Catching Up

I was hoping to put some pictures on here, but for some reason, I can't upload pictures from my iPad. But I love my ipad! I was just baking cookies with the recipe on my iPad while listening to the songs I downloaded onto it. it was a beautiful moment. I am concerned about the cookies though. The batter was pretty gritty and didn't taste as good as it did last time. That's how it goes with the vegan-gluten-free cooking. I think it depends on the alignment of the planets and phase of the moon.

Craig took Mason camping this past weekend. It was just me and Maddox, and all I can say is WOW. He was a different boy. Not nearly as many meltdowns, he had an attention span, and was just more mellow overall. Although he had a pretty good tantrum in the gift shop at the Train Depot. Toys were thrown and a display case was almost torn down; not to mention the screaming and flailing. I am really learning not to worry about what other people think with this boy. I am not hoopeful about these cookies i am baking. I just tasted one and it was hard to tell how it tasted because it was so hot, but what i did taste was not that great. It's so gritty. I think last time I used brown and white rice flour, this time I only used brown. who knows? But I digress...

It was a sweet weekend with Maddox though. He was bummed he could'nt go camping, so we made it a special time. And it was. I rarely have any alone time with him. He's such a little sweetie.

(there are many spelling errors and weird words used because of the spellcheck or smart typing program, but I can't scroll up or down to fix it, sorry about that. I hope it still makes sense..not that I make sense all the time anyway)

We now have baby frogs!! 2 so far, another one is almost there, one is ready to pop out his front legs, and I don't know what is going on with the other 3. They could be a different species or slower, or something could be wrong. Time will tell.

Today we drove out to the Brule Campground (State Campground) to pick up Mason's bike that was forgotten this weekend. I highly recommend this campground. The staff was incredible, the park beautiful, and everything was very clean. We ate a picnic lunch at the picnic area which is also the canoe landing. We were the only ones there and the weather was gorgeous. Damsel flies were flying around around and they were stunning. They had black wings with a long iridescent blue-green body. I had never seen those before. There we also some wild irises, roses, and forget-me-nots along the banks of the river.

One of the main attractions for the boys was a mouse that had been run over by a car. I happened to park right next to it, and may have been the one to run it over...but I hope not. It was as flat as a pancake. Literally. Well, Maddox was all over that. I had to practically drag him away, and of course the little guy has to squat over it until his nose is almost touching it. It was a good learning opportunity though. We had a short discussion about the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street. The crazy thing about the mouse though; butterflies loved it. They were all over it. That grossed me out, because I don't associate butterflies with roadkill, just pretty flowers.

Which brings me to this afternoon. We found a butterfly that had gotten stuck in the boys' swimming pool. I thought it was dead and called the boys over to see it, when we realized it was still alive! The wings were in pretty rough shape, lots of tears and most of the powder had been rubbed off,, so we decided to keep it. The boys took turns holding it on their fingers and letting it crawl up their arms. We were also fortunate enough to see it unroll it's tongue! Maddox wet his fingers to give the butterfly a drink (his own idea) and the butterfly tried to get a drink. It was pretty amazing. Then, it fluttered it's wings and flew away. We figured it couldn't have gone far, so we searched the yard, but we never found it. I hope it makes it. Of course I didn't have my camera with. Argh. The boys looked so precious holding the butterfly so tenderly and examining it. They would have been adorable pictures. I also forgot my camera when we went to Brule this a.m. I am slacking in the picture dept lately, but then again the boys are so active, ,i have to keep a close eye on them, so it isn't always practical to take a picture (or safe). I hope i remember the images when I read as back over this post.

Sidenote: the keypad on the ipad has some sort of smart typing program, so my capitalization is messed up sometimes. I think most of my "I's" are all good up.

It is after 11:00pm. I really should get to bed, especially since I have been staying up until about 1:00 a.m. Since I have gotten this iPad. I may need an intervention.