Celebrating Daddy

 We started the celebration for D's birthday...

 

  with lunch at Five Guys.

 

 Can I just say how thankful I am that this man was born! 

He's the macaroni to my cheese

the peanut butter to my jelly

{actually he's not a fan of either of those things}

the peaches to my cream

{now we're talking, right D?}!

Truly, I'd be lost without him.

 

 Next up was gifts

 

  and yes, we got him a leaf blower/vacuum/mulcher for his birthday.  Practical, right? 

You'll never guess what I got him for Valentine's day last year!

 

 Plus it made for fun looking glasses!

 

 L preferred the packaging asking over and over if she could have this piece of cardboard, foam or plastic for some kind of imaginary something or other.

 

Yep, he's thoroughly excited that daddy is another year older...

 

and that there's cake!

 

Happy Birthday, D!  We love you so.

 

PS:  It was a roof rake.

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?  :-)

Roller Skating

By now, most of you know that we homeschool.  And while we've been doing school type activities for a while now, this is our first 'official year' of homeschooling since L is now in Kindergarten!  As such, we joined a local homeschool group that meets once a month at Skateland...

 

 

 for roller skating! 

 

Now bear in mind that I haven't roller skated since oh, the eighth grade(!) and my kids have never even seen a roller skate.  So, I was beyond thankful when an older girl took L and a friend of hers under her wing for the morning.  I was also thankful that the 'skate giver outer man' who was able to tighten the wheels on L's skates to make them less 'slippery.' 

 

 L was in heaven!  She loved everything about this activity and is counting down the days until the next roller skating day!

 

 I Man begged me to put skates on him too but he only lasted about 5 minutes on the carpet before asking me to take them off. 

 

 This was near the end when she was skating all by herself!

 

He found the arcade games (which were off, thankfully) and was content pretending to drive for the rest of the morning.  :-)

 

Side Note:  A few of you have asked about homeschooling.  Is anyone interested in seeing our homeschool adventures and what if anything are you particularly interested in seeing?

Of Frogs and Fish

Two weekends ago, we went to D's parents house for bird hunting.  {I didn't get any pictures of the hunters or the hunting but it probably looked a lot like this (Ahhh, doesn't L look little?? Sigh!).}

 

 Grandma and Grandpa have a cat.  His name is Norton.  That doesn't have anything to do with this post. 

 

 No, this post is about frog catching {click on the picture to see a larger image.  Can you spot the fleeing frog??}...

 

{I Man was ok touching the frog once it was in the jar vitamin container.}

 

and fishing!

 

{The tiniest little perch (or walleye?) I'd ever seen were biting like crazy and the kids had a blast catching them!  Actually, L caught one and was content for the rest of time, but I Man caught about 10 fish before saying he was done!}

 

{in all fairness, my fish wasn't any bigger than theirs, but it was a different kind!}

 

And most importantly, making memories!

 

Thank you Grandma, Grandpa and Great Grandpa!

All Caught Up

Just in case you missed it, I'm all caught up on the blog {kind of}!  You see, I went through my pictures and found some of my favorites from each of the last 6 months to try and give you a glimpse into what we've been up to.  There are obviously many more pictures, but it was way too overwhelming to try and go back through everything, so I did the best I could.  Hey, it's better than nothing, right?  So, go ahead keep scrolling or for your convenience:

March
April
May
June
July
August

Oh and for those of you who've been asking about my blog.  You're welcome!  :-) 

Catching Up {August}

 In August, we helped Cousin O celebrate her first birthday and I Man got a pony ride

 

(L did, too)

 

L started Kindergarten



I Man started Preschool



we spent another week at the lake



with Grandma, A



and the A Team



and I Man went to the dentist for the very first time.

Catching Up {July}

 In July, we celebrated independence day in Canada (ironic, I know)

 

 they went on rides at the fair

 

 they played in the sprinkler

 

 she took swimming lessons (on the last day she got to jump off the diving board!)

 

 we had a pool party at Dad's house

 

 she made a BIG bubble

 

 and he did, too

 

 we finished our letter crafts

 

 and enjoyed pirate day as part of the library's summer reading program

 

 they were barefoot...a lot(!)

 

and smiley, too!