Look, look!

Look what we have under the lilies in our front yard!!

 

Autumn park-time

We have been trying to make the most of the outdoors while the weather still permits. My sister had asked us to come play at "their" park in the small town where they live several months back, and we finally found the perfect afternoon to do so. Our park days are definitely numbered, so we thoroughly enjoyed this. The park was super-neat, and there were several items (see-saw and merry-go-round) Gemma had never tried, so that was cool.

The babies had a great time hanging out in the swings while Gemma played.
Look at this BIG slide!
Having fun on the see-saw. After a few times up and down she told me to get off so she could do it herself, then was a bit confused when she stood and it didn't automatically take her up. So funny!
Taking a spin on the merry-go-round!
Just hanging out.
And then. She found a kitty. Oh. My. Goodness. Cutest thing I've witnessed in a long time. This cat must live in a house where there are children, because he was very patient with her. Although after 10-15 minutes of this, he got away and then wouldn't let her within 10 feet of him. She was hilarious though, she'd clap her hands and yell "CAT" at it, trying to get it to come. Yeah Gemma. Cats don't listen. Sorry! She had a blast with him though; and NO we are NOT getting her one for Christmas.
Then she hugged and kissed every fire-hydrant on the way home. Weeeeeeeeird...
It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, especially since the time change she and Kolbe have been getting up from their naps by 2:00 or 2:30 and that makes for longer afternoons. It was a great time for all of us! We'll certainly be missing our time outdoors in the very near future. Ahhhhhh, winter...

Happy weekend, everyone!

Gemma's friends

Gemma has discovered critters. And has a love for them for sure. St. Francis would be proud. Recently we've had a frog and a caterpillar spend some time with us. The caterpillar may have turned into a chrysalis. Or he may be dead. I'm not entirely sure, so we're just leaving him for now. We got some cool butterfly books from the library though (the only one we had at home was The Very Hungry Caterpillar), so we've been enjoying reading about that whole process together.

Daddy brought the frog in the other morning, and he stayed with us the whole day in a cottage cheese container with saran wrap held on by a rubber band over the top. I was really glad he didn't escape. I don't mind frogs, I will handle them and I think they're cool, but I really don't want one loose (read: lost) in my house. No thanks. So anyways, she carried him all over the house and he "played" with her toys with her, and she even wanted to take him to the park that evening. To play with her. Yes. Really. I had talked to her all day about letting him go, and she seemed cool with it. And she was. But here's the funny part. We let him go out by the lake, and he hopped out onto the ground and started to hop off. For whatever reason she thought he had to be in the water (I'm thinking it may have something to do with her book Little Quack's New Friend, where a frog plays with a bunch of ducks in a lake, but who knows). So as he's hopping away, she runs over, grabs him and chucks him in the lake. It was HI-larious. Here is a photo montage of the event.

Checking on her friends
Heading to the park
I vetoed going up the ladder with him. She's dangerous enough doing that on her own. But she thought about it!
Sliding
Swinging (sorry it's blurry)
Saying goodbye
Watching him hop off
After chucking him in the lake
It was a fun time. Thanks to aunt Vickie for spending the evening with us. She was quite entertained as well!!

Ant update

Not a whole lot of progress in the ant department, but then, we haven't tried a whole ton yet either. Never-the-less, thought I owed an update after the ramble-fest of a post I put you through a couple weeks ago. Thanks for all the comments!! What we've tried so far is:

1.) The little Raid traps you sit around that advertise that they kill the whole colony by sending the little anties back to the queenie and thus poisoning her. Mildly successful at best. Don't think we've outed the queen yet. But then, maybe I'm just not patient enough. It said on the box that they are good for three months, so we'll just wait and see. If I don't ruin them all before then. I accidentally ran one through the dishwasher. Don't ask.

2.) Vinegar. Oh vinegar, how I love thee. I tell you, if I were left with only one "all purpose" item for cleaning, laundry and other various needs, I think I would pick vinegar. It's cool stuff. I stuck some in a spray bottle and have just left it on the kitchen counter and have been randomly spraying surfaces and areas that the little buggers seem to frequent (as per several suggestions), and you know what? I think it may be working. Only been doing this for a couple days, so we'll see, but this is the first glint of a promise when it comes to seeing an end to this, uh, situation.

Anyways, so if you were wondering, there you are. I will continue to keep you posted.

Baby chicks 2010

We took Gemma (and Kolbe) to see the baby chicks and duckies at TSC again this year. What a difference a year makes! She could hardly see over the bins last year. I think this will become a fun tradition for our family!

It all started when a goose pooped on our house

Hey there, figured that title may pique your curiosity. But I'm really here to ask for your help, so now that I've suckered you in you may as well sit back and have a little read. HAHA.

But it did really all start when a goose pooped on our house, so I wasn't being completely misleading...

It was a warmish late fall day. I went out to water our deck plants and much to my dismay there was icky goose poop. Everywhere. Chairs, table, deck, siding, you name it. It was gross and it just looked bad. And since at the time I had (and still do) a curious little helper shadow, I knew I needed to do something about it. That, and it just looked bad. Did I mention that? Well, so I did what I figured would be the most effective thing, and got out the hose to spray everything down. That worked okay, but that goose poop is nasty stuff and would you believe I had to get out rags and paper towels and scrub that putrid substance off of everything with my bare hands. Yucchy! (That's how Oscar spells it when he's talking to his pet skunk, Daisy, in "The Sesame Street Pet Show" book that Gemma is currently obsessed with, and I like that spelling better than the traditional). Anyways, I digress. Where was I even? Hmmmm, well, point being, not long after this little, episode, THEY showed up. Nasty tiny little ants. All over my kitchen. In my sink, in the dishwasher, the cabinets, crawling on the walls. All over. Now you talk about yucchy. Well, maybe not so much yucchy (see, doesn't it look cool that way? and you can kind of make a raspy sound in the back of your throat when you say it, like, "cccchhhhhh") GAH, sidetracked again! My bad. Anyways, ants are just pesky, with a capital P. I guess that would make them Pesky, then. But my husband assured me they would be gone with the first freeze, and sure enough, they were. Silly me believed that that was the end of our issues. Okay, it was more like grasping at straws than down-home believing, but HECK no. It hadn't been warm for half-an-hour this March and those nasty little boogers were back at it. Same story, second verse. Happy freakin' Spring. So now the whole "they'll die with the first freeze" trick isn't cutting it anymore and I'm beginning to get irate. Just ask my husband. He has been told in no uncertain terms that he is to no longer joke about this situation ANYmore. I'm sure you can imagine. It has me stressed and bothered and annoyed and a million other little things, and I am just plain tired of squashing those little creatures only to open my dishwasher (even when it's just run) and see 50 more. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! And I keep a clean kitchen, to boot!

So now, you're probably wondering B things (I say B, and not 2, since I intend to letter your wonderings, not number them.)
A.) What does this have to do with the goosy-poopy?
and
B.) How exactly can I help?

Well, I shall explain. A.) I am convinced that spraying the house with the hose somehow stirred things up and caused this, this, abhoration. and B.) You can give me some tips on ridding our domicile of these nasty little creatures. I'm just not a huge fan of chemicals, and if someone comes to the house to take care of them I want to know that they will be TAKEN. CARE. OF. and abolished from my presence forever and ever and ever. Period. So there you have it. Sound off, my friends. PLEASE!!

Now yes, I realize, I could have just got on here and typed up a little note asking if anyone had any recommendations for appropriate pest control, but really, where's the fun in that?!

CHEERS!

Birdies

For my birthday last year, Aaron got me a bird feeder to hang on the deck. I was so excited and couldn't wait until late fall/winter to hang it. Well, we hung it the first part of November, and after several weeks we started having some regular visitors. Mainly finches and junkos currently. And Gemma LOVES it (as do the hubby and I...who knew bird watching could be so interesting). She gets sooooooo excited and yells, "hi birdies, hi birdies, hi birdies". They are pretty regular in the times of day that they visit, which I find fascinating. We also have a squirrel who has been seen trying to make his way towards the feeder. No success yet. We'll see who wins, him or Max. Could get intersting if Max gets him "treed" up there.

Here are some picture of G watching the birds.
Oooooohhhhhhhh, it's BIRDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the feeder. Sorry, I think the pic focused more on my snowman window-clings. But it's out there, full of yummy sunflower seeds.

Baby chicks

We took Gemma to see the baby chicks at TSC this past weekend. A good time was had by all. Not much more to say, here' some pics in all their cuteness. And no, in case you were wondering, there weren't any chicks that made their way home with us.

Great day to feed the ducks

So the weather is getting nicer again, YAY!!!! We decided to venture out a bit before lunch this morning to feed the ducks around the lake.
As we were walking down the path we noticed some in a neighbor's yard, so I started tossing them bread, and they came a little closer.
Gemma was so excited to see them. "Ohhhhh, duck, duck!"
I was able to coax them down to the water.
I kept tossing the bread to them, showing Gemma just how it was done. She was fascinated. However, I guess she didn't quite put two and two together with the whole process. This is what she did with her bread for the duckies.
Oh well, I don't think they'll starve!