Pumpkin Patch

This pumpkin patch is not far from our house.  You drive about 5 miles outside the city.  Beautiful drive.  The combination of the river, crops, farm animals and fall trees felt like we were driving through heaven.  The atmosphere was so relaxing.  Animals walking all around.  Their dog followed us, okay so I am a dog person.  Robert was thankful the only for sale sign along that road was for a trailer home.  

freedom

For those of you wondering how I managed to get a walk, forest time, cooking & crafts in on a daily basis... I will tell you a secret.  For over 5 years, I didn't have a car.  Robert took it to work each day and my sidekicks and I were able to do things within walking range.  I did well.  If they had warm showers I could of done well in the lifestyle people lived hundreds of years ago.  But now I have a Honda Pilot and am brought back to this century.  I am enjoying the freedom.

garbage man

What is the only thing more exciting then tearing the house apart?  Watching the garbage man come.  And then the recycle man.  And then the yard waste man.  The kids run to the window whenever they hear the truck.  So exciting!

science club- dinosaurs

Pepper is not going to preschool this year, so I decided to create a "preschool science club" at our house.  We had 10 kids come over.  We talked about how dinosaurs hatch from eggs and what type of food they ate.  We fed the big green triceratops (top picture).  The triceratops moves its head around and chews... the kids LOVED it.  Then we talked about how herbivores protected themselves from carnivores.  I gave them clothes pins to color and we stuck them on the back of a stegosaurus (as spikes) to protect it from the T-Rex.   We read a book about dinosaur bones.  Next we became paleontologists and went outside to dig.  We ended by putting "dinosaur eggs" on a parachute and flinging them up in the air.  Okay it was a stretch, but I wanted to use the parachute before the weather turned to rain.  There was so much going on during the "science club" that I forgot to take photos.  So all of these pictures are of after the fact.  Tabor was happy to dig up his dinosaur bones again.

ballet

Pepper has always expressed interest in ballet.  The question always was "when" and "where"?  The YMCA offers a class, but it is only 6 weeks and then it just repeats itself.  So we found a dance studio where the classes are smaller and the course is longer.  As in a year.  She went for her first time on Wednesday and I loved the place.  They did 10 minutes of stretches then jumped right into the practice.  I am amazed how well the teacher kept 3 & 4 year old girls occupied and on task for so long.  Pepper  enjoyed it.  She is now just like "Angelina Ballerina" who goes to a dancing school.  I can hardly wait for a recital! 

peaches and pears

This year we bought 125 pounds (5 boxes) of peaches and 50 pounds (2 boxes) of pears.  We have dedicated 3 nights in the past couple of weeks to canning.  I did one batch in the day, while the kids were awake.  Pepper brought the pears in from the garage (one at a time to keep her occupied), Tabor put them into the cans after I had peeled and sliced them and Kitt sat in her highchair and ate scraps.  It went okay, but it was a one time wonder.  Canning with Robert after the kids go to bed is loads easier.  Next year maybe we will expand our horizons and can some vegetables.  (meat in a can looks nasty to me, I am not ready to go there yet)

Back in Season!

I am seriously in love with pomegranates.  Yogurt, Aunt Doneens Granola and Pomegranates mixed is hands down my favorite breakfast.  Yes I would take it over french toast or eggs.  Anyday. Everyday.  All 3 of my kids like it... but Tabor also has more of a "love" then a "like" for the fruit.  A pomegranate can always put a smile on his face.  

The last picture Pepper randomly took.  This is us in the morning.  Now I always wipe off the top of my table but this picture magnifys that the chairs and table base could use a good cleaning as well.  Not to mention the floor. 

sweet and sassy

Kitt used to be so content.  Now she is not content unless she is on the move.  If I stop her from something such as; pulling things out of the garbage, she throws a hissy fit.  And then she has a one track mind that tells her the only fun thing to do, is getting back into that garbage can.  Kitt is not near as easy to distract as my other two.  She does not require a lot of human entertainment... she would rather entertain herself by watching things fall to the floor from it's proper place.  She is a happy baby, as long as you let her do what she wants.  She is becoming quite a handful... she is just lucky she is so dang cute.

Putting PetsMart out of Business

We use to make a weekly trip to the pet store to buy a dozen crickets.  Pepper and Tabor have brought that era to an end.  At least for the summer months.  They walk outside, spot a grasshopper, pick it up & serve it to Shenzy.  I am not sure grasshoppers are exactly kosher for leopard geckos, but Shenzy seems to LOVE them. 

Day of Service

 I love having a day dedicated each year to serving in our communities.  The project we went to was perfect for our family.  It was at a cleaning up a cemetery.  There were jobs to fit each age group.  Robert was assigned to weed whack, while the kids & I gathered pine cones.  The kids stayed focused for the first hour and even filled a few buckets.

They had worked hard, so I gave them a little speech about respecting the graves, and then I turned them loose.  These three (pictured above) favored the tall headstones because they were "hiding from bad guys".  3 year old girls have wild imaginations.  And Tabor is happy to tag along.

Games, Toys and Puppet Shows!

Pepper has constantly been making up games for Tabor to play.  I don't usually understand the point of each game, but he seems to.  He plays right along.

 I use to (a couple weeks ago even) sit by the kids and help them build with Legos, Lincoln logs and Tinker Toys or else they got frustrated when the pieces wouldn't connect the way they intended.  Now they are building on their own.  I think Tabors airplane and Peppers sunshine are amazing.

The same goes for puppet shows.  I use to tell them word for word, action for action what the puppets should be saying and doing.  Now they make up their own stories.  Sometimes a story line might be confusing or the elephants are up-side-down but they do a good job.

This is kind of bitter-sweet for me.  I love it on one hand because I don't have to be constantly entertaining them.  But they are growing up so fast.  Becoming less and less reliant on me. But this only happens in the morning.  I still have the afternoon to get my fill of needy children.  Especially while I am making dinner :)