my bug collection

A few days ago Leif and his best friend came racing into the kitchen to find me and excitedly told me they found the coolest thing for me. Hum, was it a bug? I have a little collection of dead bugs that the kids have found as well as some very interesting photos we have taken of living ones... It started in Vista when one of the kids brought me this giant dead butterfly and I put it in a frame. They later found a very large alligator lizard and it too was put in a frame. My latest acquisition was a 3" beetle that the kids found at my sister's house and it is now in a little box waiting for the right frame. I am not morbid at all. It is just that the kids have found some very interesting things. Some I have embraced and others I have shunned... well, the to answer the bug question, insect it was not. I asked if it was dead. That it was. Did they kill it? (a total no no) but not to worry it already was deceased. His cute little fried gave me a wrapped paper towel. Inside it was a newly hatched, newly dead bird. It had been found on the neighbor's porch. Horrified and totally grossed out I told them to burry it. Did they think I would frame it! Maybe because they know that I like birds and growing up "Bird" was my nickname... Yikes, what do the kids think of me? And that is the second baby bird those two have brought to me!

sister power

This visit of my sister has been different. For one, we didn't do much shopping. Most of the time was spent in the mountains. We went to Cascade Springs and to Bridal Vail falls where the boys disobeyed and climbed to the top of the falls. Francie and I were so mad. I had just told the boys to not go very far... you can barely see them! We went to Sundance and on the way up purchased 18 corndogs from Wienerschnitzel. Our record is 19. I was laughing so hard that I had trouble ordering. Each kid got 3... On the chair lift up to the top of Sundance, Denny lost his flip flop. After our corn dog feast (not including moms) Francie took him back to find replacement shoes and we were planning to meet either on the trail or at the bottom. I took the remaining 5 and we hiked to the falls. Leif lost his flip flop in the river. I couldn't believe it. We were half way through- 1.5 miles back up and 1.5 miles down. He hiked barefoot- "no shoes is better than one" to the top and was a total champ. We met Francie at the bottom and got a good laugh because between the boys, they had a pair of shoes. Denny lost the right shoe and Leif the left! She left yesterday with ALL my kids! No one has taken all 4 before! The best part is that I get to be home! I have already painted the bathroom and the stairs- walls and tread! I love sisters!

Better Late than Never

We finally celebrated Emilia's "Birthday with friends". We try to do a friend party every other year. All the other kids got one this year and so we just could not make an exception. We waited until my sister and her kids got to town and what a party it has been... birthday or not! The only major drama was Paris wanting one of the presents. She totally threw a fit. I had to take her inside to the couch and try to get her to settle down. She finally cried herself to sleep!The beehive cake was made with a lime pound cake recipe from the williams-sonoma website. It is to die for!

Children's Parade

The annual Children's Parade ends across the street from our house. We have participated in it every year that we have been here. I think that our count is up to 6, though it might be 7! So this year it was not enough to just walk in it. We didn't want to decorate bikes again, so with the help of Rich, I made t-shirts for my kids and a few of the neighbors.