Escaping from: daily routines, church & predators

Let's see.... when last I left the blog, I had just attempted the early morning drowing of a spider. I really didn't have time to write about it, but did anyway. I was on my way out the door all on my own that morning. What a wonderful day! I spent all day Saturday teaching colorguard (flags for the band) at one of our neighboring schools. It was great! I got to 'do my thing' and get a break from my regular life. (Don't get me wrong - I love my regular life, but getting away from it is so rare!) Greg kept both boys all day! :) Since you-know-who still won't take a bottle, they all came to visit me mid-morning so Alan could nurse, then again at lunch, and mid-afternoon. Greg and the boys spent the day shopping and running errands.

Dale spent 2 or 3 days last week asking for apples. We hadn't had any in the house in a while, so once we got some for Dale, Greg and I were very amused at his apple-eating method:

Had to leave church mid-service again this week. :( Mom had invited us for lunch, so since I wasn't going to be in church, I just went to their house and cooked lunch, lol. So when they all got back from church, lunch was ready! We were just finishing lunch when Dale looked out the window and said "What are those animals?" We looked where he pointed and saw 2 big black ugly buzzards. Have you ever seen a buzzard walk? It's hilarious. If you combined a chicken walk, a duck waddle, and a very dizzy drunk man, you'd have a walking buzzard. After our initial amusement, it occurred to us - uh-oh - what poor deceased creature is attracting these birds to our (my parents') yard!?! Mom hadn't seen one of the 2 cats that morning (the good one, in my opinion - sorry KC! - NOT that I would wish ANY harm to the other one.... he's just kind of a grump). Anyway, Mom and I went out, following the buzzards, rounded the corner and saw a group of 4 all congregated, bob-waddling. My heart was pounding - I was sure I was about to see a pet cat carcass. Long story short, couldn't spot anything the buzzards might be interested in, and kitty-cat eventually shows up, safe and sound. :) Dumb ol' birds.

And right on the heels of stalking buzzards yesterday, I felt like a pioneer woman defending my own back yard today.
Dale was out playing and wanted to slide, but there was a spider web across the slide. So, I wisked it away (no spiders in sight). Well, of course, then there were spider webs on the other side of his fort-thing where you climb up to get to the slide. I got rid of those too, and yet, Dale still wasn't climbing up. I prodded him, and he said, "I'm just looking at that thing hanging underneath there.

Holy smokes. That thing is about half the size of a small head of iceberg lettuce. So.... forget about sliding for today.
We move waaaay over to the other side of the yard, and Dale wants to play chase. Not my idea of fun with Alan on my hip. (I'm sure Alan wouldn't really enjoy that either.) Instead we opt for Simon Says. Simon had just gotten going good when, genius that he is, suggested putting on Daddy's sandals that had been left out in the grass. Dale put on one, and then says, "I can't".
Simon wants to know "Why not?"
Dale says "they have ants in them"
So then Alan gets to feel after all what it's like to be on Mama's hip when she runs. Dale only had a couple on his feet, and it didn't even seem to bother him that they had bit. I took both boys in and went after the ant poison powder. I disovered that anywhere there was mown grass covering up good grass, there were fire ants underneath. Great.
So our backyard that just yesterday seemed so safe and secure is actually a haven of venemous, predatory creatures! We went in before we saw any snakes.... or started attracting buzzards.

We opted for some nice, safe, indoor activities. Disovered a bug in my rice last week, so I saved it for a craft project. We colored it with food coloring and vinegar and glued it to coloring sheets printed from the computer. Suspiciously similar to last week's macaroni...I know. Must be the same person planning all these activities. Oh wait...that'd be me.
Painting on the glue...

Alan entertained himself...And the finished products:In case you can't tell... that one on the bottom right is a train engine. :)

Got a notice in the mailbox when we were gone Saturday that we'd missed some certified mail for Alan. Went to the post office to pick that up today, hoping it was telling us he'd been accepted for one of the programs we applied for a few months ago. Nope - just time to reapply already. How disappointing!
Can't go to the PO without going to the Library...they are right across the street from each other! Exchanged some books, visited w/ Mimi for a little while.
Stopped by Nana and PawPaw's for a few minutes on the way home.
Now both boys are napping. What a good time to blog! :)