Friendship

There is something to be said for the friendships that kids form. They go at them full on. They love each other to pieces and then fight like old married couples. They take. They give. They whine. They laugh. They pinch. They hug. They tattle. They share secrets. The beauty of all this is that come tomorrow, all the bad stuff is forgotten and the friendship is still there.
When do we lose that?

Wordless Wednesday: Ladybug Bliss

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Wordless Wednesday: The Beauty of Friendship

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Wordless Wednesday: Snow Fun!

Yep... It's Texas!

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The beauty of the reciprocal membership

So this is more of a 'mom' post than usual but here goes. As some of you may know the hubby and I took the kids to IL for the summer so Dave could TD at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. We were there living in a 2 bedroom apartment for nearly 3 months. Two bedrooms... four people... a bit small. I neede things to keep us busy.
Before we even left Texas I had done some research and knew that the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington accepted the Dallas Zoo pass. I purchased a Dallas Zoo pass. Seemed a no brainer. We love zoos. The Miller Park Zoo is pretty small compared to what we're used to but it was awesome. As a bonus the Dallas Zoo Pass also got us into the Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. We went there to visit friends and family. It also got us into the Peoria Zoo in Peoria, IL about 45 minutes away from where we were. They had just opened a new Africa section which was amazing! I went twice.
In Normal, IL there is a way cool Children's Museum. Turns out our pass for the Dallas Science Center also worked there. Now I had a rainy day activity as well. Woo Hoo! I had NO idea.
Now, to make things even better... We were only 2 hours south of Chicago. LOVE Chicago. We took the kids for a couple of day trips and one over night. My passes also got us into the Children's Museum at the Navy Pier, the main part of the Shedd Aquarium (which saved us about $30) AND the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Needless to say I was thrilled. All of these things were super duper cool and the kids had some great experiences. Although I spent a chunk up front we saved a lot in the long run and I saved a bit of sanity... what there is of it.
If you're planning on doing ANY travelling look into these memberships and where else they can be used. They're usually good for a whole year which means that even when you're at home you can get a lot of use out of it. I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

Sorry no pictures at this time. I'm busy trying to put all the pictures I took onto this computer. They will be coming soon!

While I was away...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I took the kiddos to Ohio to visit BOTH families. These are a couple of my favorite shots from the trip.

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera? It's a Canon EOS DSLR. I'm trying to get my 'eye' back. Any thoughts, hints, suggestions, crazy antecdotes... would be greatly welcomed!

No!

No. I say it all day everyday. 'I said no.', 'No you can't stick your tongue on there', 'No you can't buy an elephant', 'No, your sister does NOT want to see what happens when you put that in your mouth', 'No, you can't have a puppy'. Seriously, it's all day. I'm lucky if it gets 'heard' about every tenth time. If it's not 'no' then it's 'don't' or 'stop' or 'put that down'. It's exasperating. It wears me out.
I'll admit, there are times I just give in. It's not usually when the question refers to playing in traffic or with knives. Those are fights I'm still managing to have the upper hand in. But, if the question is something like 'Just one more Sponge Bob, please...' I'll often cave after the third or fourth time.
Lately I'm caving pretty quickly. We're staying in a 2 bedroom apartment for the summer and I don't want to wake up the neighbors at 6am over an argument about the benefits of a banana over Lucky Charms for breakfast. They haven't been able to win the cake for breakfast battle yet, though.
I know that the rugrats have banned together and work this ploy as a team. They drive me nuts, wear me out and then start asking questions. Clyde's tactic? Keep asking and asking and asking and talking and talking and talking. Claudia's? Point, scream, throw self on floor. When they do this simultaneously it creates quite a ruckus.
I love my kids. I do. Really. I swear. Yep. Some days it's just a good thing that they're cute. :-)

Happy Earth Day y'all

So since it's Earth Day I thought I'd share some photos I took when the kids and I walked to the park near our house the other day. My son has a very special friend at this park. He refers to him as "my friend the Big Blue Herron". We hadn't seen Big Blue in a while so when we saw him there recently Clyde's face just lit up. Of course, I didn't have my camera that day... These were taken a few days later. Big Blue seems to have found a friend. When he's (we're not really sure of the specifics as to the sexual orientation...) by himself he will wait for you to feed the fish and then land close and feed off the fish you're feeding. i know, it seems an unfair advantage but it's so freakin' cool.

There are also a ton of turtles at the park. We've even seen one or two that must be soft shell turtles. They are HUGE. Seeing them swim let's me know how it is people can see things like Loch Ness. Now I'm not saying there is no giant sea serpent living in the waters but I can see how the imagination could put more things there than might actually exist.

I love letting my kids play outdoors. It's tough here in Texas during the summer because it gets so hot and you could seriously fry eggs on the playground slides so I'm taking advantage of it all now. I'm always proud when I see my son pick up a piece of trash and put it in a can (not so proud when he gives it to his sister and tries to convince her to eat it. It doesn't take much

convincing),

I can remember going to Maine to visit my dad's family and seeing all the wildlife and being taught to respect what we saw. We fished, we played, we swam and one summer my brother and I even went frog fishing. Trust me, not the best idea but that's a story for another time. Even when we were back home in Ohio we played outside all the time. I can remember playing camping across the street at Melanie's house (she had the cool hibahi and fake food) or playing on our porch pretending that we were runaway geniuses living on the ocean studying dolphins and trying to ride our bikes past the sharks and 'gators that lived in the grass, I mean water.

I guess my point is that I want my kids to enjoy the outdoors. I hope I can instill in them a love and respect for the main thing that sustains us all. We are all God's creatures great and small.

Wow. This is a long one for me.

Welp, here I am...

Hi. I'm new to this world of blogging. So it may be a bit rough at first but I'll try to muddle through.
I feel in my heart that I am a crafter and I would like to be able to do that for extra cash. I've always dabbled... Sold beaded necklaces, polymer clay pens, paper collaged picture frames... Nothing that really stuck. I blame it all on lack of time. In truth, I'm just not very organized. Never have been.
I was that kid that was always grounded for the messy room. My husband and I each have our own sides in our bedroom. If he could, I'm pretty sure my husband would ground me for my side. There are clothes on the floor but a good chunk of it is photos, papers, ribbons, yarns, books, cigar boxes and organizational items. The latter of which only works when you actually USE them. Somehow I missed that part.
I have 2 kids (which you could probably tell from the name of the blog). My son is 4 and my daughter turned 1 in December. They take up A LOT of time. Not that I don't love it... mostly... but I let that get in my way too. I like to have them out and about. I'm part of a local group for moms, Arlington Moms and Tots. We do tons of stuff together. Most of the kids have been friends since they were a year old or younger. The ladies involved are some of my very best friends. It's a good time but also a good excuse to put off doing what I should be doing.
I am a firm believer that if I don't try, I can't fail. Hey, it's my motto and I'm stickin' to it. Actually, I'd like to drop that as my motto and adopt something new. I'll keep thinking on that one.
Welp, Number one child needs me. Man, it's always something. Check back later. Hopefully I'll manage to keep this thing going!