the bug hunt

Isabel went on a bug hunt in our front yard. She came in and said she had found a snake. I thought maybe she thought she saw one, but told her to tell her dad. So, they went out and came back with a snake. I was really surprised!

It was pretty small, but it still made me a little nervous. We are all just recovering from being sick. I had already make three trips to the doctor in 4 days and didn't want to have to take anyone in because of a snake bite. Joseph tried to reassure me that these little gardener snakes don't bite. Well, when it started opening it's mouth and turning toward his fingers I thought, it's time to set him free; I've seen enough. It was a pretty exciting bug hunt for Isabel and maybe I better give a little more supervision on the next one!

the perfect climbing tree

We just discovered a new playground that is AWESOME! It has some really cool equipment that I've never seen before and it has this amazing climbing tree. Isabel LOVES to climb the trees in our backyard. This tree has so many branches coming out that she can climb quite easily. She climbed over twenty feet high. I made her stay a little lower, but she is very adventurous.

chuck e cheese

It's been so long since I've posted a photo! Sorry, I don't take enough pictures and I'm trying to do better. My friend (Katie-Beth) actually took this picture of Ansel on her phone and emailed it to me. This was from a recent trip to Chuck E Cheese. I remember loving this ride when I was little. Katie-Beth and I will save up coupons and then go get a large pizza and 80 free tokens. We don't ever spend all the tokens in one trip, but Isabel was more into playing the games that you win tickets (not just the rides). So, we ended up with over 100 tickets this time!! She decided to get a car for Ansel and a tatoo for herself. Ansel LOVED the basketball game. They have one for older kids and younger kids. He could hold the smaller sized balls pretty well. I had to hold him up and he would throw it over the glass. He didn't ever want to stop playing. We would go do something else and I would turn around and he was gone. I knew right where to look for him: the basketball game. He was there asking for another turn. It was pretty cute. I thought Joseph would be proud at how boyish he acts.

the news

So, some of you may already know, but I wanted to make the announcement official by putting it on the website: I'm pregnant. We are really excited and especially because we found the perfect provider for us. We have tried an OBGYN, CNM, and now we will see a Lay Midwife. We are very excited to deliver at a birthing center instead of a hospital. For those of you who don't know, I prefer to have babies naturally and don't share the attitudes about birth with the hospitals I've been to. Using hypnobirthing techniques (self-relaxation, positive thinking and visualization) makes it an enjoyable, powerful experience and not a horrible or painful experience. I know that most people dread the actual act of having a baby, but I am really looking forward to the miraculous event. (Having a baby is hard work, but it's MORE work once you bring them home, lol.) Anyway, I love talking about birth, so feel free to strike up the conversation with me if you haven't gotten enough yet. Well, I'll keep you posted. We should have an ultrasound next month and find out the gender.

the BBQ

So, I just bought a BBQ grill and am so excited to use it. Isabel said she was also very excited for it. I questioned her about her excitement reminding her that she does not really like the kind of food we will make on it. She said "But, I like BBQ chips!"

the crab incident

Isabel came running downstairs to tell us that Ansel had ripped one of the hermit crabs (our beloved pets) out of his shell. Ansel has been more interested in our crabs lately. Every morning as soon as I get him out of his crib he walks straight into the play room and gets the crabs out. Anyway, we ran upstairs thinking if you pull them out, they will die....they'll hold on so tight that they just rip in half. Also, I don't understand how Ansel could try pulling the crab out without getting pinched real bad and dropping the crab. After arriving in the play room we saw there was a naked crab (shell...less) on the carpet with all the shells in the tank. It was VERY weird. We didn't know what to do at first, but we just put all the empty shells next to the crab and he got in one of them and we put him back in the tank. BUT, we have NO idea how the naked crab got out. We are guessing that he must have just gotten out of the shell himself and Ansel put the empty shell back into the tank. But, I have no idea why our crab would just get out of his shell with no other shell in sight and outside of the habitat. Anyway, it was pretty crazy...but the crabs seem to be doing just fine.

wrestling and tackling with dad

So, I don't think I can really do this story justice, but I don't really write in journals so I just need to get this story written down here. One of Isabel's favorite things to do is wrestle and tackle with dad. She often says to me that she hopes dad will feel like wrestling and tackling when he gets home from work today. Their play is ever evolving into different variations of the same game. What happens is Joseph says he is so tired and he better take a nap. Isabel then runs up next to him and jumps as high as she can and lands on her knees on Joseph's back which causes him to moan in pain. He then slowly wakes up and inquires as to who woke him up. Then he says, "do you know what I do to little girls who wake me up?! I bite off their toes." He grabs for her feet and she screams with delight.

A few days ago Isabel added a new element to their game. She said that she was really tired and dad could wake her up if he wanted to tackle with her. He woke her up and she said, "do you know what I do to big mans who wake me up?! I tackle them." It was so funny because you could see her little brain translating what Joseph would say into what she could say. The second time she did it she substituted "big mans" with "adults." Anyway, we just thought this was such a funny story.