Stuff that Happened

Marian received some super-awesome paints and brushes for her birthday.  She was really excited to try them out and painted this awesome chicken!

These paints are especially nice as they dry quickly and can be painted over.  A detail Marian was quite pleased about.  Why a chicken?  I don't know.  She googled pictures and settled on the rooster.  And I think she did a marvelous job!  (Thanks Grandma White!!)

For school, Callie had to do a "Living Museum".  She was suppose to choose a job , or what she wanted to be when she grew up.  She was suppose to research this job and write up a 2 minute shpiel on it.  On Thursday, parents were invited to go see the kids present it.  The children each had a sticker on their shoulder for you to "push".  Pushing their button made them give their prepared speech about the job. 

Some kids got way into it.  Callie did not want to stop playing outside and come in to work on it.  Her reporting was sparse and not as well done as it could have been.  Some kids had poster boards and awesome dress ups.  Callie brought her little dog and used it as a prop, and had some details that were not necessarily based on fact or research.  She did a dang good job for the amount of work and preparation that went into it! I went, I poked her and heard her shpiel (for the 10th time!!) and saw some of the other kids before Rylee and her antics necessitated leaving.  Callie said she enjoyed it and it was fun.

This is just an awesome cake I wanted to remember.  One of my running friends made this for another. It is a Pinata Cake!  She said she cooked 2 cakes in 2 bowls that were the same size and shape, to get 2 half circle cakes.  (Or, and Delaney corrected me.... "spheres".)  Then she scooped out the middle of the 2 cakes and filled them with easter candy.  Yep, all kinds, from jelly beans to rolos to peanutbutter cups.  She then covered the hole filled with candy with parchment paper, flipped one half onto the other and slid the parchment paper out.  Then she frosted it and amazed us at a get together!

This?  Well, this is just a picture of a cute kid I know!  She had her very first field trip this week.  It was so exciting she actually woke up an hour early to be ready.  It was kind of nice to not be hurrying her up to get ready for once!   She had a marvelous time and was so excited that she finally got to ride on a bus.  And the Children's Museum was great.  She had a really good time.

This is Levi.  I went to the park with some friends on Friday morning.  Since it was a 1/2 mile walk, I took the dog.  Sadly, he was not very well behaved while we hung out at the park.  I may need to reassess the value of him getting a walk vs the value of my peace and quiet. 

Rylee had a marvelous time at the park!  She had a good time running around.  It was a glorious day.  After a week of chilly temperatures, it got up to 75 and Rylee ended up with pink cheeks.

There's a WHAT in my back yard?!

I may have mentioned that we live in an alligator infested swamp.  Oddly enough, all my friends and neighbors see them all the time, but in the 19 months that we have lived here, I have only seen one other alligator, outside of the zoo.  Today was my lucky day!

Yep, we saw this little guy in the canal that runs in front of our house.  Granted, he was a lot further down the canal and nowhere near the front of my house, but I finally saw an alligator!. 

 The little pipe there is his home.  My friend said he's there all the time on either side of the pipe.  That pipe goes under the road and exits in the other canal right by the playground. Yippee.  There's an alligator living right by the playground!

He really is just a little guy.  Maybe 4 feet long.  I let Levi go up to check him out.  I know, one of those things that in hindsight is really bad when things go south.  The alligator waited till the dog was a foot away and then made a spectacular splash and disappeared into his hidey hole. 

I can't wait to see him again!

She takes after me

I think we all know that Delaney is a character.  A very fun one at that. She also has a very vivid imagination.  A friend once said that her mind must be like an amusement park.  I expect it is.  I don't know where her unique personality comes from.  Probably not me!  She is so interesting and creative.  Recently, my favorite thing is the names she gives her favorite stuffed animals.  Most notably, her panda bear.  His name is "Mr. Miggins".  Who comes up with stuff like that?!  Certainly not me.

My family has a history of dull names for our pets that lack imagination. Rylee takes after me.  She has a favorite stuffed poodle, and its name is "Poody the Poodle".  Her other favorite is a little black beanie baby dog and his name..... "Black."

Levi's Haircut

Levi is a hair hairy dog.  The amount of dog hair on my floor is astonishing.  It has to be swept daily, and even then, I find hairballs that managed to sneak away from the broom and band together.  Not only is it everywhere, it is long hair.  Long enough to french braid or put into ponytails. 

I asked Callie to take some "before" photos for me, to document what Levi looks like with all his hair.  I thought this would be perfect because Callie loves to take hundreds of pictures and there are usually a few good ones among the lot.  Sadly, this time, she took 5 pictures and this was the best.  All the pictures she took were of his hairy hindquarters.

This is the best picture I could find of Levi.  The dog is always in motion and it is incredibly difficult to get a cute picture that's not blurry.  Since the girls tied him up with the jump rope, he stayed put for this picture.

Again, note the length of hair.  And it is soft hair! 

Here is the "After" picture!  Look at how little he looks!! And he looks like a woolly lamb.

Isn't he cute.  Look how short his hair is.  It is actually an inch long.  We'd planned it to be a little longer and chatted with the groomer about what we'd like.  When I went to pick him up, she said that the trim we'd wanted looked awful on him, so she'd done the default trim down to an inch.  We're happy with it.  It is getting hot and muggy and Levi hasn't enjoyed our runs as much because he's been hot.  Check out the awesome stool Levi is on.  My Father-in-Law made it!  And this is Levi's new trick.

If the video refuses to play, it is of Levi doing his trick.  Yeah, we think he's awesome.

Someone would really like to go for a walk! 

And now look at his bum!  You can actually see his nubby little tail!  The kids have been fascinated by it.  You never saw his tail before because it blended with the hair, so they are excited that it is true, he DOES have a tail!

Who? Me?!

Nothing makes a Sunday morning more exciting than arriving at church and noticing that your son's name is on the program to give the first talk.

Nothing warms a mother's heart more than said son writing a talk and delivering an awesome one 15 minutes later.