Switched on!

Mommy: What do you want to do this afternoon?
Caiden: Lets do a puppet show!

I quickly seize this completely out of the blue very FIRST opportunity to set up puppets. Did you get the FIRST part! He's five....and FINALLY FINALLY asked to do a puppet show! I get a tension rod, hang a sheet, they make about 100 trips up and down the stairs to get all the great animals (some of which are puppets).
We begin with the three little pigs (only it is a camel playing the part of the big bad wolf, and instead of the pigs we have a rooster, duck and skunk) Mommy narrates, kids say the best lines...If you read much to kids I bet you can make a great guess as to which lines they said.

answer: I'll huff and I'll puff...
Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!
Big blow
lots of screaming/running.

This evening they had decided that they would do a "ghost light" show for daddy after dinner. Of course we had to close all curtains and blinds (there's a lot of light at 6:45) I did nicely suggest BEFORE the show that they might want to get the right "puppets" and the lights. They swore they were ready. So, Daddy and I sit down and immediately begin waiting while they run around to get the right stuff....like Mater in the toy room, and a good 3 minute search for the light that was present before dinner, which by now was upstairs somewhere! Soon, we had a grand show of Mater and the ghost light, then another rendition of the three little pigs complete with a giant dinosaur and great big bear....they had a blast and were sorry to hear that it was bedtime.

If you know my son, then you know already what a HUGE deal this seemingly small make believe and story telling session is in our home today. Caiden has NEVER told a story using figures or puppets or anything. Today, he not only suggested, but made up, told stories, and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He even made sure I didn't put the rod away too far, because he wants to do it AGAIN!!!

God is faithful to complete the work He has begun! Amen and Amen!

Eat Your Heart out Kim!

What to do with the found 4 HOURS of quiet time that school brings into my life??? My goal is to do something on at least 3 of the 5 days that I wouldn't normally be able to do with kiddos with me. Today...45 minute bike ride in the cool of the day enjoying the sunshine (and our new road!)

Tomorrow...attending a yoga class with another mommy friend. Does it get any better??? Eat your heart out Kim! (although it doesn't beat snorkeling!)

I must say, getting used to finishing a thought is a new/old experience, I'm not sure that I remember what my own thoughts sound like!

The firsts

First day of school for the year. First day for BOTH of my kiddos to attend school. First day to drop them off at two different places. First day for mommy to go to town during school hours...alone! yippeee!!!! the kids had a great morning and took great naps. So, it is official, my small blessings will not be spending nearly as much time with me. To go from 12 hours of full time parent duty to 6 is going to be interesting.

Will I be content with the influences and academics they will be getting? Will I be able to make the most of our few hours together each day? I think I will be even more restrictive of T.V. time. considering that after their nap, I only have 4 hours with them to train up, enjoy, discipline, feed, bathe...etc etc. Will I be able to cram 12 hours of loving care into 4??? Will ANYONE understand what makes them tick at all??? Will they whine there too???

Will I know how to cook and clean without a million interruptions??? Will I be more "productive" or less???
Much to be seen over the year and years to come. What an interesting journey.

Lots to do

So much to do to have so much fun! baseball practice with daddy. Ady did lots of practice too, I apparently didn't keep taking pics. This one of her laughing is just after throwing the ball to daddy. Caiden got lots of hits and Ady got some good ones as well.
We flew kites in the afternoon between taking turns fishing. Aunt Kem is a great kite flyer, and she seemed to bond with Dora in the sky.

Mr. Anslow learns to swim

Even though Anslow lives around water he mostly splashes and gets muddy here at home in the ditches. At first when Kevin called to him to come out into the water he wasn't quite sure, but one jump later he was swimming with the best of them. He hiked the woods, barked at anything nearby, bit lots of bees, he's quite the snapper. Then ended the day with rest, with the added comfort of Ady's blankies.

Give us S'more please!

Bring on the campfire! Although we did not have a campfire sing along all week, we still enjoyed some good flames a few times. One bonus to camping with a fifth wheel trailer (thanks grandma and grandpa) is that you don't feel the need to hover around the fire pit all day and night. Caiden was a such a big boy all week, he learned a little about building a fire and they both learned lots about burning marshmallows and licking the sticky off crackers and fingers. They do love the s'mores. There is a picture of me with the kids, we ended up with a total of two pics with the mommy...seems I'm the one always holding the camera! For anyone wondering why Caiden is always wearing his helmet, let me make one thing clear...it is not a requirement. He seems to have it on in most of our camping shots....I guess he likes it?

To catch a fish

Caiden was excited when he learned that he could try fishing with daddy. Grandma and Aunt Kem bought the worms on one of their walks. The kids watched daddy bait the hook then they got to learn a little about the process. Lucky for everyone, fish included, no one took the bait that day.

a bit of camping fun

First up, biking
lots of biking
around and around,
up and down,
with grandma, daddy, and mommy

do you think she is pink enough yet?


Ady was a GREAT sport about pulling a bike with training wheels up hills and over grass.

And then there was REST.

home from camping!

We are home! We spent a week camping at a lake. It was a very restful week. The kids played beautifully. They rode bikes like crazy, and dear farmer hubby let us stay for an ENTIRE week! So great to spend that time together. I will post pictures and stories soon. I am headed in to watch T.V. the Olympics...I missed a week of action in place of better action! I can hardly wait to sleep on a real mattress but I may miss the squawking blue jays come morning. One morning I was sleeping soundly and dreaming of sleeping babies(what mommy doesn't have this dream?) and all of a sudden the beautiful sleeping baby made the most horrific screeching sound, without moving a muscle!!! I was so shocked, until the next screech completely woke me up to my cool tent and blue jay friends!

summer busy ness

We did lots of stuff yesterday. Half of it is not photographed. The kids "helped" daddy load a hay truck. Ady showed off her balancing skills on rocks. The kids washed some of the toy cars. Caiden really wanted me to make one like we drive through in town. (including the octopus part) I had a hard time explaining that the best I could do was buckets of soap water. Then we had a speedy lunch of left over zucchini soup, cold weiners cut up with BBQ sauce (the kids like to use toothpicks and dip the hot dogs.) and headed out over the mountain to pick up daddy's new 4 wheeler and have dinner with grandma and grandpa. Caiden and Ady were both up and dressed at 6:15 this morning ready to help daddy. I got 40 minutes of quiet coffee and blog reading! woo hoo!! while they got a truck ride, and 4 wheeler rides....yay for farmer daddy!!

climbing

We got to go to a friends' house yesterday. In the yard is a beautiful Birch tree that the kids were climbing(all but Ady that is). The three were sooo proud and wanted to show the mommies. This is Caiden's first big tree climbing. He got up and got down. Ady was upset that I wouldn't lift her up. A friend of mine shared some wisdom the other day about kids and tree climbing..."if they can't get up on their own, they don't need to be there" I shared this with little Ady and she immediately responded with crossed arms, foot stomp, frowny brows, stating "Caiden ALWAYS gets to do fun stuff, I NEVER get to do ANYTHING." I think she exaggerated a bit.

Beans and More Beans

The beans are finally ready to come off. The kids and Kevin picked a bucket full. Which turned into four jars. I guess we need two buckets next time. I am relearning how to can these, so it takes longer as I read and re-read directions and continue to put water on to boil. We will enjoy this crop. I will need to buy more jars this week to keep up!

Fruit, bikes, and ice

A little about this week. The apricots are now ripe and falling off the tree. I promised dear hubby that I would make him a pie if he brought the apricots in. I think he had them in before I was finished with my sentence. So I made two. One for today which I baked this morning. One for another day which I put in the freezer. I learned from here how to freeze pies. It is certainly less work to make two at once than to wait a day and make another. I also have five pounds of blueberries in the fridge waiting for an assignment...not sure blueberry pies freeze well. I did use another two cups of apricots and made a double batch of scones which promptly went in the freezer. I think some of this recent baking will go camping with us in a few weeks.

I finally found a bike seat for ady the other day. (found one for myself last week as well, uncle mike...the new cushy one...so far...feels fabulous!) Ady loved riding on the back. Of course I spent three weeks looking for the thing and Kevin got to take her on her first ride...not fair! she giggled and laughed the whole way! I took her for a longer one after dinner and she seemed to enjoy it lots. It is going to be fun to take her along now.

Today was hot hot hot! by the time we got around to wanting to swim it was getting late, so I filled the tub and let them take a "swimming bath" including a bowl full of ice cubes....a nice activity that didn't involve me going upstairs too many times. I even put dish soap in so the bubbles would last a lot longer, they seemed quite relaxed and ready for bed after this, so it was a nice ending to a hot sticky day.

canning

First canning of the year. Applesauce. One five quart bucket of translucent apples=4 big pots of apple halves=6 quarts of applesauce. Two jars did not seal, which is okay, I was feeling guilty about canning all the sauce and not saving any out to eat! Caiden had some for dinner today, and it got lots of mmm's and "good job mom" Ady only smelled it.

The zucchini is coming off now. I made zuccini bread and zucchini fritters. The fritters were a new thing, we all liked them.

numbers, bags, and a bucket

For the last year, we've had numbers on the dining room wall. I used this for our "warm up" activity for school time. We did ABC's on another wall, then came over to the numbers where the kids pointed and counted. Now the fans and wind have worn out the stickiness of the tape and I decided that we would do something else with the numbers. The kids are pretty good at counting to twenty now anyway.
So...I cut each number "card" into three sections: the numeral, the word, the picture.
I have two activities now with these three parts.
first: one to one counting, using the pictures and buttons.
second: matching words with numerals.
The kids seem to enjoy doing this. I tried shiny glass rocks for counters first, but they were too big, buttons have proven better and easier, plus it works their fine motor skills better than the rocks.