Butterflies & Kittens

On Sunday the boys, Clint and I rode the Ranger down into our bottom field to check on the wheat Clint planted last week.  We ended up riding on into the pasture and drove through a grove of trees.  When we entered the grove, butterflies came from everywhere and formed the most beautiful ceiling at the top of the trees!  We had a quick science lesson on monarchs, the false monarchs and why all of the butterflies are flying south.  Kade informed me that he already knew all this, thanks to television, I'm sure!  (It really is more than likely due to his 2nd grade teacher, but that kid picks up so much from TV!--Thank you Mrs. M--Kade loves your class and comes home with all kinds of new knowledge everyday)

I didn't have a camera on Sunday, so the boys and I went back yesterday (Tue.) to see if the butterflies were still there.  The number had dropped drastically, but there were still a considerable amount.

You can see the butterflies resting on a tree limb.

Some type of butterfly.  Or is it a moth?  It had a huge body!

Some friends gave us five kittens to keep at the horse barn.  The boys have fallen in love with them, though, and will more than likely turn them into yard cats before long.  It is so funny to watch the boys play with them.  Kade tries to be quiet and sneak up on them, so that he can catch them (they are not 100% tame), but he never can.  Layton charges at them making every noise possible and will just tackle them.  He can catch every single one of them!  They are probably freezing like a statue, because they see that crazy kid coming their way!

31st Birthday

This past Wednesday (Sept. 23) was my 31st birthday!  I had a wonderful day and received a lot of cool gifts.  I have the sweetest family that still gives their 31 year old daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law gifts!  Thank you all so much!

I share my birthday with my Mom, also, which I love.  We were all scheduled to go out with my sisters in Bluffdale the weekend before our birthdays, but Cint and I were both sick so we ended up staying home.  Mom and Dad went and they had a great time.  Sommer had us a beautiful red velvet cake made that Mom generously donated to my family after she and Dad had their one piece!  It was delicious.

Clint took me to lunch on my birthday and then sent me the beautiful bouquet of flowers you see below.  I was so excited--I love flowers!  The weekend following my birthday we all went to W.F. and ate dinner and then ran a few errands.

Treasure Hunting

I have been sick with a head cold since this past Thursday evening, and Saturday was the worst day of all.  So, I just laid on the couch most of the day.  However, by 4:00 p.m. the boys and I were stir crazy and I decided that some fresh air might do me some good.  First we tried a walk--that didn't work out.  Layton was already whining by the time we got to the first cattle guard.  So, we decided to just ride around in the Polaris Ranger for awhile.  Well, that got boring.  We then decided to go on a treasure hunt!  I have been telling Kade about geocaching and how much fun it sounded.  Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world.  You use GPS devices and search for hidden containers, called geocahces, outdoors and then share your experiences online.  So, we ran to the house and got on http://www.geocaching.com/ and printed out four different spots that were within a few miles of our house.  We then entered the coordinates for the treasure on Clint's Garmin.  The first one was easy to find and a lot of fun.  It was hid in one of the older cemeteries up the road from us.  We tried finding three others (in different locations), but didn't have any luck.  Check out our pictures below!

Layton, Kade & Ace with the Garmin.  While I was on the couch sick all day Kade played like he was a tattoo artist and drew tattoos on himself and Layton.  They used washable markers, so they came off easy and changed often.  They were a cat and a rabbit in this picture.  Their daddy and I are so proud of them!!  Clint says that a good tattoo artist can make a good living, though!

Kade headed to find the treasure.

Eureka!  The treasure hidden in the fork of a tree.

We found it!

Layton tripped in the cemetery and lost his boots.  He was running back to the Ranger to get us an ink pen, so we could write our names in the Geocache Log Book.

All the trinkets.  There was a golf tee, plastic silver coin, sunscreen, miniature skateboard, copper ring, and a plastic ring.

Kade trading his U.S. Open radio for the plastic ring.  (Nede brought the boys back some souvenirs from the U.S. Open.)

Our first geocaching adventure was a lot of fun.  We plan to try to do some more treasure hunting around this area and when we travel to the Panhandle this winter.

Water + Cousins = FUN!

During the Labor Day holiday, while my niece and nephew were down, I took all four kids to Castaway Cove in Wichita Falls.  We had the best time!  I was so proud of them, too.  I had several people tell me that "my children" were the most well behaved children they had seen in a long time.  I admitted that I could only take credit for two of them, but I would sure claim the other two as my own!

H., Kade, Layton & H.

H. & Layton

Layton insisted on wearing his mud/water boots to Castaway Cove.  He got lots of laughs and high fives!

Kade & H.

Wordle

I found this really neat site today that allows you to make word clouds.  You can enter the words you want in your word cloud or you can use a blog, web site, etc. and it will create you a word cloud based on the text/tags found at that site.  Once the word cloud has been created you can change the layout, the font, the color and can even remove terms.  You can then print your creation or it will assign you a URL so others can view it.  I wanted to enlarge some words, like Kade's name, but couldn't figure out how to.  I may have to go back and play with it a little more.

http://www.wordle.net/

My Wordle looks kind of like an Easter egg!  It was fun to make.  It is slightly blurry here, but if you click on it, you will be taken to wordle's site.  You can, of course, also add them as a gadget to your side bar.

River Rats

During the Labor Day weekend I took Kade and Layton, their cousins and two of their friends to a river that runs right to the west of our house.  I grew up with the river practically in my backyard and some of my fondest memories are when my parents would take my sisters and me down in the pasture and let us play all day in the river.  Sadly, this is the first time I have taken my boys.  We had so much fun, though!  We even went back that same weekend, after all of our company had gone home.  We plan to go many more times, now that we see how much fun it is!

Before: All "Nice & Clean"

After:  "Fun in the Mud"

Kade

Layton

He insisted on stripping down to his underwear.  He did not want his shirt or shorts to get wet!

Do You Want to Follow Me?

I have several people tell me that they love to read my blog, but I have noticed that they are not a follower.  If you would like to be a "follower", so that I can see you read my blog, just click the "Follow" button and follow the directions.  I don't think it is a lot of work, but if it is, I understand why you don't want to "Follow". 

I would love to see who reads my entries and even follow your blog, if you have one.  Once you are a follower you can also comment on my blog entries right underneath the post. 

Blogs are just so much fun and have helped me to create many new friendships!

Thank you!

First Day of 2nd Grade

Kade is in second grade this year.  I can't believe he is as big as he is!  He really likes his teacher and has several really good friends in his room.  So, we are planning on a great year with many memorable moments.

The first two weeks of school have kicked my tail this year.  I'm not sure why, but I just can't get in the swing of things.  I am not only the librarian for 5-12 grade, but also teach an 8th grade TAKS Math/Science class first period and a 5th grade science class second period.  I am also the high school student council co-sponosor, which keeps me very busy.  I just have a lot to get organized, both mentally and physically.  It will all fall in place--I'm just hoping it does really soon.

Layton loves going to the sitter, of course!  I'm really not that bad of a mom--they all just love their Rosey.  She is the best caretaker and I'm so thankful that she has helped me raise both my boys.  I could not have done it without her!