Savor The Days

Snow!

We woke up this morning to a nice surprise - SNOW!

It wasn't a lot but it doesn't take much to have some fun!

Nicholas started rolling up giant snowballs.

Rachel danced around.

There's nothing like freshly fallen snow to show you just how dirty your white van really is.

Rachel watched Nicholas making giant balls of snow and she did a great job on her own.

There were tracks all across the front yard from making snow balls. Neither of them really like getting hit with a snow ball so miraculously they both agreed not to throw snow. Instead they worked together on building a snowman.

My little boy blue.

I loved watching Rachel roll snow balls. She didn't have nearly the control over the ball that Nicholas had but she was mighty determined and didn't give up.

That is, until she realized that she could EAT the snow!

Oooohhh, yum!

Do you want some, Mommy?

They eventually finished building their snowman. They were so proud of him.

We took a break inside to warm up by the fire and enjoy some hot chocolate. Before we had gone outside, I ran a pot of plain water through the coffee maker so it would be hot and sitting on the warmer for us anytime we wanted some for hot chocolate. It was nice to just come inside and mix it up.

Of course, my little ones couldn't stand to sit inside much longer than it took to drink their hot chocolate. Now it was time to explore the back yard!

Nicholas scooped snow from the toy box and took a big bite. Eww, I don't encourage this because I'm sure the top of that toy box was dirty but at some point I gave up on that battle.

We have been talking about measurement a lot so we pulled out a ruler to measure the depth of the snow. It was 3/4 of an inch.

I love just letting them explore. They always find new ways to play with old toys (and paint rollers).

Nicholas came up with a simple little snow catapult idea using a bug net.

The roof of the fort has been looking pretty bad from all the wind we've been having but the snow finally did it in. Nicholas didn't mind though. He thought it was cool to be able to climb up even higher! My little monkey :)

Of course there were snow angels to be made.

Nicholas didn't want to snow to stop so he found a big stick and started trying to shake the tree branches to make more snow fall down on him.

Happy Snow Day!

Ex-Squirrel Lover

I'm officially an "ex".

Ex-Squirrel Lover, that is.

Oh how I have always loved watching squirrels dart around the yard with their fluffy tails swishing back and forth. I even love it when they bark and fuss when they are mad about something.

But right before Christmas, Nicholas noticed a little hole in the side of our house. It is in the siding on the corner of the back part of the house between the kitchen on the first floor and Rachel's bedroom on the second floor. It was a little hole and with the craziness of the holidays we forgot about it.

Until....

The other day I was in Rachel's room reading to her and I heard a loud scratching sound and then several loud bumps on the other side of her wall.

Eeek! Whatever made that hole is inside the walls of our home and just inches away from the interior of my baby girl's room.

The next morning I went out to look at the hole and saw this.

Wow, that's a hole!

I got up closer to it and took this shot. You can see that this critter has gnawed through an inch of siding and about 2 inches of wood. Determined little booger.

It's been totally quiet inside the house so I think what I heard was the squirrel chewing through the last bit of wood and then breaking free into the innards of our walls.

Stuart and I did some research on pest companies and made some calls. The company we chose came out and said that this is definitely a squirrel hole. Rat and mouse holes are much smaller.

So now I detest squirrels! Their cuteness is just a facade to lure you into feeding them in your backyard while they secreatly devise a plan to invade your home.

We have heard noises in the attic and inside our walls from time to time over the years but it is usually a single occurrence in which we hear it and then it goes away for a year or so.

So the pest control company is going to come back out and seal up this hole with metal bars embedded inside some sealant stuff. They will put a live trap with food bait in the attic and come back in 3 days to see if they caught anything. This will take care of the concern about sealing up the hole with a squirrel still inside. When they come back in 3 days, they will also put 2 bait boxes outside to manage any mice or rats as well as snap traps in both attics. But most importantly they will walk all around the roof of the house and seal up any other possible entry ways for little critters. We have to pay for quarterly maintenance service with them for one year but during that time they will come back out to replace traps and repair any other holes that the demon creatures might make once they realize they can't get back in their new crib.

While I'm not excited about any of this, it will be nice knowing that all of the little cracks and crevices have been sealed up and at least for a year we don't have to worry about critters coming inside our home. We'll see how it goes this year before we decide if we are going to continue their services after the first year.

Fossil Hunting along the Interstate

Fossil hunting is a little hobby of ours. We love the treasure hunt and we love finding cool things that are millions of years old. But we don't take it too seriously and probably go casually hunting just a couple times a year.

My Dad told me about a cool place to hunt for fossils along I-49 southbound in Louisiana. It's called the Cane River Site. Back when I-49 was being built, they were cutting into the land to make an exit near Nachitoches. But as workers were digging into the land they found an outcrop of marine fossil material that dated back 46 million years ago when this land was under the ocean.

Dad has been to the site and gave me some directions since we pass right by this each time we go back "home" to visit.

The exit is about 1 hour south of Shreveport. You will top a hill and there should be an exit there that is clearly marked as the Natchitoches exit. There is a McDonalds and other items there. About a 1/2 mile past that exit, you will note that there was the beginnings of an exit for a rest stop but it clearly was abandoned. If you pull over into that exit or just slow down as you go past it on the interstate, you can see in the wall of the ditch along the interstate that there is some white items showing up. That is the outcrop of fossil material.

We easily found the spot.

We parked the car at the dead end exit ramp and walked to the outcropping. It was kind of weird walking along the side of the busy interstate, especially with 2 bouncy kids but we only got honked at once.

It was neat to see the ground work that had clearly been done to smooth out the land for use and the drastic end to that work where the ground was a foot or two higher. It seems higher in this picture below but most of that is just grass and vegetation.

But what was most amazing is that when we walked right up to the dig site, there were marine fossils all over the ground. It had just recently rained and rain is good for fossil hunting because it can wash fossils out of the dirt.

All of these little white pieces are marine fossils. Some scientists say that they are from 46 millions years ago. Most were bivalve and that seems to be all that we picked up. But there have been 150 different species found here including vertebrate and invertebrate - cuttlefish beaks, shark teeth, coral, etc.

We had some fun doing a really quick hunt and collecting a few ancient treasures.

For more information about fossil hunting at the Cane River Site, check out this great article on the Natchitoches fossils by Gary Stringer that appeared in the Louisiana Geological Survey.

Rachel "Reads" to Bitty Baby

Rachel loves to "read" aloud. We read so much that she knows the stories well and tells them in her own words as she flips through the pictures in the book.

Tonight at bedtime, I asked her what she wanted me to read to her. She said that she first wanted to read to her Bitty Baby. She also told me that Bitty Baby was walking but fell and hit her head. She said that she put some Neosporin and the Band-aid on it.

I was quick to grab the camera as she started her bedtime reading to Bitty Baby. She reads about the story of Creation as well as Adam and Eve. It's hard to hear but she whispers something about the snake and then shortly afterwards she tells of Adam and Eve hiding and whispers "but God was coming". It's just so cute!

Note: if you are reading this from the email updates then I think you will need to click on the title of the post in the email. This should take you to the actual blog page where you can see the video.

My Pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch

The weather has been just beautiful and we were all excited to take our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Last year we explored several different pumpkin patches in the area. But this year there is just a lot more going on in our lives so we are just visiting our local pumpkin patch. I've really come to conclude that it is the best one in the area anyway.

They have lots of cute wooden cut outs that little kids love.

Hello Kitty is one of Rachel's favorite characters so she was super excited to stumbled upon them when we first entered the patch.

Of course, big brother was busy-ing himself in the hay maze while we were talking to Hello Kitty.

The kids were so cute together as they ran through the maze.

Nicholas tried to be sneaky but he was a little bit too tall to easily sneak in this short hay maze.

There was a lot of playful chasing and lots of laughter!

Gotcha!

There is a little slide at the end. Rachel just kept playing on the slide.

My son must be part cat. He always wants to be on the highest possible perch.

Rachel as conductor, Nicholas as....hood ornament?

Nicholas 2012

Here he is last year - Nicholas 2011

Rachel 2012

And last year - Rachel 2011

Here are my cute little pumpkins!

Nicholas is 8 and getting so big. However, he is still little and wanted to pose in front of the dino cut-outs.

Oh My! Dora is her favorite of all! She was just giddy standing next to her!

She tried to hold both of Strawberry Shortcake's hands so they could dance together.

Smurfs! One of the few cut outs that were significantly shorter than Rachel.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse with Rachel and Nicholas

There are always lots of cute scenes set up for posed pictures but all the shadows from the beautiful trees can make it a booger to get a good shot.

They both tried to life and roll pumpkins that were as big as they are.

My sweet thoughtful little angel.

Cuties staying still enough to pose for a picture.

We love the pumpkin house. Nicholas is always great at picking his own poses for pictures and calling my attention to him. He came up with this shot himself.

Then he called Rachel over and had her pose with him.

He counted all of the pumpkins!

Fall sweetness at the pumpkin patch!

My strong little guy trying to show off his muscles.

He possibly overdid it on this one!

They pretended some of the pumpkins were rocket ships that they could ride on. I love their imaginations!

The pumpkin windows are always a favorite. Lots of great openings to play peek-a-boo!

We made it over to the larger hay maze which of course has a larger slide at the end. I loved watching them stay together throughout the maze and sliding out at the end together.