Don't go Daddy-O

Blocking the way so Daddy can't go to work. It's good to be loved.

More wildlife

We spotted this hornet-looking bug dragging a big wolf spider across the yard. We guess the bug stung it and killed or stunned and was dragging it home for dinner.

Looking at these I realized almost all of our "grass" is clover and crab grass! Oh well, the way the kids trample it, I suppose it doesn't really matter. :)

Wild Country Safari

We've been finding mysterious dog-looking poo in our front yard; we figured it was a fox, but Jake confirmed it with this picture he took off the back deck. Kind of explains why we don't have a lot of rabbits or squirrels running around....
If you're squeamish about snakes, just move on to something new because what's below may cause heart failure.

I came home from care group last night and Bill forgot to leave the porch light on. No biggie, I know my way into the house. So after watching the Olympics for a while Bill and I head to bed. As Bill walked by the hallway that leads to the front door he saw something move in the wreath (we have glass panels in that door). Further inspection revealed a snake. No I'm not kidding.

So we grabbed the camera and went out the other door to make sure he wasn't seeing things. I almost dropped dead when I realized I walked right by him on my way in.

Without further ado.... be prepared to be amazed and astonished...

In other news....school starts this week. Maybe Monday, Maybe Tuesday. The teacher and principal haven't had their annual meeting yet, and the teacher still has a lot of prep work to do. In any case, my already infrequent blogging will become more infrequent. I'll try to post pictures once a week so you don't forget what we look like.

He survived

This was his best attempt at "cheeese" and you can't really tell he's missing a bunch of teeth. Considering the circumstances, he did well this morning. The tooth fairy is going to drop a bundle under his pillow tonight, and we are hopefully all done with any major tooth issues with Hank.

Some folks have asked why he would have such a large abscess. The dentist can only speculate but he thinks it's two things:

It began because Hank had "partial root canals" on his top two front teeth instead of "complete root canals." He said this procedure can work well in adults but almost never works on baby teeth. Hank was really nervous so I didn't ask the dentist to explain that further but I really wanted him to give me a Root Canals For Dummies course.

It was so large because it has been growing for quite some time. Pretty simple. It wasn't noticed so it wasn't treated and it got bigger.

Oh, we do brush and floss him every night and he uses flouride rinse. The 3 littles just have horrible teeth, and horrible is not an overstatement. Our dentist loves us. We're sending his kids to very expensive schools.

Hank was very happy to hear that he must suffer through ice cream and mac and cheese for the next 3 days. That alone probably made it worthwhile to him. Now I follow him around asking him to say things with f, s and th sounds so I can listen to his lisp. That's not mean...is it??? :)

The Big Bump

This morning I was sitting on the floor in front of Hank talking to him while he was getting dressed and I noticed he had a fat lip. I looked closer and saw it wasn't a fat lip at all but a big bump on his gum above his front teeth.

It looks like a big pimple so I pressed it just a little and was soft and squishy - oh sorry, I didn't realize you were eating - anyway I took him in to Bill, who very thankfully was still home because he overslept because we stayed up too late watching the Olympics.

Anyhoo, Bill agreed to hang out and see if we could get a dentist appt for Hank this morning; he would take Hank and then head to work. I have taken all 4 kids to the dentist by myself. Let's just say it's not one ounce of fun and leave it at that!

A handful of x-rays later and Hank needs to have 3 teeth pulled. It's a chronic infection that has been sitting at the site of some dental work Hank had done when he was about 18 months old (Hank is 6 now so it's been there a looong time).

He just had some x-rays done early this year for his regular check up and they didn't show any sign of infection at all. The dentist said an infection like this can sit unnoticed for years (obviously) and very suddenly become acute (very suddenly become acute, kind of makes me chuckle).

So now my little man is on sooper dooper antibiotics to reduce the infection. He's scheduled to have his teeth removed on the 18th so if you think of it, pray for my little guy. The x-rays did show that his permanent teeth are in place and ready to come in for which we are very grateful!
So here's "the bump" (warning...it's kinda gross)

Bad News Bears

We're going to a baseball game Saturday with Mr and Mrs P. Mrs P is a die-hard sports fan so it's fun to go to games with her because she knows all sorts of interesting facts and trivia.

The last time we went with them, we watched the kids all run the bases at the end. We didn't know the drill and we were seated at the far opposite end of the stadium when we realized our kids could do it too, so we missed that little bit of fun.

Mrs P was shocked when she saw kids out there just running and NOT touching the bases. Where were their parents? What can the world be coming to when kids aren't touching the bases?

I realized my kids were going to need some training before the next game! :)

So this morning we all trekked out to the lower field and mowed ourselves a little baseball diamond, complete with trash bags for bases - hey, you do what you gotta do!

Ella probably won't have a career in baseball, softball or even t-ball for that matter. Too much standing around, which allows bugs to bug you. And it was hot (not really). And the sun was in her eyes. I'm thinking she wanted to be anywhere but there.

Hank is a little slugger; he just whacked the ball right off the tee and he throws pretty good too. He's also a fast runner. Since basketball wasn't quite right for him, it will be interesting to see if continues wanting to play baseball. He and Jake play catch every now and then so we'll see....

Shane, oh my little two year old....he definitely throws right handed but seems to want to bat left handed. He's not willing to accept input from his coach on his stance or grip so we're not sure how long his career will last! But he didn't do too badly considering the bat is as long as he is tall.

Now we started the day talking about going on a bike ride. We'll see if we have the steam for it after naptime!

Cat Watching

We inheirited Slater Cat about 7 years ago when we moved into this house. It's a long story but we know her previous owners so we know she's an old cat...like almost 17 years old.

She doesn't like people. She meows *very* loudly. She drools. She sheds huge clumps of angora-fine hair. She barfs up hairballs of said-hair. Not really my kind of pet.

She was happily living in our basement where she would come out about once every week or two to be petted. As long as she had food, water and a clean litter box, she was a happy camper.

Then we realized she is either blind or nearly blind.

Soooo being the responsible pet owners we like to think we are, we decided to move her upstairs where she'll be a little safer, theoritically at least.

The dogs are spazzes and try to sniff her hair off when they see her so we've put her in the kids' bathroom and put a gate across to keep the aforementioned spazzes out.

Shane is a monkey and climbs gates of all sizes. And he has fallen in love with Slater. Honestly, if he was a little older, we'd let him take over her care completely. He feeds her but Jake does the litter box and Ella fills the water bowl.

He sits on the stool in the bathroom and just watches her. No joke. He looks like a little old man on a park bench. It's so cute. If she peeks out, he'll pet her head. He's actually pretty gentle with her and she seems to be tolerating him pretty well. Though if he starts annoying her, she hides in her litterbox. It;s the kind with a big hood over it and he isn't allowed to even stand close to it much less touch it. (kitty potty germs gross me out something terrible!)

He is very concerned about the "keey". He'll stand at the gate and yell "Hi keey!" and look at us "want hi keey" (I want to say Hi to the kitty). So now he has adopted a stuffed kitty to sleep with and talk to. I'm sure Slater is hoping he forgets all about her and spends all of his affection on the stuffed kitty. It is cute to watch though. :)

What?

We've been encouraging Hank to serve others and allow others to go ahead of him in line, while being served at dinner, etc.

So we tell him God First, Others Second, Me Third.

I must have said God First, Ella Second and You Third once because this morning while waiting for me to fix their cereal Hank tried to muscle Ella out of the way and put his bowl in front of hers and Ella said

No Hank. God is First. (pointing to herself) Ella is Second and you are LAST.

I think we have more work to do!

Up dehr....High!

Shane is putting more and more words together and it's just darn cute to listen to him! We were out working in the yard when we took a swing break. Shane wanted to go "up dehr. High!" as he pointed to the tops of the trees. Such a squishy, cute little monkey.

Praying Mantis

You may need to click to enlarge these.

They finished cutting down the tree and Shane spotted a big Praying Mantis. Bill took some great pictures of it. Look closely and you'll see he's cleaning his face and antennae - almost like a cat would. It looked like he was licking his hand and then rubbing his face and antennae. It was really cool.

The Tree

See the big tree? There used to be another just like it at the other end of the hedgerow. Jake and I (mostly I) cut it down. My back still hurts so this tree is daddy's project. They're some kind of evergreen but they're covered in bag worms. Ewwww! Bag worms are definitely a product of the Fall. Last year, they decimated 3 other trees at the end of our porch. Bag worms are not my friends.

The kids all tromped to the basement with daddy to select their weapons. They came up with a bow saw, a chainsaw, an ax and an assortment of toy saws.

Below is Shane drooling at the thought of using the chainsaw.
Practicing on daddy's bumper
Jake demonstrating why mom ended up chopping down the other tree. We definitely foresee a deskjob in his future. Good thing he's smart. :)

Watching Jake with the ax.
Hank learning to use the ax. He's left handed so it was a challenge for Bill who is extremely right handed.

Girlie's turn. We were surprised she had any interest in it at all. Always full of surprises, cutie girl.
Shane. Oh yea, this is his thing. He loves tools and destroying things. Definitely a manly toddler.
Practicing on the hedges

Now the bow saw

Supervising Practicing on the wood chips


pulling out the branch he just sawed off

More practice Pulling out the branch she sawed. I'll get around to fixing the orientation...in the meantime, rest your right ear on your right shoulder. There, perfect now. :)
The saw is as big as she is


We found a Blue Jay's (empty) nest so we saved it. Now we have that and a Robin's nest in our collection. I need to figure out a way to preserve them and display them. Any ideas? leave a comment or email me.

The kids are getting good at looking for and even ID'ing birds outside of our yard. Hanks' favorite remains the Cardinal which he is very good at spotting. Ella and Shane just like spotting birds in general.