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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Bouncy, Flouncy, Pouncy, Fun, Fun, Fun, Fun, Fun!

Sam and I had a play-date at a bouncy castle place near us today.

It was great. This place is usually packed when the kids are out of school, and occasionally, on school days. I've been there on a number of days when the Homeschool Group meets there for fun and games and group interaction or something. It's a HUGE place and lots of fun bouncies and slides. It's clean, so we like it.

Today was wonderful! There were only a handful of us there, none over the age of 5 I would say. It was great!

My friend has 2 kids, a boy that is almost 2, "G" and a girl that is 4 1/2, "K". Sam and K had so much fun together.

I think he's got a new girl friend!

I don't have permission to post pictures of my friend's kids, but here are some of Sam.

Going down!

Whee!

Being Monkey's
Sam
This one actually is really cute. I had to cut "K" out because I don't have permission to post it. But she's upside down too!

She was hysterical. She'd pose and say, "Take my picture!" And then she'd boss Sam around. He's a bit stubborn and doesn't like to be told what to do, so he ignored her. I tell ya, she's a typical "girl" and he's a typical, "guy"! But they still had fun together.

These kids could have stayed there all day long if we'd let them. And if I didn't have to pick up Josh from the bus, I would have gladly let them!

The boys finally got haircuts last week.

Josh -- here he really wants to play the PS2 but I'm making him "pose" for the camera.


DSC00759

And Sam, who did NOT want his picture taken. I have about 5 of the back of his head and him saying, "I do NOT want my picture taken!"

DSC00760


We had some severe thunderstorms roll through here this morning when I was getting Josh ready for school. The power went out for about 30 minutes.

Josh, Sam and Daddy were sitting in the living room telling "scary stories" to each other by "flashlight" -- it was very cute. And to hear the boys tell the scary stories was hysterical! They all ended with, "And they looked out of the tent and saw DADDYSFACE!" and then fits of giggles!

It was very cute!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Circle of Life

When we moved here, we'd moved from England and neither of us knew anyone.

I was working in a town about 40 miles away for the first 10 months we were here. I hated it, so once Rich got a job and we determined he'd have it for a while, I quit. He was on the road all the time, I was working too far away and Josh was in day care for 13 hours. It wasn't pleasant, so we decided I would stay at home with Josh.

But since we knew no one, and we'd been here almost a year, I needed some way to find something for Josh and me to do. I decided to check out the local book store's story time. It was here that I met Mary.

At the time, Mary was the "Story Lady" and she did the story times at this very large book store. For many years her story times were voted the best in Atlanta by Creative Loafing Magazine. She now does story time for our city's local community parks and rec department.

Anyway, Mary and I became fast friends. She has a son a year older than Josh and they play very well together. Her youngest son and Sam are about the same age too. Her husband is a programmer, my husband is a programmer... you know, it's just a great fit all around.

Well, things "happen" to Mary or around Mary and she's the type of person that takes it in stride.

Her son's class has a "pet" hamster, Nibbles. Nibbles comes home with Cade (her son) on the weekends and for all school holidays and such. On several occasions, Nibbles has escaped from the cage causing a panic but Nibbles has always been found.

Mary was to take Nibbles home last Thursday. When she got to the school to pick him up, there was a substitute teacher.

No problem, she'll just take Nibbles and go on her merry way.

But wait! What is this? Poor Nibbles had died and no one noticed! Not wanting to "freak out" the class, Mary comes up with a plan.

She won't tell anyone because the last thing she wants is sixteen second graders crying all afternoon for the substitute.

She goes up to the local "pet mart" and buys a new hamster.

Unfortunately, there was not a Nibbles "look alike" so there was no way she could "pass it off." So she found a cute little golden hamster. Woo hoo! She puts it in a cardboard box for the drive home.

But wait, there's more.

On the way home from the pet store, Nibbles II escapes from the cardboard box.

Mary catches the hamster, puts it in the Nibbles I cage, and, as she said, she "still managed to make it to the preschool to pick up Jack" (her pre-schooler -- her super powers amaze me sometimes).

So phew! Everyone is happy! They have a Nibbles II, Cade is happy, the class is happy! The Teacher is happy!

Nibbles II gives birth to 5 baby hamsters this morning.

Apparently, she picked out the "only" pregnant hamster in the bunch! I'm thinking if there was one pregnant hamster, there's going to be more!

So as she's telling me this story, I suddenly remember that they are coming to Josh's birthday party on Saturday.

Me: "No Mary, Josh does NOT want a hamster for his birthday!"

Mary: "Are you sure? We can ask him!"

Me: "Well, you can ask him, and he may tell you he wants one, but he'd be wrong."


Anyway, anyone want a hamster? I can get you one. Cheap.

Weekend Update and Ramblings

Well, we had a fairly uneventful weekend, but we were busy just the same.

On Saturday we had chores and laundry and cleaning bathrooms and such. We had great plans to go out to the playground in the afternoon, but the forecasted "56 degree high's and afternoon sunny skies" never showed up. Instead it was in the upper 30's, gray skies and there was a wickedly cold wind!

So we went to T*rg*t. I realized on Saturday as we were getting ready to go out that Josh needed new shoes. His were hanging together by threads. So, off to the shops we went.

The boys had a great time looking at the toys. I tell you, free entertainment for Sam! He just played and played and played... and he added LOTS of things to his "Santa and Birthday" list! Every time he sees something he says, "Can I ask Santa for that?" Sure!

On Sunday we had a birthday party to go to. It was at a friend's house and this time the weather cooperated! It was beautiful! Both the boys had fun playing with their friends, running around and eating cake and ice cream, hot dogs, chips, all sorts of junk food.

And the best part is it wore Sam out. After the party we came home and put a DVD in for the boys to watch before bedtime. At 6:00 Sam came over to me and told me he wanted to go to bed. Poor thing, he was so tired! Of course who am I to argue with a child that wants to go to bed?

The Tooth Fairy is on alert in our house. Josh has 3 teeth that are very wiggly -- two I would expect to be out before the end of the week. It's been a while since he lost a tooth. We were in England in the New Forest and the New Forest Faeries brought him a GBP 2 coin!

I keep asking him if he thinks the Tooth Fairy brings extra money if you loose one on your birthday -- his is Saturday.

I can't believe he's going to be seven! And with the teeth falling out... His face is changing. All baby-ish-ness will be gone when the top two teeth fall out and the new "Big Boy" teeth come in. I can't believe how fast he's grown up!

Now I'm off to do stuff to get ready for his birthday.

But before I go, I just wanted to point out this site from Cheerios. It's called "Cheerios Circle of Helping Hearts." Heart Disease is the number one cause of death among women, and those with limited access to health care are at the greatest risk. Participating boxes of Cheerios cereal have a "code" on the inside flap. For every code entered on the Helping Hearts website, Cheerios will donate $1.00 toward free cholesterol screening for women in need. A worthy cause I just thought I'd pass along.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Friday Funny -- or "Where have I heard that before?"

I was bringing Sam to school and we were listening to the radio when this song came on.





I was laughing because I'd never heard it before.

Sam was laughing at the burping in the song.

Then when it was done Sam says, "Hey Mommy, That was the Baby Einstein's Song wasn't it?"

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Morning Coffee and Croissant





My Moment Wednesday: Sit down and relax!

Every Wednesday at Maya's Mom is "My Moment Wednesday." It's meant to be a reminder to each one of us to take a little time during the week for ourselves.

Well, I earned my moment this week!


Rich was working this weekend and the boys had Monday and Tuesday off from school. I tell you, if ever I thought about home schooling it just got shot out the window. The drove me insane!


Although, here's a nice little plug for our local school system. I was mailing a package yesterday and the boys were playing and talking. I was stopped by someone on the way out the door. He asked me if I home schooled. I said that I didn't, the schools were out that's why the kids were home.


He said, "Well your boys are very smart! I was listening to them and I can't believe how well they speak and the words they use! Very advanced! (then he pointed to Josh) Especially this one! He's very smart."


Josh smiled and I thanked him and said that yes, indeed I though he was smart too.


But seriously, what does him being smart have anything to do with being home or public schooled?


Okay, so I got side tracked....


So, back to My Moment...


When we lived in England and had only one T.V. (gasp!) and no TiVo/DVR (oh the horror!) our lives seemed to revolve around Liverpool Football (soccer) games on T. V. Okay, so Rich's life revolved around it and I watched too. I actually quite enjoied it. I knew all the players and apparently I used to shock the boys at work when I'd actually come up with some comment about a game that was on. Apparently, not many of the guys I worked with had spouses who would watch football with them...


Since we moved to back to the states and have six T.V.'s, a TiVo and 2 DVR's, (shameful, I know) Rich normally records the games and watches them in the basement. Our basement DVR has been acting up so Rich recorded the Liverpool Champions League game on our main living room DVR.


After the boys were in bed, he sat down to watch the game and I watched it with him while puttering on the computer. It was really nice. We opened a bottle of wine, Rich had his Boddingtons. We sat, we watched, we chatted and we celebrated! Liverpool won 2-0 ! YAY!!!


And Rich has asked that if anyone knows of a job for him that pays loads of money for him to sit around watching soccer and drinking beer, please let him know. He would make himself available immediately.


Now, I'm counting that as part of "my moment," because, like I said, Rich worked over the weekend, and last night felt like the closest thing we've had to a "date" in a while. It was nice.


And as for part 2 of "my moment" -- as I write this, I am sitting in my new favorite coffee shop, drinking coffee and relaxing. I've already scarfed down a croissant!


My friend Shannan at Mommy Bits gave me an award (I know! Another one!) I've been seeing these pop up all over the blogosphere lately. I'm so excited that I have one now too!
Thank you Shannan!


Now, I get to give this award to some people. I'm not sure who has this already and who doesn't and quite honestly, I don't care. I'm just going to give it to whomever I want.
So, I'm giving the award to all the blogs on my blog roll over there to the left. If you see your name/blog there (and even if you don't) feel free to grab the award! You're all Excellent!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Map of My Heart

Wrapped Emotions took a hiatus for Christmas and through January. Melody is back now and has a new "assignment."

This week (well, this month's) assignment, "A Map of My Heart."

Melody's words, "Knowing what you truly love is the key to loving how you live. A simple way to begin to know what you truly love is to gather beautiful images that speak to your soul. So, let's do just that."

She tasked us with gathering images from magazines that spoke to us. For whatever reason, it didn't matter, and then put them in a collage.


I sat down with some old magazines, and I just couldn't "do" it.

Sure, I started, but I found myself just settling on pictures. It seems they were all "food," "flowers," or "book" related. But I just wasn't happy with what I'd found. I felt like I was doing the project as she assigned, simply because I needed to "follow the rules."

But, as I sat there, I realized the map of my heart is right here, in my house. In my blog. It's my family.

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by beauty every day.



Now tell me, am I not the luckiest person that ever lived? Need more proof?



And now, this next bit is just to make my mom and dad feel old.

I got some new glasses today.


Me and my new glasses!


You like?


Here's the "old" part.


They're progressive lenses. Yep. I've got bifocals now.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Housekeeping

Today and tomorrow are school holidays. Which means both the boys are home with me.

All.Day.Long!

These boys are wearing me out!


The talking. The questions. The fighting. The playing. The questions. The talking. The arguing. The talking. The running. I seriously don't know where they get their energy!



But I did gather more evidence that boys are weird. I'm sure there will be more to come, but it seems like the only conversations that I heard in the house today had to do with burps, farts, bums, poop and willies. And when they weren't talking about bodily functions, they were talking about Pokemon... sometimes, both at once.


Several weeks back, my friend Sheila from My Memories gave me an award.

It's called, "The Daily Dose." It was created by Xandra from Heart of Service and has encouraged us to pass this award to blogs that we can't live without. Blogs that make us laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time we read a post. Blogs that we truly enjoy reading and give us a satisfying thrill when they have commented on our blogs.

I'm very honored that Sheila chose to pass this award on to me. Especially because I feel I've been letting by blogging go by the wayside since Christmas.

I know I haven't had time to read my "usual" blogs as often as I'd like. It came at a good time for me. It was a nice reminder that there are people out there reading my blog and are truly interested in what I put here (other than family of course)!


And in another very nice move, Elizabeth at Table for Five gave me the "Unconditional Friendship Award" today!

This award is for blog friends that are always there for you no matter what. I have to say, I feel the same way about Elizabeth. I'm already planning on visiting her in June when I'm back up in Michigan. She and her kids came to my parents house last year. This year, I hope to bring the boys to her neck of the woods.

And by the way, Elizabeth's been pretty sick with the flu or some other virus. If you have time, go give her a shout out and show her some love back!

So now I get to make some people happy and give out these two awards! Now what really is amazing is I'd like to give both awards to the same people!

Even though Sheila gave me the "Daily Dose Award", she is most definitely on my daily read! So I'm giving the award right back to her. Plus, she deserves the "Friendship" award. I can always count on Sheila's input and advice if I need it. I love her comments, both on the blog and over at Maya's Mom.


Charlene at CrazedParent is absolutely deserving of both awards too! I love her writing. Plus, I think she is my "separated-at-birth-and-a-few-years" twin. She has two boys similar in age and demeanor to Josh and Sam. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get to meet her in person someday... hopefully soon!


B at Random Acts of Motherhood is funny and a great writer. Definately deserving of both awards too. I love reading about her playgroup experiences. They will make you laugh, and cry at the same time.


Of course, Elizabeth is on my daily dose. All three of her blogs are! She's got Table for Five, Mom Cooks and Mom Reviews. And actually, I think she has more blogs, or contributes to more... I don't know. She's one busy lady and she still takes time to help out friends!

Finally, Shannan at Mommy Bits. She's also got two boys, similar in ages to mine. I like reading her blog because I can relate to it. So I'm giving Shannan both awards too.

Thank you to all of you for reading my blog, being my friend, and letting me into your little corner of the world as well. It's nice to share the insanity joy!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Lazy Sunday

I have a new knitting project I just finished.


Mittens. Are these not the cutest? My first ever pair of mittens. And they were so easy, I'm sure all my friends will now be getting mittens for gifts!

Now I need to find a hat pattern to go with them!

I found a really cool knitting website/community called Ravelry. It's just amazing. You can search for patterns and yarns and shops... There is also a feature to keep track of your own supplies (yarn, needles, etc) and projects you 've been working on.


One thing I really like about it is if you have a pattern from a book or magazine, you can search for it and see what other people think of it, or what it turned out like for knitters of varying abilities.


The pattern for the mittens came out of a book I have called "One Skein Wonders." I could go on Ravelry, search for projects from the book and see who had done them, what they turned out like, what kind of yarn they used... it's really cool!

I also discovered, through Ravelry, there is another yarn shop in the town next to mine. I haven't checked it out yet, but I have plans too (once I can afford to buy more yarn)!


Okay, so now time for a Samism:


Sam's latest thing is telling knock-knock jokes. Josh loves them too, but since he's nearly seven, he tells "real" jokes he's read out of a book. Sam makes them up, and they make absolutely no sense.


Here is his favorite.


Sam: Knock Knock


Me: Who's there?


Sam: Angry


Me: Angry who?


Sam: Angry in your tummy!!!!!


The he bursts into fits of laughter.


Josh: I don't get it. That's not a real joke!


This, to me, is just further evidence that boys are weird.



Saturday, February 16, 2008

Laptop Giveaway

Just wanted to quickly post this.


MaryBeth over at I Once was an HP is giving away a brand new One Laptop Per Child laptop computer on her blog.


You can find all the details here. She wants to give it to someone with kids that will really appreciate it and that really need it.
The contest only runs through March 15th, so if you're interested, hurry on over and enter!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Next Stop: Tabloids

He started out as a promising song writer.

Then, he branched out to author/illustrator/artist.

Now, he's trying his hand at Tabloid Journalism... Introducing: "The Pokemon News"

First (and let's hope the last, but somehow I doubt it) Edition:





Text (as written and spelled): "Poke News: Coming Soon. Atack of the Charizard!"

(And I am to point out that is not an "m" after "the" that is the top of the Charizard's head.)





Text (as written and spelled): "Pokemon are Scard! We dont know why. But it's horible!"

(Bubble says "help" -- I don't know what "kind' of Pokemon that is supposed to be.)







Text: "Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu


uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

n!"



(approximately)



I have such high hopes for him!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Making Valentines: The finished product

The boys and I made their class Valentines this year. I think I mentioned already I got our idea from Charlene over at CrazedParent. We melted down old crayons and made heart
shaped ones.

(We used the same Michael's mold that Charlene did... well, not THE SAME one, but the same kind.)


Here is Sam putting the crayons into the mold.


Putting the crayons in the mold


The finished product!


Crayon Hearts


The boys also decorated little bags to put the hearts into. We used generic, plain red and white paper treat bags.

Making Valentines


The kids decorated them with heart doilies, heart shaped stickers and buttons, stamps and some glitter glue.


Just So....


We filled them with the crayons, little pads of paper and Hershey's Kisses. Mommy helped finishe them off with tags and bows.


Finished!


It was a great project for the kids. It did take us several sessions to complete, but it was lots of fun. And I think they turned out really cute! Each one was unique!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!


Monday, February 11, 2008

Rollerskating

I think I mentioned that Josh was going to a birthday party at a roller rink on Saturday.

He had so much fun! Here he is right after he got his skates on.

First time on skates

And while he was "having fun" I spent the afternoon with my heart in my throat! He fell, and fell and fell some more. It was not fun to watch as a mom.


And down he goes!
But somehow, I still managed to take pictures!

He was bound and determined to do it though. And by the end, he was making it around the rink without falling down.


Now he's got it!

He now wants skates for his birthday and he wants to go skating again!

I managed to get some video of Josh too -- and I was under strict orders to play it for Daddy as soon as I got home!

He also had a sleep over at the birthday boys house. Apparently, they had a great time and were up until at least 1:30 in the morning, and then back up again before 7:00 a. m. Needless to say, Josh was a wreck on Sunday. We went to the playground because it was such a beautiful day and thought the fresh air would do Josh some good. He fell asleep on the way to the playground and on the way home!

We had him in bed by 6:30 last night. When I tried to get him up at 6:00 this morning for the bus, I couldn't wake him up. He slept until 7:00! I had to drive him to school and he was about 5 minutes late, but it was worth it for him to get that extra hour of sleep.

I have a feeling it will take him most of the week to recover!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Rich's Birthday and other stuff

On Thursday night Josh was in the "PE Show" at school. A few kids from each class were selected to go and show-off some of the things they'd been learning in P. E. this year.

Josh was about as far away from us as you can get, so I did not get any pictures. It was very crowded and the kids were all over the place in the gym.


Each "year" had a different song they did a little dance to then showed off some skill. First grade did a dance to "I Like To Move It" -- which was very cute. Then they demonstrated their ball handling. Josh's group's skill was soccer. They dribbled the ball and shot "goals" through their partner's legs. They also demonstrated passing and trapping. Of course Josh is a natural at this!


Friday was Rich's birthday.


I picked Josh up from school early and we headed over to our local grocery store to get some cake and balloons. They had fun trying to pick out one that Daddy would like. I had to nix the "Winnie the Pooh," "Lightening McQueen," "SpongeBob," and "Train" balloons. Finally, Josh picked out one that was appropriate -- it says, "Go CRAZY! It's your Birthday!"


Rich was able to get off work early and since it was a gorgeous day, we headed over to a local park for about an hour.


The Boys!


It was really nice to be outside in the fresh air! The boys were both tired from being up late the night before. I think the fresh air is so good for them, especially when they are tired. At the very least, it gives them a release and distraction so they're not getting cranky at home!


Then we took the boys to a local restaurant they like for dinner. Rich and I had dinner later at home. Then we came home, had cake and opened presents! The boys were quite worn out (as you can imagine) so they got off to bed early and Rich and I had a really yummy steak dinner!


Josh is going to a birthday party this afternoon at a roller skating rink -- that should be interesting -- and then he has a sleep-over at the "birthday boy's" house. I think he's going to be tired tomorrow too!



Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Josh Makes a Lenten Pledge....

I know I already posted once today, but I forgot to mention our Shrove Tuesday and how it went.

In England it's known as "Pancake Day" and you have pancakes for dinner. We try to do this with the kids every Shrove Tuesday, but we don't always partake of the Pancakes ourselves.


This Tuesday I was supposed to go to our annual HOA Homeowners meeting but decided at the last minute I really didn't want to go. It really worked out for the best because Rich was at work and it would have been a rush.


Anyway, we gave the kids pancakes for dinner and Josh, of course, wanted to know why it was "Pancake Day." So, I go into the speil about Christ in the desert for 40 days and Lent and Easter and everything.


I told him how often times people give up something for Lent in order to try and become a better person or to do something difficult for them.


Josh was very enthusiastic and decided he'd give up something for Lent.


"Mom," he said, "this is going to be REALLY hard, but I'll give up homework AND reading before bed time!"


Somehow, I think he missed the point!

The Weekend Begins Early

We have a fun-filled next few days here at our house.

Tonight Josh is in a P.E. show at school after the PTSA Meeting. I'm not really sure what that entails, but I'll be sure to take pictures. I do know he has to wear a red t-shirt and has been singing, "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. MOVE IT!" for about 2 weeks now. So we shall see!

Tomorrow at Josh's school is the annual school sock-hop. We went last year and it was lots of fun, but we can't go this year. It's also Rich's birthday. And Josh has a birthday party/sleep over on Saturday night so we decided that was enough excitement for one weekend.

He's a bit disappointed but when we gave him the option of Sock Hop or Birthday-Sleep Over, he chose the birthday party. The party on Saturday is at a roller skating rink -- it should be funny to see Josh on roller skates. After the roller rink he's going to the birthday boy's house.

And like I said, tomorrow is Rich's birthday. He's going to try and knock off work a bit early so we can take the kids to the playground for a bit. Then take them out to dinner. Rich and I are going to have steak at home later, but we thought it would be fun to do something for the kids too. Plus then Josh will feel like he gets to do something special instead of the sock hop.

Sam and I are busy today making crayon hearts. I borrowed the idea from CrazedParent. Go check out her finished product on her blog and she's got the instructions too. She had a warning about cracking fingernails trying to get the paper off the crayons. I avoided this by splitting the paper with a knife very carefully. The paper just fell off.

Our first batch is cooling now. I can't wait to see the finished product. I'll post pictures of them when we're done.

Sam and I also went to Michael's Arts & Crafts to get stuff to make Valentines for the kids' classes. I decided to just decorate gift bags and put the crayons inside the gift bags. I may also add a sucker in there, I don't know. Just depends on how many crayons we make!

Monday, February 4, 2008

A Hunting We Will Go!

We finally had some really pretty weather here this weekend. It was warm enough to get outside, finally, so we did.

Josh spent the night at a friend's house on Friday. He stayed up too late and got up too early (of course) so we wanted to take it easy but still get outside. So in the afternoon we headed over to a local park. It was really nice being outside in the fresh air and just the thing both the kids needed to expend enough energy to tire out their bodies!

The weather on Sunday was even nicer than Saturday so we got up and headed out to our local Georgia State Park for a walk. Now normally when we go for a walk, the boys complain so we wanted to make it fun for them. We decided to have a Nature Scavenger Hunt with a "Treasure" at the end.


They were so excited! This was a stroke of genius if I do say so myself! I found a website that had lots of different ideas and lists. I edited this list and printed up copies for the boys, packed up pencils, water and a snack and we were off!


Let's see... what do we need?


Sam inspecting the list. "Hmmm... What do we need?"


We're off on our Scavenger Hunt!


Eagle eye Josh finds "something orange" right away! I thought this would be the hardest one, but nope. First thing!


What floats?

Checking to see what floats. Where we are standing is normally underwater. We watched fish jump up and catch flies one year where we are now standing. The drought has really lowered the lake levels and reduced this part to nothing more than a stream.

The boys each picked something to see if it would float -- Josh's stick floated and Sam's pinecone got stuck in the mud. But then it floated once Daddy "unstuck" it!


Writing down his findings
The "Future Scientist" writing down his findings.


Some other things on the list that I got photos of were: a tree with no leaves, something an animal would eat, something pointy (also worked for something brown), and something green.

Once the boys found all 17 items on their list, they found a treasure!
Treasure!!!


For a smart kid, sometimes Josh amazes me! He could not figure out how the "treasure" got there -- even though he practically caught Rich putting it there! And he kept wondering who put it there.

In the end we decided it must have been the Woodland Faeries!


And you know, the "treasure" the Faeries left looks just like the coins Santa left in their stocking! Imagine that!


Sam was quick on the uptake though. He said, "Thank you Mommy and Daddy for my chocolate!"


We continued on with our walk and stopped a bit later for a snack.

The boys -- resting and having a snack.


Finally, we reached the end of the trail!We finished!
See, I did go on the walk too!

Josh declared himself the "winner" and then it was time to go home for lunch!

I win!!!

We had a great time -- the boys thought the scavenger hunt was fantastic! The website I found has lots of ideas for future scavenger hunts too.

Next time, I may do a different one for Josh and Sam. I may have a place for them to draw what they see or put pictures on Sam's list so he knows what he's looking for. Make it a bit more age appropriate!


But it was lots of fun and definitely worth doing again!

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