Misc.

I have had so many musings that I have wanted to blog about but no time to do so. Sorry! I knew that this spring/early summer was going to busy and it is really starting to take its toll on me. I am beat! I think we have only had one free weekend since Easter, and I don't think we have any more free weekends coming up until about mid-July! Anyway, I am resisting the oh so comfy couch to sit and type. :)

Lets start with what we did today. I decided to take the kids to Stony Brook a nearby state park, and it was awesome!!!!! I had never been before and I had no idea what I was missing! The park is along a stream that is very shallow and has lots of little pools and waterfalls that you can walk through. It is now one of my favorite places! Kim decided to take the afternoon off to come with me. Then Tante Annie, Ume Lutsen, and Oma came too. I can't stop saying how great it was. I took lots of pictures and some videos. I can't wait to go back!








First we had a picnic lunch.











Then we played! They had a really awesome playground too, but I didn't seem to take any pictures of it, Doh!

Here are Kim, Lucy, and Tante Annie enjoying the water. The water was surprisingly not cold.










Mama and Freddy












A very nice group picture.














Lucy took this one, I think she did a pretty nice job.









Lucy said THE cutest thing ever this evening. She went over to Freddy and crouched down, held his hand and called him "my little snuggle man"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think I have ever called him that, I believe that was her very own made-up nickname for her brother. She is soooooo cute with him. She loves to lay with him, snuggle him, hold him (although he is way too huge for her to hold now she still tries to), and show him toys and books. She is the best big sister, and Freddy adores her. He watches her and smiles at her whenever she is near. Sometimes when he is fussy I can just lay him down on her bed and he quiets right down. Of course if I do that I have to be careful I don't lose amongst the animal army Lucy insists on sleeping with. There are about 15 animals in there and she needs to have all of them touching her at night. She drives me insane at bedtime making me arrange them all!

I have so many projects going and in my head I feel like I am going crazy. There are just so many things I want to do. I only have 2 pottery classes left before summer break and way too many things started but it's not nearly everything I wanted to make. I have a couple of craft projects going at home too, plus normal housework. I can barely keep up with the normal stuff and now I have added on gardening. which I would much rather do. I would choose weeding (aka being outside) over laundry, dishes and dusting every time. I have gotten kind of tired of living in filth though so I am trying to put in a better effort indoors.

I am going to randomly jump topics again, I am trying to get a little bit of everything in. :)
This past weekend we went to a wedding and had a great time! The kids were not invited so I decided to get two adjoining hotel rooms and put the kids and babysitters there while we had fun at the reception which was at the hotel. It worked beautifully! I just ran upstairs to the room and Freddy when he needed me, and Dave didn't have to leave at all and I got to go back down for more fun. This was our first time hiring teenage babysitters, and they were great, of course! It made for a busy weekend that I had to plan very carefully but it was worth it! (Dave was in the wedding so I had to figure out and do a lot by myself to make it all work, but it did work.)



The babysitters, Maddie and Sierra. Thank you girls!!!!











Dave and our friend Melissa. She was Matron of Honor, and looked beautiful!


















This is what we came back to the room to.











This is one of the funniest and cutest videos I have ever seen, but I might be biased. ;)

There are lots more pictures at My Pictures in both the May and June albums.

And for a final note, here is a picture of a huge moth that was on our front porch the other day. It's wing span was at least as wide as my hand. Lucy and I both liked looking at it...from a distance!