Carter is 4 Today!

Carter is the sweetest little boy you will ever meet. I'm not kidding you, he is a hearthrobbing sweetheart. You will do anything for him, I promise. So today was fun! He wanted to go to Pappy's Pizza to play in the indoor play set, he picked his own cake, and nobody (we won't name names) got to pick on him :) He had a great day! I still think its strange that the Papa's Pizzas turned into Pappy's Pizza over here. Over Father's Day weekend Jim and I - ok, mostly Jim, I just held things, built this treefort in the backyard and we had so much fun doing it too! Here are the boys in it tonight: It was somewhere over 95 degrees today. Doesn't this picture look like it was taken on the coast and not in hot & dry 95 degree Bend? Good thing we love thunder storms :)

Spiders: Family, You'll Appreciate This

When we lived in Albany, the spiders in our neighbrohood, and in our house, were HUGE. Jim won't kill them either because its mean. He studied these HUGE spiders and got quite comfortable with them, catching them and setting up little habitats for them in many various, tightly sealed containers with air holes, and him and the boys would go down to the pet store and purchase poor little crickets and feed them to the spiders too see how big they could "grow" them. Then if the spiders weren't doing well, he would take them to the 'field' down the road a ways and humanely let them go, if they hadn't died in thier carefully made habitats already. And all the while the spider's habitats (spiders in clear highly visable containers) were perched upon my desk at home and everytime I had to work I had to share my space with them. I had to move the dang things everytime I had guests over so it wouldn't freak anyone out. I guess I got pretty comfortable around spiders, I had no choice really. So, since we moved and are missing (yeah right) our pet spiders from Albany, it seemed pretty fitting for Carter to get a remote control trantula for his birthday.....doesn't it? By the way, Nana just LOVES spiders! Hahahaha just kidding.

Opening the spider:

It MOVES:

And yes, the littlest brother made sure he got his share of attention today too....or maybe he was acting on that candy-dinner he had tonight...


Sierra has been staying with us and Nana for the last week or so and Brayden won't leave her alone telling her in a sing-song voice, "Siiiii-errrra, come 'er-re...."

If I Had My Life To Live Over

I had been thumbing through a couple boxes of books to list on Bookins for trading (I have received several great books already!) and I found Chicken Soup For The Soul. I love this series of books, there is also a series called A Cup Of Comfort, of which I just got one for Mothers and Sons from Bookins. Go figure. As I was looking through the Chicken Soup book I came across this little story that I wanted to share because I just love things that make you think in many directions:

"Interviews with the elderly or terminally ill do not report that people have regret for the things they have done but rather people talk about the things they regret not having done."

I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
I'd relax. I would limber up.
I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.
I would take more chances.
I would take more trips.
I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.

(no, thats not our own photo, I just thought it was perfect for this story :)
I would eat more ice cream and less beans.
I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments. one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.

I've been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute.If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter next time.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring
and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies.

- Nadine Stair, age 85

Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you. Life is a test. It is only a test. Had it been an actual life you would have received further instructions on where to go and what to do :)

The Magic Of Believing:

I'm not old enough to play baseball or football. I'm not eight yet. My Mom told me when you start baseball, you aren't going to be able to run that fast because you had an operation. I told Mom I wouldn't need to run that fast. When I play baseball, I'll just hit them out of the park. Then I'll be able to walk.

- Edward J. McGrath, JR.

"An Exceptional View Of Life"

Kindergarten Celebration

Dillon graduates from Kindergarten this year and we went to school for a celebration today. They wore hand made graduation caps and each had a 2007-2008 Memory Book complete with a dedication to his Dad in the front and a page in the back for signatures. It was such a nice surprise and so cute watching all the kids sign each other's year books! I love getting these scrapbooks and memory books because I have been too busy to do any of my own and the ones he works on himself are the best ones to keep!

Suprise, Its Grandma!

Yesterday, just before 7:30am, there was a knock at the door and it was Grandma coming to visit for the day! She just happened to be up at 3:00 that morning and felt like coming to visit bright and early....which is perfect timing since it takes about 2 1/2 hours or so to get here from Albany and she had to drive around town for a while waiting for a decent time to come knocking! What a kick! So off we went to Mirror Pond to walk along the water and see the ducks, geese and swans :)