A Visit to Botanica

It's hard for kids to understand the concept of time. And even harder for them to fill the hours of "waiting" until the pool opens up! Why the YMCA doesn't open their outdoor pool any earlier than 1:00pm is beyond me, but I'll tell you that it's difficult to pacify pool-anxious kiddies when 9:30am rolls around and they're convinced we should be swimming! (And why is it that kids can pop out of bed at 7:00 am ready to face the world with boundless energy, and it takes me half an hour to drag myself out of bed and wipe the drool off my face? So unfair!!) So, with more than enough time to fill, this morning we decided on a picnic adventure to Botanica!!
Ethan was grossly disappointed to realize that Botanica is nothing more than another "FLOWER PARK" which inspires any and all adults to incessantly snap pictures of the beloved children. I had to bribe him, actually, to even go to Botanica . . . bribe him with the butterfly garden that Botanica is highly acclaimed for!
Of course, Ethan had no problem with getting his picture taken with this tame monarch butterly.
Christlyn got her turn to hold the butterly, too, as the two kids watched several other butterlies hatch from their cocoons (or crystals as the butterfly volunteer called them). We saw all types of moths and butterflys . . . too many to recount! But, we were given a Butterflies of Kansas book that I'm sure Christlyn will cherish as much as Ethan loves his Snakes of Arkansas book!!
Little did we know when we arrived at Botanica that there was some sort of preschool play day at the park. Though we shared the park with about 50 preschool age kids and their parents/day care workers, we were allowed to do several activities, including the one above. The kids each got to make a necklace out of fruitloop cereal to hang in the backyard for the birds to eat. Christlyn was very artistic and made a pattern out of the fruity cereal. Ethan just wanted to eat the cereal!!
Doesn't she look contemplative? I love this picture!! It embodies the essence of serenity and peace! Most five (almost six) year olds ask lots of (loaded) questions! Today she laid them on thick!!! On the carride home, she asked me "Are God and Jesus the same person? How can two people be one person?" So, we had the Father-Spirit-Son Trinity discussion--which let me assure you left her more confused than ever, but she nodded politely when I asked her if she understood!!! Then, out of the blue she asked me what " I swear" means, "does it mean saying bad words?" How do you explain to a five year old how one word can have two different meanings! Once again I got the "sure, okay, uh huh" look and polite nod!! I'm just glad that after spending the morning out in the park with the butterflies and bubble bees, that I didn't get asked the "birds and the bees" question! I mean, as Aunt Kathryn, I can only do so much!!!

Lego Mania!!

The kids wanted nothing more than to work on their table! So, after breakfast we took a walk, all the way to WalMart, for some paints to decorate their table!
Ethan keeps talking about painting a "Messed Up Jungle" (whatever that is), so we (I) started out with some trees and grass as a template for the kids' jungle theme!! Though it was only 72 degrees and cool, the mosquitoes were out to play! So we were limited in our time outdoors!!
After a long day at the water park, we came home and made homemade pizza with Uncle Chris. The Italian Seasoning had a little teeny weeny malfunction and nearly the entire bottle ended up on his pizza! What better way to solve the problem than with the vacuum cleaner! The kids got a kick out of it--especially when he accidently sucked up a pepperoni!!
Ethan had waited all day long for Uncle Chris to come home so he could have some expertize in lego house building!! Afterall, Uncle Chris is the highly acclaimed lego maniac!!
Together they built a white two story castle!
And Ethan wanted pictures of his crazy face!!

Carpenter Craze!!!

After weeks and months of listening to the kids beg to come to Wichita, I drove down yesterday to bring the kids up for a week of crazy-Aunt-Kathryn-style fun! We had a giggle-filled car drive and arrived just in time for dinner! Today the kids were a little disappointed that it was cool and cloudy, as they have been also begging to swim at our YMCA pool! We took advantage of the cooler weather (mid 70s) and took a walk to the park and fed the ducks! After dinner we joined Uncle Chris out on the deck, where he is working on rebuilding the deck. The kids wanted to build something and use all the fun tools. It was all their idea, in fact, to build a table with the scrap pieces of wood from the deck. So, with a little bit of help from Uncle Chris and Aunt Kathryn, they put together this table top. We'll secure the legs tomorrow evening and the kids already have big plans to paint the table all kinds of bright colors.

They each got a turn hammering the nails to secure the table top.
Ethan was very particular in his hammering, taking care and precision with each hit; and he did a very good job!
The job always gets done faster when two work together!!

Before they can paint their table, we have to sand off the old deck paint. It's a meticulous job, but someone has to do it. We would have finished up the sanding but the mosquitoes came out to play! So we came inside to play!! I'm sure the rest of our week together will be just as creative, productive and funfilled as today has been!!

Off with the Blue, On with the New

If I had blogged last summer, you may have gotten extremely tired of the hundreds of pictures I took of my blue beauties! Without knowing how well they would thrive, last spring I planted a "couple" morning glory seeds by our deck and a "few" others by our fence.

To put it lightly, they took over the WORLD!! As much as it broke my heart to rip out the vines last fall and as much effort as I put into collecting their three hundred thousand seeds, we (mainly Chris) decided that perhaps we should skip the morning glories this year! (Sigh, wail, sniffle) Weren't they b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!!!!

Instead, our deck is now borded by boxwoods, red flaming bushes, a handplaced rock border and a new addiction: cosmos flowers. I planted these ferny, flowering giants from seeds all the way from Santa Cruz, California, given to me by my great uncle Orville. I doubted that they would even grow. Instead they, too, are thriving marvelously and are, in their own way, taking over their little piece of this world! (The ones in the front yard are taller than I am)
These morning glories on our fence grew so wildly that they climbed over the fence and took over our neighbor's bushes as well. Twice I cut them back out of her bushes, but they came back even stronger.
In their place, I planted tomatoes. They have had a little struggle, but seem to be pulling through nicely. The back tomato bush is as tall as the fence. They are finally covered in dozens of tomatoes, but only three have ripened so far!
And here is our lone corn stalk! It grew as a volunteer probably planted by the pesky squirrels! I pulled it up, thinking it was a weed but when I saw a corn kernel attached to the roots, I quickly put it back into the soil. It's brother did not survive my transplanting scheme, but this one seems to be hanging in their. We're letting it grow just to see how tall it will get!!!

Family Additions

She's been at it again!!! Yes, the amigurumi making addict has once again added to the crazy zoo! Perched on an endtable in our living room, the happy animal family continues to swell in size so much so that soon they will not all fit! Until then, I'll continue to cram them all on for the fabulous family picture I take whenever an animal is added!
Here is Monte the Meerkat, who may or may not look more like a opossum than a meerkat, but don't let him hear you say that. And since meerkats travel (and cause trouble) in packs, he is still awaiting a fellow meerkat for troublemaking companionship, which may be awhile!!
Before I started another meerkat, I had to bring Paco the Penguin (the man in black) a colorful batch of squatty friends to keep him company. You see, all of the other animals at the "zoo" were so tall he had a huge inferiority complex. But now!!! Oh now, he fits right in--though he does feel a little bland standing next to all that color!!!!!
After working with all of that color, I just couldn't go back to the drab brown of a meerkat, so I experimented with this purple lion named Leah the Lion. She was loads of fun and she very well may soon get some fellow lions to play with!
And now for that happy family picture!!!!!!!!