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!