One of the best things about warm weather is that it means baby animals!! My parents have baby goats and baby rabbits right now so the kids have had fun playing with them and it brings back memories for me too.
It is so much fun to have a petting zoo a few minutes away!!
For family home evening we decided to have a lesson about the creation and plant flowers. I am not a very patient person so I bought actual flowers instead of seeds. We had fun planting them and even after they were all planted Colton had to go outside to check on them every five minutes or so. They are looking really good and I love going out side to water them and admire them. Flowers make me so happy, I just love them!
It’s that time of year again, the time when you really need to pay attention to your surroundings and keep and eye out for snakes.
A few weeks ago the kids and I went out to my parents’ house to visit because Jayla and Annie Mae were out there. Annie Mae and Preston were taking naps in the house so the Colton, Kaci, and Jayla went out side with Mom and I to look at the baby animals and to pick some strawberries. While we were picking strawberries we Colton Jayla and I walked over to an old refrigerator that my parents have earthworms in and were looking for some worms we were there for several minutes when Jayla came around to my right side and stood there for a minute or so. All of the sudden we heard a buzzing sound. At first I thought it was a locus and thought maybe I could find it and show the kids, but a split second later I realized that I was a snake so I immediately started looking around and I saw a rattle snake coiled and ready to strike about four inches from Jayla’s bare little leg. I yelled and jerked Jayla back away from the snake. My mom and I brought the kids a safe distance away and pointed out the snake to show them what it was and tell them how dangerous they were. Then my mom got a gun and I kept an eye on the snake. She shot it and then cut its head off and buried it. We checked around for a second snake but didn’t find one. (Mom found it several days later in the little white shed, probably twenty feet from where we killed the first one.) I just couldn’t believe it didn’t rattle at us sooner and it was really scary looking at where it was and where Jayla’s foot prints were and realizing just how close it was.
Not an amazing picture because I was far away and took it with my phone. They blend in so well it is insane!
Dead and headless snake, the best way for a rattle snake to be!!
Grandma’s got a gun!!
A few days later Weldon and I found this king snake next to our house. We were glad to have him so hopefully he stays around. We put him down and then went and got the kids out of bed (they weren't asleep yet) and showed them the snake. They thought he was neat. We told them he was just a king snake so we weren’t going to shoot it but we told them not to touch any snake because they might bite. Hypocritical I know especially since I have a picture of me holding this one, but I don’t think they would know the difference between a bad snake and a good snake.
So this blog post is mainly going to be full of silly things that the kids said or did because I have been so busy that I have really dropped the ball on posting.
About a month ago Weldon and I needed new phones really bad because ours kept dropping calls or randomly turning off and stuff like that so we did some research and found out that we were up to get new phones with a contract renewal and that the phones would be iPhones. So we are officially part of the cool club now that we have those. (LOL five years from now I will read this and laugh because there will be something out new and cool and iPhones will be old school)
Any way the kids really love our phones to the point of us having to fight them for the chance too make a phone call and stuff like that. One day we were out side playing and waiting for Daddy to come home and I was trying to keep the kids busy so I suggested we go on a walk up the road to get some pinecones that fall off our neighbors’ trees. I said “Colton do you want to come on a walk with us? We are going to get pinecones.” He said “yes!” very excitedly and came running to go on the walk. We get to the trees and I said “ok pick some up and put them in the stroller to take home.” He kept looking around and asking where so I picked one up and gave it to him. He looked at me funny but picked up a few anyway and put them in the stroller. After a while I said it was time to go back home and throw them off the porch (I don’t know why but the kids LOVE this) Colton looked at me with his arms full of pinecones and said “I thought you said we were going to get iPhones!!” The look on his face was priceless, the poor little boy felt so ripped off that all he was getting was pinecones and not iPhones. I died laughing. Silly boy no wonder he was so excited to go for a walk.
I got this little toy out for Preston and Colton and Kaci thought it was so cool, apparently it is much more fun in the living room then it was in they toy room but they all had fun playing with it anyway. I thought it was cute to watch them all play together.
Preston was sitting here while I was making dinner and Kaci came up and sat by him and put here arm around him like this. I think she has a phone and they are watching a show together. It was very sweet though. She just loves Preston. If he is on the floor she will go lay by him and hold his hand. Colton is great with him too. I am so blessed that I have children who love each other and are so kind and gentle with each other, especially Preston.
Collecting little shells and throwing rocks in the water along the canal.
Preston just chillin’ in the stroller.
It is funny how different my children are in their personality. Colton is fearless, and Kaci is extremely cautious. An example of this is while on this walk I was telling the kids that they could only come down here if Mama or Daddy was with them because it is not safe for them to be alone because of the water and there could be snakes as well. Colton said “It’s ok! I’ll just swim really good and if there’s a snake I will step on him and smash him!!” Words that do not make a Mama feel very reassured about his survival instincts so I have to watch him super close and literally never let him out of my sight. Kaci on the other hand kept getting closer and closer to me while I was talking about the dangers and she said “I’m scared a little, can you hold my hand?” She is so funny, she is never just scared, it is always ‘I’m scared a little”.
She is sweet though and I don’t have to worry as much about her running off. I have to be careful what I say around her though because she does get frightened easily and she has a memory like nothing I have ever seen. One time Colton was trying to crawl under our back porch where it is really dark and with spider webs and stuff so I told him not to do that and when he asked why I said “because there are spiders under there that might bite you.” He said “But I don’t see any spiders” I made him get out any way. Kaci was standing there when I told Colton about the spiders and for about a week she would just stand in the doorway and cry because she was afraid of the ‘spidermans’ under the porch so we would have to carry her to and from the car. She also says any scratch or red mark is a ‘spiderman bite’.
Preston is still the happiest baby ever and is so easy to take care of. He is so sweet and he makes me smile every time I look at him. He is such a chunk and is so stinkin cute!! He is six months old now and is trying to sit up and I have even seen him get on his ands and knees a few times trying to crawl. I forgot to say how big he was at his four month doctors appointment. He was 18.3 pounds and was in the 97% for height and 93% for weight. But I don’t remember how tall he was. He is just one big baby. He gets hard to pack around but that is how I get my exercise so I can’t complain. He is so funny because he laughs at everything. The other day I sneezed and he laughed about that for the longest time. It was like it was the funniest thing he had heard in his whole life, which I guess it quite possibly could have been up to that point. He is fun though and it makes me laugh to here him. The kids think this is great fun as well so they will play peek-a-boo and make funny noises to get him to laugh. It is really cute. Here are some cute pictures of my sweet little baby.
Being tricky with Daddy
Handsome happy guys!!
When we put him in this thing he will just sit straight up and he feels so proud of himself
Check out that crazy hair after bath time!! his hair is so long and curly and is so much fun to mess with, I just love it!!
