Ladybugs

One problem with having 27 fruit trees in your yard is that aphids apparantly LOVE fruit trees. Maybe the sap from the trees is extra sweet, but whatever it is, our yard is full of the little buggers. Thankfully we have learned over the years that ladybugs think that aphids themsleves are quite tasty and feast on them. With as many trees as we have that means a lot of ladybugs. Thankfully Walter Anderson Nursery sells them in containers of 1500. We figured two containers would do the trick.

We didn't get a chance to actually count the ladybugs but, based on the amount that were all over Teigue and Stella, I think we released enough.

No go eat!

Ambush

The setup:

The wait:

The attack:

Oh the things that make a 5 year old very very happy.

Thank you Walka G for playing the part to make a 5 year old very very happy.

A Monster Has Been Created

No one is safe from Jayno the Stylist. 

Sorry Billy.

Fancy Haircut

Although she looks completely terrified, my little lady was able to experience something that she has been talking about for months- going to a salon and getting her hair cut. I think it started when a stylist came to her school for community helpers week. The stylist talked about what she does and what she does during the day. During the talk she gave one of Teigue's teachers a very fancy hairstyle and after that Stella was hooked. Every night after her bath she has to sit on the hamper and look in the mirror. I then have to pretend that I am the stylist and she is my client. I say things like "Why hello Miss Fox, how was your day?". We then chat about her day and I pretend to cut her hair while combing it out. Today, she got to experience the real deal.

She loved it. She sat so still and listened to what the lady wanted. She wasn't scared, didn't yell, wasn't cranky (even though she was super tired and almost fell asleep in the car on the way over). She sat while the stylist put in pigtails, complete with non purple bows- hello, can you see her outfit? She later told me that the stylist pulled her hair a lot when she was putting the pig tails in but Stella wanted pretty hair so she sat. I think it was worth it. 

Oh yeah, Teigue got his hair cut- he picked the style out himself, told his stylist exactly what he wanted- and somehow aged 3 years after it was all over.

Quail Gardens

I love Fridays. Both kids are off from school and we can just play play play all day long. Bike rides at the park, beach day, zoo- whatever suits our fancy that day we just do it. We stay out all day and just have loads and loads of fun. Ice cream is usually eaten, or at least a hot cocoa- something with sugar that can than be run off at our destination. Today's destination? Quail Gardens in Encinitas.

Quail is one of those places that we love to go to but for some reason don't go as often as we would like. They have everything- ice cream, waterfalls, bamboo, fruit trees, play areas- just a small little garden area that just makes us so happy when we are there. 

On this day we discovered a new fun game to play- Tic Tac Toe, played on a board made for giants!

Teigue seemed to catch on to the game a tad quicker than Stella and won the first two games.

This made Stella pretty upset so, Teigue being the best brother in the whole wide world, fixed it so that they both won. He couldn't just let her win, because then he would have lost. They both had to win.

While Stella was still over at the game board, Teigue wandered off to chase down a grasshopper that had flown by when they were playing. It eventually landed on a plant right behind the area that we were at and Teigue was fascinated. He sooo wanted to pick it up and hold it, but grasshoppers are somewhat tricky- they move really fast and can poke you with their back legs, ouch- so Teigue was a tad hesitant. What was his solution to this problem? Why, call on over his 3 year old sister and try to make the touching of the grasshopper seem all magical and wonderful. Make it seem like she would be crazy for not touching it, it would be such a cool experience. Make it seem like he is doing Stella such a favor by allowing her to grab the grasshopper.

She almost grabbed it too, but at the last minute backed away so I had to step in. Not the best part of my job, but something that comes with the title of Mom. As I was reaching to grab it Teigue let it be known that I was no allowed to let it go right away and scream like I normally do. OK, sure, I said. What happened? I picked it up, it kicked me on my fingers 1000 times in a second and I let it go, screaming. Thankfully it drew blood or else I would have been in deep deep trouble with my little man.

Oh, Teigue found a fallen tree to climb.