Friday, April 30, 2010

Turtle Hunting?

Our neighborhood homeschool group has a member that group up in the neighborhood. She knows all the cool things that can be done in the area. She grabbed her nets and some bait and invited the kiddos to the front pond to search for turtles.

The group tried very hard to do exactly what she had asked them to do.

We saw plenty of turtles.

We used the bait to try to lure them close and then the plan was to catch them with the nets.

We all tried from various locations.

Every where you looked around the pond you would see a group of kiddos intent on a specific turtle.


In the end I think the turtles were on to us. They have been around a long time too. They would eat the bait until getting to the shore then would retreat and wait for us to recast.
These two preferred to sit and chat about how silly the rest of us looked.


We tried hard to do what we had been told.
It was such a fun afternoon with the turtles teasing us.


The weather was perfect also. Warm but not hot.
Not any luck at all. We caught tons of pond stuff but no turtles.

Next time turtle, next time!

Birthday Candle Time - Finally

Guilt got to me. I know that the circumstances would excuse the lack of birthday cakes for Pooker and Possible. In and out of the hospital make a simple candle cake with pictures hard. Pooker was given several cakes by friends. We also sang to her at Catholic Coffee Club but poor Possible had only one cake. Each time the entire family was not there. This really bother me. Monday morning, I decided we needed to sing as a family before a new month came.

We went with some cookie cakes. This way each one got their own "cake" while it wasn't too over the top considering we were over 20 days late. So much fun getting this crowd to pose for pictures. They love me so they try.
Notice how Bagel was caught as she tried to sneak in an steal some of the glory. Not going to happen with Pooker around.
Happy 19Th b-day Pooker Baby and 11Th b-day Possible Girl. We love you two so much!

I can't wait for June to be over!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things! Friday
Check out some great stories on a blogger friends website by clicking the words above. This is our Friday contributions:

Pickle: I can't wait for June to be over!

This statement was made the other evening, out of the clear blue. The older kiddos were all in the room and we turned to Pickle in a completely confused state. Our biggest issue being that it isn't even June yet and another issue was how random the comment was to the rest of us.
Finally someone asked what he was talking about . . .

"I just can't wait for all those June Bugs to go away again."
Made much more sense now that we could understand where the thought came from.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My New Life Guard

Goobers took the class and past all the test.Goobers is now an official life guard following in Pooker's steps. They both plan to work at our neighborhood pools this summer. Way to go Goobers we know you worked hard for this and we are proud of you!!!!

Mud- Bug fun!

Spring is here and so is the traditions of huge neighborhood and family Crawfish Boils.
My love of these events have nothing to do with this cartoon mud bug but the time spent with friends.


Some of our friends invited us to attend their neighborhood's Crawfish Boil. It used to be that I would have laughed at this and not accepted. I have grown to enjoy the tradition of the boils not the taste of the actual crawfish.
Our friends live in a beautiful new neighborhood with stocked ponds and lots of scenic views.
Jumba felt right at home, which is odd for this shy little man.
The crawfish was enjoyed along with a carnival. Mom showed up after all that with the camera. I came just in time to watch them all fishing.
Kat came with us and I love this shot of her. This girl knows a thing or two about fishing.
Our friend A was very generous with his stuff, his house and his parents. He let them baby the Texas T little ones and they loved all the attention.
Dad and Pickle were having a blast. The camera missed the shot of Pickle's big catch. Possible did the impossible again and caught a huge fish, I am told, without a pole. She had some string with a hook and bait.
Jumba wasn't too into fishing but loved playing all around. He was in his own world and loving every second of it.

The D family also had some luck with hooking a fish or two. Look at the size of that one.
Back inside we cleaned up and ate crawfish etoufee. It was delicious.
A big surprise to all of us was how much Bagel loved the Crawfish. So our host Mr. S took the time to teach Bagel all that he could in how one can get the most out of a crawfish. I don't get it personally but I am happy that this little native Texan was enjoying this tradition and the food.


These two were not afraid to dig right in. Not me, I waited for the etoufee version. Yum, Yum, Yum! Who knew these ugly critters could be prepared in a way that would make even this mid westerner happy?
I loved that the we all got to enjoy the night. It was a much needed stress free and fun time with friends and crawfish.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Cuda Season has begun!

The fun has begun! The Cudas are at it again. We love being on the neighborhood swim team so much.
The season started with a party and a new logo. Our team is 40 years old and so is our league. Our team helped form the league with 5 other teams. 40 years later everything looks very different but we are very thankful to those who started it all.
One cool thing is that we have parents on the teams now that were on that original team 40 years ago.
Pooker is now one of the official coaches. Goobers, Bear and Sugar are all Jr. coaches and Possible, Pickle, Princess, and Bagel are just swimming away and Jumba is still a cheer leader from the side line.
It is so good to see the kiddos back with their friends. We miss our friends when we are all busy with school work.
I love that our teens are required to fill out Jr. coach applications. They had to apply and really want this position, making it an honor to be chosen. Here are just a few that made the cut.
Even dad is happy to see his buddies again.
We love this time so much.
Friends are back.


The fun times are back.

The family picture time is back.

The work is back.

And swimming is back.

We love our new 40th year Cuda! Swim away kiddos.