I have been out of town for the past few weeks. First I spent a few days with the in-laws, and then we went on to my family in Atlanta. I am still playing catch up on pictures and such, but here is a little teaser of what I will be sharing in the next few days.
That doesn't even cover the whole two weeks ... but I did say it was a teaser.
We are spending the weekend at my in-laws so there will be no pictures in this post. OH ... I know, a complete blasphemy! We came down for my Great-Niece's first birthday and it has been great to see the family. And even better that I know I will be seeing the rest of MY family in just a few days. I just wanted to stop in since I did not post my SOOC Saturday/Sunday picture. I will be posting tomorrow and I will be overloading your computer with adorable pictures very soon. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! I know I am!
Part of Love Thursday is the lesson that love is EVERYWHERE, and so this week I would like to share two pics of love found in unexpected places. (I missed last week, so you get a twofer)
I was trying to pick up my poor sad DIRTY living room when I found this speck of Play-Doh on the floor. Just a random piece that Connor had discarded in his attempt to destroy the world. 
The Pink Palace is a mansion ... ohh, duh. It is faced with pink Georgia marble ... oh, you probably guessed that, too. Do you know how it became a museum? Sad story really. Clarence Saunders, the founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, began building the house in 1922 .. then lost his fortune in 1923 in an "epic battle with the New York Stock Exchange", before the house was even completed. It was then donated to the City of Memphis to be used as a museum, and eventually construction was finished and it opened as a museum in 1930. That is the short version of course, if you want to know the rest of the story then click on this link.
On the first level there is a large exhibit of skulls, skeletons, birds, bugs, and dinosaurs... among a few other things.
Right now there is an exhibit called "Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters" which involves animatronic dinosaurs and some actual fossils. Very cool, and just a tiny bit scary for the girls.
You can probably tell, my favorite thing is the Clyde W. Parke Miniature Circus
And then, and INCREDIBLY freaky section on medical history!! This one depicts a trip to the dentist. Which is thankfully less gory than the Civil War Field Doctor's Tent where they are cutting off a man's gangrened leg. Oh yeah ... you don't want to look too close at that.
Some spooky set-ups to show us how Memphis houses might have looked back in the day. 
Had to take a picture in front of Andrew Jackson. Chip has been told that there is a possibility we are related to him. 
(We are also kin to those Tupelo Presley's ... just not close enough to count) This is one of Elvis's Army uniforms.
AND ... the best part of any visit to a museum ... THE GIFT SHOP! I think we spent almost as long in there trying to pick out the perfect things.
I stayed up late. I wasn't even on the computer. I wasn't Twittering or cruising Facebook. I wasn't editing pictures (although I should have been). I wasn't searching for cute pictures of cats typing or other nonsense. I was CLEANING! *GASP* I know, a dirty dirty word!!! I couldn't help myself, the house was just to that point where I could not take it for a moment longer. I cleaned. And when I came down the stairs this morning this is what my living room looked like ... 
It is not spotless by a long shot! But this is pretty darn spiffy for the Jaxon house. I also straightened up the kitchen throughout the morning, but you will have to take my word for it. I picked up a few times. Just little stuff that had been dropped and left behind, but we were doing pretty good on keeping clean. Connor did manage to spill his juice pouch on the floor and throw his toaster strudel at the couch, but that is normal messiness. And then ... they had to come in from the pool. Katie said the sunscreen was stinging her eyes (even though it had been on for an hour at that point) and they trooped into the house. I was trying to occupy them, so I popped up some popcorn and got them settled in ...
at least Katie started to pick it up ... and I do mean started because she sure as heck never finished. I did get the worst of the popcorn off the floor. I got Connor fed and bathed and tucked into bed. And then the girls had to do crafts (did I mention we had an impromptu sleepover?). Paper bag puppets. I dove into my poor neglected craft room to retrieve a few supplies (the most action that room has seen in a LONG time). And I set them up and went into the kitchen to smash up some guacamole (YUM) And then it was time to get tucked in. When I came back down from reading two Scooby Doo stories this is what I found ...
........................................................Say "Hello" to the nice people, Honeysuckle!
And in case you think this is just Spot, re-named ... 
Spot has a big brother, and his name is Honeysuckle. Sure, don't you think of slimy, bumpy boy frogs when you hear that name!? Apparently Katie does. Honeysuckle joined (was forced into)our family on Tuesday night. He had the misfortune of being outside the backdoor when I was checking on the re-filling of our pool. Katie was very insistent that I catch him to join "his brother". He and Spot have adjusted to each other very quickly. Not like they have much of a choice. My only problem ... I don't know who is eating the flies!! I put plenty in there during the day, and I just have to hope that they are sharing.
Nothing we say will convince Katie that this is not actually Spot's older brother. Obviously they are brothers! They both have spots. Yeah, apparently that is just THIS family of frogs. Little known fact ... only Jaxon Frogs have spots. Now ya know!
In 3D!! no less :) LOL
He helped me feed the neighbors cat. Poor Punkin needed some love!
He helped me unpack the box from Intex with our new filter hoses and pool cover.
He did much more, but this is all that was documented on camera. He also took a can of black olives from me and started popping them in his mouth. He even figured out how to stick them on his fingers all by himself. He is an Olive Monster prodigy! I actually do have pics of the olive eating, just not uploaded, and since my computer likes to make me restart before I can upload then you will just have to imagine the cuteness that is my Olive Monster.
