Cute Stuff

Here's a little video from today. Madie is talking more and more everyday. She sure is a handful just like her sister but in a different way. :) Enjoy!

Picture of The Not-So Itsy Bitsy Spider

My camera finally cooperated so here's some pictures of my little spider friend. If you didn't catch the story click here.

This is how I left the area until Jake got

home to "catch and release" the monster!

a little bit closer...

Is this close enough?

How about this?

My little friend here is about the size of a sand dollar. I believe he is a Wolf Spider...though I could be wrong. I know many of you are probably thinking I'm a spider genius...sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I am not a genius....AT ALL!

Here's some interesting information I found on Wiki about Wolf Spiders:

They are robust and agile hunters, and have good eyesight. They live mostly solitary lives and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic wanderer hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or chasing it over short distances. Others lie in wait for passing prey, often from or near the mouth of a burrow. (click on the link above and scroll down a bit to see a picture of the Wolf Spiders SIX eyes!)

Now doesn't that make you feel better. This guy must have been one of those opportunistic wanderer hunters. In fact the last two must have been! Well, my oh my aren't we the lucky ones?

The first time we had a wolf spider in our house was when we lived in SLO. Before we found our little hunting friend we kept finding little black house spiders all over our carpet every morning. There would be about 3 or 4. Weird right? Well what's more weird is that we were finding at least 3 dead spiders every morning for at least a week or two? That means three things:

1. We had a LOT of spiders in that house.

2. The wolf spider was living in our house for at least a week of two.

3. The wolf spider was the most opportunistic wanderer spider I've ever seen.

I'm hoping there won't be another spider story for a long time........though at this rate it will be in about a year. Until then I'll bore you with other stuff! ;)

Hurry!! There's not much time!!

So my friends over at Fig+Sage are doing another giveaway. Lets just say I would love to win any and all of their giveaways. They are always fabulous and green friendly.

This particular giveaway is for an amazing Aden+Anais Organic Muslin Wrap. Now my two girlies were never fond of being swaddled for very long. They both outgrew it within a few months. But there is always hope for the next or the one after that or the one after that......you catch my drift. Plus these amazing wraps have many uses so if all my kids end up hating to be swaddled then I can still use it!

This is my favorite of their wraps. The giveaway ends tomorrow at 12pm. So hurry up and enter. Go to Fig+Sage now! Or don't it's completely up to you.

I did it!!

So I made it. I posted every day this week. And since it's so late and I'm only just now getting to this I won't be posting much tonight...plus I don't really have anything to write about. So instead I will shower you with lots and lots of pictures.........ENJOY! These pictures were taken in the beginning of June.

Silly Girl
Delia and Justus

Fishing at Justus' birthday party.

Close Up

So Serious

Pretty Girl

So Sweet

Weeee!

Sweet Madeline

Delia and I riding my nephews new toy.

Spaghetti!

She loves to swing now and can do it all by herself!

Delia with Marshie, our friends guinea pig.

The Not-So Itsy Bitsy Spider

Remember when I posted about the gigantic spider in my closet at the "moldy house"? Fast forward 10 months-different house, different closet.....same kind of gigantic spider! Oh and the last place we lived in in SLO.....same kind of gigantic spider in that house too! So I'm starting to think they like our smell or something.


So anyways...At about 3:45 pm I started getting the girls ready to go to the grocery store. We were having Jake's cousin Don, his wife Crissie and their girls Taylor and Madison over for dinner. My plan was to run to the store and get the few things I needed and then pick up Jake from work because he rode his bike and then head home and start making dinner. I had to wake Delia up from her nap so she was a little cranky and out of it. She was standing in the entry closet/shoe closet/coat closet...whatever you want to call it....trying to find her other shoe....however due to her sleepiness she wasn't really doing much at all. So I told her I would get it. She moved aside and I picked up one of Jake's shoes and then yelled, "Oh My Gosh!" Because sitting right next to Delia's other shoe was THE SPIDER! This obviously snapped Delia out of her cranky, sleepy attitude and she kept talking and talking....


So after I stood there and stared at it for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do I asked Delia to get her bucket. She came back with the sink to her toy kitchen. I would have rathered her bucket but this would work too. While she was searching I tried calling Jake with no luck....which meant I now had to try to capture this THING all by myself!

Now let me paint the picture for you. In this particular closet and at this particular time there was a vacuum, an umbrella stroller, a paper grocery bag full of hockey stuff, and lots of shoes....probably 8 pairs or so......oh and I almost forgot.....a gigantic spider! Which by the way was about the size of a sand dollar.............that my friends is HUGE!

Since I didn't want to be on the floor in case the spider decided to get me I got the small stool from Delia's bathroom. I stood on that and used a hanger to slowly grab the shoes one by one and pull them out of the closet. The spider up to this point was staying really still. I had about half of the shoes out and then I decided I should move the bag of hockey stuff. Well he didn't like that very much and he moved which made me scream and drop the bag. Thankfully he moved toward the back and not toward me. So now he's slightly under some shoes in the back and I really really don't want to be the one doing this. So I moved the bag again and put it at an angle in the doorway hoping he will be blocked if he wants to escape. Then I continued grabbing shoes with the hanger.

I got down to the last shoe, a sandal and traded the toy sink for a bigger, clear glass bowl. I stood there for a few minutes trying to talk myself into getting the last shoe which the spider was hiding in. Finally I got up the nerve and started to get the shoe. As soon as I started touching it the spider ran or more like galloped toward the paper bag. He took cover there on the farthest side from me....thankfully!! So then a few more minutes went by and I got up the nerve to move the bag once again. I had the bowl ready to capture him but he was fast and I missed him. There goes my bowl.....whoops! He went to the back corner of the closet. Once he got to there he turned around!!! These spiders have 6 eyes......and he was totally watching me........so creepy! So I returned to the kitchen and got an even bigger, clear glass bowl.

Then I got a brilliant idea! I grabbed some cleaner and started spraying him. He did NOT like that one bit. He ran around in the closet and then slowly slowed down until he climbed a few inches up the wall and that is where he stayed.....until Jake got home. Jake called me a few minutes after I sprayed him and by that time it was almost 4:30 pm and I would've been picking Jake up anyways..........so he rode home and then I left as soon as he got here because I still needed to go the the store.

So he sprayed it some more and then covered it with a bowl. Then he put a piece of cardboard under it and SET IT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He claimed it was too big to squish which I completely agreed with......however I would have flushed it or something!

Oh and the whole time I was attempting to trap the spider Delia was as I mentioned talking and talking.....here is a list of some of the things she kept saying over and over again:

~ "Mommy, it's okay."
~ "Just leave him alone."
~ "He wants to rest."
~ "He just wants his mommy."
then when she got bored with the whole spider thing
~ "I'm hungry. Can I have a snack?"
~ "I'm thirsty. Can I have some juice?"
~ "Mommy.........!!!"

I am hoping there won't be anymore monstrous spiders in our apartment. I would post a few pictures of the spider but my camera is not cooperating. Maybe tomorrow!

So that is the end of my spider story...I'm really tired and hoping it all makes sense ;) Oh and by the way it's called a Wolf Spider.....in case you were wondering.

Summer Fun

We have been enjoying our Summer so far. We've already gone "cabining", fishing, swimming, hiking and the seasons only just started!

At the end of June we spent a week at my in-laws cabin(s). Jake's sister Cori and her husband Jeff and their crew (Alex, Casey, Joey, Holly, Kate, & Jack) flew in from Michigan Father's Day weekend. We headed up to the cabin(s) on Monday. We had a total of 15 people....it was a lot of fun. The men-folk built a fence around the property enclosing the two cabins. This makes for a nice area for the little ones to run around in. We visited the creek nearby, went to a rocky beach and got sunburnt, visited the Eddy's (my sister-in-law's parents) and went on a hike at their place, and just enjoyed relaxing and visiting with each other. The guys enjoyed fishing, though I think they broke more lines and lost more hooks than anyone would like to admit.

We headed home on Friday and then scrambled to get everything ready for Delia's party later that evening. The next day we celebrated Grandpa and Grandma's 70th wedding anniversary. There were a lot of people there, most of whom I had never met...in fact Jake said the same thing. We are very glad to have been able to be there and celebrate with everyone! Congratulations Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Peggy!!! We love you.

And now you know the drill. Click below to check out some pictures from our Summer so far.

Summer 2009

Happy Birthday Delia!

We celebrated Delia's birthday early because we had lots of family in town to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma Talley's 70th wedding anniversary (more on that later). And we figured it would be nice to celebrate with as much family as we could.

I asked Delia a while ago what kind of party she wanted. It didn't take her long to decide on the theme. And of course I was delighted with her choice....a ballerina party. When the guests arrived each little girl was given a hand-made tutu (Thanks Mom!). They swung on the tree swings, colored on the driveway with chalk, played pin the flower on the ballerina, watched Delia open presents, ate cake and ice-cream and of course twirled around the yard like beautiful ballerinas. Aside from the heat early on it was a wonderful party and the birthday girl enjoyed playing with all of her friends and family.

I'm doing things a little different this time around. I have uploaded pictures to my Picasa site where you can view them and add comments if you wish. I hope you enjoy the pictures from Delia's Ballerina Party!

Delia's Ballerina Birthday Party

So I have this blog....

and I've been neglecting it for a long time now. I plan on changing that right now though. My goal is to post something everyday this week (except for Sunday and maybe Saturday). We've had a very busy couple of months and there is a lot I wanted to post but feel as though it's too late. So I will just be updating the most recent adventures and/or the most important.

First up is pictures from Madeline's Rainbow party.

As mentioned above it was a Rainbow themed party so we had BBQ chicken kabobs with rainbow colored vegetables and fruit. Rainbow fish crackers, M&Ms, Skittles, Rainbow colored licorice, a very colorful salad and fruit filled cups in rainbow layers(sadly :( no picture). I almost thought I'd see a leprechaun there were so many rainbows! haha just kidding! Oh and of course the wonderful rainbow cake that my mom made.

So here is a slideshow of pictures (taken by my brother-in-law Tyler...Thanks Tyler!)