My Son, the Turtle (and other stuff) Hunter

Jake has always loved to catch stuff. Squirmy, crawly, icky stuff, if you ask my opinion. But I love who he is, even if I'm a little afraid to check his pockets before I do the laundry.

This year, Jake has a male teacher for the first time; Mr. Saint. (For those of you who know the story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the other missionaries who were killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador; Jake's teacher is Nate Saint's youngest son.)

Anyway, Mr. Saint also likes squirmy, crawly stuff, so Jake has been catching things to give him.
Turtles, salamanders, snakes. Mr. Saint keeps these things in his room at school, and brings them home in the summer, where he raises crickets and mice to feed them. (His wife is a saint if you ask me...)

He also has a guinea pig named "Marshmallow" who Maggie is in love with. Jake is campaigning for me to let him bring Marshmallow home for a weekend. I will probably cave. Just as long as Marshmallow doesn't move in permanently.

Mini-Me

That's my girl. Power tools, safety gear and all.
Mags and I have a little business called "Maggie Doodle Design." We redo furniture, paint signs, etc. So far, we really haven't done any marketing and we mostly get asked to donate pieces for charity events, or do things for friends (who we really don't charge anything) but that's just about our speed right now. It's mostly just a creative outlet for us.
This little table will be auctioned off at the Rice Hospital Holiday Festival this year. We finished sanding all the parts that were really chipping and we're going to paint it a vintage-looking creamy color. There will be some sort of hand-painted design on it as well; not sure what yet. We'll post photos when it's done.

I'm sure it will find a good home. I got it for three bucks at a garage sale in Dayton, Iowa. We will be valuing it at $150.00. Hopefully it will go high and make some money for the Rice Hospital Foundation.

Done

A few weeks ago, Maggie reminded me that I never posted the "done" pictures of her room. (Very into this blog, my little girl...)

So, here they are. Not sure what the two black lines coming up off the black subway art piece are...they don't exist in real life.
Her window seat turned out just great. I even made a fitted cushion with piping (never again) and it looks very cute.
The window valences were next; hard to see, but they are quilted with buttons on them. The windows needed a little color and she wanted something "different than curtains." This was our solution.
And finally, her wall of mirrors. We went to Goodwill, found a bunch of mirrors (grand total - 5 bucks), spraypainted them all black and hung them up with command velcro strips. Love that stuff!!
She is thrilled and keeps it semi-clean. Which makes us both happy.

Apple Crisp

Jake has been itching to pick the apples off our tree - he really likes using the apple picker (I think he likes to pretend it's a sword). They're finally getting ripe, so the other day, he picked a boatload for me.
We decided it would be fun to take pans of apple crisp to their teachers, so we started making it. And kept on making it. I had 6 disposable 8x8 pans and we filled them all up.

Their teachers each got a pan, we may or may not have eaten a pan for a bedtime snack...and the rest, well, maybe you should come over sometime. You may or may not get to try it.

Boys' Trip

After a trip to the Black Hills with Scott's parents fell through, Scott and Jake decided to head to the hills anyway and camp. They recruited Andy and Luke to accompany them.

They did a little rock jumping (I believe this is Andy.) Scott took our older camera, so the pictures aren't stellar.
They did some hiking.

And Jake spent some time in the ER in Custer, getting his leg stitched up after he fell on a rock and split open his calf. The following is a transcript of the phone call that Scott made to tell me what was going on:

Scott: "Hey, I got to see an old medical school classmate."
Me: "How fun!"
Scott: "Yeah, we're in the ER in Custer. Jake's getting his leg stitched up."
Me: silence.
Me: "That's how you tell me?"

Jake is fine; he had 9 stitches. Andy and Luke held down the fort while they were gone.

I wasn't there for the festivities (all the girls were in Willmar, painting Mom and Dad's new house...20 gallons of paint in two days...a whole different blog post entirely), but I'm told the camping trip may become an annual event. Just as long as I don't have to go. Next year, though, I'm planning something other than painting...

Sidewalk Chalk Contest

Jake and Mags both participated in the sidewalk chalk contest at Family Camp.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Maggie's final product, but here's a sample.

Jake worked hard on his and this is what he came up with.





Neither won, but they both had a lot of fun with their drawings.

Cardboard, Duct Tape and a Whole Bunch of Fun

This is what happens when you take cardboard and 1 roll of duct tape and enter a boat-building contest. You build your boat, strap on a life jacket, grab a paddle, and get very excited.
Next, your papa helps you into your cardboard/duct tape boat and pushes you out into the pond.

You paddle with all your might.

And then you tip over and have to swim back.

Unless you're Jake. Then, you fall out immediately after your papa helps you into your boat.

Twice.

And if you're Luke, the paddle is bigger than you, so you just drift around until your dad swims out and pushes you towards shore.

Then, the grown-ups try out the boats and don't do very well. (That's Andy, by the way.)

And then you start planning for next year...

Family Camp Frog Jumping Contest

We went to Family Camp at Hidden Acres in Iowa over Labor Day weekend. This year, the cousins came, too. It was a blast. One of the many activities was the ever popular Frog Jumping Contest.
Jake caught a mongo bullfrog for Maggie. Before the contest started, it got away from her and made some enormous hops. We were very excited that it showed such promise.

However, when the whistle was blown, it just sat there. The entire time. No amount of screaming, blowing, pounding, etc. moved it.

Jake's little frog fared a little better, but it didn't win his heat, so his participation was over quickly as well.

Right before this, there was a cardboard boat race...more on that to come!!

First Day of School

Jake - 4th grade; Mags - 3rd grade. Mom - getting old.