Tuesday, September 28, 2010

How The Monkey House Spends Their Evenings

So today, Amanda came home with these cute little candle samples for the fundraiser her Mom's Day Out is doing...
Well, after smelling them 500 times each and deciding which scents to purchase we decided to "repurpose" some. (Strictly for environmental reasons... not to have fun. No, not us)
So we melted the candle samples and dipped match sticks into the melted wax to make water proof matches for our camping survival kit.
Now, don't worry readers. We didn't allow our children to play with matches (much ; ). But we had to melt the wax SOMEHOW!
And here is the finished product. Coated in wax to keep the tip dry and ready to light a fire if ever there is a need. (And you better believe we tested about 40 of these babies by soaking them in water first! : )
Tomorrow we're collecting pine cones and making fire starters for the camp fire with our remaining wax samples.
Don't you just LOVE the three R's?
recycle, reduce, REUSE!







Sunday, September 26, 2010

McConnel Air Force Show

McConnel Air Force Base hosted an open house and air show yesterday and today. We had planned on only going yesterday, but when it got to the main event (The Thunderbirds) the weather turned bad and they had to cancel the flight. We got to see and do many other cool things but Logan and Eric REALLY wanted to see the Thunderbirds so we went back out again today. After yesterday, we got the lay of the land and showed up super early to do all the fun stuff. (Tour the airplanes, tanks, and helicopters) and we left an hour before the Thunderbirds were scheduled to fly and went to our scoped out spot. We were on a hill at the end of the Air Force's runway and we got so SUPER awesome pictures and didn't have to deal with the crowds afterwords.



































































I also got so really good video (they flew for a LONG time!) but it's too big to post here. What a wonderful day for a little boy who LOVES airplanes!

A Coachwhip!

** UPDATE: Okay, after much debate, a trip down the wrong road (with a misguided field guide), and some active Internet searching, I've determined that my little snake friend is a Coachwhip!!!!
He/she is definitely a juvenile but the face markings and tail markings make me very confident that we've correctly identified it.**

Eric and I are in a bit of a debate about this cute little snake we found in our yard. I think it's a Prairie Rat Snake and he thinks it's a Bullsnake. He's so young it's hard to tell, but he was SUPER cute and VERY nice. In fact, I even let the kids hold him (which is unusual for me) and they did great (and so did the snake)!






The snake was quite content to just sit in Logan hands. It was a little cold out and I think he was enjoying the warmth.

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?!?!









Amanda got to take a turn holding him too. Shortly after this photo he slithered back under his rock.

Goodbye friend. Until next time!

Friday, September 24, 2010

9/11 Firefighter Needs A Hero Of His Own

Roy was on duty the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and he heard the first plane hit the World Trade Center from his firehouse. Soon he was one of the firefighters racing up the stairways of the World Trade Center buildings. His team made it up to the 30th floor when they were forced to turn and start back down again. Six men from Roy’s firehouse were killed that morning, but Roy made it out alive.

Four years later
Four years later, Roy faced a different kind of challenge. He was diagnosed with a blood cancer called multiple myeloma. Chemotherapy treatments put his disease into remission for a while, but in 2008, it returned. He learned he would need a marrow transplant. His search for a donor began.

That’s when Roy, a man who was used to helping others, needed to ask for help for himself. As a firefighter, he had always been the one working to save lives. But now he needed someone else ready to save his life – by donating marrow. It was a tough change.

Firefighters support Be The Match Registry
Roy had no donor match in his family or on the Be The Match Registry. True to form, his fellow firefighters have come together to help.

Firefighters and other first responders have long been committed to the Be The Match Registry. Many firehouses invite new firefighters to join the registry and hold marrow registry drives to encourage members of the public to join the registry, too.

Still waiting for a match
There's more than one way to be someone's hero, Roy says. He thanks everyone who has already joined Be The Match Registry. But he’s still waiting for a matching donor. You can help spread the word: tell your friends and family to join Be The Match Registry. One of them could be the hero Roy -- or another patient -- is looking for.

******

I know that many of you joined when Logan was diagnosed, but if not please consider joining now or helping to spread the word. Thanks so much, friends.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

We were playing at the park and Logan shouts
"Hey, Mom! You've GOT to see this!"
And low and behold, it's the Very Hungry Caterpillar
IN THE FLESH!
"Oh my gosh! I LOVE your book!!!"
"Can I have your autograph?"
"Oh, no pen? Well, maybe next time."

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Lemonade, Lemonade, Lemonade, WAHOOOOOO

While I was out volunteering this afternoon, Logan got it into his head that he needed to do a Lemonade stand. They had their first customer before they had finished setting up!

Here is the first dollar he earned given to him by our BFF neighbor, Blair.

Fifteen minutes later, another gal from the neighborhood stopped and paid $1.00 for a drink and gave them a $1.00 tip! : ) After that, things slowed down a bit so Logan took his sign to the end of the drive and waved at the folks as they drove past. He ended up making a total of $6.00. Not bad for our quiet little street! : )
Here is Logan and Amanda making their last sale of the day (to their dad) : ).

Priceless.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

It's HERE!

A friend of mine did the awesome giveaway on her blog and I was one of the two lucky winners!

My gift arrived today from Secret Message Jewelry and it is super spectacular! Check it out!



That last photo... My husband caught me taking photos of my self (trying for a "good" one) and he was looking around for who I was talking to. "Just me, Honey!" : ) ha, ha, ha

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Momma KG!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Future Husband Training

Eric likes to call it "domestic engineering."

I, on the other hand, look at this as my son's future marketability.

- That's right little ladies. He cooks, cleans, AND irons the clothes! Logan BEGGED me to let him help me iron some clothes.

" PLEASE, MOMMY, PLEASE!"
"I'll be super careful!"
Then he flipped it over to iron the other side!

And was careful to smooth it out just so.

ALL DONE!

Now all nice and pressed and ready for the consignment sale.
Good job, Logan. Only 124 more pieces to go! : )
Now I know this will make you all SUPER jealous, but Amanda is counting the days until SHE is 6 and a half years old and can help me iron too! HA, HA, HAAAAA!!!
I've sure got those two fooled!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Photos and Class Helper

Amanda had her class pictures today... I love the people who do these photos. They take 6 photos (as opposed to Logan's ONE) and have an awesome background, plus you get the proofs THAT DAY! Here are the pictures I took of the pictures they gave me. : )





My camera didn't focus right... it's a lovely photo in person.

So, grandparents, aunts, and so forth, feel free to let me know which photos you would like of our lovely Amanda (and what size) and I'll get the order placed.
*************************
While Amanda was getting her picture taken at preschool today I went to Logan's school to volunteer in his classroom. I'll be helping to do some one on one work with the kids for 45 minutes each Monday. Logan was super excited to see me, and his lovely teacher was kind enough to give him first turn with his "mommy helper" today. I think I got 50 hugs and about 35 kisses before I left... and he was only marginally sad to be staying behind to finish the school day. All in all, a roaring success!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

First Day Of The Last Year

Today was Amanda's first day of her last year in preschool! She picked out a very special outfit for the occasion.(Thank you Great Aunt Sherry and Great Uncle Wayne!... She STILL loves it! : ) She took an EXTRA long bubble bath, worked very hard on her hair, and painstakingly applied her stick on earrings all by herself.



She had a wonderful day and was super excited to see some friends from last year.
This evening we had a special treat... homework via some leftover icing!

Amanda worked on writing her letters.

Logan wrote his spelling words.


"Erasing" was fun...

... but finger licking was better! : )

I told Logan that I was quite confident that he would be the only one in his class to practice his spelling in icing!
Chalk it up to another successful day in the monkey home.