Fly Swatters...Who Really Needs Them?

We have this one super pesky fly in our house.  We cannot seem to get rid of him and he keeps not dying on his own.  We cannot find either of our fly swatters either.  Bennett is fed up and she decided to take matters into her own hands tonight.  The fly trap pictured above is on our kitchen counter this evening.  It features a partially nibbled Reece's Pieces candy, a sunflower seed, a small chunk from a Three Muskateers marshmallow bar and a Corn Nut (I'm surprised Bennett was willing to spare the Corn Nut.)  It also features lots of tape and a bit of signage.  Apparently our fly is literate.  He is certainly smart enough to have survived in this house for days on end.  It will be so awesome if she actually catches the little pest with this thing.  I do think I will pick up a new fly swatter as a back up the next time I'm at the store. 

Triple Yay!

The lost camera has been found!  Three cheers for Grandma D., who located it under her couch.  If you ever lose something, chances are good that it is under Grandma's couch, at least it seems to be the case for our family.  The found camera is the first "yay" I am happy to report.

On the found camera, I found pictures from the weekend that show a second "yay."  Our beloved sit outside and eat ice cream shop has opened for the season.  We enjoyed our first spring visit with Grandpa C. and Grandma D., as well as Aunt K. and Cousin S.  And in case you are wondering, yes, Bennett just got clip-on sunglasses.  Is she 45 years old or what!?

I just had to post this picture of S.  He looks like KFC's Colonel Sanders with a white ice cream goatee thing going on as he stares into the middle distance. 

And the third "yay" is Bennett's Weekend News from school.  She writes one of these up each Monday, and we get quite a kick out of them.  This week's entry is one of my favorites from the entire school year.  Click the picture to see it up close, if you are having trouble reading it. 

Fun stuff!

Ear Candy

My camera is still missing.  It's not where I thought it might be.  As Bennett would say, "Oh, snap!"  I don't like living life without a camera.  Anyway, while I continue to hunt for it so I can download some recent photo happenings, I give you a link to a good tune.  Our entire fam REALLY loves to listen to this fellow, and it would be worth your time to give him a little listen, too.  To warm you up to the idea, this link is a cover he did of a Whitney Houston song.  Not her best song ever, in my opinion, but now that Ben Rector is singing it, it's a pretty stinking good song.  Enjoy a little bit of  "ear candy" as the search for the missing camera continues.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BW_ugyj0lw

This Old House

So, I took my camera with me while we were out and about this weekend and it is now missing.  I am not feeling good about this.  I am hoping to retrace some steps and I hope that some kind soul turned it in.  Until I find it, I give you a couple of pictures about something I do feel good about. 

Before the camera went missing, little Ainsley got her mits on it Friday night.  She took these two pictures.  Photo one is of a bunch of old tack strip.  What does it mean?

The nasty carpet is finally being ripped out of the living room!  Major happiness!  And to make things better, here we have some delightful old hardwood that I think we'll just wax and leave uncovered.  I love hardwood and I also love not spending money on new carpet.   Joy, joy, joy.  The girls are pumped because now they can "ice skate" in a larger area.  It's going to take us awhile to get all the tack strip and the bazillion staples up, so the skating will have to wait a bit.  I am so glad we finally decided to see what was under the carpet.  Not all of the surprises you get with an old home are fun, but this one is pretty fantastic!

Still Here

Just a little shout out to my mom, who probably keeps checking our blog...I will be back soon!  I haven't had any spare time to update this blog in the past couple of weeks.  We're still alive and kicking, and I have a few pics to upload to prove it!  Hang in there, Grandma D, I'll try to post something over the next couple of days.  Good thing you only live two miles away so you can see us in person when I fail you on the internet!

She Survived!!!

The one dreaded event during spring break came this morning.  Bennett had to have two baby teeth pulled and it's been hanging over her head all week.  I am happyy to report that she did a great job, and the extraction was not nearly as bad as she had anticipated.  Plus, I told her we'd give her double money for dentist-pulled teeth as compared to those that fall out at home, so she's pretty pumped about that! 

She had to leave the gauze in for awhile afterward, so she expressed herself via paper and pencil for a bit.  The lone message she wrote me was "I feel like Nanny McPhee."  Hmmm.

I guess the gauze protruding from her mouth made her feel like she had a crazy tooth sticking out. 

I guess I can see what she's saying just a little.  As of now, the guaze are out, the gator and bike riding has resumed and she's doing great.  She did just make the following statement regarding her experience.  "It was so crazy.  Dr. Eric was like, 'I'm just going to wiggle your tooth a little first.'  Then pow!  He was wiggling it and suddenly he said, 'Hey, look!  The first one is out!'  It was tricky.  You know, they are not really big on honesty at that dental office."  Then she mentioned how they had previously tricked her into believing the numbing injection was a little squirt of  "sleepy time water."  As a parent, I must say I appreciate their trickiness, even if my child regards it as dishonesty.  It's worth leaving the office with a Nanny McPheeish smile instead of tears!

Luxury Living Update

As luxury living week continues, we have been doing one of two things...watching tv or enjoying the outdoors.  It is beautiful weather.  It almost seems like summer vacation instead of spring break.  It is both strange and delightful! 

The girls love biking and mini gator riding.  They've enjoyed doing these things with Cousin S. and little friend, Isaac, over the past couple of days.  They spent some good sister time on the "road" this afternoon. 

It's fun to see them using the bikes Aunt L. and I had growing up.  Banana seats and tall handle bars are the bomb.  Bad news though...we blew a back tire on the pink bike today.  Darn!

These two are pretty responsible gator drivers.  They even made themselves a seatbelt out of a scarf. 

And good news!  The elderly dog is still alive.  She's even eating her dog food.  To keep her spirits up, I have been tossing the tennis ball for her to chase, but we have not allowed her into the house for what Grandpa C. calls her "social hour."  She's just too hairy.  I don't think she minds staying outdoors 24/7 in the nice weather, especially since we've been out with her a lot during the day.   And so far, no one has stepped in dog poop.  All is well!

Luxury Living 2012

It's Spring Break, so Grandpa and Grandma went on a little vacation with their friends.  You know what that means for our family...luxury living!!!  Even though their house is only a couple miles from ours, we simply must move in for the week, you know, to take care of their elderly dog.  Here is Bennett upon our arrival a little while ago.  She is excited!  She is also wearing Grandpa's clip on suglasses for some reason.  One of the reasons we so enjoy luxury living is because Grandpa and Grandpa have a big tv and it actually has shows on it.  Oh!  Look what's on.  Fox News.  Surprise, surpise.  Sorry, Gramps, but there will be no Fox News on the screen this week.  Instead, we currently have "Finding Bigfoot" going on.  And we're eating your frozen pizza supply.  Let the fun begin!

A New Vista

One full week later and I think the strep is finally behind us.  We're still a wee bit draggy and we all have a mild, lingering cough.  But for the most part, all are well in our family.  We decided to venture out into this beautiful Saturday afternoon to explore a new vista in hiking.

Bennett and Ainsley enjoy hiking, but sometimes they need a little kick in the pants to get them out the door and enthusiastic.  Our tool of bribery is Corn Nuts.  "Hey, girls!  Let's go hiking!  We'll buy you some Corn Nuts..." (stated in a sing songy voice)...works every time!

We picked up some Corn Nuts and headed out to Grandpa C's family's tree farm.  We had heard tale of this farm but we'd never been there before.  It was pretty cool.  Here is Dad and the girls in the pine forest.  It reminded me of Colorado.  If only.

We love hiking because it allows us to be nature detectives.  We saw several cool "mysteries" on our hike today.  We found lots and lots of animal tracks.  There were probably four or five different types and they were all right in the same area.  Ainsley thinks there must have been an animal stampede in that spot as all of the animals rushed to the pond for water.  Maybe, Ains!

 We saw the remains of a deer, scattered all about.  It was fun to think of different scenarios to explain how it's bones got to where they were.  The best scenario centered around a bald eagle fight over the bones, which explains several mysterious black feathers we found near the deer.  Nature will just keep you guessing!

 We hiked back to a lovely pond.  It was pretty big and Dad started dreaming of how Grandpa C. should put a little cabin beside it.  We always have big dreams for Grandpa. 

And here is a photo of Bennett's head gear of choice today.  Interesting.

Star Wars? Well, I Never...

Here comes another post.  Can you tell that I gave up Facebook for Lent?  Obviously, I have more time on my hands these days.  Sad but true.  Anyway, sickness continues.  Dad stayed home from work today, Bennett missed another day of school.  Neither felt good enough to move around much, and we don't have cable.  We do, however, have the Star Wars trilogy on VHS.  Why?  I really don't know.  We are not sci-fi people in the least.  We're not anti-sci-fi, we've just never been super into it.  Last summer we saw the Star Wars trilogy at a garage sale and Dad thought we should pick it up, you know, for a rainy day when we might have strep throat and nothing better to watch.  Today, the day came.  I truly never thought it would, but it did.

Dad and Bennett watched the first tape, "Star Wars," this morning.  No one in our family had ever seen Star Wars before.  Not even Dad.  Not even in the 80s.  Never.  It was a new vista.  A few observations: 1.  Who knew Indiana Jones was in Star Wars!?  2.  Luke Skywalker is not as cute as I thought he should be.  3.  Princess Leia is not as young looking as I expected.  4.  I've confirmed that I'm for sure not into sci-fi.  I won't be watching "The Empire Strikes Back" or "Return of the Jedi."

Observation 5.  It's now 4:52 p.m. and Dad and the girls are...watching "The Empire Strikes Back?!"  What!?  I don't get it.  They apparently like it.  They even moved the loveseat over to the center of the living room so everyone could sit in utmost comfort to watch the second video.  And on top of that, they are dialoging more throughout the movie in regards to the plot than I've ever seen them do while watching any movie.  Seriously.  In all my days I would never have guessed these three would be watching and enjoying the Star Wars trilogy together.  Illness does strange things to people, I guess.