When the boys are away the girls will...

...buy frogs! Of course silly, what else would it be!

Meet the two newest members of our family, Shoa (pronounced: show-ah) and Bius (pronounced: Bee-us).

Last night the three boys were away for Indian Guides. I asked Sara what she wanted to do for our Girl's Night and she said, buy a frog. Okay, easy enough I guess! We already had the 'frog habitat' around the house from a previous frog attempt so it seemed like an easy enough request. We ventured out to the local reptile/amphibian store to see what type of frogs they had. I wasn't sure what type would best fit our situation, small, owned by children, low maintanence...

We walked in and the place was packed! We wiggled our way through and she enjoyed the first set of animals. She liked the smaller snakes, geckos and turtles. She stopped and had a sweet little conversation with a turtle. It was climbing up on the glass and she was sure he was listening to her. I wish I had my camera with me! Then we turned the corner and ended up face to face with huge glass cages filled with snakes that I'm sure ate people my size for dinner. Sara stopped in her tracks, gasped out loud as she covered her mouth and clung to my leg! I actually felt about the same way, but had to put on my game face. We quickly left that area!! Next we fed a bowl full of meal worms to some huge cat fish and turtles. (Have I mentioned how yuck meal worms are??) Finally we made it back to the cute little frogs. After a discussion with an employee we had narrowed it down to either Green Tree Frogs or Fire Bellied Toads. I let Sara choose and we ended up with two Fire Bellied Toads. She carefully chose the two that she wanted and next thing I knew we were walking out the door with some How to care for your Frog information and a very happy little girl carrying her new pets. Funny little tidbit, as we were getting in the car I told her to be very careful with her new friends. She very quickly replied "Frogs are NOT friends Mommy! They are frogs!" Fair enough!

Sara talked to her new not-friends the entire way home. I kept hearing her ask "What your name frog?" she would then lay her ear to the container and listen. When I asked her if they had told her she said "No, I have to sleep tonight to know they're names." Then about 10 minutes after we got home, she proudly proclaimed that their names were Shoa and Bius.

What an adventure! The things we do for our children!!

Pep-less

We seem to have lost our energy this week. After a midnight visit to our room on Tuesday night and a Dr. visit on Wednesday morning, we found out Sean has an ear infection. I was a bit shocked since he hasn't had any cold symptoms recently, that I remember at least. Wednesday morning he said he was feeling fine, but I wasn't taking any chances. I know my boy and unfortunately, I know the signs of an ear infection, even if they are slight and short lived. Then yesterday afternoon I started feeling a bit blah. Not horrible but scratchy throat and really tired. This should sum it up, I took an hour nap while Sara was sleeping, and was still in bed last night by 7:30pm (yes, that does say 7:30pm) and asleep by 8:00pm. I woke up this morning feeling a bit better but still blah. I kept Sean home again since he woke up this morning saying his ear felt a little sore. He isn't contagious at all and doesn't have a fever but I figure he should be resting if he's fighting an infection. Plus he has antibiotics running through him! Rest, rest, rest! I was lucky enough to get both kiddos asleep at the same time this afternoon. It was about 30 before Iain T. was suppose to get home from school so I couldn't really join them but I did have time to paint my toenails! :-)

I haven't been taking many pictures lately. Here's one from a few weeks ago.

Let the sun shine

We've had the most beautiful weather this past week. The sun has been out and in full force. I even got a sunburn today from sitting at Iain's game! With the warm weather comes lots of swimming! We know how lucky we are to be able to swim for 6 months out of the year. But those 6 months that we can't are torture for the kids! They are thrilled to be back in!

Thanks for the new suit Grandma!

I had to lighten this one so the color is bit off. He took Sara's floaty and just hung out like this. He is so Sean!

What you said?

Yesterday was such a warm sunny day. We had to take advantage of it so we squeezed a park trip in before taking Sean to school. Of course the camera came along also!

**The title is our new favorite saying of Sara's.**

Ham

Only a third of our little clan has been into my camera lately. I try my best to bribe pretty "cheeses" out of the boys but they aren't very willing right now. Luckily for me, Sara is. She is very easily bribed and for the most part she likes it. These are from last week at a baseball game.

Pause the Rat Race

With Iain and the boys off this week, it's allowed us to slow down more than usual. (Have I mentioned that the boys both start and get out of school at different times? That means I have 4 separate times to be at school each day.) Spring Break has freed up more time for us to do things as a family but also more surfing for Iain and gym visits for me. It's a win-win!! Don't get me wrong, having everyone home all week has had it's chaotic moments as well. Between the skate park, small day trips and several trips to the pool, we've been doing just fine!

****

Tonight after dinner we did a little Easter preparation and colored eggs. The kiddos had a great time. Iain was very meticulous with each stroke of the paint brush and dip of each egg. Sean and Sara, for the most part, dropped them into cups of color all the while smiling. We had several cracked eggs. It'll make for very colorful egg salad, right?

Half of our finished product

One of these days

Sara and I are still working on our self portrait. Soon, we'll get a good one, soon! Here's yesterdays attempt.

Following the leader

A few months back the kids started this new way to have a family talk. They announce "assume your position" and line up on the rug by age. Iain and I added to their idea by starting with silly things they have to repeat before talking to them. It gets their attention on us while still having a good time! We use this technique when we want to talk to all three of them at the same time. Not anything serious, more along the lines of plans for the evening or time to get ready for something etc.

As we were doing it last night, we were all in hysterics. They were all being extra silly! I was taking these pictures while Iain was standing over me being his crazy self! Obviously there wasn't a dress code!! :-)