A Nature Walk with Daddy

We are really enjoying our time with our daddy. If you know us, you know that we would have our daddy home with us 24/7 if we could swing it. He makes everything more fun and we enjoy him being there in the moment with us instead of telling him about it later. I have enjoyed his help in our homeschool and the children love daddy as the teacher as well. :)

We went on a little walk down to little bayou behind our house. It is nice when Matt is around to snap the photos. He does a better job at it anyway. ;) This long fluffy flower smelled like jasmine!

Magnolia

The Black-Eyed Susans were out today open and cheery in the sun. :)

When daddy is around you get to see ME!

Elijah catching a love bug.

The birdies were chirping the frogs were croaking and it souned like Animal Kingdom out there. It was very pleasant. :) The little birds each took turns bathing while we watched.

Monday is fast on its way and we hope to hear some good news this week.

Around the Yard...and What Remy Wants to be When he Grows UP!

We have been spending almost all of our time outside in an effort to raise our temperatures and kill of the evil cold buggies! Eli and Remy are doing okay with it and we hope that kind of luck continues since we will not have our Cobra insurance take effect until 45 days from now. Anything we seek treatment for we will have to pay up front and then later they will refund us. We have pretty much decided to keep to ourselves as much as possible in order to keep as many germs as possible away. Pray for our health for the next month!

One night I went out with a flashlight and found this guy! I have searched and I cannot figure out what he is. :( Any help?

Remy is keeping a collection of all the dead bugs he finds along with the lizard skull he will not part with. YUCK!

My little bean photos I posed about in an earlier post were actually flowers that opened up and then fell off to reveal the real beans! Seems I got a little excited about the baby beans! :)

The roses in the front yard are blooming so well this year. Granted, we finally trimmed them the way we were supposed to this year. ;)

My silly boy...

...wants to be this when he grows up...

You have to look closely but you can see the little monkey clinging to his side in the picture. He wants to go into the wild and find animals for his zoo...just like Steve Irwin.

Little Things We Miss...

I was reading a blog that I read and she posted a picture of a grass flower that I have myself admired many times. When I was little I called little tiny flowers I found in the grass "Smurf" flowers. :) I would pick them and look at them forever. I just really liked them.

Well, that post inspired me to capture some of the really beautiful things in this world that we over look, the little things. Of course we see the beauty in a HUGE sweet smelling rose, but we often over look tiny clover and grass flowers as we mow them down. :) Our children bring us back to our senses though and for that I am grateful!

When you first look at a little pom pom of white clover you see this...

And then you look closer...and you find they are made up of lots of orchid looking blooms...

These little purple flowers that I expect to be some form of purple clover are no bigger than the pad of my pinky finger. TINY! But I found them today. :)

And little red berry shaped flowers...that again I am sure will turn out to be some kind of clover.

All of them tiny and hidden but waiting to be picked and admired. Little itty bitty fairy flowers...

And while I was looking very closely in the grass I checked on my garden. I found these on the bean plants...little tiny beans!

I was even able to snap a photo of Eli underwater...just to prove he does it now. :)

I ran out of things to keep me busy and called my good friend Renee over. I needed company. Things are getting so hard here money wise and we are praying that we get a call tomorrow about a job offer. I am so ready for this to be over. We are now without a job, Matthew finished out Ritz, and we need a new job now. Dealing with wimpy checks the past few weeks and now we haven't a job in sight...PRAY FOR US!

Everyone is healthy and we have food to eat. We are very blessed in ways we know others are not. Myka, told me 2 stories of families losing children this week. Sometimes it takes that sort of story to make you realize it could be worse. Thankyou, God.

Myka came to visit!

Myka and I always SWEAR on our lives to get together during the summer. Well...we did start it out right this year. We both get busy and tend to forget our plans. I enjoy her company and tonight she and her husband and children brought me some much needed laughter and joy! They always make me feel peaceful and loved. :)

She made a fiesta meal and came over to feed us yummy food with great company. :)

Myka can cook anything from scratch without a recipe and it will taste like she slaved over it for ever. She has three boys I could eat up. Steve her husband is the BEST! He makes me laugh and forget my worries. This is just truly one of those families God has given me as a gift.

Asa is the littlest one of the bunch and he is so sweet. He has the sweetest kisses and snuggles. I could just smell him and hold him all day and night. He is very good tempered and cute!

The kids went swimming in the dark, but Abram didn't stay in, so I don't have a photo of him. :( But Alban and my boys did pose for me. It is rare that Remy will smile like this in a photo...so you know he was super excited. I usually have to make him stop being silly and giving me crazy looks for the camera. He is happy in this one. Eli...he is such the little actor!

The little fish!

Alban jumping in...

We are having so much fun with friends and this wonderful sunshine. :) I love how the seasons change and afford us a change of pace throughout the year. :)

Late Spring...A taste of the Summer to Come.

Swimming...

Eli is finally diving in this year! About time! Matt has the water so pretty and crystal clear, but it is so cold for me still. The water is 80 degrees.

Climbing Trees...

Picking Flowers for your mommy...

Even if you picked the neighbors flowers without asking, even when you know it is wrong, even though you have been told before, but you can't help it because it is so pretty and your mommy must have it! :)

Happy 14th Birthday, Logan!

When Renee and I met that Halloween night all those years ago her son was Remy's age. He is now 14. 14!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Logan, you have really grown into a young man any mother can be proud of. :) You form very complex ideas all on your own, and you love to pick on us all. Just like a man! Hee hee...

Thankyou for allowing us to celebrate with you...even if you are too big for parties. *sigh*

We had lots of swimming, lots of eating, and lots of silly kid time. :)

Taylor and Elijah were "two peas in a pod", just like always.

Mikey was a big talking boy. He can just jabber away like a big boy. In this picture with Matthew he is asking him, "What's it for".

He loves my little dog piper.

Sabrina had both of the boys in the pool...and they both had a moment of crying. I just had to capture the dual moments of tears. Hee hee...

Mikey really didn't want to be in there, but Tucker just wanted to be LET GO!

Tucker is so big. He walks. He counts to 3 in his sweet baby voice and follows it with hand clapping and a sweet yaaaaaaaay! :) He is very interested in the people around him

Used Book Sales

Oh how I love them!

We went to our local used homeschooling curriculum sale and I made out! We got lots of neat things, but the best deal was the spanish I and II (two complete years) for only 6 dollars. They would have been 200 dollars brand new. I think it is a very neat idea for homeschooling mamas to hold these sales and pass on the materials when they are done.

My friend Sabrina said that it was like being in a candy store! Hee hee...

Remy bought lots of stuff with his money. He even got anole food and a tadpole container. He went right out that afternoon and captured some of the ones we had seen in the creek a few days ago. :)

I found some books to put on the shelves for them to ponder through and a constitution replica.

The kids learned more that day from flipping through all those books than they would have if we had normal lessons.

We went to another used book sale at the library. The kids will be busy for a while and it should give them lots of new hours to just look through our shelves in the school room. :) They have been surrounded by piles of books in the floor for days. I love how they never get tired of them.

I spent a grand total of 18 dollars on everything. :)