Oh, yea! We celebrated!

After the storm, there was some beautiful light. So we headed out with our cameras. Well, Abby and I had cameras. Ryker had his bike, and Daddy was there to be the camel when nobody wanted to carry around their stuff after discovering PUDDLES!

Ryker's re-discovery of puddle-jumping! It's been so long!!

Water, water, beautiful water!!

Oh, I should take photos with their faces in them? Sorry, momentarily distracted by the water. Did I mention...it rained!!

Tip-toe through the puddle.

Then, pounce!

Oh, yea!!

YES! We should make this a sport!

This is where I told Ryker to be more silly. 

This is about as silly as it comes! And yes, he did take that spa treatment earlier this week. No pickles. A pedicure by mom. He picked green and black polish...you know, school colors!

 Abby trying to dunk her brother in the puddle.

Just kidding! I love you!

 Interesting hair!

 Time to go home and take a bath after this shower!

Poor Daddy...stuck with a tiny bike and a camera!

Photo scavenger hunt

On Memorial Day weekend, on the way home from the St. Louis area visiting family, we decided to have a scavenger hunt with the alphabet -- stopping in random places to "earn" letters. 

Here's what we found

A -- Adorable (shhhh! He doesn't know, and he wouldn't approve. But it's true!)

B -- Boy

C -- Charity 

D -- Dive

E -- Extraordinary (Ok, just trying to find something for E and he's pretty extraordinary!)

F -- Feet

G -- Gas

H -- Horse (and horsing around)

I -- Ice Cream

J -- Jump

K -- Kick (is this a stretch?)

L -- Long hair (for a boy!)

M -- Merry-go-round

N -- Not a sand castle

O -- Old house (as in an old childhood home of mine in Litchfield...sorry for the bad photo!)

P -- Pink 

Q -- Quarter

R -- Refreshing drink after swimming

 

S -- Slide

T -- Teeter-totter

W -- Wal-mart (where the Jeep stayed for a couple days! It died on our last stop. Thank goodness it was just the battery and close to home!)

X -- X-tra brave (She climbed the ladder no fewer than six times and finally jumped right before my camera battery died! Yay Abby!!!!)

Y -- Yellow

Z -- Zig-zag slide??

Our yard is full of critters

So, last night at bedtime Lucy wouldn't come inside. Last time she did this, it was because she was playing with/killing a mouse. Then she swallowed it when I tried to take it from her. A good hour went by, and we were about to put on shoes and get flashlights. I was thinking maybe she choked on a mouse and was dead behind the pool or something, but it turned out a shake of the treat jar lured her inside. First thing this morning, she went out and came back in with a little treat. Yep, my little rat-chaser dropped a dead mouse on the living room floor. 

But we don't think this one was its sister, because Dan said the one this morning was much bigger (maybe mom?). However, Ryker found and fell in love with this baby mouse, which is still in the bowl napping on our front porch as I write this. He wants to keep it. Though I despise mice with all that's in me, I must admit it's somewhat cute. But it's NOT coming in my home. Katie promises to take it home and raise it up until it's big and can be released big and strong. I don't think Katie plans to tell her mom. Ugh! I'm not looking forward to having teenagers! LOL! 

Here are the girls watching the baby mouse nibble on cheese. 

And then Dan comes home and hollers for the kids to come out front. Look what he found in the driveway. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE snakes...fear them. Mice are second on the list. I'm not sure how I feel about this day, but the kids are beyond excited, as if it's a special blessing to find science exploding in our tiny yard. 

Random spring break fun

I'm cleaning up the photos on my cameras in preparation for my trip to Africa, and I found lots of stuff from our Spring Break. Seemed like a good time for a random stuff post. Stick around to the end for an adorable dog/preschooler interaction!

I'm not confessing anything, but it's possible we all stayed up a little late some nights during spring break. Ryker is not one to sleep in, so he catches up on zzzz's with random naps around the house. Personally, I love it when my "baby" falls asleep on me, which he did twice during spring break. 

Abby's look of concentration.

As incentive for doing well in music lessons, Abby's amazing teacher made her this tutu. She had to earn the individual sections of tulle. I was somewhat surprised and delighted that she wore it twice right away, and she plans to run in it at the Girls on the Run 5k. I think it suits her to a "t." 

I think those might be long, runners legs. Abby is doing very well in GOTR. Running might be her thing!

Abby, Carley and Ella in their dress-up clothes. Spring Break = time to catch up with old friends. 

The kids on their golf cart. 

Their dog, Zeke. Ella told me he really wanted her chip. 

But she wasn't teasing him with it or anything!

She just didn't eat it for a really long time. 

Plus, she kept talking to him about it. 

Poor Zeke. He realizes he's never gonna get that chip!

We had a great time. But we may never be invited back. Ryker wrecked this four-wheeler and nearly killed their son. Okay, it wasn't really THAT bad. But it could have been. Thank goodness for helmets, a patch of grass in the right spot and angels! 

Ryker enjoys jumping on Gracie. Our day at the zoo was a flop. The zoo was closed, so we hit the playground for a bit and then DQ!