An unexpected visitor

It was a Sunday night after church, not too long ago.

I know it might sound a bit strange but occasionally I will swap jobs with Charles and I'll take out the trash while he gets the kiddos ready for bed.

A little peace and quiet alone outside now and then does a body good. ;)

But this night as I was heading back for another load of cans I saw something glisten by the shine of the street light we have on our property.

Upon closer inspection I came upon this enormous spider web that had not been there when we left for the evening service.

I apologize for the fact my camera doesn't do well at night, I changed some of the pictures to black & white to try and make the web more visible.

It was at least 4' x 5' big.

It stretched from our pear tree to Charles work sprinter, a distance of almost 20'!
(enlarge this one for a closer look)

I still haven't been able to identify what kind of critter he was.

Of course Charles insisted we bring the kiddos out,

it's not everyday you see something quite this neat. :)

It left quite a big dab of stuff for stability on his truck.

Can you see it?

He was a creamy colored fellow with some orange markings on his underside.

Sorry if I wore you out with spider pictures

but we thought it was a pretty neat experience.

The next morning it was all gone and we haven't seen him (or her) since. :)

Fun with Fabric

Waaay back in January I made a trip to JoAnn's.
Aunt Cee and Aunt Dee came along too.
While Aunt Dee and myself were looking for something in particular
Aunt Cee and the kiddos had fun in the "shiny" fabric section.
Who knew a trip to JoAnn's could be so much fun?! ;)

I actually just got this pictures from her and it made me laugh to look through them. :)

Of course Mercy is a big helper whenever she can. :)

Mr. Watermelon

Believe it or not this is Julia's friend, Mr. Watermelon.
He was grown in Nama's garden.
Probably the funniest watermelon you've ever seen too.
Julia wasn't too sure about him at first...

...but then she decided he wasn't too bad after all. ;)

I'm picky

One evening a while ago I was busy doing something right after dinner and so I hollered out to the kitchen for the kiddos to start loading the dishwasher while they waited for me. They hadn't ever done it by themselves before but I figured it wouldn't hurt for them to try. I'm so picky when it comes to loading the dishwasher, I've got to have things in there "just so". I got good chuckle out of how they had loaded what they had when I got back. Guess they are still in need of a lesson or two on loading the dishwasher 101. :)

I'm a sentimental pack rat...

I don't have access to Charis' 1st birthday pictures right now but the little party hats we wore at Julia's birthday were also worn at Charis' & Mercy's 1st birthdays. :)

Hey, they were leftover and still in good condition and we've happened to get a lot of fun use out of them, lol! ;)

The Belated Birthday Girl

I forgot to post pictures of the night we had Julia's 1st birthday cake and ice cream.
We actually didn't celebrate just us until her 13 month birthday as we had had quite a bit of partying around her birthday and we didn't care to get sick!

It made it a special evening though and the children all enjoyed themselves and their cupcakes but they take after their momma in the fact that they think ice cream is way better. ;)

16/52

I don't know what it is about me and loving to run in the rain but I do. I guess it is just an enjoyable childhood memory that I love to re-live. :)

Anyways, the other day we actually had a good rain withOUT thunder and lightening!
As soon as I realized this I gathered the kids and we all went outside, had a blast and got soaking wet! :)