Weekend Randoms

On July 16th, Samantha lost her second tooth.  The tooth fairy made yet another visit to our house, leaving Samantha another dollar coin.

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We are constantly catching chipmunks at our house, but occasionally, we manage to catch something else -- a toad, a snake ... and this time, we caught a little bunny rabbit.

Jack was enthralled with it.  He couldn't stop looking at the bunny and even tried to stick his fingers in the cage a couple of times.  Luckily, we caught him in time. 

After a few minutes, we let the timid bunny loose into the woods.


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We sold our impala last week.  It had been a good car for us, but the miles were starting to add up on it (lots of driving to Detroit during the first part of this year for Steve) and we needed to get rid of it before it was going to need any expensive repairs. 

Sam was a little bit emotional over the sale of it because we have had it since she was born -- it was the car that Steve purchased while I was in the hospital after just giving birth to Sam; we brought both Samantha and Sophia home from the hospital in it. 

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Steve got this 4-wheeler down from the shelf in the garage for Jack to ride and he LOVES it.  It is battery-operated and he pushes the button and cruises across the front yard.  The look on his face says it all.

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Our deck project is coming along nicely.  Steve has worked so hard on it during his spare time the last couple of weeks and all that is left to complete is the railing and stairs.  The kids have spent numerous hours out there with him "assisting."  (The girls wear their gardening gloves when they lift the heavy boards).

Trying to lift the heavy drill:

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After struggling most of this summer with a bike that was just a wee bit too big for her (20", gifted to us from the neighbors), Steve finally decided to purchase an 18" bike for Sam.  It has made all of the difference in the world -- she sails around effortlessly on it.

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Samantha is experiencing some mixed feelings about getting older and bigger.  For the most part, she is thrilled with the idea that she will be in first grade this Fall and will be "turning six in four months on a Wednesday."  She is losing teeth and riding her bikes without training wheels. 

But, she learned (the hard way) that there are some things that she is just too big for now.  And that is the little "baby" car carts at the grocery store.

One day this week, I needed to make a quick trip into town to the local grocery store for one item: some butter.  I gathered the kids up and we drove the 2.5 miles into town, parked the van and headed into the store.  The girls spied the grocery cart with the car on the front and raced each other for it. 

Sam is too big for it and Jack is just the right size to ride in it with Sophia.  And that just did it for Sam.  Out came the pouty lip, the crossed arms and the attitude (complete with her nose stuck up in the air).  She was mean during our entire time in the store, even rude to our cashier (who was just trying to be friendly).  I was thoroughly embarrassed.

It's hard being almost six years old:

On our way home, I had a stern talk with Samantha about what it means to be getting older and how her attitude had consequences -- that is, our impromptu trip that I had planned for the library had to be cancelled. 

Upon learning that, she all but threw herself out the van window while snarling through her teeth telling me that she was "never ... going ... with ... me ... to ... that ... store ... again ..."

After some quiet time in her room once we arrived back home, she came back downstairs acting like my thoughtful, innocent little girl.

Growing pains are hard.

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Binder Park Zoo

On Saturday, I took the kids (along with Uncle Dennis, Aunt Deb and cousin Amberlee) to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek.  We left at 8:30 in the morning and arrived back in our driveway at 5:30 pm.  It was a long day, but the kids had a great time! 

The last time that I was at this zoo (a little over an hour from here), I was pregnant with Samantha.  That was six years ago when I went with Deb and her three kids.  It's hard to imagine how much my life has changed since then ...

As I was paying for our admission, I was asked if I was there for the reptile exhibit.

Excuse me? 

Ah, no.  I don't care for reptiles.  At all.

I was there for the giraffes and the monkeys. 

It just happened that last weekend was a "special" weekend for a big reptile exhibit at the zoo.  Owners had brought in some of their prized reptile pets and you could touch most of them.  Fabulous.

I would have been fine just skipping this exhibit, but I was the only one in our group that felt that way.  So I went along with the group.  And it turns out that it was pretty fascinating; even if I have nightmares for the next four weeks. 


Meeting Snappy, a 21-year old turtle that this man has had since the turtle was the size of a nickel:

Petting, with two fingers, one of the many snakes on exhibit {shudder}:

A tarantula:

And probably the most amazing thing there, a snake that weighed 120 lbs!  I have no words.

Once we washed and sanitized our hands (I did so just to feel better, even if I didn't personally touch any of the reptiles in the building), we set off on our zoo adventure. 

Sophia read the map:

We walked several trails and stopped to look at various animals along the way, including some monkeys:

Jack was a real trooper, riding in his stroller and taking in all of the sights.

At lunchtime, we headed back out of the zoo and into the parking lot.  We had parked right by some shaded picnic tables, so we unloaded our picnic lunches and ate before we toured the second half of the zoo.

Pausing for a picture on an ant statue on our way back in:

One of the options inside the zoo is to take a free train ride over to "Africa" to see some African animals, including the giraffes.  This was something that the girls had looked forward to for the whole morning.

Riding the train:

Jack rode with Aunt Deb:

You are allowed to feed the giraffes lettuce leaves; quite the attraction!

Sophia was a little leery at first, but finally warmed up to the idea:

There were nine giraffes in total, with tongues that are 17" long.

Two of them were little "babies:"

Posing with the elephant "tusks:"

Shortly after we left the giraffes, Jack fell asleep in his stroller and managed to take a 30-minute power nap.

Check out the horns!

After we got back from Africa, our last stop was the Petting Zoo.  We were able to go inside with the goats and the kids all loved it!

Brushing the goats was a major highlight:

The girls were having so much fun inside the pen with the goats, that it was difficult to get them to move along to the other animals.

A llama:

My babies:

Posing on the elephant statue in the playground area:

And of course, we never miss an opportunity to go down a slide if we see one on a playground:

I'm not sure how those long legs manage to fit in the slide these days!

I am excited about the idea of going to the Detroit Zoo possibly next year.  Jack will be a little bit older by then and will be able to enjoy it even more.  There are even more animals there and it will make for an exciting family trip!

Corn on the Cob

We have been hungry for some fresh corn on the cob lately.  We purchase some from a farm down the road as often as we can while it is in season and the kids have a great time shucking it, as well as eating it. 

We tried unsuccessfully to find some last weekend (it was still too early), but Steve couldn't wait any longer.  He surprised us by coming home from work a couple nights ago with some fresh corn from a farm market in Lansing.  I was skeptical, thinking that it might still be a little too early for good corn, but we gave it a try.

The first stripping of the corn can be tough ...

But she got the hang of it!

Samantha has a few more years of experience than her sister:

This was Jack's first year.  He wasn't really too sure what to do with the corn at first.

He moved it around a little bit.

And then he decided that he could help to put all of the husks in the bucket for us.

The end product was delightful.  Perfectly sweet and cooked to perfection. 

(I cut most of Jack's corn off the ear for him, but we let him try to eat some off the cob too).

The Chore Chart

Lately, Samantha has been asking to help with various chores around the house.  I have taken advantage of that and assigned her several tasks that she can help with whenever she asks.  But, what she really wanted was a list -- something that she could see visually and then check the items off as they were completed.  A chore chart.

One night last week, as we were tucking her in bed, she begged again for us to make a list while she was sleeping.  As soon as Steve and I arrived downstairs, we began talking about some tasks that we could give her.  Steve suggested printing out an Excel gridline chart, but I wanted something a little fancier (of course). 

The next morning, the kids and I headed to the craft store and ideas floated around in my head.  I wanted something cute, something magnetic and something that was interchangeable (as the tasks changed).  I also wanted to make one for Sophia.

I found some cheap, unpainted pine wood frames and let the girls choose their own colors for the spray paint.  Samantha chose a teal color, and Sophia chose pink.  I found some random decorations, all on clearance, and knew that we could use them to decorate the frames.  I located some magnetic backing that I would use as the main chart and some small magnets.  Some buttons (also on clearance) would be used to spruce up the magnets.

The girls were SO excited.  I put Jack down for his morning nap as soon as we got back home and then the girls and I got to work.

Waiting for the teal spray paint to dry:

How did I know that this little girl would choose pink??!!

My glue gun is probably one of my most used possessions.  That thing sure gets a work-out in my household!  I use it for everything ...

Sorting her magnets so that I can glue the buttons on top:

We chose some really cute chevron buttons, some flowers and some strawberries (whatever was on clearance and would be sturdy enough for gluing. 

The bowl full of completed magnets:

Decorating their frames.  They worked together as a team to help decorate each one.

 

While they were napping that afternoon, I put together the actual chore chart portion of the project.  I used a white marker to separate the days of the week and the chores.  I used my handy labeler to label magnets with the chores and put them into place.  Due to space constraints, I opted to have room for 7 chores, but I can change them out as time goes on.  Some of the chores are daily activities (making their beds) and others are only meant to be done a couple of times a week.   

 

At the end of the week, we count up the magnets that each girl has on their chart and they are rewarded 10 cents per magnet for their piggy banks.  Maybe that seems too low, but the girls are happy with that value.  As time goes on, and the chores become more time-consuming, the value may go up.  For now though, we are focusing on rewarding them for their work.

 

A funny quote from Sam: "Momma, I would like to have 10 pennies instead of 1 dime for each of my chores."  She knows the value of a dime, but 10 pennies still seems like more money to her.  Ha!

 



On the wall in their bedroom: