The Pretty + The Brave: Snips, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

Ari caught a frog this past weekend.

And a lizard.

And a toad.

Ari catches creatures that I, to this day, get the goosebumps by simply looking at them, so forget catching them.

I love having a little girl and wouldn't trade her for the world. But, truth be told, I wanted nothing but boys. When Seth and I add to The Clan, I want a boy. I'm just more comfortable with boys. PLUS, I know how much work little girls are - or at least I know what I put my parents through...

Up until about age six she was the girliest girl I knew. But now, she runs with the fellas.

Air will climbs trees, scale walls and rassle animals as if she's a TV show host on Animal Planet. She's the polar opposite of me when I was her age. She's that easy-on-the-eyes, dainty girl that surprises you when she can punch harder, run faster, and fear less than most the boys her age. I'm that easy-on-the-eyes, dainty girl who can punch harder, run faster and fear less than my four year old - and even he gives me a run for my money.

My Bella is proud that she kicks ass and requested I photograph "Todd the Frog," which Ethan later pointed out was actually a toad. Duh Mom?! But we were so used to calling it "Todd the Frog" that the name stuck. Besides, 'Todd the Toad' isn't as catchy *wink.*

Todd

The kids were outside with their friends during their critter capturing and so, in true kid-fashion, they were taking out snacks and drinks to feed the entire neighborhood. I was getting ready for dinner and cleaning up so I asked the kids to bring in all their snack containers and whatnot. They did. And this was on the counter.

No biggie, right?! Just a Skittles container. WRONG! Just as I was about to open it to stick it in the dishwasher, Owen swoops by and grabs it and starts shaking it like he's Darla in Finding Nemo and says, "MOMMY OUR LIZARD IS IN HERE!!!!!!"

'No, it's not. It could possibly be' - is what I was thinking. I mean, the guy was shaking it pretty violently.

WAKE UP FISHY!!!!!!
Source: Finding Nemo

"Uh-huh Mom. Wanna see?"

So I took the container (still not convinced of its contents) and went on the front porch to open it (juuuuuust in case) and guess what?! Out crawled a flippin' lizard. The little scaly creature dude looked side to side as if he were crossing a street. Scurried a few feet away. Paused. Then got the hell outta dodge. Apparently, Ariana knew the lizard was in there and it was her idea to keep it. Oy Vey.

It seems like ever since it's officially turned to Fall, the weather has been, for the most part, beautiful. The humidity isn't as high (on most days) and we're able to spend more time outside without looking like we took a shower fully clothed.

Since it's so nice we've been able to take a lot of our art-type projects outdoors, which is awesome because it's easier to clean up. And what is the favorite artsy thing to do outside?!....in our house, it's PAINTING.

We paint outside. Or in a garage. I have invested too much money in my furniture and don't want to invest ANY in replacing my carpet, therefore, we DO NOT PAINT in the house. Even if we do it on the kitchen floor, paint somehow ends up in the most random places. Soooooo, thanks to our beautiful fall weather we were able to paint outside. And since we do take it outdoors we go all out - might as well. So they created beautiful works of art on a living canvas (a.k.a. they painted each other). Unless, of course, you're Owen, in which case you just paint yourself!

I have NO words for this

Speaking of creating, we went to Lowes this past weekend for their Build and Grow clinic. If you have kids and wanna get them out of the house on Saturdays, take 'em to Lowes, It doesn't cost a thing and the kids will have so much fun. Trust me. Lowes will have little kits with everything you need to make your project. Last week was a Leash holder and this past Saturday was a puppet theater.

Trying to perfect his hammering technique

Now he's got it!

It's so tough to get all three of them to act normal at the same time

The project for this past Saturday was supposed to be a firetruck so they had a firetruck, ambulance and police car outside of the store for the kids to tour afterwards. My kidlets loved it, especially Owen - he thought the policeman was badass. They honked the horns and sounded the sirens of the firetruck and ambulance and the look on Owen's face when he got to honk the loudest.horn.on.Earth was priceless.

In the firetruck

Then we headed downtown to the T.T. Wentworth Musuem where I attempted to teach the kids a little somethin' somethin'.

"City of Five Flags"....aaaaaand yet I count seven?!!!????

It was funny to see what sparked each of their interests. Owen was drawn toward more of the big machines, military displays and weapons and whatnot. Ari loved the stamps, typewriters, flags, and displays that she could interact with.

And you would've thought I bribed Ethan to be my little assistant because he was genuinely interested in it all and would ask me great questions like, 'So why did stamps only cost 5 cents back then?' and 'How did archeologists find and unbury their findings?' It was cute. And fun.

'Pensacolians'....I guess that makes me a Missourian

This is a real letter (written in the 1800s) that a soldier wrote to his wife.
He started it with, "Dear Wife" and he signed it "Your affectionate Husband."
Hey, I thought it was funny.

$100 to join the Southern Army?
Count me in - that's a price worth riskin' my life for.

Took me a minute to realize it wasn't real

Then we walked across the street to one of several parks downtown to chillax before getting lunch and heading home.

Ready to toss their pennies into the fountain on the count of three.

Love the lighting in this picture, gives it a vintage look.

Making a boat out of leaves.
And yes, he shirt is SOAKED!

My other monkey. She loves climbing - especially trees.

Their boat capsized

We had a good weekend. But this coming weekend is sure to be even better, so long as I don't find that Ariana convinced Owen to pack nature's critters in his luggage. LOOK OUT ALABAMA, here we come!