Zoo and Pumpkin Patch pictures

With the beautiful weather we've been having- I took the kids to the Zoo a couple times in October.
The first few pictures are from the second week in Oct. The walrus pup LOVED Mya! He played with her for a good 5 minutes- following her around the glass!
She even gave him a kiss!





Here's one of Carter, Nathan, and Mya. This day Nathan kept trying to smile like Carter usually does, even though I told him how much I love HIS own smile... (even if he does look confused sometimes...lol!)

We had fun at the pumpkin patch. We went with my bro-in-law and nephews.


This picture was totally staged after Zach threw an already selected pumpkin back into the patch so the boys and I could hunt it back out and he could get a picture that included me hunting for pumpkins too! lol

...and wouldn't you know it, Zach actually takes good pictures when he has the camera!

Okay, so that's all for now! I'll try to get my Halloween pictures posted soon.

spiders, spiders, and spiders... oh my

I know it's been almost a complete month since I've posted anything- sorry about that- things get kind of busy sometimes- I get a little lazy- but I'm getting back on track. =)
Anyway- so it being said that I know it's been a while since I've posted- it seems silly to start off November with such a silly post about spiders! But- I do have to say I was very curious with the arachnids I've discovered in my house over the past few weeks. (not to mention I need to remember to spray around the outside of the house before more make it in!)

So- the first picture is of a spider I discovered one afternoon while I was sitting at the computer. If you know me, you know that I DO NOT kill things (besides mosquitos and fleas), so the first thought that came to my mind when I saw him was to grab my camera! I got a few pretty good pics- (ignore the dirty floor... lol) but as I was blowing on him to get him to turn around- he ran off behind the fridge.

He was missing for a few days before he re-appeared and I caught him then set him free outside. After doing some researching, I found he is a member of the Lycosa Tarantula family. Awesome right?! (okay- yes... I'm weird!)


Then... later that night I found a common wolf spider. Carter and I caught him and set him free too. (He was much faster!)


After reading up on wolf spiders, I learned where there is one, there is usually another. The males go out in search of the females. So, the males are usually the ones seen. And... sure enough, I found the female... with my hand... under the kitchen sink a few days later. She too was caught and set free outside, where I got some awesome pictures of her pooping! lol (I bet you never thought about a spider pooping before huh?!)

In the following picture is where you can see her defecation. Just above and a bit behind her right hind leg there is a little round white speck with black spots- looking to float in her web. Yep... now you've seen spider poop. =) You're welcome.




Note: No spiders were harmed in documentation of Dana's curiosity.
hehe

I promise a blog with updates of the kids is coming next!

Nathan's trip to the ER

Don't worry... he's okay! Here's the story:

Last night after putting the boys down for bed I stayed upstairs for a bit because I had some laundry to do. While I was doing laundry the boys were winding down in bed. Before I went downstairs, there was hardly any more chatter from their room. Not more than 5 minutes after coming down, I heard the scariest crash and scream in my life! As my heart fell to my stomach, I knew what had just happened and got upstairs in record speed!

There was Nathan laying on top of a toy tool bench that sits at the foot of their bunk beds. Carter was sitting on his top bunk with a look on his face like a deer in headlights. I guess Nathan had been sitting on the top bunk on a couple of pillows that were stacked up at the foot of the bed... right before he fell off.

He had a great landing... on his head and face- right on the tool bench. It wasn't put together- just sitting on the floor, but I'm sure his pain level wouldn't have been any less had the bench been put together.

As with many parents, my first instinct was to snap at him, "WHAT WERE YOU DOING UP THERE?! THIS IS WHY YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED UP THERE!!" Then I scooped him up and did a thorough check on what was hurt! The most obvious was the huge bruise and swelling developing on the side of his face. He also had a small cut on his ear (which too was swelling and already bruising), and a few large bumps on his head. I immediately called our pediatrician. She recommended taking him to the ER for a cat-scan.

Carter heard my conversation with the doctor and was upset I had to take Nathan to the hospital. I told him it was just to make sure he didn't hurt his head. -Now... this part it cute: Carter asked if the hospital was going to check that Nathan's brain didn't get hurt too. I told him yes. So, then he held up 3 fingers and asked Nathan "how many fingers am I holding up Nathan?" Nathan told him. Then, Carter held up 5 fingers and asked again. After Nathan told him, Carter informed me, "Yup, he's okay." LOL!

Luckily, my best friend Christy was able to come over to stay with Carter and Lylah, because Zach was at work. And, after a couple hours, the cat-scan (which, by the way, Nathan said sounded like a race-car), and 5 stickers for the brave patient, the doc came in to tell me everything was okay. Whew!

The bumps on his head have gone down a tone, and his face looks much better today. I took a few pics as a reminder to him of why not to be on the top bunk!


It was a good example to him that I'm not just trying to be mean with rules- they're
to keep him from getting hurt!

Chocolate time with Lylah

Thursday night as I was cleaning up after dinner I turned around to find this:


Apparently she found a mini-chocolate bar and took it upon herself to have a snack!
She was NOT happy when I took it away and cleaned her up! She was trying to lick every last bit of chocolate up!

Conner Prairie- Sat 10/27

This past Saturday we had free passes to go to Conner Prairie. The kids and Zach had never been- and I haven't been in probably 13 years. So, we made a day of it! It was so much fun! So, here are some pictures of our day!

I think Nathan would have played with these all day if I would have let him!


Carter did not want to take this picture! He wanted to go do other stuff!


I didn't know how much they'd enjoy putting on a puppet show! It gave me some Christmas ideas!!


Carter had fun pretending to be a store clerk!


Craft time!



The kids were so curious about the out-houses!!










Play time! We had a lot of fun figuring out this ring toss game! We never did get a good enough release to catch the ring though! We also all liked trying to walk on stilts!

Lylah would have been happy just playing the rocks and dirt all day! Anytime she'd be down from the stroller, she'd be sitting in the rocks playing!



Lylah was asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!

What a beautiful week!

We've had such a beautiful last few days, it's nice to be able to take advantage of it and play outside a bit!
Yesterday we decided to go to the zoo. It was a great time!



Fun on the bouncy bridge!

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