Cloudy, With No Chance Of Meatballs...

Is was cloudy, but not raining yet. So, we went on a hike in the foothills by our house. We had a good time. The kids found some drainage pipes to use as bridges. A man passed us and told us about a swing hanging from an oak tree at the top of the hill. The girl and I crossed a drainage pipe over the water way and climbed the hill. It was a little slippery going up, because of all of the mud. However, once we got to the top of the hill, we found the beautiful old oak tree with a home made swing. What a great find!

While the sun was out. We walked to the park. The girl played on the monkey bars and the tire swimg.

The boy and hubby played football. The boy got a new football from Santa. He takes it everywhere with him.

Feeding the Elephants

We took the kids to an animal sanctuary/training facility not far from the house.  We had the opportunity to feed the elephants.  It was great.  The kids were so excited. The elephants are all former circus animals. As soon as we started walking to the elephants area with the carrots, this elephant quickly came across the enclosure to be fed. Feeding an elephant is a slobbery business.

There were several lions and tigers, but no bears..oh my!

Cuteness

One of the cutest boys ever came by for a Christmas visit.  He brought his new baby sister with him.  There is no pic of his baby sister, as I was getting my baby fix holding her. She is 6 weeks old and adorable! Eventually, I did give her back to her Mom.

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Recycling

What is this?  I know some people might think it was a milk box. In the hands of a 5 yr old boy its not.  I will give you three guesses.  If you said a knight helmet...you would be correct.  

The things he is waving in front of his arms are paper swords he made.  
Since he can't really see where he is going, it is a good thing his swords are made out of paper.

I wonder what else in the house he made into a toy.

Hmm...is he reading his cousins blog?

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Quiet Time

I love nights like these. It is raining.  The house is decorated with candles and lights.  There is a pot of turkey soup on the stove (turkeys were on sale) and bread in the oven.

The boy is drawing and writing a story about zoo animals.  The girl is writing a play we will be performing after dinner.  I play 9 or 10 different parts.

With all of the rushing around this time of year, it is nice to slow down and enjoy this time together.

To bad the laundry won't do itself.

Christmas Spirit

Darn those kids and their Christmas spirit.  Making me get tree sap on my hands and forcing me to crawl on the roof hanging lights from the gutters.

This year we did not go for a drive to cut down our own tree.  Apparantly it was a tradition that the kids were not as interested in as their parents were.  They were totally excited to drive four blocks from our house and wander through a Christmas tree lot proclaiming each one to be "the best tree ever!" 

Anyway, ornaments and garland will go on tomorrow.

Flying home

Their uncle isn't the only pilot in the family.

Cousins

Ok, there are better pictures of this coming... but not from my camera phone. 

Future farmer

There is just something about tractors boys (of all ages) just can't get enough of.

Picking up cows

Yesterday went to pick up the highland cows.  The kids enjoyed climbing fences while the grown ups tried wrangling the cows into the trailer.

Boy and goats

For the few folks who read the blog and don't own the goats in the barn - here is a picture of the boy and the brand new baby goat in the background.  Oh, and yes, I know you can see his ribs.  We are trying to get him to eat more.

In a Galaxy Far Away

The boy keeping himself busy with his Star Wars toy and leapster.
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Companions

The girl's toys on the plane.

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Traveling in Style

This how the girl rides on a plane.

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Getting ready to visit the cousins

Here is the considerate girl.  She came up with a project for Thanksgiving.  She is making elaborite napkin holders for everyone who will be at Providence Farm for the holiday.  I hope she wasn't trying to suprise everybody.

Another Bookworm

Before school today, the boy got out a book and started reading.  His sister helped him, if he got stuck.  I wasn't even aware they were doing this, until I peeked in the living room.

We are using the same series we used with the girl.  She is an amazing reader and I hope her brother will follow in her footsteps.

The series is an older method that teaches blending and comprehension over sight words.  We really like it.

Football and Cheer

The kids are in a football/cheer league.  It pains me his team is the cowgirls, and that her colors are the colts... the hardships of parenthood.

Fall

Well, fall has really arrived. It is cold and drizzly. Today we put the patio furniture into storage and picked up some wood and piled it up on the patio in place of the furniture. The girl took advantage of the fire to read a new book.

Homefire

When we camp we have campfires, so when at home it must be homefires?  I love the mind of a kindergartner.

Happy Halloween

The kids had a Halloween parade at school yesterday. You read the post right, Halloween, not a Harvest Festival. What a radical concept! Ok...I will now get on with the post.


The boy behind the mask is the boy.


The girl is a witch. As you can see, her new teeth are coming in nicely.

I will try to post pumpkin pictures later. In case I don't, have a happy and safe Halloween.

Cheer Fundraiser

Our awesome babysitter and neighbor is a cheerleader at the local high school. They have a fundraiser once a year that is really fun. They have a cheer camp for little girls. The girl gets to learn a cheer, wear a cheer T-shirt, get pom poms, a pizza lunch and best of all, the little girls get to cheer with the big girls at half-time. Of course, my girly girly said "YES". She and A had a blast. A is a very sweet young lady who reminds me of and is the same age as another sweet lady that happens to be my niece.

We got two free tickets to the game included in the camp. The boy loved watching the game. It also helped that he got to sit with A's family, including two of her brothers. He was very excited to be included with the big boys.

Unfortunately, there are no good pictures of the girl cheering. She happened to be standing behind a high school cheerleader, so I couldn't get a good picture.

Spiderman vs. The Butterfly

The kids went to a birthday party and got their faces painted.  The boy was spiderman, no surprise there.

The girl was a butterfly

Fun Friday Continued...

A pottery studio had clay out for the kids to play with.

Fun Friday

On Fridays in the summer and fall local galleries stay open late.  We took the kids downtown to visit a few. 
We went to a glass blowing demonstration.  The boy loved seeing the tubes of glass change form.

Johnny Appleseed

The kids are learning about Johnny Appleseed in school. So, the girl's class went to a local apple orchard. They picked apples, learned a lot about Johnny Appleseed and sang songs. Most importantly, the orchard had a bakery and gift shop. We loaded up on the best tasting apple juice I have had and apple and olallie berry pie. Sorry, no pictures of the pies. However, I did manage to get a good picture of a couple of cute apples. Also know as the girl and her friend A.

Crazy Cousins

We got together with some of my cousins and their kids over the weekend.  The kids had s lot of fun.  By 8:30 the boy was asking to go to bed.  They wore him out.

Pleasant Surprise

When I went into the bedroom this afternoon I found these green and purple notes on the pillows.  They were little love notes from the girl.  I love my kids.

Sailing

Here is the girl enjoying the city skyline.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the water.

Bowling

The kids had a short day at school.  My Aunt took them bowling.  The place hadn't been updated since the eighties.  I kept expecting Duran Duran to be playing on the speakers.

Bentley's Big Adventure

We took the kids camping over the weekend. The boy had a school project. He had to take Bentley bear with him for the weekend and write, draw and photograph their time together in a journal. The girl had to do this project when she had his teacher. It was a fun weekend

We started the day at a county fair in the national park. We discovered it last year and went back on the Saturday it was held this year. I didn't get any pictures, but the kids had fun playing all of the games and eating a bunch of sugar filled items. They also got to ride on the back of a fire truck.

After the fair, we canoed across the lake to the cove that has a beach and swimming area. This is Bentley in the canoe. I was so proud of the boy. He swam across the cove and back by himself 7 times. He isn't the water creature his sister is, so we were all very proud.



Back at camp they played with some friends they made in the campground. They would all call to each other by making owl noises. It was hilarious to hear 8 kids trying to sound like an owl. We ended the night by making smores and playing Uno. The kids are pretty good at it. Bentley, on the other hand owes us $85.27 in losses.



On Sunday, we hiked to a fire tower. They were having a festival and Bentley's cousin Smokey the Bear was there.

After the climb, we headed off to take the kids horseback riding. On the way, we saw some smoke jumpers eating their lunch. There was a big fire on the other end of the park and they had their helicopter next to them. We stopped and asked them for a picture with the helicopter. Once we told them about the boy's school project they told the kids to hop in and have their picture taken. Bentley is a good bear to have around.



We finally made it horseback riding.

After we got back to the campsite, two bikers drove in with their radios on into the campsite across from us. The boy walks out of the trailer (he loves motorcycles)and say's "Your music is still on, are you going to keep it on". The bikers turn to him and smile. One say's "Is it obnoxious?" the boy asks what that means. The biker turns to his friend and say's "He is obnoxious and listens to loud music". The boy asks if they like the music that is playing. They strike up a conversation where is is established that the boy is 5 years old and in kindergarten. The bikers show the appropriate amount of reverence for this fact and a friendship is struck.

After dinner that night, the kids and their new friends stayed up late and played glow-in-the-dark tag with glow sticks. The boy got so worn out playing that he came to me asked me if he could go to bed.