March in all it's craziness, part 1

A trip to a local park with a duck pond. We went with friends to identify and feed the ducks. #4 got close to the water.
Then he got closer to the water. And then....


He had to be fished out of the water. Blessedly, it was a warm day. And we grabbed him before his head went under. And we had a change of clothes in the car. And hand sanitizer. Duck pond. Ew.

He cleaned up quite nicely, see?

This was later that day during a trip to Lowe's for more paint and such. The Home Improvements are on-going.

March in all it's craziness, part 2

A trip to a different park. At which I managed to get them to pose for a decent picture. Don't they look like three peas in a pod?


#3 climbing higher and higher, and #2 waiting his turn.
#4 flew down the slide. His hair caught up with him at the bottom.


My backyard this morning, March 28, 2009. You'd think this was Michigan instead of Oklahoma. What happened to spring?

Boomtown Bonanza GiveAway

My friend Marietta over at The Bookworm's Booklist is hosting a giveaway of the book Boomtown by Nowen N. Particular.

The book sounds wonderful - and I hope we win it because I'd love to read it with #2 - and if we don't win it I'm going to have to buy it - even if I have to *gasp* pay FULL PRICE. So, I hope we win - but you should go enter just in case she doesn't draw our name out of her proverbial hat! :)

#3 turns 3

Feathering my nest....

I didn't realize that I haven't posted in over a month. I've been working hard to prepare our home for the arrival of #5 - cleaning, organizing, getting school stuff ready for the rest of the year, selling things we don't need, buying things we do need, and creating more space in general.

We have had major renovations to one bathroom and are working on the second one. We've added many cube-shelves to our playroom and we are working on some new habits regarding toy-usage and clean-up time. I've re-organized most of our storage areas and gotten rid of countless things we don't need, want or use. We put up four Rain Gutter Bookshelves and are planning a couple more because they are even more handy than we thought they would be - and they look COOL! All the bookcovers become wall-art. See? Here's one:

My little closet-office has been cleaned out and rearranged so that #2 and I can sit in here for his morning written work. That is working nicely because we've modified our family's routine to include the King playing with #3 and #4 while #2 and I have a little schooltime early in the morning before the King leaves for work. Because #2 is highly distractable, this is working fairly well.

Most importantly, I've spent time with my children - we've worked together and played together and generally enjoyed each other. We've read some good books, spent a lot of time outside, built and shopped and had an all-around good time.