These pictures are from Sunday 2/17/08 . We started off our day with a trip to the Franklin Park Conservatory. It was raining lightly outside but inside it was warm and beautiful.They have this great exhibit "Enchanted Express a garden railway by Paul Busse going on. It is so much fun for the young and young at heart. Who wouldn't be thrilled to find trains running through the exhibits suspended from the ceilings. They also have scenes from history built out of natural materials such as bark, seed pods, pine cones etc. It was very magical.
My favorite was the Great Wall of China.

Megan cracked us up the way she just stuck her head into this picture of Paige.

Aunt Shann and her Ohio girls posing for a picture.


They didn't have all of the Chihuly glass on display. The entire collection will be back on display next year. They could have it out all the time and I would not get tired of seeing it. Aunt Shann was impressed with what she the glass that she got to see.
These orchids were hard to resist, both me and Shann could snap a bezillion shots of them.



Paige took this cute "Sister shot" of us.

After walking around the conservatory for a few hours we were ready for lunch. Aunt Shann treated us to a tasty lunch at "First Watch" one of our favorite breakfast-brunch-lunch spots.
Then we headed to Build-A-Bear so the girls could use their gift cards that Aunt Shann, Uncle Steve, Cody and Chelsea got them for Christmas. They each got cute pups that bark and wag their tells when you pat their heads. Paige named hers Charlie and Megan named hers Ruby.

Our first day with Auntie was full of fun. Mike made us waffles and hash browns for breakfast. Then we hung out and Megan showed Auntie her Webkinz on the computer. Auntie brought Paige and Megan the turtle webkinz. Megan named her's Stella and Paige named hers Pablo after Chelsea's tortoise.We took Aunt Shann to Aquarium Adventure. Nemo was there so we stopped and took pictures. Good thing they don't let you take more than 3 oz. of liquid on the planes or Aunt Shann might have bought herself a sting ray.
"JUST KEEP SWIMMING, JUST KEEP SWIMMING, SWIMMING SWIMMING!"

Paige and Megan showed Aunt Shann how they put their fingertips in the water and the sting rays come up and tickle them.


We also went to Hobby Lobby to get some paper for a little crafting. We stopped at Border's Books so the kids could buy some books with their gift card from Robert. When we got home we had lunch and did crafts. The kids colored and painted while Shann and I made faux mosaic picture frames. They turned out cool.
We had my "All American Chili", salad, and cornbread for dinner. After dinner we watched "Nanny Mc Phee".
Rebel story: When we got home from the airport last night Rebel was in his puppy cage and Aunt Shann was talking to him all sweet. That little booger started growling at her, big mean growls. I have never heard him do that. We think he smelled Tucker and Rosea on her. Then Rowdy came over and got some Auntie loving and then Rebel came around and decided she was pretty darn nice. Now the little booger won't leave her alone.

Rebel-frosty paws is ready to come in and warm up in front of the heater vent. He had some fun playing chase with Paige. Megan's friend Caitlyn came down to hang out with us today. After she got here they played out in the snow for about an hour. They dug up ice chunks, had a snowball fight, built snow castles (with the sandcastle molds) and tried to hide from Paige. After about an hour they came in for some hot cocoa and played inside the rest of the day.
Here is one of the chunks of ice they dug up. We have the fire pit covered with a tarp and some water must have puddled up in it and made some cool ice formations. Paige thinks this one looks like a tooth. They are all bummed out now because it is 36 degrees and raining out. So much for the prediction of 5 to 7 inches of snow. We are lucky if we got 3. But at least it was enough for a snow day.

Snow day! No the snow has not caused any "havoc" as the local newscaster predicted last night. They made it sound like the blizzard of 78 was coming. So far we have about 2 inches and it's still lightly coming down. I guess it was enough to close the schools. The kids are thrilled. Well I have to go put the dogs out. I am sure Rowdy will not be amused by the white stuff. I will post more pictures later after the kids go out to play.

More pictures from Friday nights fundraiser at the kids school. Below Megan and Cameron share a smile.
Paige's teacher Mrs. Schmitt was there helping out so she came into the gym to see the 4th graders sing.
We got to meet Megan's friend Caitlyn and her family too. Megan and Caitlyn are in the same class and they have become good friends. They were a couple of hams up on the stage. Playing air guitar and waving to their families and friends before the show.
Paige's friend Sidney came and sat with us while Megan's grade performed.

All because of a few too many puppy treats....well sort of. On January 22 we took Rebel to get his shots. The vet mentioned that he could stand to lose a few pounds. Turns out Rebel has had a few extra puppy treats, oh and he was getting a little extra a scant 1/3 cup of dog chow around 10 at night to stop him from whining. So the good doctor says just one puppy treat a day and no extra kibble and you may want to switch him to weight control, but do it gradually.

Rowdy has been on the IAM's "blue bag" for the last few years so no big deal. Actually it will be easier to feed them both the same kind of IAMS.

So I start switching him over and I don't really have enough of his old IAMS so I went and got a little 4lb. bag so that we have enough to mix with the new stuff. Well a day after getting the new bag (which is the same exact stuff he has alway eaten), he gets diarhea , while I am at work of course. Poor pup, locked in his cage with the runs. So now I am thinking I am switching his dog food to fast and upsetting his system. So I stop giving him the reg. & weight control mix of dog food and just give him the reg. food from that little 4 lb. bag.

Then on Sunday we notice that Rebel had a swollen spot near the inside corner of his eye. At first I thought he may have a clogged tear duct. So I put a warm wet washcloth on it. That seemed to do the trick and he looked better last night. He even looked fine this a.m.
I took the dogs out at 7 and then they came in and ate. I was cleaning the kitchen and took the dogs back out around 10. Then at noon I went upstairs to fold laundry and get cleaned up.
When I came back down I was going to give the dogs their lunch when I noticed that Rebel looked like he had been in a prize fight and lost. His entire face was all swollen up.
I made a quick call to the vet to see if they could get us in. As I was waiting for the receptionist I went ahead and snapped these pictures. Poor guy, he looks so sad.
Turns out he was having an allergic reaction. After running through possible causes I am feeling that it may be that dog food. The vet said there is such a thing as "Storage Mites" you can't see them but some dogs can be allergic to them. She said it could also be from a spider bite. But it seems that all of this started when I started giving him the dog food last Wed. So I threw the bag away. I told her I didn't think that it was from the mixed food since Rebel has eaten Rowdy's dog food in the past without getting sick.

The vet gave him a cortizone shot and a shot of bendryl. She also gave me some bendryl pills to give him for the next week or so. She said the swelling may take a day or two to subside and he will drink more water because of the medicine but he should be fine. His heart sounded good, his coloring was fine. She was glad that I brought him in and I was thrilled that they got me in kind of last second.
Paige was upset when she saw him. She doesn't like her puppy all puffed up. He is resting in the beanbag and I think he looks a little better now.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of cereal? Post's Great Grains with rasins, dates and pecans.

Soup

When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go? It was Wednesday 1-23-08 I got this cool glass piece at Home Goods for our bedroom. It has a blown glass jelly fish inside it. It's really cool and the price was right at ten bucks.

Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen? By the way this is why people who work retail think it is SO RUDE of their customers to carry on a conversation on their cell phone while we are trying to ring up their purchase.

Play video

Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey).

Cumin Okapi

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t seen my sister since June 2005!
And I am so happy that will change in just 14 days!

Yesterday we took Paige and Megan ice skating at the zoo. It is the last weekend that the ice rink is open. I wish they would have it open through the end of February. It would make sense because the schools have a 3 day weekend in mid. Feb. and it is certainly cold enough. As you can see from the grins the girls had a great day of skating. We skated from about 1:45 to 4 when the ice rink closed. Megan was the last off the ice. While we were taking off our skates she went back out for a few more laps. I am not in that many photo's because I seem to be the photographer. Paige took this picture below for us. It turned out good. I should get some brownie points for being able to skate and take photos at the same time. Cocoa break for our skaters! I think we were the envy of the skate rink. They usually have a little snack bar that sales cocoa and treats but it was closed. We packed our own so we were all set. We also had some homemade snickerdoodle cookies.


Now here is a non posed action shot (above) notice how Paige has to skate into the picture with her tongue sticking out. Thanks Paige we will always treasure this picture.






Why is it that at some point (weather it ice skating or swimming) your kids decide they want/need you to pull them around? Maybe because you can? I don't know, but this is their favorite game on the ice or in the water they love for their dad to pull them around. Poor dad he's gonna have a sore back.



Getty up Bullseye, skate (run) like the wind! For those of you who don't know, Bullseye is the horse from "Toy Story 2".


"Mmmmm thanks for packing the hot cocoa mom, you think of everything, you are the best!" I am just making that up, but I hope they were thinking it at least.