A Day At Lake Huntsville!

Uncle Mike with the kids and their cousins.

The friendly Squirl that did not care when I was photographing him or her.

Aunt Paulette and Uncle Mike with Ayden.

It was a beautiful day!

  This last weekend we had to spray for all the pesky bugs we get out here in Texas. Scorpions and large brown recluse spiders are not my friends!  When we first moved here I was so spooked to go outside at night because I would walk right into cobb webs. I also would not go any where outside without shoes. These days I don't even jump at the site of scorpions or brown recluse spiders and I walk around barefoot even at night. I just grab a shoe and smash the spiders. I like to pick the scorpions up by the tail and toss it to the chickens. There is so much satisfaction watching our chickens rip apart a scorpion.  Our family decided to spray that day too. So while the the spray was drying we met up at the lake. 

 We needed a day out of the house and the boys were so excited to learn that they could go swimming. Swimming was a big part of our lives back home, so they were just ecstatic.  I didn't take to many pics but here are a few. We plan on getting a season pass so we can camp and swim all summer here.

Catching Wild Red Cardinals!

Thayne with a red cardinal and once again with no shirt!

Are you surprised no shirt, ha,ha!

All the boys letting the bird go free!

Ayden proud to have caught a female Cardinal

  We have many beautiful birds here in Bedias. To name a few are  Cardinals, Blue Jays, Wood Peckers and more. I have captured a few with my camera but these animals know when the camera is pointed at them. I find it to be the most fascinating  thing to observe.  I have really become passionate about photographing wild life but I have come to the conclusion that it is a bit challenging.  I will be holding my camera from 300 ft away and deer, birds and even insects notice I am there.  One of the hardest birds to photograph has been the cardinal because it is so fast. My boys are pretty fast themselves and they have figured out a way to catch these beautiful birds.  They have set up the chicken coop with live bait and they catch a few during the week.

  Above are the  shots of some of these amazing birds. In the process the boys have learned that the pretty red ones are the male birds and the camo ones are the female.. What an amazing order nature has and what a blessing to be surrounded and immersed by it's goodness.

Water Ballons, Stomach Flu and Rash.

Water balloon time!

Ayden Michael( a.k.a) Stud muffin! lol

Thayne Zachary (a.k.a) Handsome Tender Boy!

Now for the funny play photo's.

  We have been having some hot days here in Texas. The kids love to play with water balloons.  Here are some shots of them being silly in front of the camera.

  We all have had the stomach flu this week and it sure has made things difficult to keep up.  I have been lacking a lot of sleep because the sickness hit Keynan in the middle of the night. Then the next day, Thayne had it and the day after Ayden had it. Then in the middle of the night yesterday it hit Zach and I.  We all seem to be recovered now but I wanted to be finished with a few photo shop projects and the list of organizing and cleaning keeps piling up. One thing that helped me feel better while having the stomach bug is laying in a warm bath with a cup of Epsom salt in it.  I can tell you I have tons of Epsom salt on hand for not only home remedies but for my plant food. My tomato plants seem to flourish with a feeding every two weeks.

 I also have been meaning to get a picture of all three boys for Fathers Day but Keynan has been having a rash on his chin. The rash spread to his eye and for a few weeks we have been battling it. I believe it to be a yeast rash or even what is called impentigo(which is a common thing for small children to get, it runs in the herpes zoster family).   It might sound weird to some but I have been treating Keynan's eye with my breast milk( I am not sure why I still have some but I do) and it has cleared up his eye very well.  The common term around here when I drop my milk in his eye is so funny, all the boys say," That is just plain weird Mom"! The breast milk has cured a sty in my eye in the past and one of my friends has treated her son's plugged  eye's ducts.

  After trying many things for the infection on his chin I have been using povidone-iodine 10%. I should of  taken pictures of the stages of the rash. The iodine has healed it up so quickly(2 days vs. 2 weeks with other remedies) and I'm hoping he won't have a scar from it because he tends to pick at it.  Since we are a family that treats our common colds or illnesses with herbs or medicinal(non- prescription medicine) Iodine has proven to be one thing needed in the medicine cabinet.