Sometimes it's the little things

We get reminders where we live not to feed the ducks bread because of the effects on the ducks, then the fish and then the pond. So I don't let the kids feed them bread and they are always sad because they see other kids do it. Then I have to go into the "I can't control what other people let their kids do" story :) And then... a friend of mine told me you can go to the Pet store and get cracked corn for the ducks. So off Hailey and I went to PetSmart and sure enough we found wild duck and goose nutrient feed. I am so excited and so was Hailey. We bought a huge bag, put some in a little bag and went down to find the ducks. Of course finding the ducks proved to be a challenge which was not expected :) Eventually we found them and they were happy! Hailey found it funny to watch them bite each other's butts!

Last day of fall break...

For the last day of fall break we met kids from Lauren's class at the zoo. Man it was hot! Only in Arizona do you see kids playing at the splashpad at the end of October. It was a nice way to end fall break and believe me as much as I don't want to go to work tomorrow I am very ready for the girls to go back to school :) They are on each others last nerve and ready for a break from each other. So off to the start of another quarter at school with many new adventures to come.

Afternoon at Mother Natures Pumpkin Patch

We took the girls to the pumpkin patch with some friends tonight. It was a nice 90 degree evening :) Still can't believe I say that on Oct 20th! The girls got to take a hayride, pet some animals, go on a bounce house, run through a maze and pick out a pumpkin. We even saw 3 roosters up in a pine tree, who knew they even did that!

Here is Shawn's proof that he really went with us. He seems so into the pumpkin patch experience :)

I love Girl Scouts

We had our first campout for the year with our Girl Scout Troop. We had a great time. On Friday night we taught the girls some of the basics of camping so they could earn their "Ready, Set, Go Camping" Try-it. They learned 4 different knots (overhand, square knot, bowline and clovehitch), how to light a match (the first step in making a fire), and how to properly roll up a sleeping bag. We had 8 girls and 3 adults in the tent, it was cozy :) We even had a "leader inspired" pillow fight. The girls didn't know we planned it and we had them sitting on their pillows in the tent so away the 3 leaders went with a pillow fight :) We finished the night off with S'mores, wouldn't be a campout without S'mores. The girls finally fell asleep about 11:30pm and the leaders were up all night of course being moms and checking to make sure all the girls were warm enough.

In the morning we got up make lunches for a Habitat for Hummanity house that was in the building process. The girls decorated bags and made sandwiches for 38 people. We drove out to the house and handed out the lunches. We got to meet the family that will be moving in and even got a tour of the house. What a great experience for the girls and leaders. It's so nice to see all these people volunteering to work on a house for a family they don't even know and yet they were so thankful that the girls made them lunch. It makes me proud to be part of an organization that in less than 24 hours we taught the girls about being strong, learning survival skills and donating time to those less fortunate than ourselves.

Out of Africa

The girls have been on fall break for the last two weeks and since we really haven't done anything really exciting we decided to go to Out of Africa yesterday. It is a wildlife preserve/refuge in Camp Verde,AZ (about 2 hours north). They have a tram/bus that lets you feed a giraffe and camel. Then on to a petting area with 2 large ball paythons to pet. The kids love this, I think since their mom is willing to pet or pick up just about anything they have no fears :)

We went to tiger splash where the tigers and keepers go play in a large grass area with a pool. It is so neat to see because nothing is scripted or trained it is all free play for the tigers. I always feel so bad at the zoo and love places like this because the animals have been rescued and are still in a habitat as close to their normal habitat as possible.

We got to catch a few cute moments with the keepers going in with the tigers and to see how they looked like huge babies sucking on the keepers fingers! We saw baby grizzly bears that were the cutest things ever. The last part of the trip was watching them feed the lions, tigers, hyenas, bears and cougars. They call each animal by name :) and throw LARGE chunks of meat over the fence to them. It is so funny to hear the noises they make as they hear the trucks coming with dinner.

The kids were all so tired by the end of the day yet no one feel asleep in the car! Definately a fun day trip! So glad we were able to go, even more glad that our friends the Dyers were able to join us.

Funny things kids say...

I always try and remember all the funny things the kids say but of course never remember them when I want to write them down.

So Lauren and I were at Target and I was looking at Windex, I saw the price was $2.33 and I had a .75 off coupon. I was tired and couldn't think what the total would be. Lauren said mom it's $1.58. Then I explained how other people would pay $2.33 but we would only pay $1.58 and that's how I save money. She then very excitedly said " Wow mom you are so cheap". I think she meant it in a good way!

Then I went to drop Hailey off at a friends because Lauren had a birthday party. So my friend and I took Lauren and her friend to the party while Hailey stayed with Lauren's friends brother and dad. Hailey got upset and I couldn't figure out why since she loves going over there until she says but mom now I won't get an otterpop :) It is a ritual they have that when she goes over there they get an otterpop and she was worried that his dad didn't know that! Then to top it off she faked being hurt and siked them out and started laughing when they were asking her what happened.

Petsitting

Well the girls are extremely excited about the petsitting concept. This week we are watching friends pets while they are out of town.

Above is Hailey with Molder :)

and Lauren singing Jingle bell rock which she changed to Ginger Bell rock because the bunnys name is Ginger.