Fossil Dig at Parkville University

Last Christmas we bought the boys Science Club memberships to a local Science store in Parkville, Mo. One of their big events is a fossil dig on a small hillside behind Parkville University. The University has their own dig site there and have found several plant and insect fossils. 

We had a quick intro. from our two guides and were told what to look for and what rare finds they were hoping for. If we found any insect wings the University would keep them, display them in their museum and keep our name with the fossil. We all hoped to find an insect wing but ended up with a TON of plant fossils instead.

Luckily, I had some tools in my little car (from working on the rentals) and we got started digging with a hammer, plastic spatula (ha!), 2 chisels and a paint  brush. They actually turned out to be the perfect tools.

Noah woke up that morning and wasn't sure he wanted to dig but when we got there he perked right up and found some of the biggest and darkest fossils of the whole group.

Our first spot was a dud so we moved to the north part of the hill and started on an untouched area. It was a gold mine!

We learned to dig down into the clay and carefully slice layers into it. If we had a nice big chunk we could break those in half and search for fossils or keep going. At one point, we were finding fossils every few seconds. I even found 2 rare flowers that we named the Dawma's Daisy.

They were all plant based fossils though we thought we found some insect wings on 2 different slices. We were told that we found some of the best fossils from that site since they started digging.

That dark line in the middle of the rock is a plant stem.

This spot was awesome. We just kept slicing into the clay and each new slice had a fossil...

This was the biggest fossil we found. Noah found quite a few of these.

Our pile kept growing...

And growing...

We had a great morning on our fossil dig! If your child loves this sort of thing you can sign up early at HMS Beagle in Parkville, Mo. Being able to find so many fossils in a short amount of time will really spark that interest in your budding paleontologist! It was awesome!

My husband the artist...

My husband is an artist with many interests. He plays the piano, guitar, native american flute, drums, sings beautifully, paints, draws and has a great eye for photography. If he puts his mind to it, he can pretty much do, make and create anything. His latest project is probably his most amazing feat of art to date.

He had been drooling over this Saddleback bag for the past 12 months.

It costs $519 bucks....not exactly in our budget for many, many years...

So, he decided to do what any good artist would do...make it himself! And luckily he happened to marry a wonderful woman who was an artist who got it from her mother...and that mother-in-law happened to have been an art teacher for 30 years and happened to have taught leather craft and still had leather and all her tools...following me here? He studied the bag inside and out and made his own paper prototype. Then, he took mom back to her house where they gathered up all the leather and tools she had. After making a pattern he started cutting into the leather to start his bag...

He cut, died and hand worked the leather and then hand sewed and built the bag all on his own! He created the design, made all the elements and put it together in FIVE DAYS!!! It was his guilty pleasure during his week off between semesters and he worked on it non stop till it was done.  I am so proud of his piece of art!! I would never take on a project like that...but he did and he mastered the art of leather on his first try. Here is the finished bag which he uses every day for school...Isn't it beautiful?

And because of this new "art" the kids were inspired to work in it too and grandma was happy to give lessons. Lucas and Eli both made a belt buckle.

I LOVE our huge art room and that it gets lived in every single day! 

It's even nicer when you have a resident artist to give lessons!

It really is trying to kill me...

Let's recap...

2nd worst migraine of my life on my birthday.

Reinjured my neck playing at a water park and was unable to turn my head left for (now) 20 days...

Pinched a nerve in my back by laying wrong which hurt so bad it made me cry for days...

Used a heating pad trying to relax some back muscles...burned my back with said heating pad...

Accidentally scratched the heating pad burn on my back in my sleep...probably cause my inner voice was trying to tell me I was on fire...

Had my health insurance quote go up $100 with this magic number...

Finally decided what to do with ole 34...

I'm going to lose 34lbs this year....

that is my goal...

cause if 34 is really trying to kill me I need to off it before it gets much worse....

cause I can't take much more....

Thirty Four is trying to kill me...

So, Father's day just happened to be on my birthday this year so we had a day full of celebration! We started our day with a celebration brunch at our favorite Cinzetti's! We took mom and ate lots and lots of yummy food! Eli made sure that Scott told our waitress it was my birthday so she brought me a beautiful slice of Chocolate cake....that I couldn't eat because I was too stuffed! Then, we all went to the mall for my birthday gift! I got a beautiful new white watch that I just love. They had about 10 colors to choose from and while I drooled over the pink one, I decided on white. BUT, I did buy the pink one for my mom...so I am sure she will share. :)

After the birthday shopping we took mom home. She wanted to go back to her home for a few weeks so she could fire her kiln and get some pottery pieces ready to sell. It was really windy but this is the only photo I got of the two of us...she is doing really well and has almost weaned herself off the oxygen completely. This woman is a fighter!!

And this is the part where 34 started its campaign to kill me...I managed to get a little headache during our mall trip that quickly turned into a Migraine. I guess I didn't get my normal dose of caffeine that morning....and when we got home to cuddle up and watch 2 movies....I couldn't finish them. I had to turn the movie off and ask the boys to leave our room so I could rest. I thought for sure I was going to lose my brunch because the pain and nausea were soo bad....I felt horrible that I couldn't "mother" the boys but I didn't really have a choice. I laid in bed and napped on and off for 5 hours....and then it was gone. I recovered completely in time for Scott to make me a delicious decadent chocolate cake. With the most amazing chocolate glaze icing! YUM! Isn't it pretty?

 Oh Yum....it actually makes my mouth water just looking at this slice!

Because the boys were afraid that 34 candles would freak me out....it went straight from platter to plate...and look at my awesome post migraine smile! I still had a dull fuzzy headache but the nausea was gone....and I was so thankful for that!

On Monday, I got a vacation day for my birthday so I took the boys to Schlitterbahn for most of the day. It was the first time I was able to go for more than 3 hours. It was great! We are loving our season passe and definitely getting our moneys worth! But, part two of Kill Dawma took effect....I somehow pulled a muscle and reinjured a disc while on a tube....so when I woke up for work on Tuesday I couldn't look left....and was in excruciating pain....It was a rough first week of 34....Here's hoping it gets better before it kills me!!

Father's Day Fun

We had a pretty low key Father's day celebration this year. The kids gave Scott a fancy schmancy pepper mill and some home made cards. I keep every card they make and we love pulling them out every few years to see how they use to write and draw. They were always so proud of their work!

Please ignore the unpainted walls....I am sure this room will end up being finished last...but pay attention to this sweet moment. Daddy got lots of loving from his boys! Autumn was on a mission trip this week but she called to say, Happy Father's day! So, that was nice.

I love this photo...

And this one...

And this one...

Happy Father's Day to a fantastic father! I so appreciate your parenting skills and how you talk to your babies. You mean the world to them and to me! We love you!