frogs

Lately, all the buzz around here is about frogs. Almost every time the boys go outside they are off on their quest to catch a frog (well, unless spy school is in session, of course). Their friend, here, is pretty much a frog-finding expert, so they're always glad she's around to help them out. I am not a frog person so this is not my thing, but it's fun to watch them be so excited about it!

shivaree

Tagging pictures again and came across these:

When my mom and dad were married it was custom where they lived to throw a shivaree afterwards.

shivaree: [shiv-uh-ree] Shivaree is the most common American regional form of charivari, a French word meaning "a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds" and probably deriving in turn from a Late Latin word meaning "headache." The term, most likely borrowed from French traders and settlers along the Mississippi River, was well established in the United States by 1805; an account dating from that year describes a shivaree in New Orleans: "The house is mobbed by thousands of the people of the town, vociferating and shouting with loud acclaim.... [M]any [are] in disguises and masks; and all have some kind of discordant and noisy music, such as old kettles, and shovels, and tongs.... All civil authority and rule seems laid aside" (John F. Watson).

Yep, that pretty much describes what happens from the little video I've seen and the tales that I've heard. Apparently, there are silly games and tasks that the couple are "encouraged" to do. Looks like my mom had to drive my dad around in a wheelbarrow and the other picture is them is a trough full of water - this was in April so I'm sure it was cold, too! I know most all of these people who were part of the shivaree and I can only imagine how loud and fun it was (I'd love to hear comments from you - I'm sure there are things I don't know)!!

I love finding these little gems in my computer - love the stories they tell and remind me of. I'm glad that my sisters and I spent hours growing up looking through photo albums and that my parents took the time to tell us the stories - thanks Mom and Dad!

home decor project #1

This is my newest and favorite home decor project right now (we're working on some others, so we'll share when they are finished too). This plate hanger has been hanging empty in the breakfast room for 2 years now. I saw a project similar to this on another blog a while back but couldn't quite figure out exactly how I wanted to use it in our house. As I was tagging photos last week, I realized that there aren't a lot of current photos around for us to enjoy so I decided to use the plate hanger for a seasonal photo display.

It's super easy too. I just took 4 favorite photos from the past few months, cropped to 8x10 size, added some text, printed and put into clip frames I found at Michaels. This is hanging on the wall beside the powder room so all of us get a chance to enjoy it at some point in time :)

been to illinois lately??

Two quotes from Ethan today during our hiking trip:

1. As we drive past a cemetery,

"I wonder who is buried there?"

Hmmmm....probably not the typical 4 year old reaction to passing a cemetery, but Brian and I busted out laughing, knowing it was a sign he had been hanging out with Grandpa.

2. On the hike we get to this crazy looking tree and as the boys start inspecting some hollow spots in the tree, we hear....

"Watch out cause there might be some cats in there!"

Okay, I would've been thinking there might be mice or snakes in there, but this earned another snicker from us, knowing that this was a sign that he had been to Grandma Hosselton's house recently, where this huge oak tree has a hollow area at the bottom where the cats go in and out.

photo scavenger hunt

Today was a cloudy gloomy day screaming out for something to do inside. Now, normally this means a couple of TV shows during the afternoon or a movie, which is fine cause it means I get things done. But I happened to remember an article in a scrapbook magazine about a photo scavenger hunt so I decided to modify a little for the boys and told them we had a special secret project to do after lunch.

They LOVED this! I started off with 5 things and they begged for more so we did 10 the second time (too much for Ethan so maybe 7 the next time). I highly recommend keeping this in your bag of tricks for rainy or cold days spent inside. It's super easy and totally free. They even got prizes such as no evening work (cleaning the table after dinner) and being the exclusive chooser of the books to read tonight.

Here's what we used:

5 index cards per person

digital camera for each person

I just drew a shape, color, or letter (or sometimes animal or other toy that I can't really draw that well) on each card and they had to be the first to come back with each of those things on their camera. It was really interesting to see what each of them found to represent each of the items. Super easy to modify for any age, too!

Have fun!!

six flags with aunt meemer

Thank you, Aunt Meemer!! The boys had such a great time - still talking about it (of course).

impromptu zoo

Had planned to do grocery shopping today, but once we got out and realized how nice the weather still was (and that it probably wouldn't last much longer) we thought we could find a better way to spend our day. So we called some friends and they were game to go to the zoo with us so we headed out and had a super great time this afternoon. I love having such great friends to hang out with, whether it's at the zoo, cooking out, in our cul-de-sac, at the playground, wherever. What a blessing God has given us to have somewhere to go or something to do as well as someone we love to go with us!

organizing

Organizing, for some reason, is a love of mine. I can spend hours organizing things and then never really use them much just cause I enjoy the organizing part - don't know why. But this organization project is one that will be used by everyone at our house. Last night, I labeled all of the scrapbooks with ribbon and circle tags. Before, when we were looking for a certain page (or usually when I was looking for a certain page) I would never be sure which one it was in and would end up pulling 2 or 3 out before I got to the right book. Not anymore....I love labeling! I can hear you laughing!

ouch!

Looks like this was fun......this is also one of the reasons I got on the tube once and never again. Ouch!!

homemade goodness

My mom gave me a year's worth of coupons for doing things with her or her doing things for me each month as a Christmas gift last year. One of the things was a cooking day. I had never made jam before and wanted to learn, so she spent the morning teaching me to make strawberry jam (from strawberries locally grown right down the road from her) and peach jam (from Missouri peaches the boys and I picked at an orchard the other day). We had so much fun (or at least I did) and I'm so excited to have some goodies to taste or to share.

It was doubly good for me cause she took me out to lunch that day too. It's been a long time since it was just my mom and I out for the day. It was really good to just sit and talk and enjoy being with each other. Thanks Mom - you're wonderful and I love you!!

Some treasures unearthed.....

Taking a break from tagging all my photos from 2001 until 2009....I'm working backwards and have made it back to November of 2007 in the past 2 days. I was supposed to be done by now. Hmmmm........

BUT the good thing about going thru every picture is you find some you didn't even realize were on your computer, like this one:

{That's my sister, Amber, and our friend, Erin, at the Illinois State Fair last year!}

and this one:

{can't say I know anything about this, but it makes me want to go to the fair and I'm fairly sure JF found this and I would have LOVED to have heard what was said about it}

and this one:

{if you're from Illinois you probably recognize this....the Butter Cow....I only remember seeing one cow when I was growing up so it appears the exhibit has expanded}

and you have to be excited to find a photo like this:

{I'm pretty sure that's a confused look, but Brian disagrees and says I'm about to light into someone. Guess who he says I look like?}

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY ELI!!!!

{one year ago}

{one month ago}

4th of July

Fun time at my parents for the 4th! More of the weekend to come in later posts....