There's a RAT in the kitchen... what am I gonna do?

The "Rat in the kitchen" song from UB40 came to me last week. Yes, we had this lovely munching RAT in our attic for the past 3 weeks. We would hear a loud chewing noise above the cabinets in the wee hours of the night. So, we got a trap from animal control and set it where we thought was a spot they got in at. And BAM! We got it on the first night. Shae says she is so cute and can we keep it as a pet. NO WAY! Our neighbor happily got rid of it. :-)

Pictured above is Nala and Tuesday enjoying their cool morning outside. Yes, you see it right .... they are wearing a darling doggy blanket. Up here in north country we had a couple of cool mornings and when we would take the dogs outside they would shiver a bit. So, Kayla and Shae wanted me to make them a blanket to wear for when winter came. We went to the fabric store and Shae picked out hearts for Tuesday and Kayla picked out monkey's and flowers for Nala.

This was the first one from the pattern. They did not like the back legs on it so we cut those off and just formed it like a blanket with front legs. This winter ought to be interesting as both Nala and Tuesday love to be outside.

"Down the hatch, me laddies!"

Today, we were very lucky to be able to step inside this 1/3 scale pirate ship replica right here in Prescott. Tom, the girls, and I met Captain Shep this morning so I could set up a field trip for our home school group. Captain Shep built this ship by hand on one of his properties. "The Pirates of the Caribbean" was his inspiration. He hopes that one day his now 2 1/2 year old grand daughter will enjoy this with her friends as a cool place to go and remember her grandpa.
Complete with rusted old locks Captain Shep opened up the entrance at the back end of the ship.

Inside the ship everything is old and Mike states that practically all of it is real pirate stuff that he has collected from various places.

There is even a large bed at the front of the boat. The girls could of stayed in there for hours. We felt privileged to be able to have a private tour. When we go in October with our home school group we will be sure to dress up in our pirate get up!

It's SOCCER season!! Yahoo!

This is Shae's second season in soccer and she just loves it. She was so lucky to get light pink as her uniform this year. We were joking with her telling her that we thought her uniform was going to be brown. Today we all packed up our chairs, ice chest, beach towel and umbrella and headed for her first Rough Riders Soccer Clinic. The weather was just beautiful at 73 degrees with complete cloud coverage.
Shae's team has 10 girls and a nice coach. And Tom so graciously stepped up again this year but as assistant coach. He says he is moving down from coach to assistant coach to dad sitting in a chair on the side lines. ha,ha,ha!
Come watch a game if ya like! Email me and I will send you the schedule. :-)

A Quick Glance

Kayla is still rehearsing every week for the "Joseph" show. Lots of kids, lots of hours of singing and dancing and lots of rushing around. :-)

SHOW DATES September 25th and 26th

We are so lucky to have such a great network of friends! Yesterday, my good friend Danette and her daughter Kassy hosted an "Earth Party". In their homeschooling curriculum they are studying the earth and its continents. Danette made and decorated a Earth cake and it was a HUGE hit of the party. Her 8 year old daughter decorated with maps and globes and made each child a place card. What a great idea and way to go Kassy!

Tis the season for black berry pick'n.

Last summer I got a hint of a wild black berry patch in the forest up past Groom Creek and my friend and I went out to find it. She has moved out of state and we miss her dearly. But the girls and I kept our new tradition alive and went to pick berries after our school work was done.

I even dug up some fresh dirt with worms for my compost that we started this past month.

And I can't forget to mention the neat beetles that we came across on a mushroom.

The days have been busy since our homeschooling started up again. But we have a very flexible schedule that allows us to enjoy life and the nature around us. Early this morning we went to our local zoo and harvested the community garden. The girls did a quick sweep around the zoo to say "hi" to the rescued bear "Shash" and the Bengal Tiger "Kassie" and then up the hill to pick the fresh squash and zucchini.


There are so many things to do and activities that we can sign our kids up for and so many things for us parents to get swamped with by volunteering. I have decided to evaluate my schedule and back off and ditch some things. That has been a great thing for me!

Tom The Turkey

Kayla's second book is finally ready for print and we will be presenting it to the Prescott Public Library for approval to enter circulation and it should be ready to check out sometime near the end of October. For a sneak peak at the book page by page you can see it on the Reading Rainbow website .

The show coming up...

The show rehearsals are going just fine. It has been a hard week at camp but it was fun. We have had to come to a decision for Shae and her participation in the show. We have decided to pull her out. She is just not into it as Kayla is and her soccer coach emailed the schedule and it overlaps way too much. I feel that for a 6 year old that is just too much. What was I thinking!!! Rehearse 4 -6 hours a week, do school, girl scouts and then practice soccer once a week with a game on Saturdays and when would she play with her friends and be a kid. That is like a high schoolers schedule for goodness sakes! So, in the end Tom and I had a long talk with Shae and we let her think about it and then she came to me and whispered in my ear and she said "Mom, I choose soccer."

So, SOCCER it is for Shae! Kayla will continue to rehearse every week for the next 5 weeks and Shae will relax and enjoy her 6 year old life. After this we will take a break from theatre till possibly next spring as Kayla has her eye on a old educational series and a musical coming to Prescott Fine Arts Association "Schoolhouse Rock Live! Junior."

We are rehearsing!

The show is going to be great!

Practicing their bow.

We have over 75 kids in this show and they have started their rehearsals and are very excited!

They have so many friends here and the "bigger" kids have become their mentors.

The Good TimesKeep Coming

My great friend came up from Tucson this past weekend and we had an absolute blast together. I have not seen her for over 3 years and it was almost like we never parted. That is truly a blessing when you can pick up where you left off. I miss her a lot and we have different lives now and live in different places but I can see us together in our golden years after our children grow old and our hubby's pass. I know that is weird to say but soooooooooooo true in my heart.

She has 2 boys and I have the 2 girls. They all got along great and had so much fun together!
We had to bust out the slip n slide and what fun that was.

We all went to Goldwater Lake and had a picnic lunch and caught creepy crawly things.

Here I am ready to catch whatever comes my way and of course with my camera around my neck.