Meet Reba

This our new little puppy.  The kids have been wanting a new dog ever since Bear died back in 2009.  This spring we started thinking about getting a maltese when a lady had a litter and gave them away.  The next litter she had, she decided to sell the pups and not just give them away.  We couldn't afford the price of the puppy and the vet bills, so we decided to wait.  The beginning of this week, my sister Jenny called and the litter of pups the lady was trying to sell, weren't selling so she wanted to give them away.  We decided to take the plunge and surprise the kids. They couldn't believe it!! They were so happy and touched that we got them a new dog.  The older ones keep coming to me and thanking me and telling me that they are so happy to have a dog again.  Reba is 16 weeks old and beautifully tempered, I think she will make a great family dog....and happily Maltese don't shed and they are hypo-allergenic! If you notice her name - "Reba", it's Bear's name with the letters mixed around :)

Twinkle, Twinkle....

This morning we went to the zoo and Zaria walked most of the time. When we got home she played outside for a while.  When we decided to come in for her nap, I laid her down in bed and then was doing some work in the basement and ran upstairs to check on her.....this is what I found.

Apparently she only made it to the corner of the hall thinking that she wasn't tired before she fell asleep!

Another Park Day

Today we went to check out another park we have never been to.  This particular park has a new nature center that was completed in 2009.  It was wonderful!!!! It was put together beautifully and was a wonderful hands-on learning experience for the kids.  We started in the nature center and decided to do the walking trails afterward.  The 2 women that were working in the center were absolutely delightful.  We walked in and I told them that it was our first time here and they gave us a little tour of the place and then walked into the area that is called the "Wildlife Den".  The woman told the kids as we were walking in the door, "Now when we walk in here, I want you to touch everything that you see.  Take stuff off of the counters and spread out on the floor and explore everything you see!" The kids eyes were like saucers! It was so exciting for them to explore the different activity centers they had there.  Here are a few pics of them checking out the activities and then on the nature trails. 

Ruby and Naomi coloring butterflies. 

Dillon checking out the fur samples.

Rosie showing Zaria how to make an animal imprint in a mold.

The animal prints they made.

Sample of what you can see in the wildlife den.

Adam in front of a tree cutting.

Zaria and Rosie matching animal babies with their mamas.

The kids in front of a cool group of trees. (Zaria didn't want to join them.)

I guess she wanted to be the only one in the spotlight....

Animal home in a dead tree.

All 6 kiddos on the trail.

First Day of Spring Break

Today was a beautiful start to the kids spring break.  The weather was mild and sunny.  We decided to head out to an open space park that had lots of trails to explore.  We had a SUPER fun time! The kids just had a blast and didn't want to leave.  Everything was just starting to wake up after winter, we saw a few peeks of green growth here and there and some bulbs starting to break through the ground.  We walked probably 3 miles from start to finish - even little Zaria! (She did ride on my shoulders for a while though:)  Before we headed to the park I made a little detour to our local Dollar General store and picked up 6 disposable cameras to surprise the kids so they could have pictures to maybe make a scrap book of the different things we did this spring break - they were thrilled!  It was so fun to get out and enjoy the outdoors after a long winter.  Here are some of the pics I snapped along our trek.