Birthday Time

It's hard to believe that 20 years ago we had our first newborn baby.  We have enjoyed having Darryn here at home the past two years while he has been going to college and working in the deli at the store.  The "cake" is brownie squares and oreos.....his two favorites....with a few M&Ms sprinkled around for color.

At 15, Dwight is now as tall as his brother.  We are thinking he might pass him up.  They have always been pretty good sports about having to share the same birthday!

DQ Reese's ice cream cake.....yummm!

And a week later Ericka turned 18!  It's hard to believe I have another one almost through high school.  We have enjoyed seeing her come out of her shell and become a fine young lady.

And the day after Ericka's birthday, we had a new birth....a heifer calf.  It doesn't look like the other cow got bred.  Guess where she will be heading to soon?  Yup, T-bone soup.

Science Fair

We always do some groaning when it's science fair time.  This year Devan & Renae managed to pick ideas that were fun for them and they ended up getting awards in their grade level.

Devan got first in his test of what melts ice the best/fastest.  He put table salt, rock salt, sugar, sand and nothing on three ice cubes.  Each substance had its own bowl.  He kept these bowls in the frig for an hour and then measured the amount of water melted.  After that he let them all finish melting at room temp and measured the remaining water.  That way he was able to find the total amount of water in the cubes (ice cubes are not the same size) and figure a percentage that was melted in the first step.  His hypothesis was right....rock salt won.

Renae got second place in her cookie project.  She made 4 different batches of chocolate chip cookies and changed the type of sugar she used. She used white sugar, brown sugar, honey, and splenda.  She then measured the height and diameter of twelve cookies from each batch to get an average.  She was surprised to see how changing only the sugar made such a difference in size and texture.

Dwight did a project with a friend on whether gender makes a difference in what you see in an optical illusion.  They found that gender does not make a difference but that most people see what is darker ink.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Dwight's board.

Random Pics from Winter 2015

I love snowmen in my yard and I am so happy that we still have kids that enjoy making them!  

The morning after a night of freezing rain

Thankfully it didn't get windy and melted off by the next noon.  Sure was pretty!

March snow

Taken through my window

Basketball Season

Ericka has really learned to enjoy playing basketball.  This was her last year and I think she was kinda sad to see the season end.   She played point guard. 

Another Teenager!

For about 7 weeks (until Darryn turns 20) we will have 4 teenagers in the house.  Renae is turning into a young lady!

13 years old

Devan painted a picture for Renae

Meet Dexter

Well, we are way over due for another post.  We have a new addition to the family....Dexter.

We have had him since mid December....an early Christmas gift for Renae.  A family from church had these puppies and she just thought they were irresistible.  That's "all I want for Christmas" was all we heard and Mom & Dad finally caved.  What we do for our kids!  I am still not real sure about this whole house dog thing but I think we are getting somewhat used to it.  The biggest inconvenience will be when we want to be gone.

First bath

The mommy dog is a shitzu/cocker spaniel mix, and has long hair & floppy ears.  The dad is some kind of terrier.  We are thinking probably a rat terrier.  Three of the four puppies have short hair.  We are hoping he won't get too big.  He has grown since we got him.....this is a current picture.

3 months old

The plan was to keep him in the kitchen.....that lasted about 1/2 day.  He was just too "adorable" and "cuddly."  We did invest in a crate for him to be in at night and when we are gone (or tired of watching him) and that has been so nice.  Charlie, who sleeps on the rug inside the deck door and who doesn't move from there all night, was very jealous at first and let us know in a not so pleasant way by leaving deposits of poop scattered around on my living room carpet 2 nights in a row!!  The 3rd night he slept outside and the 4th night we put chairs up to keep him in the kitchen.  Since then it hasn't been an issue and Charlie is learning to put up with the little squirt and they play wrestle together.

And on another note, Devan turned 11.  Where, oh where is the time going?  In a mere 5 years my "baby" will be 16!

11 years old

Harvesting a hornets nest

We have found 3 hornets' nests around our house this year and 1 at the end of the lane.  One was on the eave of our house and we had to destroy that one.  This one was nicely made on a branch.  Darryn was the rescuer.

The idea was to put it up by our bear BooBoo.  What do you think?  At least one kid doesn't like it there, but not sure how else to display it.