3 Princesses & A Prince

Summer is Finally Here!

2011-06-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

The weather is HOT, the water is warm and the grass is growing. Summer is here! We have been busy, busy, busy with our main focus being finishing up school and then all our other extra curricular activities that are winding down. We are looking forward to a slower pace that summer brings after a busy spring. We have officially blown up the blow up pool and also enjoyed going down to the river and attending the local outdoor pool. It is so nice to be warm. :) My kids test next week and we are feeling pretty good about it. We will continue to do some schooling over summer, but on a much more relaxed and paired down schedule. We will have our garden which does need to have some replanting done due to the week of pouring down rain we received right after we planted it. My son has his own pumpkin patch that he will probably have to replant some plants, and my younger girls have a watermelon patch they are tending. Watermelon just does NOT grow well up here, but they are convinced that it will do good. My oldest does not like gardening, but does help out. She is learning to cook this summer, at least that is the plan. Hopefully she will come to enjoy it. :) We have visited with cousins over the holiday weekend and everyone enjoyed themselves. We visited the pool, played at the park, and had a ball just playing. It was a nice not to have to rush anywhere to just sit and enjoy the kids. We took some pictures at a beautiful gazebo on a pond with ducks walking around and frogs croaking their nighttime song, You can see the fountain of water they have in the middle of the pool which is right out behind the gazebo. It would be a beautiful place for a wedding. We did not get pics of the gazebo, but we did get some of the kids sitting on it.

My two little monkey girls with their two little monkey cousins whom we still cannot tell apart. :)

One of our little cutie pie cousins posing for a pic after a fun day at the pool and park.

We also finished up dance for my two youngest girls. They had their final recital which consisted of a ballet one night and a tap recital the next day. They loved them both. The ballet was called the Princess Gala and it was a huge hit. The tap was fun the next day also. Here are some pictures.

My eight year old on the left and her friend waiting to go out on stage at the ballet recital.

My youngest two girls the day of their tap recital. This was taken after the recital.

Here they are posing outside after the tap recital.

My wild child at her recital. This face says it all!

The other major event this spring for my oldest besides her musical at school was that she went to the prom. She was very excited and had a wonderful time. She was looking forward to it for a while. I told her that when the time comes for her prom she will be a pro. :) She looked so beautiful!

Prom night.

I have a "to do list" planned for jobs around the house for this summer and some fun activities planned also. My oldest has already made use of our hammock and the new swing that we put up. She loves to go out and lay there and read. We are planning some more hiking expeditions on the Blue Ridge Parkway also. Overall it should be a fun summer! One we are greatly looking forward to. Now if only my hubby could come home and enjoy it with us. His truck has been having some maintenance issues this year, but we are hoping we have gotten most of them complete. Lord willing.

Now that things are calming down I will be blogging more, also my camera died and I have taken over my hubby's so we are all good. God Bless!

Start of 2011

2011-02-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

This year started off with some hard news for us. My grandmother was diagnosed with state 4 cancer the 4rth of January. She had no clue to our knowledge that she had cancer and then to be told it is stage 4 and no treatments could help was quite a shock for her and us both. She took the news well, but she gave up the fight by the end of the month and went to live with our Lord and Savior. It was a sad time for us, but we are grateful that the Lord spared her the pain and suffering that comes with the type of cancer she had. She had outlived her husband and both her children so we know that she is happy to have been reunited with them. The day before she died I called her and she told me she was dying and was ready to go. That she did not want me upset and that it was a good day to go. I guess she was ready......She was dearly loved will be greatly missed.

Back to Blogging

2010-12-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello! I had gotten away from blogging for a while. With homeschooling, church, getting ready for winter, and my hubby looking into a new job, it has been kinda crazy. But old man winter has set in and the days seem to be slowing down. We are all in the Christmas spirit. The tree is up and decorated along with the house, we are baking up a storm, and the snow has come and layered the countryside in a magical winter wonderland scene. Winter is always a slower time for us and I enjoy the less hectic days that comes with all the cold quiet whiteness of winter. There is something so peaceful about the snow when it is falling ever so gently to the earth. It blankets everything in its beauty of white and the silence settles in all around. It is one of my favorite times of the year. So, that said, here are some of the highlights as of late.

My 3yr old turned 4. She is very eager to tell you or shall I say SHOW you she is four now by proudly holding up 4 fingers and saying, "Soon I will be 5!" Whoa, slow down kiddo! You just turned 4! She is such a happy little girl with her strong personality and joyous vibrant energy she brings many smiles and laughs to our family. (A few yells as well, but we won't go there.) I am so happy that we were blessed with her. Here is a pic of her with her presents. She loved her little fur real kitty that purrs and walks!

She is as wild as ever and was very excited because the day after her birthday she got to dance in the Nutcracker Ballet. Both my younger girls take tap and ballet this year and the studio they dance with puts on a performance of the Nutcracker at the local college auditorium. It was a great experience for the girls and the really enjoyed it. The show was really wonderful and the costumes, dancers, and sets were excellent. I really enjoyed it. I know it is something they will always remember. After seeing the show my oldest daughter expressed her desire to take ballet now. I know my hubby will be ecstatic to hear that! :) Here are some pics that I took before the show.

Here is my 4yr old in her beautiful costume. She was one of the Gumdrops and was so cute up there doing her Gumdrop dance with all the other adorable 3 and 4 yr old's! She loved being up on stage of course and was not the least bit scared. Why does that now surprise me?

I snapped this picture of my 3yr old, the little girl I used to babysit (in the middle), and my 7yr old. My 7yr old was an Angel in the show and also looked beautiful up on the stage performing her dance!

Here is my 4 year old posing. Parents of Gumdrops had to stay with them before the performance due to their age so I have more pics of her than of her sister. Luckily the mom of my daughters friend was able to get lots of pics of my 7 yr old for me.

We also received a new addition to our family in the form of a miniature pincher whom my hubby found along the roadside half starved in a very remote part of New Mexico. We are not sure how he got there and our only guess is that someone dropped him off. He is a lively little pup whom my children love. They have named him Jack and he is like a little jumping jack! He is hilarious to watch in the snow as he leaps through it like a deer. The kids are really enjoying him and are very glad to have him. Here he is with my 7yr old whom he sleeps with every night.

And of course we had our first big snowfall. Needless to say that after I took these pictures we received our second big snowfall in the form of a small blizzard. It is downright FRIGID outside, but we are warm and toasty by our wood stove and enjoying yummy homemade bread and lots and lots of cookies and other baked goodies. We can eat all we want to as between shovelling all the snow and hiking down to our vehicle we burn off all these extra calories we consume. :) My son has discovered he actually enjoys shovelling snow with our new snow shovel. We will see how long that lasts. But for now I am enjoying it. Once the frigid temps go back up we will head outside to try out the new sled my son got and enjoy some yummy snow cream! Until then we are huddled up inside still doing schoolwork, playing games, and cooking up good things to eat. So until next time. Merry Christmas! and Stay warm!

Crazy Hectic Autumn Days

2010-10-12T19:31:00.001-07:00

It has been C R A Z Y hectic here for the past few weeks. Football is winding down which means more games then ever. We have had other fall activities for my teenager come about and we have been busy getting everyone where they need to be. My hubby came home and between getting his truck fixed, going to get his dad, and the kids activities we did not sit still a single day. It was busy but fun, and we greatly enjoyed having him home. We did take time out to do something that his dad loves to do and that is fish at the trout pond. All the kids went except my oldest who does not like to fish. They had a ball reeling in those nice big fish. The only problem we had was when we got back home, none of the kids except my son wanted to eat any. My 3yr old said she wanted the fishy to go back home to his family because they missed him and that is why she would not eat any. :) I was able to use my hubby's nice new camera and took all the pictures of the trout fishing expedition. Here they are...

Here is my hubby helping our 3yr old reel in her fish. It was one of my first pictures with the camera. They get better. :)

Here she is with the fish she caught! She was so excited when she and daddy pulled this in. Look at that big smile!

Here is my 7yr old with her big catch. She did not want to touch the fish when it was alive, but later after it was deceased she was just fine with picking it up and showing it off. Go figure. I guess the wiggly live fish was scarier than the limp dead one. :)

I believe my son caught the biggest fish that day. He was extremely proud of his catch! Look at the size of that FISH!

Then my hubby caught a fish. He did not want his picture taken but I told him he had to. :)

Then it was Granddaddy's turn. He just grabbed a pole and sat right there and fished. He was the smart one. : ) He caught a fish right away and here is my hubby netting it for him.

He did get up for his picture with his second catch. He knew he had caught a pretty one and I wanted to make sure I had a good picture of it. We enjoyed having him come and stay with us and we wished it would have been for a longer visit. The kids were sad when he went back home. They liked having him here.

The next activity was later that evening. My son had his but football game at ASU. Talk about excited! I took this picture of him in front of "the rock" that is outside the stadium.

Yes, he is crazy and yes, he does take after his mama in that regard! :)

He was so very excited that his daddy was gonna get to see him play in an actual game. Here he is blocking his opponent.

All the kids had a great time playing on the university football field in the big stadium. It was a memorable moment for sure!

And of course, what would my blog be without a picture of my crazy girl? She got right in front of the camera as I was trying to take a zoomed in picture of her brother.

She is such a cutie pie! I could just eat her up! She had a good time at the big stadium.

I will post another post later in the week of our activities since my hubby's home time. Right now I am trying to get ready for my oldest daughter's birthday. She turns 15 this Friday. I cannot believe that! Where did all the time go!

Our Time Together

2010-09-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

We have been going strong in our homeschooling and our extra curricular activities. My youngest has decided that SHE needs to do schoolwork too, so we have gotten some books and she has been attending school with us in the mornings. The other morning during our devotion time my son put his chair next to her and was showing her where to find the scripture we were looking for and then read it with her with her saying the words out loud after him. It was so precious.

He is such a great big brother! I tell my kids that I gave them the best gift I could give them and that is their siblings. They really do get along very well with only occasional gripes. I hope it continues on through the years. I know that my sister is one of my very best friends! Love ya Sis!

Then we decided that the weather was to nice to sit indoors so we took our lessons outside and then decided to construct a Tee Pee in our yard since we were studying Native Americans in history. This is the outcome of the kids hard work. They gathered the wood for the frame, measured it, and then my son cut it to length. They then tied it together at the top and used pine branches in lieu of buffalo skin for the covering. We were going to use a tarp, but a friend of mine suggested the pine tree branches and we thought it was a great idea. Thanks Melissa! :) It is still up and the girls are having a lot of fun playing house in it.

The next day the girls decided to play dress up while I was doing laundry. They used my garden hat and my sunglasses along with some other stuff they found lying about. They were adorable in their outfits so I had to grab the camera and take their pics.

Here is my 7yr old who started the dress up game. She said she was a movie star. ;)

My 3yr old then wanted to wear the hat and sunglasses and became fussy when her sister would not give them to her right away. This is the face she was making when when she finally got the hat and sunglasses.

Then she made THIS face and told me to take her pic. What a crazy girl!

And of course what would my blog be without the football talk. My son had another game this past Saturday and they won! At least the weather was nice for their victory!

He has a very important game coming up where his team will play on ASU's field. He is very excited and is hoping that his daddy will be able to come home to watch him. I think he is going to explode with excitement before the game day arrives. :)

Busy Weekend

2010-09-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

We had a busy football weekend. My son had games Thursday and Friday nigh and then another game on Saturday. It rained for all but one of the games. Did I say rain? I meant poured! So this is what we were doing while most people were snug and warm at home.

Luckily my two little girls were well prepared for the yucky weather. The picture is so blurry due to the rain. My oldest one has this look on her face as she is contemplating her next move. Did I tell you how much fun they had? Oh, I didn't? I am sorry. Let me tell you how much fun they had splashing in the mud puddles which, by the way, got anyone within a 10 foot radius wet and muddy, FUN! Oh, and did I tell you how much fun it was to stick their hands and sometimes whole arms into the downspouts that came off the building that housed the concession stand and at one point even attempting to DRINK the yucky water while their mother lurched at them while frantically screaming out NO! ABSOLUTELY FUN! Or how much fun it was to slide along the bleachers thoroughly cleaning them of all water while also covering every inch of their bodies with said water so they soaked themselves to the bone in spite of their moms attempt to keep them dry? FUN! That is not all the fun stuff we did, just the highlights of our time! But in their defense it IS hard to stay still and out of trouble for 2 hours while their brother and other boys run around on the field after some ball while jumping onto each other. Silly boys! :)

Needless to say I did get to watch some of my sons game. He played well and was very wet and slept extremely well this weekend. Oh, the girls slept well to. In case you were wondering. ;)

We did manage to take some time off from football and on Sunday evening we took a trip to the playground to relax and have some drier fun. They had a lot of fun riding around the track and then we played a game called "graveyard" which they had learned that morning. Of course there was the mandatory swinging and teeter tottering and climbing on all the equipment. I just take this time to relax and enjoy them. It is by far my favorite time with them. We are usually by ourselves due to the time we go and can just enjoy ourselves. It is a great way to start a new week, or end a week, whichever you prefer. So here are some pics.

Here is my 10yr old and my 7yr old riding around the track. They come up with all types of creative games to play while doing this. I won't go into details here. :)

Of course my 3yr old had to join in on all the fun and games. She loves this big wheel that she has and I think the wheels are gonna fall off it before she gives it up. She has a big girl bike complete with training wheels, but prefers to use this. She loves to have me follow her around the track and occasionally lets me pass. Her favorite game is red light green light. There are a LOT of red lights. I think she just likes making me stop unexpectedly while she cackles her little laugh and takes off racing away yelling, "green yite"!

Then the girls played restaurant. I think her shirt says it all about these two and their weekend adventures. :)

Then sister went off to play with brother so it was just me and the little one playing restaurant. She asks me what I want to eat and when I tell her she tells ME what I REALLY want to eat and makes it. She can be a bit bossy in her game, but look at this face! She such a cutie pie! How can one resist? I can't. At least not on our playground outings. But when we are home and the daily grind is happening? You betcha! Have a great week!

Football and Fall

2010-09-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

We spend the majority of our evenings at either football practice or football games. This is my son's second year playing and he is really getting the hang of it. I can see improvement as the season goes on and he seems to enjoy it. It is a juggling act keeping my 3yr old plus my 8yr old entertained for the long hours of practice and even longer games. We just make sure we pack lots of snacks and some fun toys and they seem to be content. I enjoy watching him and cheering him on when he is out on the field and his 3yr old sister enjoys cheering for him too, regardless if he is on the field or off on the sidelines. :) She is a good little cheerleader. If another dad hollers out at his son she will holler to her brother. It is funny at times. She will not even be looking at the field and still yell out to him. She is so cute. It makes our evenings hectic and we often eat out of the crock pot, but it is all worth it in the end. Here are some pictures from tonight's game.

Here is my son in all his gear. Sweaty, tired, and happy after his game. He should sleep well tonight!

Here is my silly little girl making faces during her brothers game. She is quite the comedian.

Busy Fall Season Has Begun

2010-09-02T17:38:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since I blogged anything about our days. That is because once school begins our lives kick up into high gear. Our days are filled with school, football, dance, and church. There is little time for other extra curricular activities. It is a short season of busyness, one that I do not especially look forward to, but tolerate due to the shortness of the season. So in the midst of all our busyness we decided to take a break after dance class the other day and go hiking. This is a great way for us to spend time together while enjoying nature. It is one of our favorite ways to regroup. We love to stroll along at our own pace exchanging stories and commenting on all God's beauty that we see. We decided to take a different path than we normally do and our "short' hike ended up being 3 hours long! The only downside was I had to carry my tired little 3yr old over half the way as she was tired out from all the dancing she had done earlier. Thankfully there were not a lot of hills to contend with along the way. We enjoyed our new trail and have agreed that we need to go back to check out the other trails that we have yet to explore. So here are some pictures of our travels.

This tunnel was hidden behind a bend in the trail. My kids love to go through these tunnels and call out to hear the excellent echos they produce.

This is what most of the trail looked like. It was a wooded trail with very few open meadows. We saw only a few people jogging along at the start of our hike and then we saw no one. It was like we were the only ones in the woods. This was peaceful yet a little unnerving being we did not know where we were going and time was moving along toward darkness.

Thankfully we made it back out of the woods before it got dark. My oldest daughter lined up this shot and took it of her siblings. I thought it came out rather well. She enjoys photography and usually I just hand her the camera and let her do her thing along the way.

I wanted a picture of all of them so I lined them up and snapped this shot. I have a lot of appreciation for photographers when it comes to lots of children and getting there picture taken in a group. :)

We have also enjoyed doing some of our school work outside so we can enjoy the sunny autumn days. What you cannot see in this picture is the leaves that were gently falling to the ground. My 3yr old loves to run and catch the leaves as they float down. She amassed quite a pile of them on this beautiful afternoon.

We have also enjoyed the peaches, pears, grapes, and apples that grow in abundance in our yard. Here she is enjoying a juicy peach. You can see the telltale signs of the juiciness on her shirt. It was very "yummy" :)

Here is my little stinker bug making a yogurt mustache. Oh the things she thinks up....She is such a silly girl. Her favorite saying has become, "MOM! YOU 'CARED ME!" whenever I catch her doing something she is not suppose to be doing and yell out her name. She says this while holding her chest with one hand and laughing with her hand over her mouth with the other hand. She is a mess. Literally. :)

She also is a wonderful creator of play dough food. Here she has made a tray full of food for me to eat. It looks yummy doesn't it?

So that is a small snapshot of what we have been up to. So until next time...Bye Bye!

Playground

2010-08-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

We spent the morning in church enjoying a great message and then helping out in the infant room. We then spent the afternoon together at the house. This evening it was back to town so my oldest could attend her youth meeting at church. My youngest two fell asleep in the car on the way to town so my son and I parked in the back parking lot at church and proceeded to use my handy dandy new phone to browse the Internet for how to make a boomerang. We found instructions and then found some cardboard in the trunk and something to cut it with (don't ask) and made our boomerang. Guess what? It actually works, well sort of. We plan on actually printing out the template now that we are home and trying it again. It did fly up and come back to him, but I think once we make it more specific (as in having actual scissors to cut the boomerang shape out of the cardboard) that it will work a lot better. My youngest two woke up once we finished flying the boomerang and we went on to the playground. It had been a rainy afternoon but had cleared up this evening so we had the whole messy playground to ourselves. It was great. We played some and then I walked around the walking track while the kids played in the sand box. As I walked I thought of how someday they will be all grown up and I will not have these wonderful evenings at the playground to hear, "Mom look at this!" or "Mommy, here are some flowers I picked for you!". I watched them playing and I thought of how hectic life gets and how sometimes I get focused on things that take my attention away from them and how I can't get this time back with them. Sometimes it takes quiet introspective moment to make you see just what is important in life.

Here is my 7yr old after she made her crab house in the sand. She was covered in sand and had a wonderful time creating this. It was worth the vacuuming it will take to clean up the mess in the car.

Here is my 3yr old enjoying the slides. She found a secret way to get up these slides and enjoyed going up and down them for most of the time there.

Here is my son holding his boomerang. You cannot see it in the picture very well as it does blend in some with his shirt. He ended up walking around the track with me and then decided to run around it.

We decided to make this our Sunday playground time every week. Sounds good to me!

Summer wrapping up

2010-08-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of summer for my oldest as school starts back up for her next week. She is so excited. She has a new school to attend complete with a new laptop which is mandatory for her to have. I am not so excited about the mandatory laptop that they are giving all the students. I do NOT want to have to pay for the thing if it gets damaged, but it is not optional so I guess there is not much I can do. The school is beautiful and should be large enough for everyone and is more out of the town so I like that. She only has 3 years left. I cannot believe it. It will fly by I just know. She is already telling me how she will be old enough to get her permit soon. I told her its Daddy's job to teach her to drive. Good luck honey! heeheehee

We have been busy harvesting more of our garden. The corn is delicious and I have already put up 50 ears and we have many more to go. We will be putting up more tomorrow as we are trying to put it up as we go along. I also put up some sweet pickles which my 3yr old says is "yummy".

My son is officially signed up for football and is already practicing. He wants myself or his sister to go out and throw the ball with him each night. Luckily the younger 2 girls can play outside together while we do these "practices" as he calls them. I am sure we will be getting a call next week telling us practice is starting up. Then the following week my 7yr old will start her ballet/tap class. I had to put her tap and ballet shoes up as she was putting them on everyday practicing all around the house. I told her she was going to wear them out before she even starts! She will get into her dance outfit and put her little sister in one and they dance all around the house. I feel like I have Angelina Ballerina living with me!

My hubby has been busy looking at trucks to buy. I guess the correct term would be "tractors" as it is a big rig. He finally found one he likes and will be making his purchase in a few weeks. My son cannot wait to ride in "daddy's new truck!" I am just looking forward to him coming home!

Now here are some pics.

Here is my son throwing his football around with his sister and I. He has grown over the summer!

Here is my 3yr old riding around on her 4-wheeler.

then:

I look behind me to see her doing this!

"Look ma, no hands!" No wonder I am tired at the end of the day!

Ramblings

2010-07-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy summer. The garden is doing well so I have spent time canning beans, relish, and now peaches. Next week I will be freezing squash, picking blueberries to freeze and hopefully putting up some pickles. Soon the corn will be ready and that will mean a corn shucking party in which my kids all shuck the hundreds of ears of corn and have some friends over to help with it. I have taught another VBS in which I had 12 3yr olds and they were the best. This was a church that had VBS for the first time and they were very successful and had 146 kids attend! It was the best VBS I have ever taught at. They were very well prepared and the kids all had a great time. I have also been busy getting my school supplies for homeschooling. Ebay has become my good friend in that I am able to get the kids books sooo much cheaper this way. I finally have them all gathered up and we are looking forward to starting back to school next month. My oldest is looking forward to going back to school and they have a new HS that they finished so it will be all new to her. Exciting to say the least. We attend orientation next week for it as she starts back the week after. Next month will be the start of school, football season, and dance classes. Whew, fall is a busy time for us but it will be a lot of fun. Now for some pictures.

"Peek a boo, I see you!" My oldest took a pic of her sister hiding in a tree.

Here is my 3yr old swinging in her new pretty little dress. I love hearing the swish swish of her dress brushing against her legs as she runs through the yard. We have been playing outdoor games in the evening after it cools down and she looks so cute running around with her pig tails flying out behind her!

This beautiful butterfly was found after he came out of his cocoon. They had discovered the cocoon and had been watching it and came out one morning to see the butterfly had emerged from the cocoon and was drying out his wings. He jumped right on my sons finger when he put it down beside the twig the butterfly was on.

This was the last picture of him before he flew off to join the rest of the butterflies flying around the gardens. My son went and took the cocoon so he would have it for his collection of nature items.

Tenth Avenue North Concert

2010-07-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight we attended a Tenth Avenue North concert that was in town. They are a Christian group that I hear a lot on K-Love and other Christian radio stations. They are an excellent band and play some of my favorite songs like "By Your Side" and "Love is Here" and many more. If you are not familiar with the band you can find them at: http://tenthavenuenorth.com/

They really performed well and their songs have great messages behind them that really move you. Even when they spoke to the audience they had a message for you. It was just a very good concert. This is my second Christian concert and I prefer them over any other concerts I have been to. The kids all were every excited to see them including my 14yr old. They got up and danced and clapped and sang along to the music and had a wonderful time. Even my 3yr old enjoyed it. My oldest took her brother and cousin up front so they could see the band up close which they really loved. It was a wonderful way to end the day!

Pool Time!

2010-07-08T17:42:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine who has two children that I used to babysit and our good friends of ours invited us to spend the day with them on Tuesday at the local pool. We had never been and we decided to accept her invitation and go. It was excellent! The pool had many fun things for the kids including a water slide! We spent 4 1/2 hours at the pool just enjoying each others company and the lovely cool water on such a hot and humid day. Everyone went down the water slide including me with my 3yr old as it was the first thing she wanted to try. It was a big hit with all the children. Here is a picture of my son splashing into the pool after coming down the water slide.

There were a lot of people, but you still had plenty of space to swim and it was not too crowded. I was greatly pleased with this new fun outing and will be taking my children back soon. It was a great inexpensive way to enjoy a hot summer day. My kids are already asking to go back. Here is my daughter and her friend enjoying the shower tower in the pool. It also had buckets on top that would fill up with water and spill over onto you as they became full. I discovered that the hard way while I was following my 3yr old out of the pool. It was a shocking yet pleasant surprise! It definitely cooled you off. You cannot see the bucket tower in this picture, only the shower part. This whole area was enjoyed by young and old alike.

We had a great day and look forward to returning for another day of fun in sun! Especially since we are in the middle of a horrendous heat wave.

July 4th Weekend Wrap=up

2010-07-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend with family up for the holiday. We were able to see a wonderful fireworks display at a festival held in a town close by. It is nestled in the middle of nowhere but you would have never known it with all the hundreds of people who were there. It was well worth it. They had bands that played and we were able to hear some of the last band that played as we did not arrive until right before dark. We enjoyed listening to the music as we waiting for the fireworks. The fireworks display was a LONG one and a great one. The kids were very happy with it and so were all us adults. I saw some friends and enjoyed myself immensely. The only thing missing to make it a great night was my hubby. Here are some of the pictures from that fun festival.

Above you can see my children with their cousins and uncle sitting down waiting for the fireworks to start. The kids all made t-shirts to celebrate the occasion and wore them to show their holiday spirit.

Above you can see my 3yr old making crazy faces with her light up bracelets. She is a mess as you all well know. A lovely cuddly crazy little mess. :)

The next day my sister and I took our oldest boys along for a 5 mile round trip hike up to a flat top tower at our favorite hiking place. It was a beautiful day and the breeze was perfect in keeping us cooled off during our hike. It was well worth the hike and I look forward to doing it again very soon! The scenery was beautiful and breathtaking! It was such a peaceful place and we enjoyed it very much. Here are some photos from our hike.

Here is a picture of some of the wildflowers we saw growing along the way. There were many different kinds of flowers but these were my favorites.

Here we are looking out over the beautiful countryside at one of the many wonderful viewing areas we found along the way. My son is trying to look like a pioneer checking out the landscape. :)

This is the tower that is situated on top of the mountain. I don't know what I was thinking taking this hike as I am afraid of heights, but I braved it and climbed all the way to the top and immediately sat down as I was a bit dizzy upon looking out at the view. It was well worth it though and I would do it all again.

Here is one of the views. I was sitting down for the picture as I did not trust my legs to stand up nor did I want to release both hands from the rails I was holding in a death grip so instead I took this one handed picture.

I finally did get the nerve to stand up and I took this picture of the other view from the tower. As I said before, it was worth the hike and climb up the tower and I look forward to doing it again.

On the way back down the boys stopped to take a break and enjoy the view. This was the only sitting they did the whole hike and I can assure you that they slept very good that night as they camped out in their tent in the lawn. I could hear them snoring from my bedroom window. :)

This is my sister's oldest son, my sister, and my son posing for a picture in the field on our hike.

We also spent time down at the river of course. How else do you cool off on such hot days? The kids all had a tube and enjoyed floating along down the river. At the end of our swim time I took some pictures of the kids being silly. Here is one of my 7yr old after she collected the tubes. She looked like the Michelin Man!

Here she is again minus some of her tubes, but wearing her swim goggles. One of my sisters twins decided to paint his face with some soot from a leftover campfire and this is the result. I like to call this picture "alien girl meets warrior boy".

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed July 4th weekend!

Fun Summertime Visit

2010-07-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

We have been having fun with my nephews this week. We have made crafts, went down to the river each day to swim and look for neat river creatures, went to the park, and played lots of baseball. Each night has ended with a massive firefly catching in which the youngest 3 catch a jar full of fireflies to light up their bedroom. My 3yr old loves fireflies and has become quite a good catcher of them. Collin has excelled in both firefly catching and snail catching and my fish tank is proof of his talent as I have about 20 teeny tiny snails suctioned to the sides of it. I am waterlogged and definitely ready for bed when the day ends. Now if only they were..... Alas they seem to have a never ending supply of energy which I have yet to figure out how to tap into. If I could I would be rich that is for sure. :) I have taken lots of pictures throughout the week so here are a few of what I have captured.

Above is Tristan riding my the rip stick at the park. My son had the skateboard and they would keep switching back and forth between the two. They had fun riding around the walking track.

Above is my daughter and her cousin Collin planning their fun. They had a reptile book and a magnifying glass and were in search of snakes. Go figure. We used to have plenty back at the house but this week we have not seen any. I guess kids are good at keeping snakes away! All that running around and shaking the ground must scare them away. :)

Here is my youngest riding her Dora trike. This was my 7yr old's and has lasted quite a while. Longer than I ever thought it would. She looks so cute riding it and she loves to take it along to the park.

Here is Tristan down at the river doing his favorite past time which is throwing rocks. He is pretty good at skipping rocks too. Every day they beg to go down to the river. They will not relent until I pack every one up and take them. I think they have started to grow flippers at this point. :)

Here is Collin sitting at a small rapid in the river searching for snails. He found plenty and we had to leave some behind at the river as my fish tank has enough.

Here my two youngest are sharing a ride on the Dora trike while at the park. It reminds me of the Big Sister Little Sister book that they love to read. They are so cute!

Here is my 7yr old checking out the reptile book. They consulted this book often but found no snakes thankfully.

Here was the highlight of their day at the park, the river. This was right before they all jumped in. They cannot stay out of the water, it is a kid thing. It is just to tempting to pass up. Plus their was a nice rapid that they could ride down between two rocks that was a lot of fun!

This is how Tristan occupied his time, moving rocks. Take a look at Tristan's face. He decided to move all these big rocks in the river. For what reason I do not know, but look at how he is straining to move this big rock! He cracks me up.

That is just some of the fun we have had this week. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and is planning a great 4th of July weekend! I wish my hubby could come home for it, that would make for a perfect holiday weekend.

Hot Humid Days

2010-06-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

I met my sister and her hubby for an impromptu dinner the other night as they were somewhat in the area. We decided to take her oldest 2 and keep them with us for a week. My kids were very excited to have their favorite cousins come for an extended visit. Once we got over the "scared to go to bed because a mountain lion/coyote / some other scary animal might jump through the window" with her 5yr old, we were good. Needless to say he will NOT be living in the mountains when he gets older. Way to scary for the poor boy. He told me his first night here that he would hate to live in the mountains on account of all the mountain lions and coyotes. He has such a lively imagination. I assured him that we have lived here for years and have never had any such encounters and even camped out and also played outside after dark many times and are fine. No scary animal has ever come into our yard when we were here. He just looked at me like "OK, whatever". He is a mess. Cute, but a mess. So we have been having fun playing with our cousins in all this hot weather. Hot humid days call for a nice refreshing dip in the river. I don't know why we waited so long to do this. It as the perfect remedy for the hot stickiness that we have been living with. Our usual swimming hole was taken so we had to go to this other one. We have to walk through a meadow to get to it which is why we don't usually go unless they have cut the hay which luckily they just did. We love this place. It is a big swimming hole that gradually gets deeper. It was perfect for today. We did not want to leave it. They all had fun splashing and swimming about with all the little fish that we soon scared away with all the screaming and splashing that was going on. Many rocks were thrown and even more skipped. Even the 3yr old got into the fun of it. Her favorite game was climbing onto my back when I was trying to swim. Nothing like getting dunked under by your own child. :) I personally love to just lay back and float down the river and watch the clouds sail lazily by. I had all the kids try it, but it could not compete with the rock throwing. At one point we saw a suspicious object floating towards us that they were convinced was some animal. They immediately started throwing rocks toward this white floating thing which I assured them was just bubbles. Although in their defense it did look like some dead white creature. Until a rock hit it and dispersed all the foamy bubbles that is. I was glad it would be something to add to Collins list of scary creatures. :)

So that is how we cooled off today. We ended the day in the garden weeding. Yes sister, I had your children weeding. I am not adverse to child labor. :) They actually enjoyed it once I assured them they would get paid if they did a good job. Collin did an excellent job of digging holes with the hoe. Tristan actually will get a paycheck this week if he keeps up the good work with my son. They made a good team. Now, on to some pictures. They are not the best as I had to take them with my phone because the camera that I brought did not have any batteries in it thanks to my 14yr old taking them out for her CD player. What was I thinking, expecting batteries to be in my camera. Crazy me.

Here are all of them when we first got down to the river. They were testing out the water. If you could make this bigger you would see the silly face my nepher Tristan is making, he is the boy all the way in the back on the left. He is a mess!

Here is my 7yr old after she came up from swimming under water. She was very proud of herself. She got the idea from her partner in crime, cousin Collin. :) She loves swimming in the river as she can touch bottom and still practice her swimming techniques.

Here is my 3yr old swimming with her tube. She likes to float in it down the river but pretty much stays by my side doing it. She can touch bottom if she needs to, but I still like to keep her within arms reach.

Here they are after we have played a while. She all the smiles? If only you could hear all the hollering too. :) We all had a lot of fun and it was just what we needed. Just perfect. I am so glad we went and look forward to going again. Although my son said it won't be as much fun the next time as it is ALWAYS more fun the first time you do something. :)

Heat Wave

2010-06-25T17:49:00.001-07:00

We went from nice cool weather with the perfect mixture of sun and rain to a heat wave with high humidity and no rain. My husband came home to this lovely weather and roasted. We have since gotten some more fans for the windows which does help some. I am thankful that at least when the son goes down behind the mountain it cools off nicely with all the fans blowing. I only wish we would have purchased them while he was home so he could have been a bit more comfortable. Sorry honey. The kids have spent so much time in their pool that I believe they are growing flippers! At least they have enjoyed this heat. My garden and I is looking dry and I am looking forward to some much needed rain they are promising next week. Until then we will have to eat more Popsicles and snow cones in attempt at staying cool. We did enjoy getting to spend some time together as a family this past week and are looking forward to next months home time. Until then we are busy with church activities, visiting family, exploring our town and just enjoying the summer. Of course the garden is a priority and so far it is doing well. I can't wait to eat the yummy cucumbers and tomatoes! The corn on the cob is a huge hit at our house too. The beans will be ready to can in a few more weeks so we will be plenty busy. We only have another month and a few weeks before school starts back up and football season begins. Summer sure does fly. I best go make the best of it. It is game night and we are getting ready to eat our pizza and play a game. At least my dough rises well in this heat. :)

Hectic Weekend and Week

2010-06-16T18:57:00.001-07:00

This has been the hottest weekend and week! We spent the weekend with extra children running around the house. My two oldest daughters each had friends over and enjoyed spending the entire weekend doing all sorts of fun stuff. The youngest ones were especially grateful for the pool and spent most of days playing around in it. On Saturday I took the two 7 year olds along with my 3yr old to my sons baseball game and party. The day was quite hot and I tried to keep them in the shade where it was a little cooler. They enjoyed playing around while his team won their final game and then we all went to the restaurant that sponsored them and ate a delicious lunch complete with cake and ice cream sundaes. The boys all got their trophies and enjoyed their final time together. Then on Sunday we had another child come over who was my sons friend and we all went to vacation Bible school. They all have enjoyed the activities and since I am helping with crafts I heard, "What are we gonna make tonight Mama?" every day. I have enjoyed this week and all the kids have enjoyed spending time with their friends. Today was the first day we did not have another child at our house and we were able to get the house back in order. We are very excited because tomorrow we are getting to see our favorite person in the world, their daddy! They are so excited and bedtime is just NOT happening. But that is OK since we have a long ride ahead of us in the morning and they will be able to sleep on the way. We look forward to getting him back home where he belongs! Now if only we could have him for a few weeks....... I look forward to spending some much needed time with him and having us all together. Now for the pictures.

Here is how my 3yr old spent her time at the game, swinging from this tree branch. She is quite the little monkey and this is the face she made after I told her she needed to stop her swinging. So funny!

My 7yr old spent her time riding this scooter down the walking trail. She LOVED riding this thing. It was the community scooter amongst all the kids on the team. I am very grateful to the mom who thought of bringing it to each game and to her son for sharing it so well. He was quite popular among the girls!

Here is my sons team. They were a great group of boys and really worked hard this year. I am glad that he had a great coach and that he enjoyed playing. He really improved throughout the season. He is looking forward to playing next season and is hoping for a call from the all star team. My son is the one who his friend has his hand on this shoulder. This is his "cool" face. :)

Visiting With an Old Friend

2010-06-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

We went and picked up one of my friends whom I have been friends with since high school and have been having from traipsing all over the county finding ways to wear her out. Not that being around my four children is not tiring. :) It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to take her to our favorite hiking spot. It is not too strenuous and the kids really enjoy it. Plus it has beautiful views. We had such a blast just taking pictures and exploring the trail. It has been great spending time with such a great friend, I have not laughed so hard in forever! I told her she missed her calling and that she should have been a comedian. Here are some of the pictures from our hike.

Below is a picture of Rene with my children standing under the famous stone bridge that starts our hike on our favorite trail. I was not close enough so the picture is not the best. I am not used to her camera.

Below are some of the first views you can enjoy from the trail. They are so much more beautiful in person, pictures just do not capture it all.

Then my two little girls decided to pick some flowers and Rene put them in their hair and took this picture. They look so sweet! Notice the baby doll. They both actually had baby dolls they brought on the hike only my 3yr old kept giving her baby to me to hold onto. :)

Then my son decided to take these huge leaves and turn them into a mask. I thought it was very creative and I snapped this picture. He looks like a masked villain!

Then he hid behind a tree to scare us. We were on to him though and snapped this picture just as he jumped out to scare us. The movement made it a bit blurry but you can still see the mischievous smile he has.

We made it through the wooded part of the trail and arrived at the open meadows. The grass has grown so tall already! Rene snapped this picture of my 7yr old running down the trail. I just have flashbacks of Little House and the Prairie when I look at these next few pictures. That and flashbacks of my childhood growing up on my grandparents farm and walking around in the fields before we mowed them. Good memories!

They all spotted a monarch butterfly and went over to inspect it. The butterflies were out in abundance which made my daughters very happy. One even landed on top of my 3yr olds head. I wish I would have been able to snap that picture in time but it flew off before I could.

When we got further into the meadow we decided to sit down and take a break. The tall grass was beckoning to the kids to just jump in and play. The girls jumped in and decided to play house. They made rooms in the tall grass and played with their baby dolls in the "houses" they made. My son loved to get in the tall grass and pretend to be a fierce animal. He crawled around and scared the girls for a bit and then just lounged around with the tall grass surrounding him making him invisible to everyone. The clouds were very pretty and he liked to watch them while laying there. Here is a picture of the girls in their grass house. They had not built all the rooms yet. This was the very start of their game.

And her is my 3yr in her play house. Here baby had her own room and she had another. They had such fun doing this.

Well even though we had a lot of fun we still did not make it to the top of this trail. I had to promise the kids we would come back soon to conquer the trail and once we get to the top I will post those pictures. Their are so many different trails to go on that I believe we could take all summer and still not make it through all of them. We also need to go to some of the waterfalls in the area as they are beautiful this time of year. So we are having a blast and plan on enjoying the rest Rene's visit. I am sure she will be in need of a "vacation" when this vacation is over. :)

Fun Times at the Library

2010-06-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

We LOVE our local library. Not only is it very well stocked with all our favorite authors, but it has TONS of stuff for the kids to do. It is not your typical library. It has 2 Thomas train tables, a Lego table, an arts and crafts table, a puppet stage, a PlayStation, just TONS of stuff. The kids look forward to going to the library and we had not gone for a while due to all our other activities. Finally on Saturday we had some extra time in town between functions and we decided to go to the library. The kids had a blast and are already asking when they can go back. I took some pictures while we were there just so you all could see some of the fun stuff that my little ones enjoy. My teenager just enjoys going to the book section, picking our books and sitting down in the cozy chairs and reading the day away. My little ones go from one activity to another. Usually they start out with computer games and move on from there. Here is some of what they did that day.

After playing a Dora video game, drawing pictures at the art table, putting on a puppet show, then playing with trains, my 3yr old made it to the puzzles. This one is her FAVORITE puzzles to put together. They have a bunch of these floor puzzles that she loves to get out and we put together. We did pick out books first before she started all these fun activities. :)

After picking out her books and playing a computer game, my 7 yr old put on a puppet show for her sister and me. It was quite imaginative and funny. Her younger sister loves to get up close and personal with the puppets and sometimes joins in from this side of the stage. It is then that I have to break up the show. :)

And here you see my son whom after picking out his books signed up to play the PlayStation. He just loves the big screen TV they have! At home he has to settle for our little 10" TV. He thinks this is awesome. You can see my daughter in the background setting up for her puppet show.

We ended our day with baseball practice in which the girls and I went across the street to the park to play. His practice is about 2 hours long so I am glad the park is close. It was hot that day so we actually went over to watch him about half way through his practice so we could sit in the shade. I did snap a picture of my 3yr old on the swings. I think she liked the swings so much that day because she liked to feel the breeze cooling her off.

So it was a fun filled Saturday. Now we are gearing up for a friend of mine who is coming to visit. We are looking forward to that as we have not seen her in about a year and a half. I am sure she will be tired out when she goes back home after spending 4 days with this wild bunch!

Schools Out

2010-06-04T18:39:00.001-07:00

Today was the last day of school for my oldest. My other 2 are still finishing up their books and their last day is right around the corner. Until then they are happy to fill up their free time frolicking in the sun and playing in the new pool we purchased for summer. They love to get in there and just splash around and make up games. We will still travel down to the river but in between they can at least cool off and have some fun. Here is a pic of them in the pool. You can see my 7yr old is hamming it up. Behind them you can see our garden which is coming along very nice. The rainy weather combined with nice sunny days is really helping all my plants just blossom! Tomorrow we will be out pulling the weeds that have also enjoyed the nice weather.

Since I was outside taking pics of the children I decided to snap one of my day lilies. They have spread out nicely in my flower bed and are blooming beautifully. Although I rarely get to enjoy seeing them in the flower bed as my 3yr old thinks that all flowers should be plucked and brought to mama. :) I don't mind that either. I will miss those days of getting flowers picked and given to me... Time flies by faster than you can blink sometimes. I will enjoy these precious years while they are here.

On another note. I have discovered that I have been buying the wrong birdseed. Oh, I had plenty of birds coming to my feeder, but now I have discovered the joy I had been missing by not attracting the song birds to my feeder. Needless to say, now each morning I get the pleasure of being sung to by all the beautiful birds eating at my feeder. The kids love the blue birds and finches the best. I just love watching them and listening to their morning songs. They are such beautiful singers. It is impossible to not be happy when you listen to them! They are shy birds and I rarely catch a picture of them, but I was able to get this shot off. I have yet to catch the bluebirds in a picture. They seem to be very camera shy.

Of course we have been attending my sons baseball games. There are only a few games left so I am going to attempt to get a good picture of him at his game. This one is blurry as usual. My camera does not zoom well at all. It is hard to get a good picture when you have a 3 yr old running around and grabbing at your arms though. Here he is manning his base. He is #1.

Last but not least I snapped this photo of my 3yr old having a lengthy conversation with her daddy. She is very expressive when she talks on the phone. She moves her hands and rolls her eyes and moves all about. She literally cracks me up watching her. I should video tape her and put in on here so you all could see how funny she is. She often gets frustrated when you don't understand exactly what she is saying and I think this is one of those times. I caught her right before she rolled her eyes and said, "Daddy!" in that exasperated tone she gets and then laughs. She is a mess I tell ya.

Visit With Daddy

2010-06-02T18:49:00.001-07:00

We went downstate to visit my hubby today. The kids and I were excited as we love to go see him between his home times. Any extra time is such a blessing to us! We were also excited because we gave him an early Fathers Day present which we could not wait to give him. It was a digital camera and we are looking forward to all the cool pics he is going to take! We will get to see some of the sights he sees and make a scrapbook of it all. The kids are looking forward to helping me with the scrapbook. My son is still hoping he will get to go out with his daddy for a trip. That is his ultimate dream. He has wanted to do it ever since my husband became a truck driver. It is just hard because my hubby is a driver trainer so he always has a student on the truck with him. Plus his loads are all cross country and are timed so that he always has to have another driver with him. But we can hope I guess. We loved spending most of the day with him and really enjoyed our time together. I know how exhausted my poor husband was and yet he put on a big smile for us and gathered up some energy to spend time with us. We love you honey and appreciate all you do for us! Your a great dad and wonderful husband!

Here he is toting our 3yr old around the store as we shopped for supplies for him. She loves to snuggle with her daddy. :)

Gardening

2010-05-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a work day in our garden. We had previously planted potatoes, beans, corn, lettuce, and onions and all of that is coming up great. Unfortunately, the weeds had come up great too. Not only in the rows that we had planted, but in the other part of the garden where we were going to finish planting. That part looked like the lawn! So, I spent hours getting reacquainted with the tiller. After 3 hours of tilling we were finally ready to finish planting. The girls finished the weeding between the plants that we had planted while I started to plant the cucumbers, tomatoes, pepper, squash, carrots, and watermelon. My two youngest decided to "water" the plants I had planted. This turned into a big play time with the hose followed up by huge mud pies and them being covered in mud from head to toe. Unfortunately I was to busy to find my camera and take their pics. At least they enjoyed the garden work. :) My oldest was miserable due to her allergies acting up and also she does not really enjoy gardening. She still is a good helper though. She was a trooper today, especially with her nasty allergies making her miserable. So we finished the planting, fertilizing, roping off the garden and now we are all tired and ready for bed. My son was spending the night at a friends house so he got out of the work for now. He will make up for it when the weeding resumes. :) Now all our work is done and the garden looks good. Now if only we can keep those pesky deer out of it this year we will be doing something. Now I am off to bed. Goodnight!

Full Weekend

2010-05-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was filled with gymnastics/dance, baseball, fishing, swimming, and church activities. It seemed like we went from one activity to another and I can tell you that I am glad that these activities are wrapping up. My 7yr old had her final dance/gymnastics class on Friday and has her recital this week. She will miss her classes as she has really enjoyed learning how to do cartwheels, flips, and various dances. Here she is posing for me as she also had pictures done this Friday. This is her outfit that she will wear to her recital this week. It is her favorite as it glows in the dark!

Then it was on to baseball first thing Saturday morning. The team did well and I was even able to take a few pictures of my little ball player. He plays 3rd base and we were sitting right by the base so I was able to click one of him at his post. He was warming up in between innings and was getting ready to throw the ball to one of his teammates.

Then I was able to catch him while he was up to bat. He was able to get a nice hit and made it on base while another teammate made it home. YEAH! He sure does love this game. He is always going outside and throwing around the ball and getting us to play baseball with him. He even bought his little sister a glove out of his own money so she could play catch with him. :)

When we got back home my son wanted to go fishing so we hunted up some worms and walked down to the river so he could throw his line in for a big catch. Unfortunately, he was not able to catch any fish, but in his defense I believe his sisters did not help as they were throwing rocks and walking about in the river scaring all the fish.

On the way back home my 3yr old decided to stop and talk to all the cows alongside the road. Notice their rapt attention. I think her mooing was entertaining for them. She was happy that they paid attention to her and kept talking about all the funny bossy cows the whole way home and kept mooing to show that she could indeed talk to them. Who knew she was fluent in cow!

On Sunday we missed a pool birthday party due to an activity we had at church so I agreed to take them all to the river for some swimming. The water was cold but that did not stop us from jumping in and tubing down the river. After a while my 3yr old got cold so her and I sat up on the bank wrapped in towels enjoying the beautiful scenery and watching her brother and sister play around in the water. I snapped this picture. I love how she looks in it. Look at that beautiful smile!!

Below you can see her sister unsuspectingly floating in her tube down the river to her brother who was pretending to be a super hero on a video game. He was doing all these karate moves in the water and splashing it at the evil villains. What his sister did not know is that she was coming closer and closer to his fierce water attack. Needless to say she did not really enjoy his splashing of water continuously at her. He then made her one of the "good guys" and decided I was one of the evil villains and they came after me. I could not defend myself well as I was to busy laughing at all his crazy faces he was making while doing his "cool" Karate moves. He could really throw that water far!

So that was our busy weekend. This week we started our Homeschool testing and so far it is going really well. We only have another week of school before our official start of summer and the kids cannot wait to do something fun to celebrate. I cannot wait for my hubby to come home. I tried to get him to come next week but that was too short a notice to give. I am ready to have some real home time with him as the last time was way to short and way to busy! So...hurry home hon! We miss you!

Rainy days

2010-05-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

It has been raining here today. I love listening to the rain on the tin roof, smelling the clean smell of the air...it is nice to have a rainy day after a few nice sunny ones! The children were outside playing when it started so they decided to stay out and enjoy the rain. There is something magical about playing in the rain. I think it has something to do with the excitement of feeling the drops falling on your face while you dance around vicariously with your head raised to the sky, arms out while you twirl about shouting at the rain. At least this what happens at our house. :) Bathing suits were donned (which is a first because normally my little ones just strip down and run around, we can get away with that as we live in the middle of nowhere), and they proceeded to race around the yard and dash under the eaves to feel the stream of water tumbling off the roof. I thought about throwing our a bar of soap but grabbed my camera instead. ;) My youngest decided to try to catch the rain on her tongue.

Then the girls grabbed the umbrella and danced around while twirling it above their heads. It was then that I had visions of Mary Poppins pop into my head. They looked so cute together under that big ole umbrella! Do you see the smiles on those faces?

My son did not dance, he rode his bike. We just fixed his bike as it had a flat tire and I finally got the tube to replace the old one. Now that is all he wants to do is ride his bike, rain or shine.

Then they decided they were wet enough and came back into the house to dry off. Now the girls are playing with their baby dolls pretending to be mama's and my son is playing with his transfer truck making deliveries just like his dad! He thinks his dad has the coolest job in the world. Something about those big trucks fascinates him. Whenever we go somewhere on the highway he will call our each make of the transfer trucks we pass or that pass us. There goes a Freightliner, there is a Peterbuilt, etc. Nothing makes his day than when he gets to ride along in the big truck with his dad!

When they came in my daughter brought me this.
A beautiful flower from a beautiful girl!

From cold to HOT

2010-05-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

We went to my son's baseball game the other night and it was COLD. Notice the warm jacket my little one is wearing in the following picture. This jacket was bought by my hubby for my oldest when she was little. It has been passed down through all my children. It is a well made coat to last through all the wear and tear. Notice the funny face she is making. She saw me taking pictures and wanted me to take one of her so she made this face for me. She is such a ham!
It was a L O N G game. Started at 7:00 and ended at 9:30. They lost by one point and it was the first game they have lost. They made 5 runs in the last inning and almost pulled ahead. It was a great game and very exciting, but my 7yr old did NOT have that opinion as you can tell in the pic. below.

Then the weather switched up and became HOT the following days. So hot that we decided to take a walk down to the river to splash around, collect some rocks and cool off. My 3yr old decided to take a self-inking stamp to her face, (thanks sis for the stamps in the Easter baskets!) Notice how she used them on her face, arms, and legs.

So we walked down to the river and my son made a boat out of a branch and some leaves for sails and found some string for the anchor and tied a rock to it. He is very imaginative. That entertained him for a while sailing his boat. My other two just splashed around. The school bus pulled up and let my oldest off (benefits of living in a rural community) and she then got into the water and had a water fight with my son. I thought she would be mad to walk home instead of riding the bus, but she said that when the bus driver saw us and asked her if she wanted to get off there that it was my daughter that said yes. Go figure. Never can tell what these teenagers are thinking. On another day she would be whiny and grumpy about walking home. Ya just never know. I enjoyed our time together and getting to hear about her day and all her friends. I am glad she still likes to talk to me about her day. I enjoy hearing about it. Now onto the pics of our day.

Here they are involved in their big water fight.

Below is my 3yr old sailing around on the river. Mind you this is a mountain river and for most people it would be way to cold for them to even enter let alone play in. :)

Below is my son and the boat he built. He just picked up whatever he found lying around and made this. He had such fun with it.

Below is a great pic of my 7yr old. She is so beautiful and I love that face! I could just eat her up!!

Busy busy weeks

2010-05-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

I hope every mom had a wonderful mothers day! Flowers and gifts of colored stones were in abundance at my house. I loved every bit of it and enjoyed spending the day at the zoo with the kids. We have had some busy weeks here as of late but hopefully it will slow down once school is out. Until then we will be enjoying baseball games, recitals, concerts, and all the other fun stuff that the ending school year brings. Speaking of baseball, I finally took my camera to the ball park and took some pics of my son. He is hitting so well! He plays 3rd base and his team is undefeated. I really just enjoy watching him play and enjoy watching the team working together and supporting each other.

Here he is up to bat. I still get anxious when he is up there. He is such a champ though. He has a good eye and usually makes a hit while up at bat. Unless he gets too anxious, then things get a little more harried.

And here he is again hitting the ball while up to bat. I really need a new camera. This does not zoom in well, it comes in blurry.

This past weekend we went downstate to celebrate a cousins birthday. It was nice weather, not too hot and the breeze made it feel just right. It was at a lake so the kids all enjoyed canoe rides and swimming in the lake. I personally thought the water a bit on the chilly side, but the kids enjoyed it. Here is everyone getting ready to enjoy the birthday cake.

The only downfall was my oldest has severe pine allergies and the lake was surrounded by pine trees and she was miserable by the end of the party. She is still recovering from our visit.

The next day was Mothers Day and we visited the zoo. The kids all had a blast. The weather was so nice and the animals were all out. Here are some pictures from our visit. Here they are looking at the elephants.

Here is my 7yr old riding a statue elephant with her cousin.

Here is my son pretending to hold this snake. It is a sculpture of numerous reptiles crawling on it. It almost looks real doesn't it? I especially like the look on his face.

Here is my pretty little girl whom I was so lucky to be able to hold hands with for most of our visit. I enjoyed holding her little hand in mine while we walked around and talked about all the different animals, trees, and sculptures we saw along the way. I love enjoying time like this together.

Here she is again with her cousin in the background. We were in the outdoor bird area where they have egg sculptures in which the kids can climb on. Do you see the look on her face? It is so funny!

This is my youngest at the end of the trip. She was wiped out! Her brother took turns pushing the stroller and I cannot believe he was not like this by the end of the day.

We had a fun filled weekend to end our hectic week. We are looking forward to a much slower week this week. Although I do wish my hubby could come back home. His trip home was shortened due to lack of drivers for his fleet. He is good at his job and they miss him when he is absent from the force. :) We basically were able to get his appointments finished and then he was back on the road. It was a rushed home time that is for sure. Maybe next time it will be a more relaxing time.

Babbling

2010-04-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

The highlight of my week has been the obtaining of a new vacuum cleaner. Exciting I know. My old one broke which caused much hyperventilating on my part as I HAVE to vacuum every day, it has something to do with my obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to clean floors. So I dropped the oldest 3 off at AWANA's and went to Wal-Mart to purchase a new vacuum, only to discover that they were out of most of them. I immediately called my trustworthy friend in NY and she began to search out said vacuums to check out their consumer responses. Needless to say that I walked out of Wal-Mart without a vacuum as the only ones that had decent reviews were $400.00. Don't get me wrong, I liked these vacuums, but I just have trouble paying that much for something that is going to suck up dirt off my floor when I paid the same amount for my first car... Call me crazy, but if I am going to pay that much for a vacuum it had better last me a L O N G time. So instead I went to Lowes and purchased a vacuum that was within my price range that had great reviews and so far so good. It has strong suction and I love the on board tools. So a big THANKS A BUNCH Melissa for helping me out in my vacuum dilemma. I am so glad you had your hi-speed in time for my crisis! :)

Now, on to more activities of the week. My son had his first baseball game of the season in which they won. It was an exciting game. I have to confess that I HATE it when my kid is up to bat. It is a stressful time. I sit and watch them and see the anxiety on their faces as they wait for the pitch. Watch them swing and if they miss I can see their stress level rise as they set up to try again. But boy when they connect with that ball and take off running I can also feel their exhilaration that they did it! I unfortunately did not remember my camera so I had to settle for a picture of him in our kitchen after the game. He cannot wait to play again tomorrow in his next game.

The other activity this week was my daughters gymnastics/dance class. She does this at the school on Fridays and I just had to take a picture of her doing her spider walk. It is basically a bridge in which you walk while maintaining this pose. It is a tough thing to do and I am proud of how well she is doing in her class. She is cartwheeling, front flipping, spider walking all over the place!
Of course my 3yr old has to get down and try to do what the other girls are doing. In her own version of course. Here she is showing me her stuff against the bleachers of the gym. Next year she will be old enough to take the class. The better question will be whether the teacher will be ready for her! LOL

Well that is what we have been doing this week. We are still looking forward to their daddy coming home albeit later than what we planned. That is the way it goes in this business, you can't really plan for things as you never really know what will happen. It will still be great to see him again and get to enjoy some of these fun activities with him. It is always nice to be together as a family. I have much more respect for families of truck drivers now that we are one. I had no clue when he started this venture what it was really like. It is a hard road to travel that is for sure. All the little things that you took for granted before that you miss now that one of you is away. I will be glad for his home time that is for sure!

Fun Times

2010-04-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Spring is making a mighty appearance with all the lovely flowering trees and sweet smelling blossoms. By next week all our trees should be in bloom and the yard will smell so wonderful and be so pretty with all the pinks, deep purples, and white flowers. Here is the start of our apple trees blossoming out.< >

We are in full swing with baseball season, birthday parties, spring cleaning, and homeschooling. It is a busy season and one that the kids are enjoying very much. The birthday party was for a little girl that I used to watch and she is the same age as my 7yr old and they are the best of friends. Her mom made 2 Barbie cakes since our daughters birthdays are so close together which my daughter loved. The party was held at the playground and the kids were all hyped up on cake and ice cream and running around having a grand time. The kids were all laughing, screaming, playing, the usual crazy stuff kids do. When it was time to cut the cake, the mom pulled out the Barbies which had plastic wrap around the bottom half of the doll and frosting was covering the top half of the doll to look like a dress. When she handed me the doll for my daughter with frosting all over it, my 3yr old rushed up to me and asked in a loud voice, "Can I lick the girl Mom?" That is NOT something you normally hear at a birthday party for a 7 yr old! Needless to say all the parents started to laugh and my 3yr old then grabbed the doll and began to lick the frosting of it. Not a dull moment with that child. I gently took the Barbie and steered her to the cake which was being put onto her plate. Thankfully it diverted her attention long enough for me to put the Barbie in a secure location so no more licking could be done. At least not until we got to the car and she found it again. :) Below is the picture of the now infamous Barbie cakes. < >
And here is my crazy girl after consuming all that frosting and cake. Gotta love her my little cutie! < >
Here are the girls having fun on the slides. Notice my little tag along who thinks she can do anything sister does. < >
The other fun thing we did was purchase a battery for our 4 wheeler. This was my son's when he was little and it has been a big hit with our children. My 3yr old is learning to drive it around which means lots of running into stuff and calling for help. It is funny to watch her as she will not only drive into stuff, but continue to hold down the gas pedal while calling for help. She has finally learned to stop pushing the gas pedal and shift it into reverse and I am also glad to say her steering is improving. < >
With baseball season upon us, my son feels the need to go out each and every day and play baseball even when he does have practices or games, it does not matter. My arm will be in top shape when this season is done I tell ya. Notice the serious expression on his face before he makes his pitch to his little sister. He is very serious about this game!

Now look at his sister. What? Doesn't everyone play baseball in a bathing suit and pink princess slippers?

And that folks is the fun times we have had this past week. Now we are eagerly awaiting their daddy coming home and enjoying some fun times with him!

Enjoying Spring!

2010-04-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

We came home to wonderful weather. All the trees are starting to get their leaves and the grass is turning greener, it is very beautiful. We decided to take an afternoon and go to the park. This park has lots of things for them to do. It has play houses, a nice level walking track, a river to explore, fish, and swim in, a really nice playground, and fields for playing soccer or baseball. The kids have to try everything of course so by the time we are through they are pretty wore out. They love it though and I am glad that the weather is nice enough for us to go. We have not been since before winter so it was nice to be back their again.

Here is my 7yr old in front of one of the little wooden play houses. In this case it is a play store. She is the shopkeeper.
Here is my 3yr old in one of the little log cabin playhouses. Her favorite game is the 3 little pigs in which I am the wolf trying to blow down her house. She loves to say, "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin" and then run off to the next house for it to start all over again.

Here she is moving a chair into one of the log cabins. She carried this chair from one house to the next so she could have somewhere to sit.

Here are my girls riding their bikes on the paved walking trail. My 3yr old can actually peddle this year, last year she would just scoot along with her feet.

Here is my son on his rip stick that he got for his birthday. He remembered the stick but not the helmet and pads. Luckily he never fell off. He is actually pretty good at it. It really looks like fun and I am considering trying it out. Although I am no where near as skilled as he is at this kind of stuff. He is pretty natural with it.

Here she is on the big slide. She was scared to go down it at first but once she tried it she loved it and wanted to go down it over and over.

That was our afternoon at the park. We hope everyone is enjoying spring weather and that the snow in the west stops so my hubby can at least have nice weather to drive in.

Pictures Of the Past Week

2010-04-15T05:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it through the week at cousins with only a few minor disagreements, much needed sleep, and lots of fun memories. My sister and her husband came back from their cruise bearing smiles and presents and were received with lots of hugs and snuggles and I tried to take pictures during the week, but my camera would not always cooperate so here are a few of the ones I was able to get.

Above: Here is part of the motley crew The three on the right are mine and the three on the left are my sisters. Two are missing from this picture. This was taken before the big egg hunt. Can you see the excitement on my littlest ones face. (The Dora PJ wearing girl)

Here is a picture of one of the crafts we did. They found objects out in nature and then glued them together to make their own winged creature creations. This was a big hit and they were very creative with what they found. I wish I had taken more pictures.

Here is my 3yr old with her aunt who is my favorite sister in law! :) She is my hubby's sister and brought the kids their Granddaddy over with her and her hubby to have Easter Dinner with us.

Here is my 3yr old in her new hat and shades from the dollar store. Doesn't she look CUTE!

Here are the two oldest boys playing a little one on one b-ball. These guys are very competitive. This week was great for my son who is usually surrounded by all girls because my sister has all boys. I learned a lot after living a week with these boys. Fun tidbits like: "Its best not to question what the wet stuff is you just stepped in upon entering the bathroom barefoot, just remember to wear shoes next time and bring the paper towels." and "Anything becomes a competition, from walking down the driveway to brushing your teeth. Its all about seeing whose fastest, strongest, smartest. etc.." I have to say it seems quite tiring from a female standpoint.

Here is another fun project we did with the abundance of paper towel tubes. You coat them with glue and roll or sprinkle sand over them and create castles. The littlest ones liked this one the best. I had pictures of them making these, but I could not post them as it was impossible to keep clothes on them throughout the day as they would go swimming in the little kiddie pool, then jump out and strip down and start to play. The yard looked like I had a wild frat party going on. Clothes and towels were thrown everywhere. It was a battle to keep them dressed. Good thing we were out in the country!

They have a big swing in their yard which my kids love. Here is my 3yr old waiting for me to let her go. She loves it when you stand in front of her and hold her up high in the swing and then let her go.

This is her after I let her go. See what a daredevil she is!

I am sure my sister and brother in law wondered what in the world this creation was attached to the side of their house. The older boys made a marble run out of the paper towel tubes. They planned it out on paper first, then put it together on the side of the house. It took a few trial runs to get it just right. They were very happy with their creation and even the little ones sat and watched while they made this and tried it out. Much clapping and cheering was made when it was finished and in working order.

Here are my sisters twins with my daughter in the middle. They are 6 months older than her and love her to pieces. Even though she is often mean as a snake to them. Aren't they cute together! Let me tell you, these little guys will keep you on your toes!

So we all had a fun week and now we are back to the spring baseball season and finishing up school and looking forward to summer fun! I am personally looking forward to my hubby coming home in a few weeks! We are trying to plan a mini get away, just an overnight away from home. We have tried to do this for 3 months now and either the weather or his delay in coming home has made it not happen. I am hoping that this month it will all work out. I would love to get away with him even if it is only for a short time. After him being gone 328 days last year one could see why I would be eager for some alone time!

Day 2

2010-04-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

DAY 2

The kids are still getting along pretty well. Only a few squabbles and threats of not being someones cousin anymore have erupted. It was a pretty hot day but we did manage to have some fun making bugs out of rocks and leaves and other odds and ends we found. Once we glued everything together they did make for some interesting creatures. The wind picked up in the afternoon so we decided to make homemade kites and try them out. They worked and the kids had fun until the wind died back down. More playing in the mud and splashing around in the kiddie pool. Mental Note: Don't leave boys alone with a water hose. You never know what will happen. Something about a boy and a hose... Their was water everywhere! I think they thought the whole world needed washing including those standing withing 10 feet of them. The trees, house, cars, bushes, ground, you name it, it was drenched. So I guess I will have to learn to pee outside from now on. Just kidding. Those boys do enough watering of the plants in that regard. Lastly, all I have to say is one word.... TICKS. I HATE them. They are EVERYWHERE. I cannot go outside without having the little annoying things attach themselves to me. I look down to find them crawling up my legs at the speed of light. Each night I have to inspect all the children and rid them of any that I missed during the day. I do NOT miss these annoying blood sucking leeches! I don't know if it is because my sister lives in the middle of numerous pine trees or if they just prefer this part of NC, but I will take my snow and coyotes any day over these pests! So on that note I will sign off now. I have to go check myself!

Spring Break Babysitting

2010-04-05T20:03:00.001-07:00

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We came downstate to visit with family and enjoyed a wonderful church service and great dinner with all the family. The only thing missing was my hubby. That would have made for a perfect day! We enjoyed visiting with family as it has been months since we have seen anyone. Another reason for coming downstate for spring break was so I could watch my sisters children while they went on a much needed cruise. This is their first cruise in 10 yrs and they were looking forward to getting away for a few days and reconnecting. They left Sunday afternoon and the kids and I are enjoying our time together. I have her 4 kids, ages 8, 5, and twin boys who are 3, plus my 4 and so far we are all getting along nicely. Any disagreements have been worked out peacefully. We will see how that continues as the week goes on. :) The great thing is that they are all so close in age that they tend to pair up and play together. I cannot post any pics as I do have my camera but no way to upload to my blog so I will post them next week upon our return home. Today we enjoyed the nice weather and spent time outdoors creating a marble run out of paper towel holders. This was a big hit with the 9 and 10 yr old. They created it while the others watched. Then everyone got to take turns dropping the marble down the chute. Later in the day we played an outside game called "Guard" which I will not go into details on but it was a big hit. I think the most fun was had when we pulled out the water balloons. Needless to say they had a messy muddy wet fun time. My sister was worried about us since we have no way to go anywhere since we have too many people to fit in a vehicle, but I am perfectly content to stay at the house and occupy the little ones. So we are staying busy and I hope the weather stays nice so we can continue to enjoy the great sunshine. My oldest is spending a few days with a friend and will be back in a day or so. She is enjoying catching up with her long lost bff.

I got good news that my hubby put in for time off in a few weeks so I am already planning for his time home. Now if only I could get US some alone time sans children......hmmm. That would be perfect. Either way, I have some surprises in store for him when he comes home. Just a little something to look forward to! Love ya honey~

7 Years Old!

2010-04-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today you turned 7. You woke up exclaiming in that oh so loud voice that you were 7 now and letting everyone know that today was your birthday. It did not matter that your 3yr old sister was still sleeping, all that mattered was that you saw me taking the cake out of the oven and that presents were involved. You had the day planned with all sorts of activities and informed me that your brother had promised to pick you daffodils for a present today. What you did NOT know is that he had gotten up early and had already gone out and picked you those flowers. He is such a good brother. He then packaged all your presents and some other things around the house he thought you might like. He has no shame in re-gifting. :) I proceeded to tell you that yes you were indeed 7 now because you had been born at 7:00 am and I was still waiting to hold you at 9:00am. I did not think they were EVER going to bring you in. You were my first scheduled c-section and I was so very nervous. Thank God your daddy was there to help me through it! His gentle assurances calmed my nerves as they sliced me open. Although he did fib and tell me they were just about ready to cut me when in fact they had me laid open and was about to take you out. :) I understand why though, I was frantic that I would feel them cutting me. I also remember the way his voice cracked with emotion when he told me we had a beautiful baby girl. Then he left me to go to you. He was so proud of his little girl! I also remember that you were the quietest baby I had ever seen. You never cried, fussed, nothing. Everyone would comment on what a good baby you were. I on the other hand was used to more boisterous children and was worried that I would leave you unattended somewhere and became vigilant in keeping you in sight. You went on to be very quiet toddler and rarely spoke and when you did it was quiet and reserved. You had the cutest cheeks and I could not stop kissing them! They were so adorable!

Then all that quiet reserved demeanor changed. Something happened when you turned 3. All of a sudden you found your voice, boy did you ever! You went from a quiet child to a loud boisterous one overnight. When you were frustrated you called people MEANIACS! Which we found a bit funny. You were way to cute to be that mad!

You became best of friends with your brother and now the two of you are thick as thieves. You are a perfect mixture of tom boy and princess. You are by far the fastest runner in plastic play dress up shoes I have ever seen!

I often refer to you as "little mama" because you act just like a mama to your little sister. Now you have someone to play dress up with and house and all those other fun girl things that your brother is not so fond of. You also have someone to teach all those cool things like coloring yourself with markers, putting on play make-up, and just plain having fun. Another partner in crime.

You have your daddy's brains and are very smart! I now see that those first few years you were sitting back taking it all in. Now you are ready and willing to show the world you are here and nothing can stop you. You are fun loving and enjoy making new friends wherever we go. You are more outgoing than ever!

We love you little darling and I am looking forward to whatever this year brings! You are my little sunshine girl!

Some Fun Things

2010-04-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

My children LOVE to dye eggs. We will dye eggs and hide them at various times of the year just for the fun of it, plus they love boiled eggs. So, since we had some nice days coming up they decided it was time to color eggs. We use the food coloring method as it gives such nice dark colors. They love experimenting with the different color combination and the last egg is usually the one that gets to go into each color and starts out looking cool, but in the end it is a brownish ugh color. This year they decided to stop at "cool". Here they are coloring the eggs (not to mention their hands, legs, clothes, etc..)

Now comes the fun part where they each take turns hiding them while the others count. They have fun trying to stump each other on who can hide the eggs the best. But they also have trouble keeping the hiding places a secret and often direct the seekers to the hidden eggs which makes for very short egg hunts but lots of smiles. I do think that my 3yr old was the best. She hid the eggs really well, called her siblings to come look for them. As they started to look for them she grabbed her basket, squealed and ran around and gathered ALL the eggs she had hidden so well. They proceeded to follow her around in disarray while yelling about the injustice of it all. It was so funny to watch her lead them all over the yard running in every direction while she collected each and every egg with such zeal! Needless to say they did not let her hide the eggs again.
Once the egg hunts were over and appetites had kicked in. They sat down on the back lawn and peeled their favorite colored eggs and ate them. The rest they gave to me to make egg salad.

My youngest decided to stick the whole egg in her mouth at once. Thankfully when she peels them she peels half the egg away with the shells so at least it is not a WHOLE egg really.. The look on her face cracks me up!

Then since it was such a nice day we decided to pick up my oldest from school and go to one of our favorite places to hike, Moses Cone. The views are so awe inspiring and the kids and I love the trails.

Below: This hill is one that leads up to a tower that we have yet to make it to due to our lack of time. We are determined to take a day when it is nice and travel to the top to see this tower. My son was disappointed that we could not go this day, but we had to get back to town for AWANA's and his first baseball practice.

When we got to the top of the hill and took some pictures we decided to start back down. My 6yr old ran down the trail through the grass and I took her picture from where we were at the top. She patiently waited for us to come down. My 3yr old decided to roll part way, then run so her and I made it to the bottom before my son and oldest did. Needless to say after the trek up the hill and then back down my 3yr old decided it was time for a rest and then had to be carried the mile back to the car. Good thing I started working out again! ;)

I had to snap this picture of sisterly love. My oldest says this sib is her favorite. I wonder how long this will last. :)

When my youngest told me she couldn't walk anymore I picked her up to carry her. She was apparently feeling very loving as she told me how great I was and gave me a big kiss which my son captured on my camera.

Here is my sons face after I asked him if he had a good time. I guess that face says it all. :)

Below are some pictures that my son took that I told him I would put on my blog. They turned out beautiful but the views in person are soooo much better.

Egg Hunt

2010-03-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have my hubby home for a whole week this past week! This is NOT the norm and I felt spoiled and did not want him to go back out on the road. It is always such a joy to have us all together as a family. It makes it hard when he leaves, but we know he is working hard and sacrificing to provide for us and we appreciate all that he does. We pray for his safety on a daily basis and eagerly await his phone calls home and his return trips. We miss him terribly while he is away and try to make his home time special. This time we enjoyed hanging out and having fun. We were able to celebrate our sons birthday together as a family and also went to the local egg hunt in town. The kids enjoy collecting these eggs as not only do they have the much loved candy inside, but they also have special golden eggs that you trade in for prizes. My 6yr old was able to find one of the much coveted golden eggs and happily traded it in for a prize which consisted of a basket full of fun things. She was very excited. Here she is before the egg hunt began.< >

The day was beautiful with the sun shining down and it was brisk but tolerable. All our kids were so polite in the hunt for eggs. My poor son had a hole in his bag and eggs kept falling out. The kids around him would eagerly grab the eggs as they fell from the bag without giving a thought to offering it back to him. He finally grabbed the bag and held it closed so no more would fall out. < >

Below is our youngest waiting with daddy for her turn to hunt for eggs. < >

Here she is with me on her egg hunt.

She was the funniest. She would NOT pick up an egg unless no one else wanted it. She would pick it up and if someone came over she would immediately put it back down. Needless to say she only collected about 5 eggs out of the 100 that were their. She was so funny! They all had fun though and we enjoyed the springlike day and getting to spend it together was a definite blessing! We are looking forward to daddy's next trip home and are planning many fun excursions for us all this summer for our family time. I love you babe and miss you terribly. Hurry home soon!

PS: I would love a drive by in between your home times as my wash machine is feeling left out. :)

Birthday Boy

2010-03-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

You turned 10 this past week. I cannot believe you are in the double digits! You, on the other hand, remind me daily that you will be a teenager in 3 more years and cannot wait to drive a car! I am perfectly content to enjoy your boyhood for a little longer. You are such a happy child. You are always coming up with imaginative things to do, create, invent, or investigate. Your mind is your playground. You don't need toys as you can invent a game out of a Popsicle stick and some tape. :) You are also very eager to start your own business. You have tried to sell vegetables in our front yard, (this was hard since we live at the end of a private drive in the middle of nowhere). You have tried having your own barbershop and even practiced you hair cutting skills on your sisters dolls, with her permission of course. I was just glad it wasn't your sisters you practiced on! Your latest idea was an oil changing center. This came about after you helped me change the oil in the car. I watched as your enthusiasm grew with this idea and you came up with the price to charge people and informed me very seriously that YOU would collect and keep the money as this would help you in math and counting money. :) Never once did you speak of the work involved though so I am only assuming that I would be YOUR employee and would be doing all the work. :) I often wonder if you will be an entrepreneur when you grow up. Although your mind changes on a daily basis of what you want to be when you grow up. Everything from a truck driver like your daddy to a train engineer to a scientist. The world awaits you my son. You are wonderfully made and I pray that you will indeed be whatever the Lord leads you to be. He has given you so many wonderful talents and gifts that I can only begin to imagine how you will use them. Until then I will sit here and watch you fly around the house with your mind going a mile a minute and your imagination soaring to vast heights that the others can only barely touch. You bring such enjoyment to our house. You are always ready to ham it up and enjoy making other laugh. You are our in-house comic.< >

I am so glad that you are still that sweet boy that everyone always comments to me on. You have a wonderful heart and care so much about others feelings. (Unless one of your sisters gets on your last nerve, then you may not be as caring as usual.) I love that you still love to snuggle, enjoy my hugs and kisses and tickles too. I will miss all this as you get older. I know that one day that snuggle will be our last as you will become too "big" and "grown" to snuggle with your mom. Until then I will enjoy the bouquets of flowers you pick me, the fresh strawberries you seek out for us, and all the other fun times we have together. I love you son!

I Wonder......

2010-03-18T16:26:00.001-07:00

Ever had one of those days where you just wonder about everything? Why life is the way it is, what you should do about something, how should you do it? Questioning each scenario, examining every facet of information available then trying to determine the correct direction to take? Ever feel like your brain has turned to mush after all the pondering is through and look something like this?>

I have had those type of days lately and this goofy girl of mine can bring a smile to my face no matter how pressing the matter at hand may be. :)

In our home school experience we took a "wonder" day and explored it using all our scientific materials that were available to us. We gathered specimens we "wondered" about and using magnifying glasses and our handy dandy microscope we were able to unlock some of the mysteries behind bee hives and snake skins and a live lady bug!

Below you can see my 6yr old ~~monopolizing~~ enjoying her discovery. (Notice my son's expression does NOT seem to enthused? Can you wonder why with two little sisters who have a "ME" complex?
Below is another view of her viewing a specimen under intense scrutiny.
They enjoyed observing in great detail their finds and making various hypothesis about them and look forward to finding more things to "wonder" about in the lovely warm spring weather that is to come! I think I may need to order more glass slides......

Crazy Rabid Squirrel

2010-03-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is a video of a squirrel I took while at the Tree House Exhibit at the Catawba Science Museum. It reminded me of my children at bedtime! It also reminded me of the video Over the Hedge where the squirrel gets all hyped up on caffeine. So funny!

Spring Is in the Air

2010-03-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

We have felt what the taste of spring feels like here in the mountains. Of course we HAD to go outside and enjoy the crisp air and melting snow. We have done schoolwork outside and mixed in some playtime and bubble blowing and old fashioned monkey business. We have also taken a field trip to a science museum and enjoyed a planetarium show along with petting sharks, seeing an electric eel and other sea creatures and just exploring science. All this while running my ninth grader and her friend back and forth to drama practice each night and other school functions in which I feel like I should put a taxi cab sign on my roof and start charging. :) Busy season it is, but at least the snow is melting and we have seen geese and robins! I think winter is on her way out and spring may just be right around the corner!

Above you see that grass plus 50 degrees means it is bubble blowing time!

My kids have been wanting to ride their bikes for weeks now. So they HAD to get them out and see what it is like riding in the snow. They found out real fast that they needed to stay on the grass. I remember as a kid I couldn't wait to get my bike out the first signs of spring!
Here is my little monkey just hanging around! She is getting so big!
Here she is making a top at the museum.
Here are all the kids having fun testing out the Spin Circle.

Do you see the look on her face? She is rolling different objects to see which rolls faster. She loved this exhibit.
You can't go wrong with Lincoln Logs. I used to LOVE these as a kid and I have to say that they had an awesome amount and I played at this table and had fun building the little houses.
Here is my son building with wood scraps. All of these with wood and creatures were taken in an exhibit called "The Tree House" and it was a favorite among the kids.
Above is a puppet show that I was able to watch. It was very entertaining. :)
Here they are building wind mills with Tinker Toys. Another favorite.

February, the month of snow

2010-03-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

February was a month of nothing but snow, snow, and more snow. My oldest, who is in public high school, went a total of about 8 days to school the whole month of February. She is so sick of snow days that she about cries now when she has them. Alas, I am sick of being woke up at 5:55am to a phone ringing and "attention parents and students, school will be closed today". We officially hibernated for the month and have just started getting back out to all the lovely places like the grocery store, library, school, and after school functions. But, today we are back home and no school due to what? More snow! It was a very beautiful snow that came though, nice big puffy flakes that stuck to everything because it was that heavy wet snow that blanketed each and every particle with its lovely puffy whiteness. I don't mind the snow, or even the hibernation. Especially now that it is March and we know spring is just around the corner. My two that are home schooled continued with their studies and we did more crafts and other indoor fun stuff. I also stepped up in my crocheting to actually reading patterns instead of just winging it on my own. You know you lead a quiet life when you finally get out to Wal-mart and get excited because they have gotten in the one crochet needle you have been missing but could never find. I was like a little kid and could not wait to get back home to try it out. We also have been doing a lot of reading. We studied Abraham Lincoln and George Washington for school and read lots and lots of books regarding the two. More on George than Abe right now because we are starting to study the Revolutionary War so it tied in quite nicely. We have enjoyed the winter and have even gotten used to hiking to our car on the days when we have been able to get out. We have been blessed with kind neighbors who brought us to our home with our groceries with their massive 4wheel drive truck when my car would not make it up the drive way. This saved us from having to load the sleds and pull them up the hillside drive to the house. I can now hike up the drive with my 3yr old in tow and not break a sweat nor get winded so I guess it has been good for me. Now if only I could get motivated to actually work out inside, then I might see more results! Instead I have been enjoying the fruits of my children's baking experiences. We have made cookies, brownies, cupcakes. All of which they consume rapidly, but I too manage to snag a few in the process. I look forward to spring and summer where we can get outside more and work off some of these extra winter pounds I have put on. I feel like a bear who is hibernating only I eat all winter instead of sleep! I did manage to sneak off for my birthday in which my hubby came home on a mini drive by and took just me out to dinner. This was very nice. We have started spring cleaning early and in response my children have discovered toys long forgotten and are now playing with them like new found friends. In short we have been just enjoying spending time together and learning new things and, well, waiting for spring! < >
Below are random pics.
Here is my oldest doing what she does best and that is reading and watching movies on the computer.
Here is a pic I took today of the lovely whiteness that covered everything.
Here are just some of my sons trains. My youngest loves to get these out now that we have unearthed them and play with them. Her brother sometimes joins in just to show her how it is done of course. :)
Another picture of how beautiful the snow is on our trees. Here it is covering our apple trees in my back yard.
Here is our poor Miss Hen who has not enjoyed the winter much and comes to the house on occasion to hang out on the step. She gets fed here as my children love to feed her whenever they see her so she is a wise little hen. I will be glad when she is a laying little hen. :)
Here is my old snoopy dog pull toy from when I was little. This may have been my sisters too. I saved it and each of my children have enjoyed pulling him around the house. My youngest now has that pleasure. He is made so well that I think he will be pulled by my grand kids one day! I loved my snoopy dog!
Here is my 3yr old helping me bake cookies. They were yummy lemon sugar cookies and they were MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm so good! The sifter she is using was my Grandma's and it is a favorite among the kids. They love to use it. I remember feeling the same way and I love knowing that I am using something that was once used by my mother and grandmother!

Here are the official cookies that my little ones baked. The blue sugar was an addition my son tried and it was a yummy idea. He can probably bake these by himself as he basically does everything and I just watch him now. He loves to cook. I remember his daddy loved to cook and used to cook for me all the time. He still cooks on occasion, but not so much as he is gone all the time. I did so love it when he cooked though, he is a great cook and what he makes is so yummy. (hint hint darling!)

Finally, SUN!

2010-02-11T17:50:00.001-08:00

The sun finally came out today. As I said in my last post I was bound and determined to get OUT in the sun for a bit. So, even though it was 20 degrees, we all bundled up and went outside for some much needed SUN! The snow was ice crusted with just a few inches of powder on top which made it excellent for sledding. My 3 yr old decided to take her swim tube and slide down the little hill with it. She tried various hills until she found the one that was just p e r f e c t. Here she is scoping out the lay of the land.

She found her hill! Look at her go! She loved this new found sled.
Meanwhile my other two decided to dig a tunnel. My 6yr old was so into it she knocked her hat off and did not even stop to put it back on. Cold? Nah. Not when you are 6 and sweating from straining to dig this massive tunnel her brother started.
Here they both are in front of their tunnel. My son is completely blocking it.
Below you can see my son in the tunnel. This was such fun for them. I remember doing the same when I was little. (Actually I was much much worse and would scope out the terrain to see if their were any roofs that I could climb up on and slide down. Yes, I was crazy, but in my defense I only had male cousins who were always coming up with one crazy thing or another.)

Below is a picture of my driveway. It is a lane really in which my house is all the way at the top of. My car will NOT make it up this hill and I have went through 2 sets of cables trying to make it to the house. Now I have officially given up and we walk from the bottom. You cannot see the bottom of the lane where my car is in this picture but the general area is if you look at the yellowish house and see those tree's beyond it at the bottom of the hill , that is where the end of our lane is. My car is just up from those tree's. That means I am definitely getting my exercise hiking up and down this lovely lane with all my children in tow. Now you know why I rarely leave the house when we have a bunch of snow. For my friend Melissa, this is the hill my oldest hikes up and down to get to the bus. Show it to your kids when they start to complain. :) I can just hear my kids now when they are older telling their children, "I used to have to walk half a mile to get to the bus and it was all uphill both ways!" :)

My 3yr old's reaction to winter doldrums

2010-02-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to another blizzard. (My camera is about dead so I could not change the date reading without the batteries dying so pay no mind to the date).

Blustery winds, tons of snow, cold, all the joys of a snowstorm.

This did not cause me to jump for joy as I have been experiencing the winter blah's lately. I am so ready for warmer weather and SUNSHINE! The sun so rarely shines anymore and I really miss it. The grayness of the days seems to seep into my very being. The next sunny day, no matter how cold I am going to go outside and soak up all the sun I can! This, however, is NOT how my 3yr old responds to winter. She woke up and saw the snow and became very excited. She ran around the house looking out every window screaming, "SNOW!" She then found tons of mischief to get in. This post is dedicated to all the fun things I found her doing both today and other days this winter. But, mostly today.

Here she is holding a marker. She may look innocent enough, but I know by that devilish look that she has been up to something. Upon further inspection I discovered what it was.

Notice how she is carefully coloring her foot. How she is taking care to get even between her toes. She did not know I was taking her pic at this time.

Below is the end result of her coloring that she proudly displayed for me. I think she was going for a measles/chicken pox look with multiple colored nails to comple it. The big red toe looks a bit overdone if you ask me. That one looks like it came in contact with a hammer. :)
Below.
This is what I caught her doing this morning. Yes, that is my sugar canister. She apparently got up on the counter and I accidentally left it down this morning where as I usually have to put it up high in the cupboards because I know of her sugar addiction.
Later this morning I heard a weird noise coming from my kitchen. I walked in to find this.

I guess now you know the outcome of sugar shot and my 3yr old! Needless to say it is impossible to stay down when you have a goofy 3yr old running around the house. She delights my heart!

This is how our day ended. With my 9yr old son and his sister playing outside in the blustery cold. They loved sliding down hill in this crazy weather. They also pretended to be ice breakers since the snow has an ice crust below all this lovely new fallen snow due to ice rain/sleet that we had yesterday. They are looking forward to a day of sledding tomorrow. Oh the joys of youth!

Time with dad

2010-02-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

My hubby arrived home amidst another winter storm. This has been the worst winter up here. Usually we get snow, but it lasts for a week then goes away. This winter we have had snow all of the winter except for 1 week. This would not be too bad except our 4-wheel drive truck will not start and my car will NOT make it up the hill to our house. This causes a lot of grumbling amongst the children because we have to walk down the drive to the bottom to get to the car. This is quite a walk. Unfortunately this lovely winter storm caused my hubby and I to miss out on some much needed alone time that we had planned. Instead we were snow bound for the whole time he was here. We did have one day of sunshine in which my son got to go out and have some daddy -son time bonding over his new BB gun that he got for Christmas. He also had lots of snuggle time with the girls. It was so nice having him home. I thought of holding him hostage and not letting him go back out, but I guess that was not an option. I keep hoping he will find something close to home where we could see him every weekend. That would be great. I guess we will have to keep looking. Below are some pics of his time here.

< >
Above is my 3yr old snuggling with daddy. They had lots of snuggle time this trip home.

Above is my son with his dad target practicing with the new BB gun my son got for Christmas.

Here is my son coming in for more BB's. He sooo enjoyed this time with his dad.

Winter Baseball and other fun and games

2010-01-24T18:46:00.001-08:00

We had a warm up and all our snow melted. The sun stayed away, but it still was warm enough for everyone to get up and get moving outside again. First on the list was a game of baseball. Below is my youngest with my son's old football helmet on. Isn't she CUTE!

Here is my 6yr old running the bases after getting a hit.

We have had a bunch of boxes laying around our house and they are fun to play in. They have some bigger ones that they slept in one night with their sleeping bags, and then played UPS delivery man with the next day. One of the other favorite games was, "My goodness! What ever is in this box???"

"Oh my, it is a pretty little girl!"

We also had some beautiful artwork that was created using our new watercolors. My 6yr old loves to paint, draw, and color flowers. They are her favorite theme. I liked this one the best.

We are looking forward to many more creations as it is Valentines day soon. Plus the kids like to make pictures for their dad to take with him and he is coming home later this week. YEAH! We are looking forward to spending some much needed days with each other as a family. We cannot wait!

Special Delivery!

2010-01-15T16:34:00.001-08:00

My neighbor called the other day to tell me that I had a package down at my mailbox. He asked if I wanted him to deliver it. I told him no that my son would be more than happy to walk down and retrieve it. He informed me that it was a pretty big box but I thought, "surely it cannot be that big," as I knew what we had coming in the mail, or so I thought. So, I assured him that my son would be fine and hung up. I then told my son about the package. He had developed an interest in delivering packages lately and takes his job seriously. He works hard to make sure all the packages are delivered on time. The whole motto of "rain or shine, sleet or snow" really is true when it comes to this boy. He trudged all the way down to the mailbox which was no easy thing. It is down the mountain lane and is quite a long walk. He retrieved the package and lugged it back up the snowy, slippery mountain lane to home. He was gone for quite a while so I decided to watch out the window for him. Imagine my surprise, not to mention guilty feeling when I spotted this...

I could NOT believe that he had brought that HUGE box all the way back up to the house! I could not believe that I had INSTRUCTED him to go and get that package. I guess my neighbor was not joking when he said it was a "big box". I felt pretty bad about all that hard work that my son had to do to get this monstrous thing to the house. The lane is slippery and snow covered and even though it was a warmer day, little had melted. It is quite a steep incline and it is all the way uphill to the house. He really astonished me. If it would have been me I would left it and came back home. Not him. He seriously wanted to get that huge box home and tear into it to see what was inside. Here he is again close up. Notice the red cheeks? That is not from the cold, but from the sheer exertion it took to get that thing here. I told him he was absolutely the cutest delivery boy I had ever seen and I praised his hard work in bringing it to the house. I still cannot believe it. I really did not think it was going to be this big a box. It was heavy too. He really amazed me.

Well, now that I shared my cute delivery boy story (along with confessing my less than stellar parenting moment) I will go on to share other events that have been happening. We have not been snowbound due to the fact that I finally got some cables to put on my car. Now we can get out and do some things. The only downside is that I have to constantly put those on and take them off after we get to a main road, then repeat the whole process when we come back home. The other day my darling hubby informed us that we would be able to have a surprise visit from him on his return trip. He was hoping to be able to come early in the evening, but his delivery was not until late and the company took FOREVER to unload him which made him even later so it ended up he finally got to the area around 3:30 am. Since he cannot bring his truck up the winding, narrow dirt roads to the house, he has to park his truck somewhere else and I go and get him. Needless to say that at around 4:00am I was taking the cables off my car down by the road surrounded by nothing but cold and lots of mountain nature and thinking about the coyote I had seen just a few days ago right in that area. I was hoping that a pack of them were not hungry enough to come and get me while I was freezing my fingers off with those cables! All went well and nothing came to eat me. (See sis, I told you there was nothing to worry about. I was like bait and nothing ate me!) The great news is that we were able to have my hubby home and I would gladly get up and get him at anytime day or night, rain or shine! It was well worth it! I enjoy those surprise visits and look forward to hopefully many more, along with his regular scheduled visits of course! ;) So keep em coming baby!

The kids have been keeping busy doing various things. Below is my 6yr old using her "computer" to type out her spelling words and other fun educational stuff. You can see all their schoolwork spread out around her. They had school even though the public schools were closed for a week. :)

Next is my youngest playing "peek a boo" with me using her binoculars. She kept doing this and saying, "I can't see you!" Goofy little girl!

Below is a picture of the Lego's that came in the mail for my children. As soon as they dumped them out I was reconsidering my logic in getting them. They get all over and no matter how hard you try you always miss some when you pick them up. They have been having fun with them though. They have been making many kinds of creations and I am happy I got them. Until I step on one barefoot that is. :)

Here are some of my sons Lego creations. He really was happy with them, he just did NOT want his picture taken. I told him after I took it that he looked mean. He smiled and said, "Good". Go figure.

We also made treats. My oldest had a friend over and they made a big snowman out of rice krispie treats. Here is my youngest with her part of the treat. It was almost as big as her head when she started, but she shared it with her siblings which was a good thing.

Snow, Snow, and more Snow

2010-01-06T19:50:00.001-08:00

Apparently 2010 is going to be known for its frigid temperatures and lots of snow. This is all we have seen since the year began. Snow each day, very cold temps, and lots of wind. We have been in hibernation mode since I have yet to get to town to buy chains or cables for my tires. Normally we get some snow and it goes away a few days or at the most a week later. This year we have had snow for weeks and I don't think it is going to go away any time soon. I have been spending my days chopping wood for our stove as the pieces we had delivered are a bit big. I had been meaning to start on my fitness routine again anyways. At least I will have nice toned arms! :) My oldest picked on me and called me "Ma Bunyan" which I was not to fond of. Smart sassy girl! Teenagers, what can I say. At least we are warm! She is the first to complain about it being cold out and her being cold so I know she appreciates what I do. She never gripes about bringing in the wood and is always the first to ask me to start the fire. They all tend to help with the wood and my middle two seem like they think it is a big adventure. It was always a chore my sister and I had growing up and I really did not mind it either. But we had to bring it up from the cellar which meant lugging it up those pesky cellar stairs which was a bit tricky when you were little. Not to mention our cellar was the CREEPIEST place! You know how much kids just love dark spooky places. I was convinced some monster was going to jump out and get me so I would only bring up wood if my sister helped. If she was gone and I HAD to do it alone I remember I would always sing some Bible songs I had learned. That is the only thing that helped me get through the ordeal of going down their alone. I guess even back then I had faith, even if I did not really know it at the time.

I decided to take some outdoor pics so you all could see what we see each day. Below is a pic of the woods behind out house. It is back in these woods that the coyotes and other wild creatures like to hang out. They lurk about in these woods just waiting to snatch up my sister and eat her! At least that is how she acts whenever she comes for a visit! :)

Normally you can see the mountains beyond, but the snow makes them look like this.

And this.

The bigger kids did get out and enjoy the snow some. Here is my oldest pushing her friend down the hill. It just goes to show that you are never to old for sliding down hill.
Here she is again pushing my son down the hill. She just likes pushing everyone around. :)

Here she is posing with her friend.

Here they are after sliding down the hill. They had a blast doing this and I was glad to see them outside enjoying themselves instead of being stuck inside like we have been for days.
Here is my son after he helped me with the wood. He looks nice and warm doesn't he? :)
So we hope you all are enjoying the start of the new year in your area. We are enjoying ours to the best of our abilities. I have asked my hubby if he was planning on coming home anytime soon and whisking me away for a few days. A girl can have wishful thinking can't she?? I will just be glad to have him home for a longer time than part of a day! That is the hardest part of his job. I miss you dear! Come home soon! Stay safe! Love you!

Christmas Week in review

2010-01-02T16:51:00.001-08:00

Our Christmas was a fun filled, no power, freezing rain day. We luckily had our trusty and much beloved wood stove in which I was able to cook our Christmas dinner on and we stayed nice and toasty! We had lots of quality fun time with each other. We baked cookies, played games, watched movies, had snowball fights, colored, you name it. We were even blessed in that my hubby was able to come home for a night. It was a week after Christmas so we had another ham dinner with him and he got to open his presents. I kidded with him saying, "Thanks for stopping by the Mountain House Bed and Breakfast, we hope you liked your stay!" I am looking forward to a much longer visit later in the month. The new year has started and the weather is frigid. A whopping 10 degrees with a wind chill of below zero. It is C O L D! We woke up this morning to more snow on top of what we already have. I don't think it is going to go away this year until spring. This is unusual in that normally it snows but is gone in a week. We have had this one for 3 weeks. We were not able to get down our driveway for over a week after the last snow. We really need a four wheel drive, but even the first few days they could not even get back up our hill. That is the fun of living in the mountains I guess. I do still like the snow though. The kids are looking forward to it warming up a bit so they can go outside and play. Until it warms up though I am afraid they are stuck inside.

Below is my oldest with my youngest watching a movie. This is who my youngest runs to when she is in trouble with me. :)

Below:
My youngest modeling some new sunglasses she received for Christmas.

Some opening of presents on Christmas day.

Were you ever this excited over a puzzle of the US?

Even Scooby was wore out from all the fun and bustle of the holidays! Here he is resting on my son. What's that they say about a boy and his dog? :)

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed New Year! Another adventure has just begun!

Merry Christmas from my little ones!

2009-12-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

My camera batteries were going dead but I was at least able to record most of it. Enjoy!

Frosty has arrived!

2009-12-22T12:49:00.001-08:00

Here is Frosty. He arrived today and received a hearty welcome. They were very proud of all their hard work in making him. Everyone was tired after constructing such a tall snow man. He is as tall as me.

Below:
Here is my littlest one sitting on another snowman ball. My son decided to start one of his own, but we convinced him to come help us girls since we needed all the muscle to get the snowballs on top of each other. She is very cute sitting on it. She would use the branches to get up and then hold onto them to slide down. Too cute.

Below:
Here we are at the hill sledding and snowboarding. My youngest two enjoy sledding while my son and oldest enjoy snowboarding. I tried snowboarding today also. I am glad that I was the only one with a camera so it could not be caught on film! I have much more respect for my oldest two now. It looks easy but it is NOT. Maybe with a bit more practice I could manage it, but for now I am happy sledding. The youngest requires a pull up the hill so needless to say I am wiped out after an hour of pulling her up the hill!
Below:
Here she is, my little princess whom I have to pull around everywhere. She just got off her sled so I would turn it around and she could slide down again. I have to ride with her of course. Something about mommy riding with her makes it better I guess. She sure does love the snow.
We are still trapped here. My car is not able to move yet due to the pile of snow all around and in front of it and my kids somehow left the one and only shovel we have somewhere and the snow has covered it. Right now I am guessing it is somewhere by the house covered in 4 feet of snow due to the snow that fell in sheets off the roof today. NICE. My speech of "NOW YOU KNOW WHY I TELL YOU TO ALWAYS PUT STUFF BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT!" I am sure did lots to solve our little problem. We have given up the search and my oldest went to borrow our neighbors. She does not have any little ones to lose her stuff! Thank goodness someone is prepared for snow. You would think I would own more than one shovel but in the past it was sufficient since apparently I am the only one who knows how to use it. Normally nobody goes near the thing as they are afraid I am going to tell them to use it to shovel the walk, but apparently it held some enticement yesterday when I was inside cooking supper. Go figure.

Snowy Day In the Mountains

2009-12-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today was a fun in the snow day for my children. My littlest one got up and saw all the snow and immediately wanted to go outside and play in it. So here are the pics of their day. Below you will see my 6yr old enjoying frolicking in the snow. The tree behind her was her fort and she would hide behind the branches and throw snowballs.

The snow was a bit to deep for my 3yr old to walk in. She would take a step and fall down. She thought it was fun the first 10 times or so. Then she got her sled and was pulled around by her oldest sister and me. We are both ready for bed after lugging her up the hill 10 times! Here she is after falling. Notice the snow in her hand. What is it about fresh fallen snow that just screams "Eat Me" to children. ALL of them ate handfuls of it. Clean snow, not the yucky stuff. :)

Speaking of eating snow, we decided to make snow cream. The littlest ones help and you can see it was a huge success. They loved it. It did taste delightfully delicious! Notice the hand mixer my 3yr old is using. It was my Grandmothers and I remember loving to mix with it as a child. She had given it to my mom and I was so happy because then I could use it all the time and not just at Grandma's house. :)

We then went back outside later in the day. Here is my 6yr old on top of the hill getting ready to slide down. See our dog with her. He rarely gets let loose because he likes to visit our neighbors. He does not stray to far in the snow so he is able to frolic a bit with us. It was funny to watch him leap through the snow. It was to deep for him to run through, he had to jump each step. It tired him out pretty quick.

Below is a picture of my oldest sliding down with her littlest sister. She seemed to really enjoy playing out in the snow. I am glad. I still like to slide down hill so maybe she will be the same.

While they enjoyed the outdoors most of the day, I was only able to get outside the last time as I was busy making a delicious soup which I set to cook on the wood stove and then made old fashioned brown bread to go with it. This bread is so scrumptious. It does not have any sugar in it, but it has molasses instead and it is yummy. It goes perfectly with soaps and the kids gobbled one whole loaf up. I also baked more cookies today. This was a good thing since they devoured the batches I made yesterday. They can eat some cookies I tell ya. I am off to finish knitting my gram a scarf so I can hurry and get it in the mail on Monday. See ya!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

2009-12-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

My dream may come true!

Here is our snowfall starting yesterday, Friday.

As you can see in the picture below the big puffy snowflakes were falling steadily. The trees were dressed in white layers.

This morning we woke up to all the trees with their white coverings.

Our birdfeeder is wearing a snow hat!

The snow is so heavy the trees branches are bending to the ground. It makes a nice area for the animals to hide in.

I will post more later today after we all bundle up and go outside to enjoy this wonderful snow!

Reasons why I love my woodstove

2009-12-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

Reason #1. She really puts out! Heat that is. She may be small, but she sure can heat up this house!

Reason #2. I save on electricity as I can dry all my clothes on a clothes rack. This reminds me of when I was little as my mother did not have a dryer until I was a teenager and even when she got one she rarely used it. She preferred drying on the line outside or using the rack inside in the winter. I guess that is why I like it.
Reason #3. It is great to come in from the frigid outdoors and stand next to her and warm up instantly.
Reason #4. My children all love to get their books and lay around you and read while you warm them head to toe.
Reason #5. There is something homey about seeing smoke rising from your chimney when you are coming home on a cold winter day.
Reason #6. The smell. It reminds me of when I was little. All our family heated with wood and the smell brings back so many memories. Even my oldest loves that smell as she says it reminds her of Grandma's house.
Reason #7. When you step out of the bath you can run in and get dressed in front of a nice warm fire instead of freezing your tooshie off in the bathroom. (Unless you are an adult, then you have to freeze your tooshie off in the bathroom getting dressed.)
Reason #8 You are great at cooking things.
Reason #9 After some good fun in the snow it is nice that we can hang all our snow things by her and they are dry in no time and ready for our next romp outside.
Reason #10 Their is nothing like sitting by the fire on a cold snowy day watching the snowflakes fall and drinking hot cocoa while reading to your children.

I have many more reasons for loving my wood stove. I deemed it a "her" as it is small but mighty. I know that if the power goes out, we will still be warm and have warm food to eat. It is a must have for me in the winter. It was the best investment we made!

3 Yrs Old

2009-12-11T19:04:00.001-08:00

This week my youngest turned 3. We moved up here when I was 5 months pregnant with her. She was born on a snowy December day. One in which my sister, who so kindly came up to watch our other 3, was stuck in town due to the bad weather and had to get a hotel room with all the kids. This was awesome for the children, but not so much for her I presume. She had her two twin babies who were 6 months old and my 3 all in one hotel room. I remember coming home with my sweet little baby to no water as it was frozen and continued to be so for over a week. That meant we had to pack everyone up to visit a friends house just to bathe, and also to go to the laundry mat to wash the mountain of laundry that we had. FUN. So my dear, you came into this world during a snowstorm and trying times, but you have brought such joy to our hearts. You are the one who can make me smile the quickest with your funny faces and silly antics. Your "don't worry mom" while you smile and shake your head no whenever I tell you not to do something that you should not be doing still makes me smile although I have to hide it from you. You have a smile that lights up your face and your eyes sparkle with such joy. You have become quite the actress and enjoy dancing and singing while making the funniest faces one could imagine. Although you apparently do not mean them to be funny as when I laugh you get mad and tell me to "STOP LAUGHING MAMA, I NOT FUNNY, I SINGIN!" You love to play with your siblings and have learned to mimic your sister's behaviour quite well. You can often be seen mimicking her speech and actions right along side her. This does not bother her in the least as she sees you as reinforcement for whichever her cause is at the time. You love to climb and astound me at how agile you can be. I think you are part monkey the way to quickly move from one level to the next. Your favorite trick is to climb up on the counter and sneak candy that I have hid. You love candy and will do anything to get it once you know it exists in the house. You will stop at nothing once you have discovered its existence. Lucky for you your uncle has made it his mission to vex your mother and bring you candy in abundance whenever he comes for a visit. You are tough as nails and yet are my little snuggle bunny. I love to watch you sleep all cuddled in my bed. You will not go to sleep unless you have my arm under your head. You can push my buttons quicker than any of my others, and melt my heart just as fast. You have mastered much over these 3 years and will continue to grow in leaps and bounds. You are our little abby bear and we love you so much!

Below is our darling smiling for her picture with her cake.
Here she is blowing out her candles.

Now she is opening her presents.

Below is her with her best present, her daddy. He was blessed with a load that brought him close to home so he was able to come for the night and enjoy the birthday celebrations! Here they were watching a movie together and she was playing baby at the same time.

She was our early Christmas present 3 years ago and she is the gift that keeps on giving. :)

Cold Weekend

2009-12-07T06:18:00.001-08:00

On this cold and snowy weekend it was just the two littlest ones and I as my other two were at friends houses. We took this time to play games like the all time favorite Dora Candy Land.

Beautiful works of art were created. This was one of many creations that was made. My girls do love to be crafty. :) Christmas cookies were made and decorated. I had a floury kitchen to show all the hard work. I now know why my mother rarely made Christmas cookies with us. It makes a huge mess, but they do have lots of fun. I guess that is why I keep doing it. The delight on their faces as they roll out their dough and then cut out their cookies using all the various cookie cutters makes it worth it. They are always amazed when one comes out perfect. My 6yr old pretended she had a cooking show as she rolled and cut and placed them on the baking sheet. It was quite cute.
We investigated things.
We got our snowsuits on.
We went outside and played in the snow. We were a bit disappointed with the amount of snow we received, but it was just enough for them to get out their sleds and slide down the hill. It was also perfect for making snowballs and throwing them at mom. The trees sure looked pretty with their white covering. I love snow. I guess all those years of growing up in upstate NY grew on me. I love going out and enjoying the white cold crispy snow! Christmas season is here and the snow just adds to that perfectness of this time of year. You can here Christmas music in my house throughout the day and we have hung most all of our decorations. I am busy knitting and crocheting in free time hopping to finish all the presents I am working on for everyone. I am also taking time to enjoy my wonderful blessings. It is important this time of year for everyone to stop focusing on all the negative things in their life and start focusing on all the blessings they have. Appreciate life and what the good Lord has done for you. Take time to thank Him for his grace and mercy in your life. Remember that in a few weeks we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus! JOY TO THE WORLD!

Our Thanksgiving Week

2009-12-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Family Time:
Our cousins came up from downstate to enjoy a festive turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings. We ate good food and enjoyed the antics of the children celebrating together. Here we are after watching a parade on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We are going to search for our Christmas tree after the parade. My littlest one is fascinated with her cousins bead necklace he got from the parade.
Pilgrims: We studied the Pilgrims in our homeschool history so we of course we had to make the infamous Pilgrim hats. Don't they look adorable in them??
We also got to see daddy and celebrated his birthday a few weeks late. Here he is getting ready to enjoy his cake and our youngest is snuggling up to him. Just lovin on her daddy. He received lots of snuggle time from the two littlest. They were in his lap constantly and even kidnapped him one night and snuggled all night next to daddy.
I went so far as to throw together this Pilgrim costume for my 6yr old to wear to Awana's. It was theme night and you could dress up as something for Thanksgiving. She made a cute Pilgrim. We had to go to the Library first so my son could do his volunteer time and she wore this to the library. I wondered if people realized it was a costume or thought she was some quaker child. I thought it fitting to end my Thanksgiving post with this picture. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

2009-11-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

We have had the most beautiful weather lately. So much so that we decided to all go hiking again at our favorite place. Here is a picture journey of our trip. NOTE: These pictures are not in correct order at first. We start with the end of our trip and go to the beginning.

Below is my two youngest enjoying a happy meal hat after the long day out and about hiking the mountain trails. We normally do not eat at this said establishment, nor do we eat inside, yet due to the long day hiking and the fact that I was tired we stopped and splurged. They had fun as you can see.

Below is all of us at my house getting ready to hike the mountain trails. This is our winter home and we enjoy it very much. It is a bit on the small side, but we make it work. :) I wish. This is actually Moses Cone Manor. It is a spectacular house with the most amazing views from the carriage trails that surround it. You can hike for miles and just enjoy the wonderful scenery and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.

My camera does not due this place justice. Especially the views. You are in meadows on top of the mountain and the views are just so spectacular. It really makes you awestruck as you gaze at the surrounding beauty that God created in all His wonder and glory.

Here is my youngest studying something in the meadow. She looked so cute I couldn't resist a picture.

Can't you hear the theme song from "Little House on the Prairie" when you look at this picture below? I could almost see Laura and Mary running down the hill with their pigtails flying. The sad thing is that I never was able to get a decent pictures once we got to the top as the sun was setting and I could not get the right flash going. This trail continues on to a tower somewhere high above and through more woods. I am going to make it to that tower someday!

Below another view from the meadow. Again my camera does not do it justice. I need a new camera!

Another view from the meadow.

Here the kids were watching some college kids running down a steep mountainside hill. I had to tell mine that they could not try that as I just knew someone would end up breaking a leg.

Below you can see my baby girl climbing a tree. See that look of mischief in her eyes? She had cried and cried for me to put in the tree her up so she could do this. I just know she was thinking, "See Mom, I told you I could do this!"

Below is my other monkeys climbing another tree.

We are on one hill looking at that steep path I showed earlier that was on another hill.

That concludes are wonderful weekend. All the kids enjoyed this very much. It is our favorite spot to go. We have yet to climb the path all the way to the tower. That is a must do on one of these nice weather weekends. We just need to pack a picnic lunch to tide us over.

Halloween Weekend

2009-11-03T16:53:00.001-08:00

Above is the covered bridge I refer to below in my post. < >

Above is my sister's middle child enjoying the train. Notice all the little ones in the background. < >

What did you do this past weekend? We had family come in and enjoyed going out and about. We were suppose to go to a corn maze but the weather was too messy for that. So instead we enjoyed a covered bridge (see above) that was in the area. We also visited a train which the children loved. All this happened Saturday afternoon before trick or treating. Needless to say that by the time we got home from our evening of candy gathering we were all extremely tired. Here are some pics of our excursions.< >
< > Above is my house. Isn't it pretty with the 3 stories and nice big porch. I have my teenager's room in the attic. See the little window way up high? The white picket fence was my final addition. I just love my house! (Just joking. If by chance this is YOUR house and you are reading this blog I confess to loving YOUR house, picket fence included!)

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Above you will see me balancing my teenager on my back in the covered bridge. She LOVES ME can't you tell!

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Above is the train pic. You may notice the "gang" stance of my sisters child. They reside in the "hood" and he has his "rep" to protect. (Just kidding sis.) She is the one that referred to his pose has a "gang" stance. I think he is just thinking he is Mr. Cool!
Above is the picture of our Motley crew. Notice we run the gammit of cowgirl (just some kid we saw on the street and decided to tag along, just kidding, it is really a friend of my teens), on down through the army man (my son) the two fairies (my daughters that you cannot really tell are fairies unless you see the wings), a ninja (my sisters little gangsta), the hulk (my sis's middle child) and then finally Buzz and Woody (otherwise known as the soggy bottom boys). Oh, and need I forget the mummy thing (my teen). They are all here and we gathered much candy on our adventure. Maybe we will all gather again next year for another rousing trick or treating weekend. < >

A hiking we will go..

2009-10-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a late afternoon hike today. Where we went we tend to go every year at this time as it is so beautiful. The kids love it and the trails are not too difficult. It is a peaceful place. We saw lots of squirrels, cows, and chipmunks. No other animals would stay around this rowdy crew. We did not get to see all that we wanted and my camera batteries died so I could not get all the pics I wanted, but here are some..< >
Here they are making goofy faces atop a big rock. Yes, that is a huge soda my 2yr old is holding. It is mine, but she wanted to hold it and take secret sips when I wasn't looking. Soda is not something she gets often so it is a bit like crack to her. :)

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Here, above the top of my son's head, is the view from one part of our hike. The picture does not do it justice, it is beautiful with all the mountains in the background and the fall colors all around.
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Here are my youngest sitting on top a hay bail. My oldest climbed up for a picture after my batteries died of course. < >

Here is my rowdy crew beneath a stone bridge. The Blue Ridge Parkway is right above them. They loved the tunnel.

Tomorrow and the day after it is suppose to rain so I am glad we got to go this evening. We took the long way home on the Parkway and next time I will make sure I have good batteries so I can share the wonderful views we have.

What did you do today?

2009-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

We started out day out doing this at 9:00am. This was the final game of the season. It was a sad day for my son. He loves football. I am looking forward to not having to go to practice 3 times a week plus games on Saturdays, but I will confess I will also miss it. It was nice in that his practices were right down the road about 3 miles and at a park at that. We all enjoyed these romps at the park. I promised them we would still go to the park until the weather made it impossible. Much cheering was heard. My pictures came out blurry due to my old camera does not zoom in for a good clear picture. DRAT!

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We have had some heavy rains last night so on the way home we took a pic of the waterfall that is at an old mill by our house. Usually it is gently falling over the wall, but today it was crashing with such a ferocity that I had to get a picture. Our river is swollen beyond belief. < >

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We came home and made these. Jack-o-lantern jars. The kids loved creating these and the fact that we can enjoy them long after Halloween is over is a bonus. My 6 yr old came up with the idea of changing them for each season, i.e. Christmas trees and stars for Christmas. Good idea! < >

< > My oldest led the way in making these purple treats. (We did not have orange or red food coloring so they decided purple was the way to go). They made these all by themselves. The whole pan has now been devoured so they must have been good. < >

< > We ended our evening with crotchet lessons. They are working on gifts to make each other. It was much harder than they thought. Many a frustrated "I can't do it" was heard, but finally they all got the hang of it. Even my son joined in. They seemed to enjoy it.

We ended our day with a rousing game of cartoon tag that turned into freeze tag. This was after my son had me out throwing the football and tackling each other. It was cold outside but after running around we were warm in no time. We came in at dark just because we could not see anymore. We were tired, warm, and ready for a quiet evening and looking forward to tomorrow.

Happy Birthday!

2009-10-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

Last week my oldest turned 14. It is hard to believe that time has flew so quickly. She was my first, my unexpected surprise. I, who had never been around any babies, who thought that, " Yes, I would have children someday, like when I was in my 30's." But that is not the way things worked out and I am grateful that she came into my life when she did. I was in college and working when I was pregnant with her so the pregnancy pretty much flew by. I remember when I went into labor. I have never had such back pain as what I had then. It felt like she was trying to come out the bottom of my spine! After many hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing she finally came into the world via vacuum and forceps. She was such a beautiful baby. I was totally unprepared for the intense love I felt for her. I remember crying my eyes out when I had to leave her to go back to work. I never wanted to leave her. She was a good baby. She would have been a better one if I had ignored the doctor and listened to my own instincts and fed her on demand. It's hard being the first. Both the child and parents are learning the ropes together. So many firsts to go through. First steps, first tooth, first day of school... It seems like I was always so excited and couldn't wait for all those "firsts". It did not take long to realize that along with those "firsts" came "lasts". Now looking back I remember the last time she played with dolls, the last time she would ask me to read to her, the last time she would jump up in my arms, the last boo boo to be kissed. All these have come and gone. It seems like these "lasts" sneak up on you. Now I look at her and see she has grown into a wonderful young lady. These teen years can be tough and I pray often for her daily. I pray that the Lord gives her wisdom and discernment and strength as she goes about her day. She is still young and sometimes I feel like I am sending my sheep out among a pack of wolves. I know that she has a Great Shepard watching over her though. Her papa and I love her very much and we know that we will make it through these years with many smiles and some tears. We will see more "firsts" and also remember some more "lasts". Through it all we hold each other and give the unconditional love that we all need. We love you "little bear"! < >

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Here is my birthday girl with her "thoughtful" look. Don't pay any attention to the date. We put new batteries in the camera and forgot to set the date. < >

< > Above is a picture of her on her birthday. She was a good sport considering her 2yr old sister and completely destroyed her cake. :)

Another football weekend

2009-10-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

This was a crazy weekend. It started out with a morning football game in another county. We were rushing to get to the meeting place where all the parents were meeting when my son announced he did not have his mouth guard. I turned around and went back home and told my oldest to search the car while he and I searched in the house and around outside. Ten minutes later we jumped back in the car with no mouthpiece and I was on the phone calling his coach telling him what was going on. He said he thought they had one to come on so on we went. Unfortunately, we headed in the wrong direction. I rarely travel to these other counties and I confused one with the other. The problem was that one is north and one is south. Whoops. Luckily his coach called again to tell me they did not have a mouth guard and in the process I discovered my error in traveling. I was half way to the wrong county when I turned around and headed back to town. I stopped to get a mouth guard, then on to the next county and to the game. We left 1 1/2 hrs before game time and through all the mix up we ended up getting their just as his team was walking onto the field. The rain only added to the excitement of the day. What made it worse is that once we got to the game I discovered that my oldest daughter who was suppose to be looking for the mouth guard in the car had been sitting on it the whole time! Oh well, he has a new mouth guard right at the end of season. Maybe it will work for next year. We did manage to get a walk in on Sunday so I took some pics to show the leaves.< >

Here is the game. The picture is blurry due to my having a 2yr old hang off me as I tried to take pictures because she wanted to take pictures too. My son is the one running ahead of #13. < >

Here is the road we travelled on. Even in the rain it was pretty. Better hurry sis, they are changing fast!< >

Here is my son with his latest gear on that he got from a birthday party he attended earlier in the day. It was a GI Joe theme. < >

Here is my 6yr old wearing the GI Joe gear. Doesn't it compliment her skirt very well? This is a skirt I made a few weeks ago. I made one for her and a matching one for my 2yr old. < >

Here is my 2yr old getting ready to throw leaves all over herself and anybody within close range.

Evening Walk

2009-10-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well my hubby went back to work and we have returned to our normal schedules. The weather has turned milder so we took an evening walk to check out the local wildlife and see how the leaves were turning colors. We only saw one deer in the field. I tried to get a picture of it but it was too far away. The other morning we had 8 huge turkeys in our yard, a buck in our apple trees, and squirrels running all over our yard collecting nuts. The kids said, "Boy, the animals are all out this morning, it's an animal party at our house!" I took pictures, then accidentally deleted them off my camera, oops. But I did get pictures of our walk!< >

Here is the view of our hill to the right side of our house. I took it right as the sun was about to set. My sister has been asking me about the leaves as she wants to come up and see them this year. I decided to take pictures every few days and post them so she could see the changes. The mountains are beautiful in the autumn! < >

These two are my favorites so far. I love the small waterfall in the background. < >

Here is my son with all his equipment on. The backpack is stocked with field guides, a container for any interesting insects and magnifying glasses. He is ready! < >

Here is my little stinker!

FINALLY

2009-10-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a not so good week at my house. My teenager whom just started HS has been feeling her new found freedom and stepped over bounds. Did something that I strictly forbid for her to do and lied about it and now does not understand the punishment. Go figure. If I could just tape her mouth shut I think I would be better off. ;) I should get pain and suffering and mental anguish pay for these teen years! We have butted heads so much this past week I should be wearing my son's football helmet. The good news is that at least my prayers were answered. I pray each day for her safety and HIS guidance and not to let her get away with anything. HE answered. We also prayed for my hubby to get home time that he has been trying to get for weeks now and it finally came through. He is being routed home! YEAH!! It is just the right time as I was started to lose my mind with all this hullabaloo. Now I feel like I can recharge and regroup. My son is so excited that Daddy gets to finally see him play football. I am just so glad to have him HOME!

More Park Pics.

2009-09-24T18:29:00.001-07:00

Here are more park pics from our fun in the sun.< >

Above is my 2yr old enjoying one of the 3 houses they have. < >

Here she is swinging. She loves to swing. Reminds me of my oldest who still loves to swing. < >

Here are my 2 little girls enjoying the Dora bike. This was after the meltdown. Notice the 2yr old is pushing the 6yr old. < >

She found a "wooly worm" and he was very active. She picked him up and he crawled all around. She could not contain him. I am thinking we should have kept him for the Wooly Worm Festival where they have Wooly Worm Races. I bet he would have won! < >

My oldest smiles all the time, yet I rarely have her smiling on camera. She is a beautiful young lady. Growing up into a remarkable young woman!

The Sun, Finally!

2009-09-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

We have been drenched for a week and a half, nothing but rain. But, alas, the clouds have parted and the sun showed his shiny smiling self to us forlorn people. How did we respond? With glee, joyous glee! We finished up our school work and rushed outside to take a trip to the park. There we spent 4 hours just frolicking in the warm brightness. Oh how we missed you Mr. Sun! It reminded me of the song that Kristina used to sing when she was little, "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me!" We had a bunch of fun and made new friends. Had a few meltdowns due to two little girls that did not want to share the Dora bike. This too passed and we went on to close out our day in smiles. < >

Here is my son enjoying his bike ride in the park. < >

Here are my little girls having tea time outside their little houses. Notice my 6yr old is "cleaning" the table with a pine branch. She proceeded to "clean" all the houses out. The pine branch was used to sweep, dust, polish, you name it. It was a universal cleaning tool. Maybe I should get one. :) < >

Here is my 6yr old enjoying the playground. She loves to twist around. < >

Here is my 2yr old having her meltdown over her sister taking her Dora bike and riding it around the track. Such drama! < >

Here are all my little monkeys sitting in a tree. Notice the hip peace sign? This was an accident, she was trying to wave, but it was still pretty cute.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

We spent the long weekend at my sisters celebrating Collin's birthday. This was a lot of fun for all the kids and adults too. We camped out in a cabin at the lake on Friday night, roasted marshmallows, ate Hobo sandwiches, fished, played, basically had a good time. The night was fun for us adults as there were 12 of us in a little cabin complete with bunk beds that my sister and I fondly referred to as "prison bunks". Us adults slept some and were awoken bright an early by the birthday boy. He was convinced Katie and his dad were gone. The funny part was that he was sleeping in the bunk next to Katie and did not see that she had ended up on the floor in the middle of the night, or that his dad who was also in a bunk beside him was now on the floor on the blow up mattress with his brother which was also right beside him. We assured him that they were still there, but by then we were all pretty much awake. The next day we got ready for the party and then went back to the lake to celebrate with water balloons, canoe rides, swimming and lots of good food. We also had a pirate cake which my sister made which still has my son's poop coming out in various colors. :) We also got to see almost all of our family members and enjoyed it tremendously. Now we are back home and have gotten back into the swing of things. We have found that we brought a present back with us from cousins house. A much L O V E D present (sarcasm is HEAVY here) in that my youngest has diarrhea and now my 6 yr old has it. Oh the joys of it all... I spoke with my sister and it has started at her house also. Fun fun. So I am off to wipe butts, was nasty clothes, and look for a clothes pin to pin on my nose. I have candles burning in the bathroom to help with the odor, but it is merciless. UGH! The only thing I can say is I am glad it came this week and not next week when my hubby is home. I am soooo looking forward to seeing him since it has been since July! I am hoping we will all be well for his arrival. Until then, I am off to bathroom/washing duty.

Leaves

2009-09-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

We took a break from our studies yesterday to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. The kids have found leaves that have fallen and raked them up for a good ole fashion jump leaf pile. They had fun taking turns jumping in and throwing the leaves all around. They then took turns burying each other in leaves and calling me over to come "find" the missing child. When I would get close the hidden one would jump up hollering. I would be shocked of course and they would all get a good laugh. I remember doing this same thing when I was little. What is it about a pile of leaves that just begs you to jump in it, or is that just me? They wanted me to jump in with them, but we needed more leaves before I could do that. I need lots of cushion for my tushion. ;) They would jump in a pile of 10 leaves if I let them. They have no fear of throwing their bodies head over heals to the ground. This is where my age comes into play I guess. Along with our leaf pile fun we are going to football 3 - 4 times a week. Through all these 1 1/2 - 2hr practices my 6yr old has learned to ride her bike without training wheels. We spend most nights just circling the paved track. Her on her big girl bike and my 2 yr old on her little Dora big wheel bike. She just scoots it around with her feet as she cannot quite manage pedalling and steering at the same time. Just when do us females learn all the multi-tasking that is required in life I will never know. :) < >

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Above is the big run and jump into the pile. < >

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The tossing of the leaves. She the joy on that face? < >

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The laughing after she tumbles from the pile. < >

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They stuffed themselves with leaves and became leaf monsters. This is the shaking out of the leaves that did in attempt to get rid of all those pesky leaves from inside their clothes. < >

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Here is my son after his practice one night this week. The quality stinks because I had to take it with my video camera as my other is in need of batteries. No fall blog post would be complete without the football pic. :)

Football Season Is Here

2009-08-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

We have been knee deep in zucchini, school, and football. The zucchini is a post all its own. Those who grow it know what I am talking about. We will not starve that's for sure. My son has been asking to play for a few years and I kept saying no, but finally this year I said yes. He has enjoyed getting all the gear and putting it on and off and on and off. He has enjoyed the 4 days a week 1 1/2 - 2hr long practices and scrimmages. He has really adapted to it well. The girls have enjoyed the practices and games too since they are at a local park and they get to play while brother gets knocked around. It has only started, we are only a few weeks into it and we will live this crazy football life until October. Below are some pics. < >

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This is my son all geared up for his game. Handsome little guy!< >

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Here he is again in his "stance". He is on the line of defense a lot.< >

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Here he is in his game. He is #11.< >

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Here is how we entertain ourselves while watching his game. When they are not playing on the playground that is. Pretty flowers for my pretty little girl! < >

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Here is my 6 yr old displaying her fairy flower crown. Notice the football game in the background. We were busy making fairy crowns while the boys roughed it out on the field. :)

Fishing

2009-08-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

Each day that cousin Tristan has been here he has requested to go fishing at the river. My son is loving all the fishing since he normally does not go fishing. We often go to the river, but my son will swim and play around in the water instead of fishing. Not to say that the fishing last long with the boys. Normally they fish for about 20 minutes and play the rest of the time. Skipping rocks, looking for fools gold, searching for frogs, you name it. I end up toting the poles back to the bank so they can play. Yesterday the ducks were down at the river and kept going after my son's line. They were very friendly and people must feed them. Today I think we will take some bread down just in case we see them again. I tried to get a picture, but my batteries were going dead so by the time I zoomed in the camera would shut off. I did manage to take some pictures of our river time. They enjoyed fishing, floating, and skipping rocks. I had the fun of throwing sticks for the many dogs that came to visit. They are big friendly dogs whom apparently love children and water. They enjoy chasing sticks that you throw in the river and will keep bringing them back time and time again. The only problem is when you have anything in your hand they will assume you are going to throw it for them to fetch. Thus the skipping rocks takes on a whole different theme. It wouldn't be so bad if the dogs weren't so big and easily excited. My favorite is a huge plot hound who we call Red. She loves my daughter that is away, but still allowed us to pet and love on her regardless of her missing friend. At least we got some fun time in before the storms came. Tomorrow we leave to take Tristan home and collect my 6yr old. I can't wait to see her!! I sure have missed my little Catbird! We will miss Tristan though. My son will especially miss having another boy around to pal around with. < >

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Here is my youngest and her friend tubing in the river. < >

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Here is my youngest again trying to get down to her brother who is fishing up the river.

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Here she is again floating downstream in her tube. I love this place in the river because it is shallow enough for her to stand in yet deep enough for her to float. It is the perfect combination.

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Here is Tristan demonstrating his skipping rock skills. I think he got up to 4 skips!

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Here is "Red" as we call her. She is HUGE. She comes up to my waist and even Tristan could not believe how big she is. She is very loveable though. My dog would LOVE her.

Visitors

2009-08-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

Cousins came to visit this past weekend. Luckily the weather was nice for most of the day on Sat. so we were able to get some playtime at the park in. The big ones went fishing while we enjoyed the park. When they went home on Sunday we decided to switch children and I kept their oldest and they kept my 6yr old. It was hard to let her go but as you can see here http://4boyzhavinfun.blogspot.com/ she is having a great time. I am looking forward to getting her back soon though. Meanwhile we have been enjoying Tristan. We have gone fishing, tubing, playing at the numerous parks we have, crafting, just having fun. We still have a few things to squeeze in before he goes back home, but so far they have had lots of fun. I keep forgetting my camera, but maybe today I will remember to take it. Today my oldest had her first day at high school as it is freshman orientation day. She has been so excited to go to high school, but this past week she became nervous. Last night she could not sleep due to her nervousness and excitement. I was trying to calm her down and reassure her while hiding my nervousness. I can't imagine what it will be like next week on her first full day with ALL the grades attending. Today she is just with all the freshman. She will do fine, but I remember how nervous I was on my first days of high school. I can only hope her days are better than mine were. When I went hazing the freshmen was a favorite past time and I can't tell you how many times I was tripped with fishing line that was held across the hallways by upper class man. It's a wonder nobody was hurt. Luckily they would let it go so you wouldn't fall, just trip over it. At least that is what they did to me. Maybe others weren't so lucky. I am hoping that as busy as they keep the kids now that their won't be a whole lot of time for that. We also did not have a police officer attending our school either. This is almost like a familiar yet foreign world to me. I will be praying for her.

Below are some pictures of our weekend. < >

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Monkey girl and her cousin playing on the climbing chain ladders. She beat her cousins every time because he is part monkey. :)

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Here they are playing in the little log cabin. Aren't they cute!

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"Don't worry mom, I have my protective gear on!"

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Each time we go to the river we end up collecting rocks. We came home and I baked the rocks and then they melted crayons on them and created these gems.

Rain

2009-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

It has been raining lately and my children have been playing inside more than usual. I broke out the colored rice yesterday morning and it was a hit for most of the morning. The girls were the "bakers" and my son was the delivery guy who picked up and transported his "load" of "baked goods" to the appropriate place. They all go along and played for a few hours at this. The mess that was made was worth it as I watched them enjoy playing together and using their imaginations. My son even broke out his maps and mapped out his truck route. Much fun was had by all. :)

Here are my two girls "baking". < >

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Below is my son delivering his "load" of baked goods with his little helper. < >

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Below you can see them all playing together. Notice the hand mixture that my littlest one is using? I still use this at times. They love to get it and play with it. I did too when I was their age. :) < >

Gardens and other such stuff

2009-07-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is gardening. The whole process is just awe inspiring to me. I love planting the seeds with my children and then watching them grow into delicious veggies. I even find weeding calming (weird I know). The whole process is a reminder of how awesome our Lord is in his creations. I also enjoy canning and freezing our bounty to enjoy during our cold winters. The kids always ask, "Is this from our garden?" This year we have had to fight with both the weather and the animals. It is a battle I am determined to win, but can honestly say I cannot guarantee I will succeed. Unfortunately, our beans suffered from deer who devoured the whole row. Fortunately, one of my son's friends mom's had an abundance of beans and gave us some. I spent a good part of the day yesterday canning them. Here is my first batch cooling on the counter. < >

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My two youngest have been having some "girl time" and have enjoyed playing with play dough. Here is my 6yr old's creation. < >

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They all also went out and picked blackberries for our muffins that we made. The leftover blackberries were used then as paint and ended up being used as make-up. Just goes to show you what a little bit of imagination and some mashed up blackberries can create. My son created the blackberry paint and painted a picture. My daughter decided to use it as make-up. :) < >

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They are so cute!

Summer

2009-07-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? I have been enjoying my time with my family. I have been too busy enjoying life. I just have not had the time to blog about it. I chose to cherish each day and try to enjoy it to the fullest. We have been to museums, gone to our cousins, have been swimming in the river, enjoying the parks, catching fireflies and camping out in the yard, and also spent some time at the beach. Amid all this we have been travelling about for my oldest softball season. The games were over an hour away at least once a week. She started off the season with beautiful weather and basic skills and ended it with a hail storm with thunder and lightning which we played in between the storms, and much improved skills. In her final game she made an awesome catch for an out. What made the catch so hard was the water logged ball and field. Her team played a great game and led the majority of the innings. The game was supposed to start at 6:00pm but it was hailing with torrential rain and thunder and lightning. The weather cleared so they played at 7:00. Unfortunately they had to stop the game 2 more times due to the lightning and when it was all over it was almost 11:00pm and her team had lost. We were a soggy cold bunch when it was over. I think all the stops, the weather, and the late hour all contributed to their losing. I wish they would have just rescheduled it. One of the things that has been the hardest for me was keeping all my little ones safe at the games. Their were so many foul balls that I was constantly on the alert. I was so scared one of them would get knocked in the head with one that I tried to be vigilant in keeping them aware of the danger and in reach of me or out of reach of those crazy fly balls. At the final game I warned my 6yr old to watch for "pop flies" so she wouldn't get knocked in the head. I did not stop to think that she would not know what "pop flies" were as it was late, cold, and I was exhausted. The next day while we were eating lunch I made a comment about all the pesky flies flying about our food. She piped up and said, "Yeah, ever since you warned me about those pop flies I've been scared that one is gonna pop me on the head!" This caused the rest of us to erupt in laughter while she just smiled away and continued to eat not knowing what was so extremely funny to the rest of us. When we could catch our breath's we informed her what "pop flies" really were. It still makes me laugh thinking about it! I can picture her covering her head whenever she spotted a fly flying about! :) Now that softball season is officially over and my oldest starts high school in a few weeks. It is amazing how fast this summer has flown. We are trying to enjoy the last few weeks by just spending quality time together. We have gone on walk/bike rides, played outside a lot, explored together, just enjoyed our time. We were also blessed in that their dad has been able to be home on a more regular schedule with a surprise trip home in the middle. We enjoy having all of us together and hate it when he goes back on the road. Our son is looking forward to going out with his dad for a few weeks. It is all he talks about. We are trying to work out the timing of this. It will all come together I am sure. < >

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Here she is up at bat.

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Here she is right before she made that awesome catch! The bad lighting is due to the rain and darkness.

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My 6yr old at the Museum of Life and Science in Raleigh, NC. She became a butterfly! She dressed her little sister in a squirrel costume. They had a blast.< >

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I had to include this shot of all of them in daddy's truck. They love to get up in it. They are in love with daddy's home away from home.

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Here they all are yesterday on our walk/bike ride. The weather here has been beautiful. It has been in the 70's and great for long walks exploring. I hope it stays this cool for August. It feels like the NY summers I grew up in. Nice summer days with cool nights. I have even had to use my comforter the last few nights! I love this weather!!

Video Game War's

2009-05-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that PlayStation was created by satan. There, I said it. Why do I think this you ask? Because it has turned what I presume to be normal 8yr old boys into mean little aliens. I first discovered this when my son had a sleepover with a few friends. It turned into a night from hell. His two friends did nothing but fight over the PlayStation. Fight to the point that they had to be separated into different rooms. I tried numerous ideas for getting them to share the system. Nothing worked. My son whom never got a turn was so busy trying to keep the peace between them two he ended up frustrated and crying and asking me to please turn it OFF. I did so only to have the two friends turn on (gasp) ME. I was ready to send them home when they made a peace treaty and played something else. Then last night my son had another sleep over with two different friends. Again the two friends fought over the PlayStation. The irony was that my son did not fight to play at all even though I had it put up for the past month or so. The one boy I swear is addicted to video games. He played it for an hour while the others played outside. When they came back in and the other friend asked to play he did not want to stop. When I told him he had been playing long enough and it was time to share it he got mad and got his stuff together to go home. I told him that was fine that I would take him home and would be happy to let his mom know the situation. He changed his mind and stayed. He still wanted to do nothing but play video games. He even asked to play at 10:00 pm before he went to bed and then asked as soon as he got up at 7:00am. I told him NO both times. His parents have no problem letting him play all day. They are happy with that. The other little boy from the first sleep over is the same way. Would play 24/7 if you let him. Both these boys think I am mean when I make them stop playing. Amazing. I really don't care if their parents let them play all day, it is not my concern. I just don't like how mean they get when they are made to stop or share it even. I wonder if they have seen this side of their children. I know I have. These two are not going to be invited back during a sleepover situation. I cannot nor will not tolerate their behaviour. I will invite them back one at a time though, especially when the game system is put up. :)

Weekend recap

2009-05-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend I hung out with a 13yr old version Jekyll and Hyde. Need I say more? I think there is some type of training going on to see how far I can be pushed before I totally lose my mind. So far I have withstood the rigorous testing process. I think I am still intact. :) I have only had a few visions of running away to some exotic beach and hiding out until they are all grown. :o But those are fleeting and I would miss all the laughing and shouting and snuggling that goes along with them. We did have a late evening walk last night which we enjoyed. We saw a pair of geese with there goslings floating down the river and my son and daughter loved that. "They are so cute!" They wanted to follow them down the river, but it was getting dark so we had to head back home. I do love taking walks at this time, it is so peaceful. The other highlight of the weekend was my son found a wild strawberry patch in the field near out house and they spent a lot of time down there picking and eating strawberries. They also made houses in the tall grass and played until the sun was setting. I loved watching them run and play like that. It reminded me of when I was little and I remembered how much fun it was to hide in the meadow grass. My 6yr old showed me their "room" and they had trails that led to the different "rooms". They all enjoyed it very much. I did not have my camera with me and I wished I had because it was pretty neat how they had there "house" set up.

We are walking along and my 6yr old is talking non stop about everything she see's or hears.

My 2yr old was sleepy so I opted for the backpack in case she fell asleep on the way. She didn't, ofcourse, so I ended up just carrying around 30+ pounds on my back for nothing. These mountain hills are fun with this load. :)

I LOVE this barn. The picture does not do it justice. It is so huge and is just beautiful. I have seen people by the side of the road with their easels out painting this barn scene and tons of people stop to take pictures of it so I guess I am not alone in my love of it.

The end is near...

2009-05-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

Of school that is. I am so ready for it. My children are so ready for it. They are looking forward to summer with wild abandon. Endless summer days of frolicking in the sun, swimming in the river, skipping rocks, catching firefly's, stargazing, bike riding, late night games of cartoon tag, all the fun stuff that kids love to do. I love just watching them. We do slip in some learning on the sly, but it is so much fun that they don't even realize they are learning. We also have fresh veggies from the garden to enjoy, along with all the fun of planting, weeding, then harvesting them. ;) We are counting down the days. We get a double bonus in that when school ends their daddy comes home! YEAH! All are looking forward to seeing him and riding in his big truck. Until then though we are busy with school function after school function. With 3 in school, the end of the school year is very hectic. I am trying to enjoy everything while maintaining or shall I say restraining my very active 2yr old during all the hour long functions. I am somewhat successful. For some reason she does not find all the programs as stimulating as the rest of us. I am sure that if she were in the program it would be much different. If we did some program like the following picture it would be a huge success. She does love to dress up!

The wood fairy meets the island princess.

Summer means more time for just hanging around and blowing bubbles. :) I love how kids let you be a kid again! Who can resist bubbles???

MIA

2009-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry family and friends. I have not had a phone nor Internet access for 2 weeks. Can you believe that? You actually get used to it. At first it was annoying, but it kinda grew on me. But we have it all back again and I thought I would update y'all, or you-uns as they say in my neck of the woods. :) The weather has been monsoon weather lately so all my beautiful flowers are gone, but in place is lush greenery. My yard is part pond, part meadow. If it ever stops raining I will get to mow it. If not, I am going to invest in a goat! Maybe 2 goats as big as my yard is. My potatoes are up and I have yet to plant my onions nor the rest of my garden due to the lack of dry weather. I really am not complaining though. We have had a drought for the past 2 years so the rain is much needed. Tonight my son and I walked in the drizzle up the path to a spot up on hill where their is now a stream from the water rushing down the mountainside. The little trickle of water we used to have flowing behind us in the woods is now a full fledged stream complete with small waterfalls. You step outside and all you hear is the water rushing down the mountain stream. I love where my house is. The house and front yard are all open space with just a few trees and expansive lawn. Behind our house is nothing but woods and mountains for miles. The mountains stretch all around us and the woods are so dark and mysterious now that they are full of foliage. We have seen so many animals in there lately. Speaking of animals, my kindergartner had her school play in which she was a dinosaur. It was a big hit and the kids all loved it. They did a spook on American Idol only using dinosaurs instead of people. It was cute. We also went to visit cousins again for my sister's oldest birthday party. He was turning 8 and was having a Luau. It was a big hit. The funniest part was when my sister pulled out sacks for the sack races and after demonstrating how to do the race she lined everyone up and started backing up saying, "Ready, set, " then "OOF", she fell flat on her fanny turning her ankle in a hole. I, being the sweet sister I am, immediately turned the camera on her to get a picture. Then I ran for ice before snapping it as I could see that although she was laughing, she was in pain. It was nothing too serious and I did manage to snap a picture of her on the ground icing her sore ankle. We made it through the rest of the weekend and believe it or not nobody got sick. Amazing I know. Here are some pictures from the missing weeks.

Sis down and out with family gathered around.

My fierce little dino. Love ya dino star!

My little monkey dressed up with her monkey. She dressed him up too.

This is what my oldest taught my youngest. Now when you tell her NO she says "Please" and dows this. I thought I was immune, but at times it is downright irresistable. ;)

More spring pics

2009-04-28T10:54:00.001-07:00

I know that spring has sprung in most parts of our great state, but up here in the higher elevations it has just begun. These warm days have us frolicking in the hills and wading in the streams. No matter where you live, get out and enjoy this wonderful time of year when nature awakens from deep sleep and beauty abounds!

Our apple tree blossoms.

Our carpet of petals.

Getting ready to blow!

The Beauty of Spring

2009-04-28T10:07:00.001-07:00

This morning I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and my 2yr old and I along with my camera went outside to enjoy the day. The smell of all the flowers and the sound of the buzzing bee's captivated our senses. The air smelled so good! We blew bubbles, smelled the flowers, watched the bee's, and just enjoyed the beauty all around us. Under their favorite play tree it was magical. The branches dip down creating a shadowy perfumed world. The whole tree is ablaze in color and the flowering blooms have attracted all the bee's and birds. Under the tree the buzzing of the busy bee's can be heard. They stick to the upper branches luckily. The ground under the tree is carpeted with the perfumed fragrant leaves of the flowers that have started to shed their petals. It is a great place to just sit and enjoy nature. It is truly a beautiful day. I am glad we took the time to enjoy it. With the weather calling for rain the next 7 days I am planning on leaving all my inside work for later in the week. After all, the laundry baskets of folded up clothes are not going anywhere. Besides, I am only adding to the piles with my latest addition from today's wash. :) My helper enjoys running through the clothes and occasionally knocking some off the line with her exuberance. I remember doing the same thing when I was little. Their was something magical about the clothes flapping in the breeze and the excitement of running around and through them.

This picture does not capture the beauty of the tree, but you get the general idea.

My 2yr old enjoying the smell of the flowers.

Here is a picture of the flowers on the tree up close.

Here is my other favorite! I had to pick a few to take inside just so I could enjoy the smell.

Playing in the sheets that are hanging on the line. (Note to her auntie: The T Rex shirt is such a hit. She wants to wear it everyday and hates to have it gone off to the wash. You also created a monster with my son regarding those Bagel-ful's. He got a box at the store and ate them all in 2 days!)