I think Brady and I have lost our minds!

A few weeks ago, we decided to spend our tax refund on updating our house.  Our interior paint was a disaster and our fence was falling over and I REALLY wanted some new carpet.  Strange thing is this was all supposed to be for our benefit.  Then the question was asked...  "Why not sell your house?"  It's a seller's market in Austin and the interest rates are SUPER low and to be honest, our house hasn't met our needs for quite some time.  So, renovation for home improvement took a turn to renovation for selling!  I have spent the last month of my life at the whim of contractors.  My house is in shambles!  Furniture is in different rooms, the master bath is torn apart, the backyard is full of new wood for repairs and old wood with rusty nails that were pulled off the house!  The floors are filthy as I refuse to clean anything until they are done traipsing in and out of here with dirty shoes and buckets of grout!  I have managed to pack quite a bit and tons of boxes are safely tucked into a climate-controlled storage unit!  The kids and the dogs are not quite sure what to think.  This has been kind of a sudden thing for them.  One minute this was our home and all was well, next minute, this was no longer going to be their home and they had to watch half of their stuff get packed in boxes to reduce clutter for showing.  They have done pretty well, but I know this is hard and they are uncertain.  They are going to be leaving the only home they remember (we've been here since Ian was 3) and they will be leaving behind many neighborhood friends.  It's sad, but I really think this will be for the best for everyone.  We are looking in kid-friendly neighborhoods with excellent amenities and yes, good schools.  We are still homeschooling, but there is always the possibility that one or both of them might want to go to school at some point and we better make sure the school district is good.

We have been looking for houses for weeks, haven't really found what we need, but it doesn't matter anyway, until we sell this one, we can't move into another.  And you can't really put a contingent offer on the table BEFORE you list your own house!  So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these guys finally get it in gear and get done today or tomorrow so I can spend the weekend cleaning and preparing for the house to be officially on the market for Monday.  Please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly, that the house sells quickly and we are able to find a wonderful PERMANENT home (well at least permanent until kids go to college!).

But anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know what we've been up to and why I haven't checked in for awhile.  I will do my best to keep everyone posted on progress, in fact, as soon as work is done, I will be sure to post some pics.  Kind of funny to live in a house for 6 years and not really do much to upgrade, but turn around and spend thousands of dollars to make it pretty for someone else!

Gardens and Geisel

A couple of months ago I took the kids down to the Zilker Botanical Garden to enjoy all of the blooming flowers and the gorgeous weather.  The roses were in full bloom and just stunning!

Needless to say, I took full advantage of the photo opportunities!  I didn't get many pics of the kids because they were running around, smelling the flowers and playing hide-n-seek throughout the gardens.  I did manage to catch a quick shot of the little girl while she was perched on one of her favorite spots.

I couldn't resist a couple of shots of the gazebo.

Once we had our fill of roses, we headed over to the Japanese portion of the gardens.  All was going SO well.  One minute we had this going on...

The next minute I had a boy up to his neck in the pond!  He has traversed these stones about 100 times, but this was not his lucky day!  He slipped and ended up taking a swim with the koi!  In brand new sneakers, might I add!  I'm sorry that there are no photos, but the fact is, I had NO idea how deep that pond was and although he could stand up, he was freaking out, Ainsley was freaking out and it just wasn't the most opportune time to take photos!!!  Although, in hindsight, it sure would have been a funny pic to add to this post!!!

I fished him out, half amused and half annoyed since we were supposed to be visiting a local art gallery after we visited the gardens.  I was pretty sure the "Soggy Bottom Boy" wouldn't be a welcome addition.  Because I am always somewhat prepared, I had a blanket in the car.  I wrapped him up, took his soaking, BRAND NEW sneakers off, and fed him a picnic lunch, hoping he might dry out a bit.  He was so cold and miserable and so upset that he was going to miss out on the Dr. Seuss exhibit.  I told him he was likely going to have to sit in the car and play his DS so Ainsley could still get to see the exhibit.  But as it turns out, the people at the gallery were really cool and allowed a damp, bare-footed boy to walk through the gallery.

The exhibit was really cute.  Dr. Seuss was incredibly creative and possibly on acid!  ;)  Here are a few of our faves.

Joseph Katz and His Coat of Many Colors (LOVE this one!)

Not sure what this one was called, but it's so cool!

And how in the world can you see a Dr. Seuss exhibit and not get a pic of the kids with the Cat in the Hat?!?!

AND the Lorax?!?!

I would love to have a fountain in my backyard with the Lorax as the centerpiece!  So awesome!!!  It ended up be a lovely day!  We could have lived without the impromptu dip in the pond, but hey, it worked out in the end and everyone was happy!

Kids and Kids

OK, so I seem to be on an eternal quest to catch up on this blog!  There is just SO much going on right now and I will be updating soon.  But until then I would like to revisit a wonderful, spring day!  Linda takes basket-weaving classes and it just so happens that the woman also raises goats.  So, she invited Linda to bring the kids out to enjoy the babies.  I cannot even put into words how cute these little guys were!  And my kids absolutely fell in love with her "kids"!!!

Ian played chase...

And they adored him and wanted to jump on him!

And they REALLY wanted to eat his shoelaces!

And little did we know that Ainsley has a future as a "goat whisperer"!

Or possibly the Pied Piper of goats.

These little goats were just the funniest things and the kiddos adored them!  It is good to have friends with goats!  Last shot has to be one of my favorite pictures of Ainsley.  She was swinging on the gate and I just grabbed the snapshot.  Once I got home and uploaded the photos I was really taken by surprise.  She's growing up SO fast!

LOVE.

Happy Birthday Rob and RE!

In March, we were invited to come up to Dallas for a big birthday soiree for my Uncle RE and cousin Rob.  It was a whirlwind trip, but worth it to see family that I haven't seen for years!  And it was my first road trip in the new Hyundai!  I packed up the kids and off we went.  When we arrived there was plenty of this...

Ian gave them a shot, but felt they were too much work for the end result, however, he was more than happy to down his weight in grilled oysters!

Ainsley spent most of her time talking and smiling and looking cute, trying to avoid eating anything.

I eventually talked her into a couple of grilled shrimp and a bite or two of pasta salad, but I'm pretty much thinking her dinner really consisted of a healthy portion of birthday cake!

I managed to get one good shot of the birthday boys.  I can't believe RE is 75 and Rob is 52, but I tell you what, they are couple of handsome dudes no matter what age they are!  Although I'm not quite sure when my uncle turned into a hippie!  ;)

Of course you HAVE to blow out the candles on your cake!

And the funny thing is that amidst all the good times and laughter and hoopla, my son spent the majority of the party like this...

Now many might say he was a bit of a party pooper, but this was his FIRST actual novel.  It was Book 1 of the Ranger's Apprentice series and he just couldn't put it down.  I was so proud and happy for him and if he wanted to spend his entire weekend with his nose in that book, I was OK with that.  Totally OK.

The next morning, we helped clean up the house, Ian put on a mini ukulele concert and the whole family went out for brunch.  After all the reminiscing and all the hugs, the kids and I headed out of town making a stop at the Dallas Zoo.

It was a great trip and it was so nice to see everyone.  We really need to figure out how to get together more often.  ALL of us.

First Annual Learning Without Limits Field Day

We have been members of the local homeschooling group, Learning Without Limits, for about 6 years now.  They have been my main support through thick and thin and most of my kiddo's activities revolve around people and organizations that stem off that group.  Normally we have weekly park days, Parent's Night Out, Halloween and Valentine's parties and all sorts of other good stuff.  This year, we held our First Annual Field Day at a local park.  WHAT.  A.  BLAST!  It was so much fun watching all of these kiddos, divided into age-appropriate groups having a terrific time!  It was all of those fun, old-school games that we enjoyed in elementary school.  Now, fair warning, I was stationed at Ainsley's age group area to help organize and run the games, so I have very few photos of Ian.  Some friends were supposed to shoot some, but so far I haven't seen any and that was 3 months ago!  Haha!  Anyway, here are a few pics that highlight that special day!

First of all, who says homeschoolers don't socialize?!?  We had close to 100 kids at this event!

Here's Ainsley competing in the sack race!  She didn't place, but she had fun!

Here she is in the egg-on-a-spoon race, she did a great job and managed to come in third place!

She was more than happy to pose with her ribbon.  :)

And let's just say, this next race, the DizzyLizzy, was NOT my idea!  Just watching them spin around in circles with those bats made me nauseous!  But I have a little girl that LOVES to spin and spin and spin, so of course she managed to easily take another 3rd Place ribbon.

She ran the  Crazy Relay with two of her best buds, Axel and Griffin and they DOMINATED, easily sailing into a First Place victory!  What a team!

So all in all, Ainsley walked away with 2-Third Place ribbons and 2-First Place Ribbons (she took the crab walk as well).  Not bad for her first ever Field Day!

Now like I said, Ian was in another part of the field with his age group, so I saw very little of what went on over there.  I did, however, manage to sneak over in between races and snap a pic of him attempting the "Egg in a Nest" race.  It was the funniest thing in the world to watch my skinny, knock-kneed boy try to steady an egg between his knees and walk down a field!!!

He didn't do so well his first time through, but managed to take home 3rd Place in another heat!  All in all, he came home with 3-Third Place ribbons for Crazy Relay, Egg in the Nest, and the Sack Race as well as a solid Second Place ribbon for Tug-o-war!  Ribbons and competition aside, I just enjoyed watching my kids having a blast on a beautiful spring day!  I am hoping our group makes this a permanent event!

Tiny Dancer

I'm pretty sure that most of you that follow along know that Ainsley has been enrolled in an Irish Step Dance class since September of 2011.  She has been working very hard and enjoying herself immensely.  This past St. Patrick's Day was her very first ceili.  She danced with other kiddos and during one point in the program was allowed to have some time to do a little solo.  She did a great job and we were all very proud!

Here she is in her beginner stance.  Hands to the side with her thumbs in her fist.  I made the skirt special for the occasion!  It was a blast to see her perform!

Spring is a "buggy" time of year!

Every year I order moth cocoons and butterfly chrysalids from Canada.  They spend the winter in our refrigerator crisper and in the spring I bring them out and they do their thing.  This year was no different, except for the fact that we got a new butterfly habitat and were able to send off for live caterpillars as well!  The painted lady caterpillars ate and ate and ate for about 10 days then they all started heading for the top of the container and began to hang upside down.

Terrible pic, I know, but bear with me.  It was freaky because within 30 minutes they went from above to this...

Our minds were blown!  Such a transformation and SO fast!  Once they all pupated, we removed them from the little food jar and transferred them into the butterfly enclosure with the rest of the moth cocoons.  Within about 10 days, we had our first painted lady butterfly!

Isn't she sweet?  The kids, of course, LOVE them!

I managed to get a pretty striking picture before she flew off for good.

Just wonderful!  Over the last few weeks, we have had many creatures make their transitions in our enclosure.  First the spicebush swallowtail...

Then came our lovely polyphemus!  Such a handsome chap!  He was mellow enough for the kids to handle him.

 

Ainsley wasn't scared of their little prickly feet this year!!!

He was quite the specimen with HUGE antennae!  I was lucky enough to get a most amazing shot before he flew away to find a girlie!

Next was our cecropia.  This one was HUGE with a wingspan of at least 6" if not more!

He wasn't that into being man-handled, so I took a pic or two and we let him fly off into the night.

Then came little io moth.  He was much smaller, but SO unbelievably pretty!

Wait for it.... POW!

I'm telling you folks, science at its finest!  We always enjoy the spring and the wonderful critters we get to experience!

Ian the Science Guy!

Starting in November, Ian joined the "Science Club" at the Austin Nature and Science Center.  He and Ainsley both take classes there once a month, but this was a club geared toward science experiments and the scientific method.  The ultimate goal was for them to choose and perform an experiment, document results and present to the class at the end of the term.  They set it up where the presentations were due about 2 weeks before the Austin Energy Regional Science Fair, so if the kids chose to, they could enter the science fair.

We started the actual experiments in early January.  He chose to explore reaction rates and how particle size and temperature affect those rates.  There was lots of fizzing and bubbling going on in my kitchen!

Once he obtained all of his data, we began working on his presentation board.  Although Brady and I had to help with photos, typing, and printing, Ian was in charge of presenting results and information and setting up the board.  He did a GREAT job!  His teacher was impressed and encouraged him to join the science fair.  At first he wasn't going to because there was a conflict with basketball, but that weekend freed up and Ian decided to go for it!

We arrived early the day before the fair to get everything set up.  Here he is with his finished project board.

I kind of thought he might be nervous the day of the judging, but he wasn't.  He was actually looking forward to talking to the judges so he could discuss his project.  My kid has more confidence at age 10 than I have at 41!!!  He makes me so proud!  After judging, we took him out to lunch and came back to see how he had done.  He got a 1st Place blue ribbon and we were so happy!

Now at this grade level (4th grade), they do not compete against each other, they are judged to standards.  So a 1st Place ribbon meant that he provided all the necessary information in proper format and performed the experiment properly and safely.  He was very proud of himself and has already been talking about what kind of experiment he wants to do next year!  What can I say, he's my little science guy!