES, i have done this more than once). Thankfully Dad and Nancy are at home and Dad is going to go turn it off......SHEESH.

SCORE!!!!!!

Gabriel had his first soccer game on Friday. Nothing like a soccer game under lights. (with humidity thick enough to slice with a knife and little gnats flying all around) The kids did Great. I think they scored 5 goals in the first quarter. Gabriel had fun, although it's fun/aggravating to see that your child takes the coach quite literally when he puts him at defensive center and well, Gabriel didn't move much from that spot, even when the ball was coming right at him! We had another soccer game today. What was the league thinking? 8pm game Friday - we got home - in bed at 10 - then up at 7 to head to another game in Statesville at 9:30. We are all tired and ready for bed tonight. Not to mention, it was HOT out, at 10, after all the rain and cold weather this week, we were not expecting 90 and pure sun. Thankfully our neighbor had given us use of their pool today while they were out of town. Did I mention it's been rainy and COLD all week? Well, the water was also COLD. Not that it stopped the kids of course. Now I have to deal with Gabriel asking why we don't have a pool like that........

I am hoping for a quiet Sunday.

My dad and Nancy arrive from Colorado sometime tomorrow - so we'll have pictures to post of them.

No baby turtles as of yet.

It's 7 and i'm signing off in hopes of an early bedtime.

Turtle Watch

Well, we are officially on Turtle Watch. Back around the Fourth of July, an Eastern Box Turtle (or so we think) dug a hole and was laying eggs when I discovered her in our backyard. She finished, covered them back up and moseyed on her way. We have protected the area, and after looking up information on turtle eggs, we estimated 70-90 days, so that puts us from September 15th - October 5th for baby turtles. I've never had this opportunity - so i hope we at least get to see a baby turtle or two. They are only a foot or so away from my Goldfish pond and shrubs for cover.

It's also finally Friday and is as gloomy as it has been all week. Gabriel is supposed to have a soccer game at 8 pm tonight, which i hope they cancel, since he also has a game at 9 am tomorrow. Who does the scheduling for 6 year olds anyway? by the time we get home tonight it will be at least 10 and then we have to get up and be in Statesville (20 minutes away) by 8:30. This will make for a very tired and grumpy Gabriel. So, even though I'm tired of the GLOOM, I will pray for rain for one more day, and hope one of two games is cancelled.

Delaney is FOUR

Delaney had her 4 year well check up today. she is 39 3/4 inches tall and weighs 39.75 pounds. We couldn't do that again if we tried. Of course she's healthy - but following her brothers mantra, she remained silent when in the presence of Dr. James. My normal goofy chatterbox was suddenly silent. Poor girl also got 5 vaccines! OUCH. even with small needles I have to say OUCH. She was brave, and even with a few tears, did well. Of course the tears stopped with a visit to the treasure box on the way out. So, we'll cross our fingers and hope I don't receive a call during the day saying the vaccines did her in. (Pictures of Now, and of course Then)

a weekend of fun

well, Randy finally bought a mountain bike this weekend. Gabriel was very excited, and had dad trying it out saturday night. On our second trip through the neighborhood, we noticed the police cars at the corner house. Two police cars. As we walked by a third pulled up, and then later, a fourth. Neighbors were out at the picnic table that live across the street, so we stopped by to get the news. I guess we have possible thieves in our neighborhood. Other cars pulled up and we could only assume it was people called to identify stolen items. I haven't found out any full details, and that house has been quiet since. I also learned this weekend that shoes up on a phone/electric wire signifies drug dealing. who knew?

On sunday we went to a park that has a mountain bike trail and paved trails. Delaney and i chose the paved trail, and we did over a mile. For her, it was a major work out i'm sure. For me it was exercise and a lesson in patience, since i had to slow way down in order for her to keep up. As a reward, both kids got to have time at the playground. Randy said Gabriel did well on the trail and only crashed twice. Both boys were covered in sweat by the time they were done, i think as novices, the beginner trail was a learning experience. No pictures on this one since we were in two different places and i was on a bike myself.

Another Friday

its friday and i'm at work, with time ahead of me until I get to go home, so I thought I'd try this - those that know me from the good ole days remember my journal - i think it lives on in infamy, and yes I still have it, so i thought i'd try this - see if it helps me remember all the daily minutia along with the great things my kids do and say that I can never seem to recall a week or even a day later. So, it may be boring, but it's mine.