Nature Walk {in Pictures}

D was out of town for a few days last week, but we weren't alone. My sister and her five kids came for a visit.  And we had three days of crazy, happy, silly, funny, loud, heartwarming F-U-N! There were games (Monopoly, Monopoly Jr., Charades and the Farming Game), farming (the 'crops' in our living room have all been harvested!), dress up (Elsa and Anna!), movies and lots of cousin bonding. And I enjoyed some girl time with my sis.  The highlight of the trip (at least in the kids' eyes) was the nature walk we took Monday afternoon.  It was in the high 40's and drizzly but we're hardy and determined...

 (LJ was in a carrier on me, thus his hanging in mid-air.)

(Sharing fun facts about the Red.)

 (A1 spotted this tree that had obviously been gnawed down by a beaver!)

(A4 and his 'beating stick.')

 (The youngest of our adventurers didn't last too long.)

  (A frog, which we either rescued from the mud or disturbed from his hibernating spot.  Yay or Oops!)

 

Don't you just love it when learning and fun collide?

We do!

The Upside

Since moving to our 'new' house, spring has quickly become my new favorite season.  You see, the big trees in our yard are great in the summer and they are beautiful in the fall but once those leaves come down, they translate into one word...

WORK!  

The upside to all the raking, mulching, bagging and hauling of the leaves?  There are plenty of leaves with which to take some fall pictures!  Bear in mind though, that LJ was much more interested in playing with the leaves than being photographed in them...

(Notice L's doll?  She wanted to take pictures of her baby, too!)

(my personal fave!)

(Despite my best efforts, this was the best I could do with all three kids.)

Today, I'm thankful for the upside of lots of fall yard work.  And for a husband who 'kept at it' while I paused to take a couple hundred few pictures of the kids.

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

In November...

 she made an entire dollhouse set (including living room, family room, bedrooms, kitchen and attic) out of paper.  Yes, she has an actual toy dollhouse in the playroom, yes she's the creative type, yes she needs more paper, markers and scotch tape for Christmas.  Seriously, skip the toys!

 

 he got post bath snuggles from daddy

 

 we took a gazillion pictures for a our Christmas card (using my new camera and the timer) and settled on this one (after straightening every picture of course because apparently, a kitchen stool with a box on top of it doesn't make for the best tripod, ahem!)

 

 they made play-doh volcanoes and watched them erupt (I was a bit too involved with this part for pictures of the erupting part...)

 

 and floated tin foil boats in the kitchen sink

 

 they were thankful

 

we celebrated Thanksgiving (and shared some big news with family)

 

 and took the kids bowling

 

for the very first time!

A Tale of Two Trips: Part One ~ The Farm

I like living in the city.  I enjoy garbage pickup, city water, a 10 minute drive to Target and not having to drive on gravel roads.  But sometimes, I wonder if my kids are missing out on some of the perks and learning experiences that come with life on the farm.

 

Like outdoor cats (lots of them!),



brand new life,



 and, unfortunately, the hard lesson that not all new life makes it

(these kitties didn't survive despite great effort by A1 and A2),

 



the importance of good chore boots

(L and I Man are still talking about how this bull 'wasted his hay' by putting it in his own...well, you know...)

 

more kitties(!)



chicken chores,



and farm fresh eggs.



 

And so, I'm thankful to have a sister and brother-in-law living the farm life and willing to share it all with my kids.  And for their kids who are so kind and loving to their cousins and who tolerated them for a week (a week!). 

 

Thank you J, B and the A Team!

 

Wondering what this is all about? 

 

At the end of October, the kids and I dropped D off at the airport as he headed to California for work and we drove to my sister's house.  The farm.  I stayed for a few days before heading to California myself for a long weekend with D and my kids got a good dose of the farm life.  And while I promise we won't do it again anytime soon, it sounds like they had a blast!

 

Stay tuned for

A Tale of Two Trips: Part Two ~ The Sea

coming soon sometime.

Broken Tradition

It has become a tradition around here to head to a local state park to take in the fall foliage.  However, every weekend thus far has been rainy, wet and down right not nice.  So, we never made it.  Lucky for us we have a plethora of leaves right here in our own backyard (who am I kidding, backyard, front yard, side yard...they're everywhere!!). 

 

 Thus the birthday gift for D! 

{He took it out one evening to see if it works and it does (although the real test will come when we try to bag the other 1,025,987 leaves in our yard soon)!}

 

After L and I Man asked for a leaf pile D raked one up for them and it wasn't long before they were jumping in and tossing leaves

 

 (I love how this picture captures the work and play of fall)

 

 and I was able to get a few 'leaf pictures'

 

despite the break in tradition!

 

See our previous leaf pictures here, here and here.

In September...

 she watched Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue a few too many times but did some creative writing all on her own as a result.  Win!

 

 he caught the big one (read more about it here)

 

 we devoted one night a week to pizza

 

 homemade, frozen or delivery, it makes no difference (someone tell me, why have I not been doing this sooner?!)

 

 college game day came to town and we attended found a game day bus in a random parking lot and took pictures by it(!)

 

 I Man colored a great picture (I had no idea he could color like this, I guess he just needs the right 'material?')

 

and drew a self portrait

 

and D taught L how to tie her shoes!  Actually, I wouldn't say this skill is mastered yet and we should really be practicing it daily but the look of both shock and delight on L's face at the end of this video make it blog worthy.

 

PS:  Your computer is not broken, this video is muted simply because the video I tried to take before this one was a bit distracting with I Man talking during the entire thing...something about Cheetah and basketball?  :-)