Summer Re-cap #1

Before we get too far in the school year and I look up and it's Christmas holidays, I wanted to re-cap some of our fun memories from the summer.

One morning we got up and at 'em EARLY!  We planned to spend some time at a local park and knew we had to get there first thing or we wouldn't be able to bear the heat.  We like this park a lot because it is rarely crowded and has something for all age

Favorites at the park:  Wes - rock wall, Ann Elise - swings and zip line, and Bankston Hays - tall slides

For several years I have wanted to take the kids to a water park.  I figured they would have a good time, but I wanted to make sure I could handle all three on my own.  This summer proved to be the one when all three were swimming proficiently and Wes could manage the slides without me.  We went to celebrate the first day of summer and were having a good time when it thundered.  We were disappointed we had to get out, but when they made the decision to close for the day they gave everyone free passes to return!  YAHOO!  We used our free passes to celebrate the end of summer - going a few days before school started back :)

Favorites at the water park:  Me - lazy river, Wes - potato sack slide (don't know what else to call it but it is like the sack slide at a fair - you just ride down head first on a mat), Ann Elise - tunnel slide, and Bankston Hays - slide under the dumping bucket

My sister and her family live in my hometown (about 3 1/2 hours north of us).  We get together every chance we get and our kids L.O.V.E. being together!  When we found out my brother-in-law had a conference on the coast we started making plans!  The one hour drive was worth it!  The kids had a blast at the hotel pool and us sisters enjoyed our catch up time :)

Every summer we participate in our public library's summer reading program.  It keeps the kids reading and provides us with an air conditioned activity!   This year we settled into the routine of "stories and snow cones".  After we finished perusing the shelves and filling our bag with new books for the week, we'd head down the street to our friends' snow cone stand.

Favorite flavors:  Wes-rainbow, Ann Elise - wedding cake, and Bankston Hays-rainbow

Butterflies Update

Earlier I posted about the Easter Bunny bringing Ann Elise a Butterfly Kit. In order to get a better understanding of what was about to happen - and because we knew there would be no way we would be able to witness every moment of our butterflies' metamorphosis - we watched this YouTube video. How incredibly cool to watch nature perform!

For the first week we got to watch the caterpillars grow, climb to the top of their jar, get in their "J" formation, and form their chrysalises. The kids would come home from school excited to see if there were any changes. To find one making it's "J" was like watching a baby takes it's first steps :)

The kit was very easy to manage. Once the caterpillars formed their chrysalises, we removed the pad (shown above) from the jar's lid and hung it to the side of the butterfly tent. We would mist the chrysalises once a day and about a week later painted lady butterflies began to emerge.

The kit came with a sugar water feeder and we added some branches and flowers for them to enjoy. We held onto the butterflies for about two weeks. They seemed very content in their tent and the kids absolutely loved watching them flit around!

I asked Kris to take them to work and have one of his students (with a fancy camera) take some good pictures. I simply wanted some good shots of the butterflies doing their thing in their tent! But the guys had a better idea - they closed off the main office and let a butterfly free.

You would not believe how tame it was! This butterfly landed on the student's glasses AND hung out on Kris' finger :)

Kris was able to round them up and bring them back home safe in their tent. After the kids saw the pictures of the butterfly and it's freedom, we held onto them a few more days and occasionally let them fly around the house.

As you can imagine, our critter lover was beside herself admiring God's intricate creation!

Earth Day Goodness

I have a friend who has been thinning out the flower beds at her grandparent's house. Over the past few weeks she has given us many day lilies, irises, cannas, nandina, etc. It kinda forced us into "straighten up the yard" mode - for which we are grateful :) The new plants have brought such life and energy to our yard.

With the new attitude, we decided to add two more trees to our lawn. On Good Friday we planted a magnolia and a red oak. We can't wait (really, we're just hoping) for these trees to grow and provide even more privacy and shade for our house!

I mention Good Friday because turns out, Good Friday was also Earth Day! Kris remarked we were being hippies by planting trees on Earth Day...but it turned out the earthy goodness didn't stop with new trees! HA!

We also managed to see this snake


and this turtle in our yard!


The Easter Bunny found these cute Mini Greenhouses by Miracle-Gro.


So the kids got in on the earthy goodness! Wes planted sunflowers, Ann Elise planted zinnias, and Bankston Hays planted marigolds.


They have now sprouted and hopefully we'll even see a beautiful bloom!


And last but not least of all the earthy goodness...Ann Elise is carefully attending her caterpillars (also from the Easter Bunny).


We are anxiously awaiting them turning into butterfiles! They have all formed their chrysalis so we are making progress :)

Christmas Meme

This time of year I feel like I don't have anything to write about, yet life is really busy. Go figure! I was looking back at what I had written last year (trying not to repeat myself) and was reminded of this meme. I did a Google search of Christmas Memes and selected questions from several sites that I thought were different and interesting. You may or may not like memes but in their own way they do help you get to know someone better, right?!?

Decorations outside? We have wreaths on all the windows and front door, and lighted garland and small trees in urns surrounding the front door.


Real or artificial tree? We have an artificial tree for two reasons:
1) we have to decorate before Thanksgiving because we always host the BSU Christmas Party the Tuesday after
2) we have allergies and I am not willing to chance it.


Tree topper: star, angel, something else? Currently our tree is topped with a star but we have used an angel some years.

Wrapping paper or bags? I always wrap if possible!

Favorite Christmas movie? Two movies make the list: Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas and Elf.


Do you read the Christmas story? Yes

Do you display a Nativity scene? I have a Fontanini set that I continue to collect and a wood carved set bought during a mission trip to Guatemala.



Stocking before or after presents? Santa fills our stockings so they get "opened" at the end of Santa.

Do you like receiving Christmas letters/photos? Absolutely! One of my favorite things about Christmas. My mom has a friend from college that always wrote lots of details about her kids lives and every year I LOVED to read her letters!

Do you take pictures with Santa? With my children being deathly afraid of mascots, pictures with Santa are hit and miss. Some years we try it and others we don't.

(Myself with Santa, 5 years old - December 1980)

(Wes with Santa, 14 months old - December 2003)

[Ann Elise (almost 4), Bankston Hays (13 months), and Wes (6) with Santa - December 2006]

Does Santa get a plate? For sure! This may sound strange to some of you, but it was one thing that kept the "Santa secret" going strong for us Carters - my mom would put one of her gray hairs near the plate and we would always squeal because we thought it was from Santa's beard! HA!

Do you enjoy Christmas shopping? Not at all. Totally stressful!

Favorite holiday smell? cookies baking

Warm fire or sleigh ride? I'd take both...and on the same night :)

Snowball fight or snowman? Probably snowman

[Wes (5) and Ann Elise (almost 3), December 2007]

What do you do on a snow day? Like to get up and watch it fall, drink a big cup of coffee, lounge in my pjs, get layered up and talk a walk/play outside, come in and sit by the fire and thaw out, play games as a family, watch a movie, etc.

[Bankston Hays (13 months) and myself - December 2008]

(Ann Elise, Kris, and Wes - December 2007)

2010 Reading List

I have written several posts about how much I enjoy reading. I love getting lost in a character's life. I like that you can experience a different world for a little bit - most often a world that will never match your own. But perhaps my favorite thing comes in the details that the written word provides the reader.

I have written before about this season of life and how I am not able to read as much as I would like...and even written about the flip side of that - I have read as much as I would like.

I have taken a post or two to write about different authors that are intriguing me or a certain series that I can't. put. down.

I have even written on a few books and how I want them incorporated into my kids' lives.

A close friend of mine from college is an avid reader and has inspired me on more than one occasion. She once told me that her grandmother keeps a list of every book she has read - kinda like her own card catalog - and my friend had started doing the same. She explained it was a good idea to be able to look back and see how much you had read, how your interests had changed, and remind yourself of stories that gripped your heart. The more she talked, I liked it too!

A few years ago I started my own list. I just keep a list by author because it's the main way I look for library books. I find an author I love and keep visiting their shelf until I have read everything they've written. It works for me. Taking an hour to browse the shelves or search the Dewey Decimal system with a toddler (or two, or three!) in tow ain't fun! This year I added a list for the year. I don't do New Year's resolutions so I didn't set a goal - I just wanted to see how many I read and what I read.

2010 Reading List
Return by Karen Kingsbury
Rejoice by Karen Kingsbury
Lavendar Morning by Jude Deveraux
The Witness by Dee Henderson
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Reunion by Karen Kingsbury
Fame by Karen Kingsbury
Forgiven by Karen Kingsbury
Found by Karen Kingsbury
Family by Karen Kingsbury
Forever by Karen Kingsbury
The Last Song by Nickolas Sparks
A Thousand Tomorrows by Karen Kingsbury
Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Cassidy by Lori Wick
Swan by Frances Mayes

When I read back over this list I remember lots of great stories. A few titles stand out more than others. A few titles I wouldn't necessarily recommend, but a few titles I would emphatically say "you have got to read this book"! I also see that I start the new year off with a reading binge (the last book was read early summer) and having the kids home for the summer plus the whirlwind events of the fall, end the year with a reading diet. If I had just kept going I could be close to 50 books!

On that note, I do hope to read one more book before Christmas, Unafraid by Francine Rivers.

Francine Rivers always does an unbelievable job of connecting you to her characters. She has drawn me in on more than one occasion and had me living right alongside John the Baptist (just ask Kris - HA!). I think Christmas is a perfect time to read this book because it is Mary's story. If my list is any indication of my reading habits, I would bet that 2011's reading list will continue with the Lineage of Grace series :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

A number of years ago, my good friend, Christi, mentioned that she had her boys make a list of things for which they were thankful during Thanksgiving. I decided it was a great tradition for our family to adopt!

We have tried different ways of making our list in order to change it up a bit. While they are still young I have focused on making turkeys with their hands and feet.




Last year I must have run out of ideas...looks like I let them color, cut, and paste a turkey and write their own list :)


I hope to keep them in a 3 ring binder and add to it year after year! It has been fun to read back over the years and see how they have matured in their thankfulness....or should I say will have matured :)

I would LOVE to know if you have any ideas of ways to make turkeys!

Handprint Christmas Canvas

A few weeks into school I received the dreaded call..."Will you be a kindergarten homeroom mom?" It was dreaded because I just have not felt like I could give so much time at this point in my life - I still have a toddler at home with me all the time. I figured I would serve in this capacity at some point, but not yet. After a little bit of chatter and her convincing me that the teachers understand little ones tagging along, I agreed to the duties.

So far it has really not been bad. The things I have participated with have been right up my alley and having Bankston Hays with me has not been too much of a problem (except maybe the minute he refused to leave the Discovery Lab and threw a train across the room in his frustration with the fact that it was time for us to go home). My biggest responsibility to date, and possibly for the whole year, was to provide a class project for the Fall Festival's silent auction. I gathered the facts, what they expected of me and of the class, and came up with a plan. We would paint a Handprint Christmas Canvas!

I can be creative and have participated in various crafts over my life, but I had never painted a canvas. I knew what I wanted, but was not confident on how I could achieve it. So, Kris recruited me a creative college student and with her helping me brainstorm we made a plan!

The first set of supplies, plus a 20X24 canvas, and a paintbrush to start the project:

I used painter's tape to line off some "candy cane" stripes.

I painted the stripes red. It took about three coats to get a good covering.

Brandi, the creative college student, and I loaded up some supplies and visited Ann Elise's class one morning. She helped the students do their handprints on the canvas while I herded them to the bathroom to wash up!

The sweet Kindergartners showing off their project :)

The second set of supplies, plus a hot glue gun, some grosgrain ribbon, and a staple gun allowing us to finish the project:

After giving the handprints several days to dry, I gave the sides a couple of coats of red. Then I used the different size circle sponges to paint polka dots around the sides.

Next, I used gold glitter glue to jazz it up and added the tree trunk (by using three fingers).

The wooden discs got painted with bright colors to make ornaments. Then they and the star were attached with hot glue.

Added some polka dot grosgrain ribbon and waaaalaaa....the project was finished!

Not bad for a first canvas...but certainly not making a career out of it :)