Ewwww! A bug!

Perhaps not... While we were outside playing the other day, we saw the biggest dragonfly I'd ever seen! It was at least twice the size of any I'd seen previously - no joke! We found him/her inside the screen tent eating a ladybug. We only saw him for a few minutes, but Kaiden didn't stop talking about it for quite some time!

We ran inside to get my camera. I was actually a bit surprised when I saw how well these came out. This wasn't even with my good lens!

Happy Birthday!

To celebrate Kaiden's birthday yesterday, we went out to Applebees, then to the Children's Museum with Mom, Robert, and the twins. Despite not having a nap all day, he was GREAT! He had a ton of fun, but his favorite things had to be the water table and the firetruck, followed closely by the musical instruments and the fake cow. Pictures tell it better than words, so here you are!

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Now playing: Foreigner - I'm Gonna Win
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Happy birthday! Almost...

Kaiden's birthday party was last Saturday (19th), and was a blast! It did wind up pouring for a little bit, right when we were opening presents too! But otherwise it was sunny and just wonderful, although pretty hot... We had a good turnout, Kaiden had a ton of fun! Really, the only downside was Zach cutting K's head off in some of the pictures.

Since it was so hot, we let him open his new sprinkler toy early. Mom has one at her house, and all the kids love it. I don't know what it is, but every time he gets into a sprinkler, he ALWAYS has to stick his tongue out!

Next up was a nice music/percussion set Kim gave him. She had to leave early, so we wanted to get it open while she was still there.

When he first saw what it was:


And playing drums



I think this has to be his favorite gift out of all the small ones he got! He LOVES this thing! He helped pick it out in the store, and thankfully forgot all about it by the time his party rolled around. I love his expression in this pic.

He also got a bunch of Matchbox cars, and some coloring/drawing stuff. I was VERY pleased with his gifts! He certainly loves them too! I don't think there's a single thing he hasn't played with.

We had to rescue the pinata from the rain at one point, but then after we were finished with gifts, it stopped raining and all the kids got to try and break it. The party was a tractor theme, since it's one of his hugely favorite things right now. I couldn't find a tractor pinata though, so we went with a cow instead, his next favorite thing. That thing was hard to bust too! Even with the teenagers going at it, everyone got two rounds in before it actually busted open!

Last but not least... The cake that almost wasn't! Thank goodness they were able to get this thing made Saturday morning! I don't know WHAT we'd have done otherwise! (The store lost power Friday due to some bad storms, and originally wasn't going to have it back until Sat afternoon)

He also got an art easel and a table and chair set this week, and will be getting a toy kitchen as soon as we actually order it. He really loves drawing, so the easel was a must. I honestly can't believe HOW much he loves it though! The first night, he was playing on the chalkboard for at *least* an hour. Trying to get him to bed, I asked if he wanted milk, and he actually said NO! (Those that know him well, you know how much he likes his milk! lol) Then when we finally got to bed, he had to wave ni-night to the easel. The table is great too - now he has somewhere to do his puzzles!

Fabric Gone Wild

I rearranged the office, aka the Fabric Room, earlier this week. All the store products, fabrics, and other rescue related items are held in this room. Even after adding another set of shelves, and cleaning out an entire trash bag worth of fabric to give one of our volunteers, my shelves are STILL overflowing! I guess that's what happens when you have almost 300 different fabric choices!





These shelves have all the cotton and flannel prints for the rescue. Up above is out of season products, plus the solid flannels. In the storage bins to the left is my (very messy) personal fabric stash. In the wicker basket are seasonal fabrics that don't fit on the shelves.
























And here is all the fleece. Don't you just want to curl up in it and take a nap?
























In other rescue related news, we released a new hammock design over the weekend, and we've gotten a ton of orders for it so far! I can't wait to see some of the finished products. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll finish early enough tonight, I can make some new hammocks for my crew!


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Now playing: Jann Arden - Insensitive
via FoxyTunes

Wow, I really stink at this...

Well, blogging at least! It's hard to believe I haven't updated since January. A lot has changed since then!

For starters, it's summer! No more winter blues, no more snow, no more cold, and no more bundling up to go outside! I would have never believed it, but those 5 foot piles of snow in the yard finally did disappear! Summer really must be the best time of year. The sun is out, it's light all day long, you can wear sandals, or even go barefoot! The beaches are great, the windows are always open. Perfect.

The animals are all doing well. We had the joy of fostering a puppy for a few months this spring, and while stressful, it was a lot of fun. Keifer was a young mixed bred who came to our house recovering from worms, partially housetrained, and in need of some guidance. While I usually don't care for puppies, he was very mature for his age, and it was all but love at first sight. He was adopted by a wonderful couple, and is now living the high life! Really, who couldn't love this face?




The rescue is going well. We're closing in on a year in operations, are incorporated with the state of Maine as a non-profit organization, and are working on becoming 501c3! I manage the store, which seems to become busier by the day. It's a ton of work, and while I don't gain any income from it, it can be fun, and it's great knowing I'm supporting our rescue efforts in such a large financial way. We've had adopters from as far away as New York, and have had customers from all across the country.

Check us out and spread the word! http://www.mainelyratrescue.org


Kaiden is doing great. It's very hard to believe he's going to be TWO years old in just a couple weeks! He looks so grown up now, even with his beautiful curls, there's no mistaking he's no longer my little baby. He's learning new words all the time, loves giving big bear hugs, and will eat almost anything you put in front of him. He's had spells where he's wanted broccoli constantly, how's that for an awesome eater? His all time favorite foods have to be tomatoes, strawberries and pickles though. He could down an entire container of cherry tomatoes in a day if we let him, and the same holds true for strawberries. He's always asking for pickles, and loves the Hannaford brand organic garlic dill spears. Apparently, pickles also go especially well on pizza! ;)

He has some cute quirks as well. When he asks please, he'll tap his right shoulder. Sometimes he'll do it along with verbally saying please, while other times he'll just tap his shoulder. I have no idea how he came up with that sign, but it's very cute! He has a little toy cow he loves. He has it with him most anywhere. He builds it barns from his blocks, feeds it "hay", and makes sure it goes to sleep in the proper place every night. He really enjoys helping with the laundry, and usually is the lint trap checker.

His birthday party is this weekend, and this week is already flying by trying to prepare! There's calling around to those people who haven't RSVPd yet, getting all the food, tons of cooking I'm sure, cleaning up the wazoo! He's VERY into cows and tractors, so we're doing a mostly John Deere theme this year, since he had cows/farm last year. We couldn't find a tractor pinata though, so he's got a cow one. He even helped pick out the pinata fillers, and had great fun choosing what we should have.

We have a Dr's appt next week for him. We're having issues with his eczema, and need to get a referral to a pediatric allergist. Hopefully our Dr doesn't give us a hard time about it, as we really need to figure out his triggers to get it under control. I don't know what we'll do if strawberries wind up being one of his triggers, but we'll find out soon enough. Nate also wants to get his hips/legs checked, as K has an odd gait while he's running. It's possible it's just typical weird toddler running, but it doesn't hurt to get it checked.

As for our crazy weird lifestyle? We're still doing cloth diapers, and Kaiden is getting very close to being potty learned already! I've got to sew him up some trainers, but most days he stays pretty dry. He's differentiating between which he has to do, and will ask "potty" if he has to urinate, while will ask to "toilet" (rather urgently!) if he has to poop. We are still nursing, mostly at naps and bedtime, though still here and there throughout the day. I've been able to maintain a (mostly) plastic free household, at least inside. We were planning on doing a garden this year, although the plans never were actualized.

Now lets see if I can actually keep this thing up to date this time around! Here are some recent pics of K to tide you over. :)













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Now playing: Jamie O'Neal - Somebody's Hero
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