Valentine's Day Party

I hosted a Valentine's Day party today for J&J and some of their friends. We held it mostly in the garage like usual. That gives us plenty of room for crafts, and we don't have to worry about anything spilling. The kids had the option of making bead necklaces or using markers to color in puzzle pieces. Sienna chose the beads, and she was very patient and persistent about completing her necklace. Then, the kids decorated a large red foam heart with stickers. After some train table play, it was time for decorating pretty V'Day heart-shapped bottles. The kids put in glitter, red sand, and all sorts of metal confetti. They turned out cool. I sure wish I'd taken a picture of all of them lined up before they got put in the take home bags. Probably the favorite craft was the last one where the kids painted wood boxes with hearts on them. Johnny liked that one so much he did two! Woo hoo!

Of course there was a heart-shaped cake and books and bingo. It was just super neat how the kids were taking turns helping read one of the Scooby picture clue books. Really touched my heart. We ran out of time to make the sugar cookies this go around, but no biggie. 3 hours had come and gone in the blink of an eye.

It sure was nice to see everyone, and thanks for coming and spending some time with us.

The rest of today's pics are here.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Don't forget to participate in The Great Backyard Bird Count!

Trains, Birds, and Butterflies

Where else can you enjoy a thrilling train ride, brilliant birds, and beautiful butterflies? Why naturally, at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

It was a gorgeous February day in NC yesterday. I didn't pay attention to the official high, but it was near 70. No way could the boys and I do grocery shopping or chores on such a nice day, so even after a trip to the NC Zoo on Saturday, we headed to the museum on Sunday.

We had a great time. We always do. We enjoyed the breeze in our face during the train ride. Mom took a lot of pictures including the Kingfisher with a fish in his mouth, a Hermit Thrush eating berries, and a Great Blue Heron cleaning himself. The boys were treated to holding an Owl Butterfly in the butterfly house. Unfortunately, the butterfly had a damaged wing, but all the kids enjoyed it just the same. Mr. Train Conductor, Ranger Greg, and one of the bear trainers enhanced our visit with interesting facts. Definitely another great visit.

All the pics from the day are here.

NC Zoo

The boys and I made a trip to the NC Zoo on Saturday. We're having nothing short of spectacular weather for February here in NC, and it seemed like a good idea to spend the day outside. For those that haven't been to the NC Zoo, it is very enjoyable and has lots of delightful animals, but it's in the middle of a rather hilly forest, so put on your walking shoes! You'll get some exercise!!!

During the off season, the Africa parking lot is closed, so we entered through the North America parking lot. That entrance is near the seals, otters, and Willy the polar bear. We just love those 'water' animals. They are so much fun to watch especially when they are active in front of the glass observation windows. The otters will make you giggle as they swim in figure eights right in front of your eyes.

The Bison hear is growing, and they were resting in a very visible spot today. Cool bluebirds flying around the field there too.

Gotta love the gorilla sitting in the Thinker pose. The gorillas were up and about today, and that was interesting to watch.

The elephants were up close and personl, and the mom and her baby put on a nice show as they ate their lunch. I especially enjoyed when they ate nose to nose for a few minutes. It seemed very loving.

Of course J&J were too busy playing the elephant statue game to notice the elephants much. At least I was free to take tons of pictures at that spot while they were entertained by it. Boy did we all miss the Vollmer's here.

Joey was disappointed that Lovey the lion was sleeping. We've heard him roar before. Maybe next time!

The rest of the pics are here.

Joey's Christmas/Winter Break

I put together a slide show of what Joey did on his Christmas/Winter break. He goes back to school tomorrow. I hope he can tell his classmates and teacher that he had a good time.

The pics are here.

Impending Doom

I did what I often do on Sundays and went to Guardian Angel today. If you don't know, that's a thrift store which donates their profits to Alzheimers reserach. The employees appeared to be doing extra cleaning in the back of the store in both the 'guy' section and the 'toy' section. The boys were disappointed that all they had out in the toy section were stuffed animals. The action figures, baby toys, cars, etc. were all gone. We browsed the store anyway. I picked out a few shirts. Joey had a few books. Johnny a new stuffed doggie. We were having a good time until the girl at the checkout told us that they won't be selling toys anymore. SAY WHAT?!? She goes, "Haven't you heard about the Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act of 2008?" "Um, no, what's that?"

Remember all those recalls last year over lead in toys? How could you forget mailing back Thomas the Tank Engine engines or scrutinizing the latest Fisher Price recall notice.

All I can figure is that all those recalls sent some politicians into overdrive and they came up with this absolutely horrible response. In a nut shell, the new IMPROVEMENT to the act is going to mandate lead testing on toys and clothes intended for kids under 12 (or is that 12 and under?). The gist is that thrift stores really can't afford to test toys donated to them, and if they sell a toy that is later found to have a high lead content, they can be held liable. This applies to large companies that can afford the testing and to small businesses and crafty type people who make new toys and clothing for kids.

Can you just imagine how much this will cut into thrift store profits? Can you see the small business owner put out of business? Are we THAT concerned about lead in our kids' toys. Are we that incapable of reviewing recall notices and handling any toys in our homes included in them?

Oh, and apparently this applies to yard sales too. Can we even hand-me-down toys to family and friends without fear of liability?

Oh, I'm steaming on this one.

Think of all the additional toys that will end up in landfills because people like me have no place to donate them anymore. Do those politicians also have a plan for how to handle that?!? I thought buying used toys was a great way to be green. Not only did I save on all the packaging that new toys come in, but I also kept toys out of the landfill.

Think about all the poor parents out there thrilled to find a good quality hand-me-down at the local thrift store or yard sale so that they don't disappoint their kids at Christmas.

Think about the livelihood of small business owners crushed by this new law.

Did I mention I'm fuming over this?

It's time for a 'Change We Need' so let's get this fixed and ASAP.

Here's another interesting article.

Birds and Snow - A Good Combination

It doesn't snow often at our house in NC, and when it does, we're sure to get extra activity at the bird feeders. Sometimes, we even see birds that we normally don't see.

The picture above is a pine sisken. I took it out my office window. He's on the river birch just to the left. I see this guy at the feeder most days, but the snow really dressed him up for that picture.

There are 4 good before and after bird shots here including the pine sisken.

The picture below is a juvenile female yellow-bellied sapsucker. Try saying that fast 3 times. It took me and a friend several e-mail exchanges before she finally figured out what this bird was! It's hard enough to memorize all the adult versions of the birds let alone add in juveniles.

Now, the picture below is terrible quality, but I think it's worth mentioning that I also saw a Northern Flicker a few miles from the house yesterday near my favorite barn/homestead. This picture was taken near dusk from a distance of at least 250 feet.

The Northern Flicker was in the tree just to the left of the barn.