Snake!

A snake was spotted in the yard recently.  Mr. M was sure it was a baby rattler.  Mr. K and Miss J were with them and he knew they needed protecting (Mr. K was screaming like a girl, which drew my attention).  I'll spare you the details on how the thing met it's demise.

A dear friend was on her way over to help out around the house.  She happens to have a fair bit of experience with rattlers.  I was thankful she would be able to handle the situation upon arriving.  She inspected and pointed out why it was not a rattler and how they would be better able to tell what kind it is next time.

Mr. M took the thing in the house, skinned it, preserved it, and then cooked it up to eat!  Nothing went to waste.  He even talked "J" into sampling it with him.

*This whole living on an acre on the edge of town in the desert is really stretching me.  First lizards and tarantulas, now this!  I'm not much of an arachnid/reptile lover liker tolerater, letting my boys handle these things is hard enough, but having them living on my front porch, dissected on our school table, and preserved in bottles on the kitchen window sill?  These things are almost too much for me, but God gave me these dear boys to raise up to be men, and this is part of raising men (at least these men) and so I put a smile on my face; congratulate them on a job well done; and encourage them to learn and explore even more.  God is using them to teach and stretch me.

It's a girl?!?!?

At least Miss C is sure it is.  No, we don't know yet.  The topic comes up nearly every day with her.  She is known to sit down, pat my growing belly and start this conversation (or something like it)...

Miss C- Mommy will you read me a book?  Three girls on the couch, you, me and baby ___ (she has the name picked out, you know).

Mommy- You know it may not be a girl, God may give us a boy.

Miss C- (with a "thats crazy talk" look on her face) We can't have two baby boys!  We already have one, we can't have two.

Mommy- Well, you know Mr. K isn't much of a baby anymore.  We wouldn't have two boy babies.  Besides, God sometimes gives families two boy babies.

Miss C- No Mr. K is still a baby.  It will be a girl, named ___.  Here read me this book.

I suppose there really is no point to these conversations until the ultrasound when we have a better idea of "who" is on the way.

A blast from the past!

A dear old friend had occasion to be in town and we were more than happy to host him during his stay.  He is Rob's college room mate and was the Best Man at our wedding.  Its been a while since we've seen him, and it was fun to have him in our home for the week-end.

Next time maybe we will get to see his wife and kids?

A little boost!

Its been a rough couple of months, and now that I'm feeling a bit better (but still struggling with a bit of lingering morning sickness) there is no time for taking it easy.  This past week I had several busy days and several more coming up.  My sweet husband decided that I needed a special boost to get me through the week (and a jump start to Mother's day).  This arrived on Thursday, just at lunch time....

What a boost it was!  I had so much to do that afternoon and I'd already spent the morning running errands, I needed a nap, not a to-do-list.  After finishing this off we were all set and ready to get to work (with no nap).  Do I have the most wonderful, thoughtful husband or what?

*Nothing went to waste.  Mr. M even gobbled up the Kale!  I also managed to set aside some chocolate covered strawberries to share with my dear hubby when he got home!

licking the beaters

Is that orange frosting he is licking off the beaters?  No, it may as well be though.  Its mashed sweet potatoes which this little guy is crazy for.  He was so excited when I passed him first beater, then the another one.  How lucky could he be to get both of them?  Turns out no one else was interested in licking them. ;)

Happy birthday Mr. S!

We celebrated Mr. S's birthday this week.  He asked Daddy to set the tent up in the living room so that the two of them could camp out.  Then his brothers wanted to join him.  The boys took over the tent and Daddy joined them for a while, then slept on the couch.

Around midnight I heard quite the commotion in the living room.  Shortly after Rob joined me in our bed.  It seems the cat found a mouse in the house, near the tent.  The boys were all eager to tell the story in the morning and I'm thankful for our cat!

   While I love doing my kid's cakes I'm finding that they are often wanting to be more hands on or even take over the job these days.  Mr. S had his own ideas for his cake.  Still being a bit sick with "morning" sickness I was more than happy when Mr. S wanted to take over most of the job this time.  He put this Off Roading cake together on his own (he even washed the cars before putting them on the cake).

Happy Birthday Mr. S!

Tea with Nana!

My mom came out for a quick visit last week-end.  I was still down with morning sickness, but starting to come out of it.  When the girls heard that Nana would be visiting they set to work right away planning a tea party.

They planned the menu of scones, tea sandwiches, fruit, raspberry lemonade and tea.  They pulled out and ironed the tea linens and Miss E even tied all of the napkins with beautiful bows.  They all worked to set the table.  It looked quite lovely.

Once it was all set up the girls even dressed up for our tea party.  The boys were invited to this party.  We all had a great time.  I'm so blessed to have such hard working, thoughtful, and capable girls.  They pulled this off with very little help from me, and blessed our whole family.  Good job girls!