Duck in the sink

Look closely, there is a duck in the sink!

Getting an autograph

Sam loves playing baseball, and is a fan of our hometown team, The Cincinnati Reds. Today he went to meet Jay Bruce, and got an autograph. Pretty cool!

Flowers blooming

I had to take a picture of the beautiful flowers blooming in the garden I created to honor my brother.

Go-Kart

Tim was reminiscing about the go-Kart he had as a kid, and decided that we needed to get one too! Eric and Sam are having a blast with it!

Spyro

This is Eric's bearded dragon, Spyro. He is a real sweetie even though he looks a bit scary. He is very docile.

Climbing with friends

Today we went to a rock climbing place with our friends Holly, Riley, Maya & Seth. I had to re-learn how to belay so that the kids could climb. I had a bit of trouble remembering how to tie the knot, but I finally got it!

Rice experiment

We set up a rice experiment that is supposed to show us how powerful positive and negative thinking really is, and how intentions are very powerful. This idea came from Dr. Emoto, who became famous when his water molecule experiments were featured in the movie "What The Bleep Do We Know?"

His experiments demonstrate that human thoughts and intentions can alter physical reality.

The idea is to put cooked rice into three jars. (I have seen it done with just two jars as well. We wanted to do the third jar to see what would happen with it as well.) We are supposed to read what is on the label at least twice a day for 30 seconds each while holding the jar. The idea is to set positive intention on the one, negative on the second, and ignore the third. We will do this for at least 30 days to see what happens! I will report back then. If you look this up on Google, you can see other people's results. It is fascinating to me!

Checking for leftovers

Casper likes to check Owen's dish to see if he left anything behind. Nope, not today. Of course, he was hoping for some tuna to show up out of nowhere!

Fake fluffy snow and kitty

Eric decorated our window with some fluffy fake snow. Casper loves snoozing in it, and kneading in it. Such a cutie!

Owen's new toy

Owen and his new toy!

Decorating Sam

We decided to decorate Sam along with the tree and the house!

Oh the lights

I love lights! This shot is a bit blurry but still pretty nonetheless.

Winter festival

We went to The Beach Winter fest today. The park opened just for homeschoolers. We had lots of fun! It was very chilly, but the sun was out. I love the sun! Going down the big toboggan slide with eyes covered up was a big hit. My favorite was the beautiful white horse.

Boomerang

Eric has been practicing throwing his boomerang, so we went to a big open field with a friend to try it out. While I was watching them, I was also watching this incredible sunset. I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Bringing home the new fish

It feels so peaceful to watch the fish swimming around. After much research, Eric added a snail for clean-up duty to the tank as well.

Which fish to get?

Checking out the fish, trying to decide which ones to buy for Eric's new aquarium.

Batting cages

Sam is excited about playing baseball again in the spring, so he wanted to go hit some balls at the batting cages.

Just chillin

We went to the moving store to buy the biggest boxes they had. We bought two big ones and filled them with peanuts. It was fun to play around in the box. It feels good to say yes to my kids even when my mind is saying, oh no, this will make such a mess! The joy it brings them definitely outweighs the mess!

Fish and turtles

We have been spending a lot of our time at Bass Pro Shops the past few months. They have an awesome tank full of fish and turtles. We love watching the fish swim around, and the turtles bask in the light.

Playing in the street

Sam and Eric and some friends were having fun playing in the street. Eric was "fishing" for his friend, throwing a non-hook lure out to see if his friend would get it. Sam was pushing his friend on an office chair we had in the garage! They were having fun!

Kitty in a sling

Eric's coat became a sling for the sweet kitty. He seemed to like it. He is a snuggly cat. Did I tell you how much we adore him?

Experimenting

The ingredients to try out a new recipe for toothpaste, and one for deodorant.

Rockband 2, and Guitar Hero World Tour

The new additions to the family! Eric likes Rockband, and Sam likes Guitar Hero, so now we have them both! Rock on!

A bonfire and s'mores

The weather was perfect for having a bonfire and making s'mores! Yummy!

Reading up on fishing

Fishing is definitely a passion in our house right now!

Look at my fish!

My view

This is where you could find us for most of the summer. Very peaceful and relaxing!

Boo!

More at monster mini golf

The Go-ped ride

Riding together

Not back to school monster mini golf

We went to play monster mini golf to celebrate not going back to school after the summer!

Another first ride

Sam's first ride on his Go-ped