What have we been up to lately?

Sorry it has been so very long. The winter blahs really got a hold of me! School has been intense with many special projects and portfolios due. People have been many kinds of sick around here too.

Ready for spring!

So, what have we been up to?

Well.....

Abbe had a birthday.

Abbe played basketball. (It was crazy hair day.)

Made a spring wreath (from Pinterest) hoping that it would make spring come. Huh. Did not happen!

Abbe had a friend over. As you can see, she fits right in. Sometimes, people ask if she and Abbe are sisters.

Blogger quit letting me put pictures on. :/
Just going to post this. So, another post should be coming soon.

Columbus Crew Game

Last week Ruth and Abbe's school gave us free tickets to The Columbus Crew. We had never been before. Have you?

There were not a lot of people there which was a good thing - from a parent viewpoint, not the Crew's obviously. Mother Bear didn't have to worry about one of her kids getting lost or annoying a bunch of people because they are being kids.

Abbe and Eian were able to go onto the field before the game and kick some soccer balls around with the other smaller kids. Ruth was SUPPOSED to be able to be in the tunnel but she was too impatient to wait around for instructions. (hmmmm, can we say ADHD) So, that didn't happen. Of course, when she saw all the other Jr. High and High School kids in the tunnel, she wished she would have waited.

 
We ate $5 hotdogs and bratwursts and BBQ pulled pork (which was actually really good - need to get Jason to smoke a pork roast). I told Jason that I understand why they do it - you aren't allowed to bring food in. So, if you are hungry, you eat a $5 hotdog. But don't they realize that if they made it a little cheaper, I would probably buy more. Instead, I packed everyone a snack of homemade chocolate chip cookies and an apple to have on the way there. And I promised everyone a snack on the way home. Oh, and they only had a few of those tables you stand up by and eat which were too tall for Abbe and Eian.

I could tell that they were still wanting more to eat but they were being really good and not bugging me about it. So, I split a pretzel with Ruth ($4 or 5). Abbe and Eian split some cotton candy (prepackaged and looked even more disgusting than cotton candy usually looks). Jason was allowed to have his own extra bratwurst. ;-)

We sat with other online school families which was very nice. Didn't have to worry about alcohol, cussing, kids bugging people, .... because they were all worried about their kids bugging us!

We watched the sun set over downtown Columbus. Which reminded me of watching the sun rise over downtown Columbus when I worked for the OSU Dairy Farm while I was at OSU. Those were some of the best mornings of my college experience.

Ruth noticed that all the players, referees and even the ball had four shadows. Which was really kind of cool once you noticed it.

All three had an awesome time and didn't want to leave but mean mama made them leave at half time because they had school in the morning. We listened to the rest of the game on the radio on the way home.

I lost $.25 to Ruth on a bet (The Crew scored first) and $.01 to Eian (The Crew won). Abbe the miser didn't want to bet anything just in case she would lose.

**************************

Sorry about the pictures. These were taken with my cell phone. Which is a very old Palm.
Didn't want to carry the 'big' camera and couldn't find my little point and shoot. Which has since been found in one of Abbe's backpacks. She took it to The Wilds when she went with a friend.

**************************

Oh, and The Crew won 1-0.

Excuses, Excuses

More excuses on why I have not been posting:
1. I haven't felt the best.
2. Ruth has had a sinus infection for about TWO weeks and is on second antibiotic.
3. Eian has been sick for the past five days and a boy needs his mama when he is sick. Doctor evaluation: swimmer's ear and a virus. So, ear drop antibiotics and no swimming for a week.
4. Jason is back to work the firehouse after being off for a month (one of the pros of being a firefighter and not having used any vacation for a long time due to low seniority).
5. Overwhelmed by what all I need to blog about.
6. The kids and I haven't really settled into a summer routine yet.
7. Haven't downloaded recent pictures yet - keep forgetting.
8. Could probably list about 20 more reasons.

The excuses may be many but they are still not good enough. I just need to make time!

Sooooo, my goal is to blog twice a week for the rest of the summer! Let's all hope for the best!

Especially since THE TOUR starts on Saturday!!!! Yeah! Can't wait!

We are babysitting a good friends dog this week - Moxie. She is pretty funny and still has a lot of puppy like enthusiasm that our dogs now lack. I need to take some pictures 'cause she is pretty cute!

My lovely vacation in Charleston

(I am just going to put some pictures of our vacation in - no particular order or place.)

We spent the first night of vacation with my dear friend Amy. We have been friends since we met at parent/baby swim class at the YMCA when Ruth was about six months old. Abbe took her first steps at Amy's house here in Circleville. Amy's first three boys are the same age as Ruth and Abbe. Her youngest will be in kindergarten this fall.

Amy's house looks like a decorator came in and did everything. That decorator would be Amy. She really has the 'touch' to make things look welcoming and lovely but also very comfortable at the same time. She has done this in every house I have seen her live in (here in Ohio, West Virginia and now Charleston, SC). I just don't have that same touch.

Of course, I don't think I took any pictures while we were at their house - I was really exhausted from the drive. Also, we spent that night talking until about 1 am - which is VERY LATE for this old lady.

The next day we went to our house by the beach. We had fun doing the beach thing some days and going into Charleston a couple of times.

The history of Charleston in AMAZING! Many on the houses were built in the late 1600's - yes that number is correct! I know in other countries that isn't really old but here in the USA it is. Jason and I were talking about how a house built in 1750 was really a new house compared to most.

I think the kids kind of got how old things truly were - at least I hope they did.

Jason and I really love history. We love to look and learn about it.

For anyone going to Charleston, the Charleston Museum is really cool. They have an AWESOME children's section. The kids were just telling Nana and Papa some of the stuff they learned there. I was impressed.

Right now they are having a rotating couture exhibit. WOW! Was it spectacular! But the seamstress in me would have loved to have seen the inside of the dresses and outfits too - not just how they look on a mannequin. How outfits are constructed is half of what makes them interesting to me.

Since it is almost midnight, I am going to wrap up. I will post more of our adventures later.

**************************
Disclaimer: Jason took most of the photos in Charleston and I took most of the ones at the beach. I really didn't feel like carrying the big camera around Charleston. I know, LAME. But I think Jason did a pretty darn good job. Don't you?

Science Experiments 2

Well...... the science experiments didn't turn out to well.

The multi-colored jars were supposed to be sugar candy on the sticks. Ended up all the sugar candy settled on the bottom on the jar. NONE. NOT ONE SINGLE PIECE was on the stick. Sigh. Absolutely no idea what we did wrong.

The flowers never did bloom. Was worth a try. Am going to dry the bulbs and plant them this fall in my new flower bed in front of my deck. Sigh, again.

*************************

Sorry no posts lately.

We just returned from Charleston, SC, and the girls and I have been sick. Ruth still is.

Have LOTS and LOTS of pictures to sort through so I can share.

Of course, since Jason (my brave firefighter husband) took a lot of the pictures while we were in downtown Charleston, we have some of Charleston's finest in action.

*************************
Went on a geocache 'treasure' hunt yesterday. Have pictures and stories to share from that too.

*************************

Hope you all have been doing well.

What do you have planned for this summer?

Monday with Mom & Dad

Mom and Dad took us to their "secret" greenhouse, finally. Dad has talked about this place for the past couple of years, but never taken us.


Talked about the great prices, the wonderful plants, and the nice people who run it.


An Amish family runs this wonderful place. The kids were all helping out. Made me realize how much more my kids need to be doing around here.

One little girl told us that her job was to sweep the greenhouse floors. She was very sweet and constantly in motion, helping.

They had lots of purple martin houses....and lots and lots of purple martins.

When I asked the owner if I could take some pictures of his beautiful flowers, he pulls out a ladder, and asks if I would like to take pictures of the top. The top of the flowers in the greenhouse, that is.

He had dozens and dozens and dozens of lovely hanging baskets. These next two pictures are from where I just put the camera in the air and starting shooting.

I don't do hanging baskets any more because I would forget to water them. We really don't go in and out the front door very much, so out of sight means out of mind at my house. Of course now, I have Ruth who is tall enough to water them......hmmmmm....

Isn't this a really cool idea?

We drove up the road a  bit and saw this chicken coop which Ruth and Jason liked.

And baby percherons, Ruth was excited. She loves horses - especially baby ones.

And this really pretty farm.

Then, we stopped at an antique/junk dealer guy - he had just about anything you could want - big or small.

I will have to show you our treasures another day! This post already has plenty of pictures.

Jason really did some digging and came up with some good stuff.