The Lone Turkey

I went to the kitchen to make some lunch, and looked out the window:

It stayed in the front yard for about 10 minutes. Livi and Zach just LOVED

looking at it from the window! Not the best picture - taken

through a screen window - it was much cooler to see in person.

Happy 7th Anniversary!

Scott and I decided that we desperately needed some time away to try and reconnect as a couple, so what better time than our anniversary? So we left the kids with Grandma Nadine and Grandpa & Grandma Watson, and headed up to the Twin Cities for the weekend.

We went to a casino on Friday night and lost about $20 on the slots.

And then Saturday we went to Valleyfair. I had a blast - Scott had a great time too, but he just doesn't get as excited about amusement parks as I do! I'm like a little ADHD kid hopped up on coke at those places! The faster, twirlier, wilder, and wetter the rides are the better! Scott doesn't quite share my enthusiasm, so he begrudgingly went on the water rides with me (poor guy), but loved the roller coasters and most of the thrill rides, but after 5 hours decided that he could not keep up with me because he didn't feel well by then, so I went on two rides by myself and then we left. Oh, it was soooo much fun; can't wait to go again.

And then Sunday we had to return to reality...

Summertime in Minnesota!!!

Zach and Livi

Olivia - loves doing "tricks;" this means that she can swim underwater

across the length of the pool.

Zachary - loves splashing, but does not like his face or head getting wet.

Madeline - does not like swimming: the water's too cold!!!

So the kids decided they wanted to go on a road trip. Zach promptly jumped to the driver's seat and told the girls to come on along! Mama was not invited this time...

Unfortunately, there just weren't enough seats, so Livi decided that she would sit on the floor instead. Surely that's a safe option.

Let's go! Um, where are the keys?

Livi's reading the vehicle owner's manual: Wait a minute, guys! I think we may be doing something wrong!

Bye Mom! Gimme a kiss!

So cute and sweet:

Okay, I'm all buckled up and ready to go, Zach!

Bye, Mama! See you later! Mwah!

I found a Thomas the Train website that has free little kid games on them. They were a hit and gave me a little free time while Maddie was sleeping!

More Olivia Art: A Picture of Mama:

Close-Up of Mama:

Speckles enjoys these warmer days too!

Close-Up of Speckles:

Playing outside. I actually got one picture of all three of them. A split-second earlier or later this wouldn't have been possible.

Maddie drawing on herself with the chalk:

Zach riding his bike:

Livi:

Madeline has decided that there needs to be some organization these days. It's so neat how I have seen all three kids do exactly this - lining things up just perfectly - and they have done this without being told or seeing anyone else do it.

We Do Not Play With Snakes!

Olivia and Zachary were playing outside last Thursday, had gone to the garden to smell the beautiful flowers. All of a sudden I hear Olivia start crying, you know, a painful-quickly-moving-on-to-hysterical-panicked cry. So I started going out to our deck when I heard Zach start to cry too. My first thought was that they must have somehow upset a wasp nest, and then I thought, but it's too chilly for those yet. So I run out to the deck and see Olivia standing there screaming, and then out of the corner of my eye I see a little snake quickly moving under our picnic table. Olivia had gotten bitten on her finger by the snake, Zachary no bites; both were scared out of their wits. Thankfully, we knew it was a Northern water snake and not poisonous, but still called the nurse hotline to see if we should go in to the ER or not. We decided not to, and she was fine, just shook up quite a bit. Here's the amazing part: Olivia found the snake in the garden, somehow managed to catch it, and was carrying it up to our house to show us her new find! And once she got onto the deck it bit her!!! Oh my! We're just happy that nobody was seriously hurt and that an important lesson was learned.

Scott managed to catch the snake in a huge box:

Close-up of snake:

We decided not to kill it, so we set him free in the woods:

Bye-bye Snake!