(Hat tip: Pauley)

One set of my in-laws are always gracing the boys with artsy gifts. This is probably attributed to the fact that they are heavily involved with museums and my mil used to be (and maybe still is) an antique seller/appraiser. They live in a quaint little area of Connecticut where there are lots of little mom-n-pop toy stores, antique stores, etc. Very neat shops, to say the least. Anyway, for Easter, they sent the boys each a Nyokki egg plant pet. I’d never heard of this before, but assumed, from the description, it’s like a chia pet, but on a smaller scale for kids. We finally opened one up and started it a couple of weeks ago. It’s very cute!

Nyokki means “grow” in Japanese. And boy, once they start, they really live up to their name!

Here’s a pic from yesterday:

And here’s a pic I took this morning:

Once I compared the pics, I couldn’t believe how fast the grass is growing! A couple more days and the boys will be able to cut the hair, if they want. So far, we’ve really enjoyed them. It’s fun to see how fast they grow!

We took the boys to the circus on Saturday. I remember going a couple of times as a kid and I loved it. It was the first time the boys had ever been and they didn’t really know what to expect. While on our way out, we asked the boys what they thought. The first words out of Zach’s mouth were “It was sweet! It was excellent!” I guess that qualifies as a rave review! His brothers had similar views about their first circus. All-in-all it was a great family outing. Below are some of the pics. I won’t post them all, as that would be too daunting. But I’ll post some of my favorites.

Keep in mind that the whole show was basically about the head clown taking the ring master’s hat, which made the ring master not do his thing real well and made the clown sort of take over the circus. It was cute banter back and forth b/w what kind of acts the ring master had and what kind of acts the clown had.

I’ll warn you: some of these are blurry. I had to sacrifice taking “action” shots for taking pics in night mode. I couldn’t do both. Either I could take action and they would all be dark, or I could take them in night mode, get some good shots but have some of them blurry. I opted for the latter, obviously.

DH tells me he’s really playing. Brian would know…he’s a trumpet player. Anyway, I thought that was pretty awesome. No way could I play like that! I give him mad props.

It’s a porcupine! He’s cute, isn’t he?

This was the view from our seats. Pretty good seats

You know that age-old question we all ask ourselves after doing laundry: Why am I missing socks? Where did they go? It appears, the majority of them go to Narnia!

see more Funny Graphs

I am a pack rat. There, I said it. I have things saved that I’ve never used, but refuse to throw out because I’m afraid that as soon as I do, I’ll have a need for it and then won’t have it. I have a huge Rubbermaid bin full of boxes that I have saved from presents over the years (the kind of boxes you wrap clothes in, mostly). I have another slightly smaller one with gift bags. I have yet another smaller one full of tissue paper, ribbons, bows, tags, etc. I save them all. I haven’t had to buy a gift bag or box in years! DH rolls his eyes when I start folding up the tissue paper to save, but I haven’t had to buy any of that in years, either!

Alex brought home an art project to do with the family. It was a heart that needed to be decorated. One of my favorite things to do in elementary school was to do tissue paper art. I instantly thought of that when he handed it to me and knew that’s what we’d have to do. What’s more, I knew I had the exact colors of tissue paper needed for the project! See, sometimes it pays to be a pack rat! Here’s the project, in steps:

Sadly, this came in a while ago. I just have been so busy with school and work I haven’t had a chance to participate yet! I was tagged by Melissa over atMultitasking Mama to list 6 random things about me that you all may not know. So, here goes!

1. I have a fear of public restrooms. I’ll use them if I have to, I just don’t like to. They completely gross me out.
2. I am not a very good housekeeper. The house isn’t dirty, per se, it just is a bit cluttered. I guess that could be attributed to the lack of storage space, but I’ll take responsibility for it.
3. I love books. Ok, probably not that random, but I really do. I just love the look and feel of them. Even if I don’t read them. Although, I’m an avid reader, too.
4. I am dreading turning 29 in January. It’s far too close to 30, and that scares me to death!
5. I am not an organized person by nature. It drives dh CRAZY because he is organized by nature. I try, and may stay organized for a couple of weeks, but I can’t make it stick for good. I’m trying, though.
6. I love to cook and bake. I am much more likely to bake a treat or birthday cake, for the kids or anyone, than I am to buy it.

Here are the people I’m tagging. I’m supposed to tag 6 people, but sadly, I don’t have that many people in my blog arsenal…So, I did 2 instead : Heather and LeeAndra.

Brotherly love

Other than my post in CT last Sat, I haven’t had time to post anything! We’ve been super busy since we got back Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening the boys and I went off to the kick-off party for the Steve Tasker March of Dimes Golf Tournament. Monday was the tournament. It was a long day, but it was fun. Well, it’s been a long two weeks, really. My sisters shower went smashingly and our trip to CT was loaded with fun, even though it was during some of the hottest days of the year! I thought I’d show off some of our pictures from our trip to CT. I’ve embedded them as slideshows and there are 2. You’re welcome to click on them and see the stills in my webshots photo album.

These pics are from CT. The first half of the pictures are from Quassy, one of only 11 trolley parks still remaining in the U.S. We had a lot of fun, especially at the Saturation Station (the water park.beach area).

Connecticut 2008

These pictures were taken on Saturday when Brian and his dad took the boys to a Yankee’s game. They only stayed 3 innings, but in their defense, it was 100 degrees out that day! The boys said their favorite part was riding the subway. Funny, but no surprise since they love trains so much, lol.

Boys Day Out

Here are the pics from the Golf Classic.

March of Dimes Charity Golf Classic

Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend

Today is a great day (although, admittedly, I’m really tired. I haven’t been sleeping well at all.) It’s a beautiful day and I’ve shooed the kids outside to play. We will be joining some church friends for a barbecue and fireworks later this evening. I am excited to see what Rochester has to offer for fireworks. There are fireworks downtown and in just about every ‘burb, so there are plenty to choose from. We’re heading to a neighboring ‘burb to see them, since that’s where our church friends typically go.

I hope everyone has a great Independence Day!

Oh, and thank you to all active and retired military personnel. We should be thanking you every day, not just on holidays that remind us of our freedoms.