Wanted: Activity Director

On Sunday we dropped Annie off at Bible camp.

I miss that girl like crazy!

See Annie is our family activities director.

She keeps the boys busy all day long.

So now...

Guess who is the new activities director by default.

Yep, me.

We've been writing her letters,

jumping puddles,

watching planes,

just lots of busy boy stuff.

But, they still seem to find things to get into.

Yesterday morning, they brought me 

a giant newborn opposum in a jar.

Yes, I screamed,

 when it appeared from behind their backs 

and was thrust into my hands as a gift to me.

Then, later in the day Bo caught a pigeon in his fishing net.

I think I more yelled that time, 

"Bo! Let it go!"

So today I thought the zoo would take up 

a nice big chunk of the day and keep our adventures to a minimum.

Let's just say I sent this text to my sister:

So Laurie the zookeeper got the excitement today, 

all the kids around us yelling and pointing at her, 

"There's a lady in the monkey cage!"

Me, snapping pictures of her as she waded 

through the waist deep water with only knee deep boots on.

And the adventure of climbing the rocks,

 and hiking through the plants,

 to rescue a little boy and find his flip flop.

Rocco was so happy when she reached up and 

handed it to him under the railing.

We thanked her 

(and apologized) 

a hundred times.

Zookeeper Laurie was gracious and sweet,

Our new hero.

So today we gave the Gibbons something to watch,

and tomorrow I'm sure we will have some new animal adventure.

But at least it gives me something to put into my letters to Annie!

Get home girl!  You are missed :)

A Good Deal

Toinght, I dropped Annie off at her cousin's college dorm 

& headed to home to a house filled with boys. 

Bo has a friend sleeping over so I'm outnumbered 7-1.

I heard Kelly shouting out the front door,

"Bo!  Put that saw away! You can't cut off our tree limbs!"

Bo explained he needed firewood to sell.

I told him if he wanted firewood, to gather it from the woods, 

in the BACKyard.  

Kelly took the saw and they scrambled to the woods.

10 minutes later Rocco came in the house to grab 

something out of his drawer in the kitchen.

Rocco:  Bo got some great firewood! He took the bark off  

             and he's washing it so he can sell it.

Me:  You can NOT wash firewood Rocco.  

         And he can NOT sell it!

Rocco:  Yes he can.

Me: No...he can't.

Rocco:  Yes he can, why not?  It's just beautiful.

Kelly:  Rocco why are you taking that dollar outside? 

           (as Rocco is headed back out)

Rocco: I'm gonna buy some firewood.

Oh brother...so it turns out Rocco's tooth fairy money from his first tooth was in his hands less than 12 hours.

Rocco gave Bo the dollar and was quite 

delighted with his wet beautiful firewood.

I have to admit...it was beautiful,

(and much larger than I thought it would be.)

And the rest of the wood made delicious 

s'mores for the good ole' boys club.

 So I am admitting here that I was wrong.

You CAN wash firewood,

And someone will buy it.

I can only imagine what our friends say when they return home.

Sorry Joey.  

Rocco's Tarantula Valentine Box

Rocco's 

Tarantula Valentine Box

Rocco's box took the most time this year. 

But he fell in love with the hot glue gun.

Supplies

2 large empty "Whipped Topping" containers

2-3 wire hangers

3/4 yard fur

google eyes

hot glue gun

paper for stuffing

we used some copper pipe insulation for 97 cents

Duct Tape 

Fun Foam

First, eat the whipped cream.

We actually put it in the freezer into big Ziploc bags.

Then, pad the containers.

You could just crumple paper around the sides and tape it on.

Then just drop some fur over it, tuck, wrap & and hot glue.

We trimmed and glued it right to the edges.

If you have a small head you can wear it.

Wrap both the containers.

Cover the lids.

Now, the next part is not as fun.

Legs. 8 of them.

Bend hangers back and forth until they break.

4- 12 inch & 4- 11 inch

Roll it up, hot glue it shut, and you have a leg.

I trimmed a little off the back to make a tab for gluing it on the body.

I glued the toes together after it was secured onto the spider.

Now just glue EVERYTHING together.

bodies & legs.

Then just add eyes & a smile, and a heart if you'd like.

 I read that tarantulas can have as many as 10 eyes!

We thought 4 were nice.

Happy Spider, happy boy!

The Last Day

We don't even call winter WINTER. 

At our house...we call it HOCKEY SEASON.

 

Annie, Bo, & Rocco all play

And it gets crazy! 

 

Annie

 

 

Bo

 

 

Rocco

 

The weekends get sooooo crazy!

Besides Annie's many weeknight practices,

our weekends can be anywhere from 4-7 games.

 

 But just look at my boys...

 

 

8 is my number this year...since soon we will be a family of 8.

 

Today was Rocco's last day of the season.

 

 

It was my shift as Kel was with Bo at his game.

 

 

Do you have any idea how cute 5 year olds are

zooming around when they can barely see over the boards?

 

 

And at his game, he scored twice.

 

Sure maybe, both times, he plowed down

his own teammates right in front of the net,

stole the puck from them, and shot it in net.

I was proud anyway.

 

But that wasn't my favorite part.

My favorite part was that every time he fell down, scored a goal, or thought he was doing a cool move...

 

...he looked for me.

 

Even in the midst of all the chaos,

He would look up to the stands,

look me in the eyes & smile.

 

 

And of course my heart would swell & I'd smile right back.

 

 

 

 

I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.