Bobcat In My House

When I got home on Wednesday night, this bobcat was in my house...

Just kidding!!! It was this bobcat...

Addison just started scouts and couldn't be more excited about it. He earned his bobcat badge at pack meeting on Wednesday. He had to wear the badge upside down until he did 3 "good turns"...

1 - carried in groceries for mom

2 - cleaned up dvds without being asked

3 - got Tom a drink

PS - it's crazy to me that I use words like "badge" and "pack meeting" in reference to my own child.

Room With A View

I have been watching this bird make its nest for the past 6 weeks. It is just outside the window in front of my desk, so as I'm working, I often find myself staring at the bird sitting on her eggs. Last night, while Tom and I were cleaning up after dinner, Addison came running in yelling, "There are baby birds in the nest!" We came in to look, and sure enough, there they were. They like to peak their little heads up and flap their wings. The mama doesn't spend much time on the nest anymore. I'm not sure where she is off to. I don't think she'll win mother of the year, for sure. When she does come back, though, I love seeing the 4 tiny birds poke their heads up and fight for food. I've tried to take pictures of it, but every time I open my window, I scare the mama off.

I took this picture leaning out my bedroom window.
We all decided to draw a picture of the nest and birds. Tom and Addison sat on my bed and sketched long after I lost interest in my lack of artistic ability.

Addison's rendition.

Living In The Woods

Things that are not so great about living in the woods...

There is always a bug on me or someone near me.

Tom has to set and get rid of these regularly. Thank heavens for him. Remember when mom was in Oregon and I was in Pleasant Grove and I called her screaming about a mouse under my bed? I don't remember what happened to the mouse, but I do remember thinking that I wasn't getting off my bed until she got home.

Stepping in coyote poop.
(This is dried coyote poop, so it's not as bad)

You'll have to enlarge this picture to see it, but there are scratches on the panels of the house. This happened in the middle of the night, and is just below one of my bedroom windows. It was scarier than when the mouse was under my bed.
I live so far away that it costs me a million dollars a month just to drive Addison to school. The fact that gas is almost $4 a gallon here doesn't help.

And then there are the noises that keep me up at night. In addition to wild animals scratching my house, there are coyotes howling, wild turkeys gobbling, and owls that sound like demon children laughing (that's even scarier than wild animals scratching under my window).

What I love about living in the woods...

This is where Addison gets to go when I say...

"Why don't you play outside for a while?"

My New Slippers

Steph W. and Erin sent me a pattern for some slippers that they were making in December when I was there for Christmas. Knowing me and my inability to follow patterns (or recipes), I wasn't sure how they would work. But here they are and I'm in love with them. They were actually really easy... the first one at least. I breezed through the first one without any problems. It was my Saturday Conference Session Project. The second one was the biggest pain. I think that because the first one was so simple, I didn't pay as much attention when I was making the second, and I ended up knitting it (or portions of it) 4 times!
Tom wants a pair next, so tomorrow we're going to my favorite yarn store in Pacific Grove.

This is what they looked like before felting. They were huge. Anyone who saw me working on them would ask "who are you making those for?". They were even too big for Tom and he's a bigfoot.

This is after they have been felted. They're still a little wet in this picture.

Sea Otter Classic

Every little boy should have been in Monterey on Saturday.
We went to the Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca (which is just across the mountain from us and hosts lots of car races, bike races, and other events). I didn't realize what a big deal it was... It was a huge event. www.seaotterclassic.com
Addison was in heaven. There were bike races, crazy people doing crazy tricks on crazy courses, and LOTS AND LOTS of things for kids to do. There was a small bike course for kids that was so much fun. Addison could have spent the whole day there.
The whole area is really just an enormous dirt field. It was so windy that day. We left covered in dust. I'm still trying to get it out of my ears. The wind was super cold, too. I kept asking Addison if he was ready to leave as his dusty little body shivered in the cold. He wouldn't have it. I lost count of how many times he asked if we could come back next year!

Addison's ready to ride! Behind that big speaker that is in back of Addison, you can see a biker riding down off a ramp. Just beyond that there was a an obstacle course that these guys were doing unbelievable tricks on. Unfortunately, my batteries died just before I went to take pictures of them. They were selling batteries in one of the merchandise tents (which I actually got for free because the guy didn't have change - yay for large bills!). By the time we got back around to checking the course out again, everyone was done. But, I promise it was cool.
Addison did the EuroBungy. Quote: "I've never had that much fun in all of my entire whole life."

Addison sliding down the innocent looking blow up slide.
About 5 seconds after Addison got off this slide, it blew end-over-end and landed on its side. He was the last one to ride it before it went flying. There was a little girl in it at the time. I have never heard anyone scream like her mother (understandably). The little girl was fine and all of the kids games were taken down. While I love blow up jump houses and the like, I will never, ever put Addison in one again if there is the slightest breeze.
One handed!!

Spring is Here!!!

Ellen wants to know where spring is... It's here!
I walked around my house today and took pictures of all of the wild flowers and blossoms that were growing.

At Amy's Request

Amy wanted me to post the picture of her family where they are actually ready for the picture that is being taken. I am happy to oblige. I think this is such a good picture of Dean. He's so handsome (...just like his reward posters).