I Believe in Fairies

Tonight we watched a live actor version of Peter Pan.  There are so many renditions of this movie that I don't even know which one it was.  It was done pretty well though.  After it ended, Jason announces, "I don't believe in fairies." Just to be the teaser that he is.  Kate played along and just gave him the exasperated "Dad..."  Andrew turns to us with his brows furrowed and his lips quivering trying his very hardest not to start crying as he chokes out, "Now you just killed one."  Jason quickly back-pedaled and hurriedly chanted "I believe in fairies, I do, I do!" multiple times.  That seemed to appease him and we avoided a breakdown.

Sometimes it is hard to fathom just how tender hearted that little boy is.  And, oh, how he loves his mommy.  I just eat it up.

Horse Crazy

For Kate's 7th birthday, she got a present from Jason & I that she couldn't cash in until summer.  But the wait was worth it for sure.  We signed her up for a week-long horse camp at a Stable near us where she got to immerse herself in everything horse for a few hours each day.  She was in horse heaven.  We even lucked out and had a couple of overcast days so it wasn't quite as unbearably hot and humid as it normally is that time of year.

 
Kate learned how to brush and wash a horse.  Which is good to know, cause they tend to like to get a tad dirty.  When associating an animal with mud, most people probably picture a pig.  Surprising to me, it seems horses get just as much enjoyment from a good roll in the mud as any pig ever did. This good-natured horse got hosed down and scrubbed by 5 different groups that day.  What a saint.  (Can horses even be saints?)

 
Kate was quizzed each day on multiple body parts of a horse.  If you look closely, you can see the sticky notes they used for one such quiz stuck on this horse.

 
Each group got a little time each day to enjoy some Kool-aid and do some crafting.  She colored horse pictures and made horse bookmarks.  This day her group made a banner.

On the last day, they had a horse show and got to show off some of the new skills they had learned for all the parents.

Since then, she's been taking riding lessons and loves going each week.  I must say she has gotten pretty good.  The girl has horses on the brain and in the blood.

Teeth (or the lack thereof)

 My kiddos have never been front runners when it comes to teeth...getting them or losing them.  I swear we used the excuse "She must be teething." to explain a lot of Kate's behavior as a baby for months and months before she actually got a tooth.  I don't, in truth, know the actual date when she did get her first tooth (I'm a good mom like that and didn't keep track of either of my kids' milestones ).  But I do know when she lost her first tooth...cause my camera logged the date (July 22, 2011, if you must know).  It was a momentous day for her, because loosing a tooth is a big deal for a kid.  It was also a great day for me as well, because, so far, she isn't showing signs of having the same issues as I did.  I had my 12 (yes, you read it right, twelve) front teeth pulled all at once when I was in 3rd grade because my permenant teeth weren't pushing them out & would have come in in front/behind my baby teeth (imagine human shark).  How did I eat?  I still had my molars.  I must say kids are very resilient and I was no exception.

Below, Kate is holding her itty-bitty stub of a tooth...you just can't see it very well against her white shirt.

Since this happy day in July, I am proud to report that Kate has lost 3 more teeth (all in front) since.  And to make things extra funny, she was missing her two front teeth just in time for Christmas (Get it? All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth?)

(Last) Summer in the Sun

Since we've got a nice hill to the side of our place I decided a Slip n' Slide would be appropriate. Sadly, with the price our landlord charges us for water, it's like watching rubies run down the hill and disappear into the grass, so I only got it out the one time, but they had a blast.  By the way, it was worth every penny.

There's a small pond just a little way off from where we live.  We tried our luck there one morning at baiting some hooks and throwing in a line.  Let's just say the only thing we caught that morning was this picture.  (Which was well worth rising early on a Saturday morning.)  Those sneaky fish kept stealing our worms.  I bet they thought we were just the biggest suckers when we just kept throwing those gross, slimy worms out to them.  Little punks anyway.

 Also, not too far from us is this awesome "park" (I put quotations around park cause it seems much more than just a park to me).  I only made it there once last summer, but I think I'll be frequenting it much more this year.  It has a sandy beach and camping and hiking trails.  It's an outdoor enthusiast with kids' dream come true!

 So this beach area is on the South side of the lake and is fantastic for my little kiddos.  Sand castle's and moats, little fish (what Kate is so intent on catching in the picture below), cool little shells (what Kate actually caught)...

...and digging, digging, and more digging.  What more could a little boy want?