Birthday Wishes

Some families celebrate birthdays with huge parties full of action packed chaos and children running wildly. We prefer small family only parties. Then one year one of our daughters said for her wish she wanted two dates, one with her mom and one with her dad. And from that a new tradition was born.

I get the birthday girl for the day. We do lunch, go shopping, hang out and giggle until it hurts. Then as sad as I am to end my part in their big day we head home. Now it is daddy's turn.

I help get our princess dolled up for her date with dad. And off they go for an evening out. This way we both get to show and tell them, one on one, just how much we love them and what they mean to us.

I hope this tradition continues forever as I cherish these memories. I don't want to ever forget the fun of seeing them getting haircuts at salons, nails done, and picking out the most beautiful dress they have ever seen. The sweet conversations over lunch and giggles while eating ice cream. And I especially don't want to forget the excitement and anticipation they have for their date with their dad, just as he equally anticipates being their Prince Charming for the evening. Nothing can compare to the love a girl has for her dad...he really can hang the moon in their eyes.

"Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head." - Joe Henderson

Last month our homeschooling group had their annual track meet. It is open to anyone, of any age. We had my son, 3, (shown above) through age 80 participate.

That is one of the great things about homeschooling; we don't segregate according to age. Children, parents, and even grandparents all had a wonderful time. And to see everyone cheering each other on was incredible!

Pictured above is Quinn finishing his 400 meter run with the sports "coach" running behind him encouraging him the entire way. He ran with all of his might and aside from a quick detour to the sand in the long jump box (what three year old wouldn't want to dig in that?) he persevered. I am so proud of him.

Just goes to show us if we set our minds to something we CAN do it. Or maybe it simply says we need the energy of a three year old?

Seriously though, I was more captivated by the enthusiasm and support from his "coach". It was contagious. The more she ran and encouraged him, the more the rest of us got excited. As he approached the finish line everyone was cheering him on, telling him he could do this. And he did. He finished the 400 meter in 4:05 minutes.

Love...Stolen

Okay, so maybe it isn't love stolen. Truth is, it is given freely. These two love each other like best friends, like siblings inseparable. Three years ago we thought how this love, rather suffocating at the time, wouldn't last. Surely it was a new love, similar to when anything we've really wanted becomes a part of our lives. We smother it with love, attention, and affection. We can't get enough.

How surprised were we to discover he shared that same love for her. Now it wouldn't be honest to create the impression there are not moments they bicker. They are siblings. But far more often they are that sweet inseparable pair. They just "get" each other. And I love that.

Toothless Wonder

We spent Saturday having a delightful little tea party at the library with the children's group. The children acted very prim and proper....for a bunch of three to five year olds. We were enjoying some hot tea and cookies while listening to soft music. Grace takes a bite of the cookie and notices her tooth was stuck in the cookie. Before I know it the entire group of twenty children are hovered around her prying into her mouth, giggling, and then it escalates to dancing and yelling. Leave it to my child to, unknowingly, take a group of quiet, well-behaved children and turn them into hyper, bounce-off-the-wall children.

So it comes time for the Tooth Fairy and instead of the typical place-the-tooth-under-the-pillow routine we do, Grace (the one that keeps our family on their toes) decides that if the Santa gets cookies and milk then the Tooth Fairy decides atleast that much. We decide on fancy crackers and water after I plead with her to not have me bake cookies at 8pm for a fairy that surely doesn't want so much sugar on her teeth. We set them out on the table with the tooth beside them and wait for her to come.

Morning arrives and all seems well. One dollar is sitting in place of the tooth. The happy partially toothless smile suddenly turns to a frown as she cries, "She took the box the tooth was in". Apparently the specially decorated box that the tooth was in was not meant to be taken. Tooth Fairies around this house rarely get their job right. Much to Grace's pleasure she magically found the box in the kitchen later that day. The Tooth Fairy must have accidentally moved it but not taken it ;o) Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

And as it turns out it was a good thing we found that box. The next day Grace was playing with a cup in her mouth and accidentally flicked, literally, her other tooth right out of her mouth. This one was more dramatic than the last. Blood pours out as it wasn't ready to come out and the crying is persistent. After she calms down we prepare yet another meal for the tooth fairy and anxiously await to see how well she does her job this time. With four children in this house, two of which have lost multiple teeth one would think the Tooth Fairy would be a pro around here- that doesn't appear to be the case.

Sledding

My snow girls

9 Months and Going Strong!

And the verdict is in....

Hanna with her temporary cast.....

And Hanna after she made that all important decision of a color for a cast....

It's blue? What? What happened to pink or purple? The doctor showed her the colors and she knew instantly that she wanted blue. She stuck to it after seeing all the options so blue it is!

Hanna's Broken Arm

Our little bitty broke her arm Friday. She got a little carried away dancing on the couch and fell off, hitting her arm on an end table. She has been taking medicine for pain over the weekend and it seems to be making it tolerable for her. She gets a cast Tuesday. The big question is what color will she choose. Her sisters are trying to persuade her in different ways and have gotten into quite a few little spats over what color she will pick. They don't seem to get that it isn't their arm or their choice in color. One wants her to pick pink and one wants purple. I'm secretly hoping she picks any other color but those two. Any bets on what she chooses?

Harvest Party

Some of the local homeschoolers got together for a harvest party last week. We were fortunate enough to have nice weather so it was hosted at a local park. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful craft, some great games, excellent food, and lots of fun. Here are some photos from our day.

Grace making the pumpkin craft

One of the finished products

A twist on apple bobbing. They laid on their backs and bobbed for apples tied to a table top without using their hands.

Gourd Bowling. Had to make the wobbling gourds land inside the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Toss

And I couldn't resist adding a picture of Quinn. Next year he will enjoy participating in the festivities, this year he enjoyed watching.

I hope you are all enjoying Fall as much as we are! Have a great week.

Deer Hunting 2008

We just returned from our week long excursion into the Eagle Caps for deer hunting. The weather, for the most part, was spectacular. It was short sleeved shirt weather all but one day. The boys hunt from the wee hours of the morning until lunch time. They return to camp for some hot food and then take off again for an afternoon hunt. I enjoy going for the evening hunts so we do those as a family. We seen a lot of does and fawns but no bucks. Oh except this one...
This four point buck was waltzing through the streets of the local town when we came for gas. He knew he was safe! I imagine the residents at the local assisted living facility get a kick out of seeing this peeping tom staring into their rooms. We talked of lassoing him and walking him to the outskirts of town so we could tag him. My husband thought it would be more funny if I could ride him out of town. That's the point when we decided to head back to the mountains. :o)

The girls were playing like they were wild Indians running through the hills. I figured no Indian should be without a teepee so below is our great build. Last camping trip we made a miniature log cabin, after doing a teepee I have to say I prefer the teepee. Much less work! So here we are introducing the princess teepee.

Here are my camp mugshots.

Olivia has been working her way up the ranks of the guns for the past couple of years. She has practiced on larger guns (her favorite) but typically shoots the .22 for fun. She got a lot of shooting practice in this weekend.
Here is her target. It was positioned quite a ways away so I thought she did rather well. Before long she will be hunting with dad, unless her mom corrupts her first and turns her into an animal lover, lol.

Here is our smores pictures. Our aunt was so kind as to bring us chocolate graham crackers and spreadable marshmellow cream incase the weather wouldn't allow us to make the real ones. Luckily for us we could make them over the fire, it just isn't the same without the fire!

And then the weather turned on us. We seen it coming in and before long it snowed and snowed. The girls were in their glory out playing in it.

They played so hard that they slept like rocks!

So although we didn't get a deer we still had a good time. It always reminds me how packing is fun but unpacking isn't.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday Sept. 16th

Awe, the end of summer going out in style with a carnival. Unbeknownst to me they are too big for the kiddie rides, or so I was informed this year by them. They did an amicable job at hiding their distaste for them. There are no photos of them on the Hurricane, Scrambler, or Gravitron as I was so worried I didn't think to photograph them. Here is their pre-big kid rides photo right before they successfully convinced us they were brave enough to try the other side of the carnival.

And when you are told to take your little sister through the fun house you have to spice things up a little bit to add your own fun. Good thing the carnival worker was there to help...or was that to watch?I was pleased to see that atleast our little one was still timid enough to want to be held on the carousel. She wanted to ride it but only if dad would hold her on it. What a great dad he is!

And finally thanks to the little ponies, my personal favorite of this carnival, my five year old begs me daily for one.

Awe, the end of summer!

Sweet As Sugar or Bitter as Salt?

I'm quietly feeding the baby as my daughter comes in and asks me to fix her cereal. I explain in a minute I can. She wants to do it herself which suited me just fine so I agree. She fixes her cereal. I finish feeding the baby. I walk into the kitchen bare footed and feel sugar under my feet. I explain to my daughter that accidents do happen but it is important to always clean up after ourselves. She grabs a broom and starts sweeping. I pour cereal into my bowl. I add milk. I start to pour some sugar.......and the lid falls off into my bowl dumping a ton of sugar in it. I ask my daughter why this happened and hear that "her thumbs accidentally kept turning the lid until it came off" and then she couldn't get it back on. I spoon off the excess sugar to the best of my ability. I turn and start to walk out of the kitchen as I take my first big, full, heaping spoon full of cereal. IT WAS SALT!!!! Darling daughter had used the last of the sugar on her cereal and thought she would be in trouble so she took the time to refill the shaker for me, only she can't read so what looked like sugar was really salt.

Two things gleaned from this experience: 1.) Don't take huge heaping bites of anything! and 2.) Teach her to read.

Wordless Wednesday Aug. 13th

Berry Delicious!

School Photos

We started school last week. For our first day of school we took photos to send to relatives. We have a tradition of taking them in front of the same arbor each year. With a constant for a background it is easier for the kids to see how much they have changed in a year's time. They get a kick out of it and the relatives feel like we are more official if we have school photos like the "other kids". So here is to pleasing them all, lol.

Note: Quinn was taking a nap during picture time so he doesn't have one yet. I'll have to set his bouncy chair up in front of the arbor so he has his first ever school photo.

Praying for Grandma

Our five year old added something to our prayer chain. It's a prayer for Grandma. She desperately wants her to stop smoking, so she announced to the congregation that she wants everyone to "pray for my grandma to quit drugs". Didn't quite come out as I wish it had. Now I have some explaining to do. Good thing grandma has a great sense of humor. She got a huge laugh knowing half of our town is praying for her drug habit.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July just isn't the same without patriotic attire, cotton candy, music, and fireworks. I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and fun Fourth of July!

Week in Review July 4th

Our week was a good one, not overly productive in the area of school, but in the area of life skills we did pretty good. We went Geocaching (after swimming, thus the messy hair on the kids) and found a couple of "treasures". This particular one was a five mile walk so we did it as an after dinner family trek.

Do you like her stylish purse? That's the ammo box we were hunting for. It was a ways from where the coordinates said it would be so it really was a hunt to find it. Leave it to the nine year old to come up with it.
What hot summer week would be complete without some swimming? Sure they dream of the huge aquatic center pool, but this is much more manageable for mom!
We discovered that our four month old fits nicely into the baby doll stroller. The girls were more than pleased to figure this out and you can see from the picture how Quinn felt about it. I have to say that while it was moving he was a happy camper. His dad had a similar look to come home and find his only son being pushed around in a pink doll stroller. I've told everyone that you can expect nothing less than painted nails, ballerina outfits, and doll babies when he has three sisters. Oh and just to let you all know, prior to sending me "concerned" emails, yes, I am aware that there is a sticker on the stroller saying "intended for doll baby use only". And the last lesson we learned this week was that if you leave your children alone in a golf cart for too long they will get into mischief. Olivia, 9, drives the cart all the time and we trust her to do so. I looked out the kitchen window to see her spinning cookies in the grass and making figure eights around the trees! She now has a speed limit.

Toughing the Water

We tried our hand at toughing the water yesterday. We started by enticing the children into the tube first. We are in a jet boat and knew the water would be too hard on them from the jet spray so we used a trolling motor. What I wouln't give to know that a trolling motor could pull me on the water!

They started out very mild as you can see in the video. I wish I had taken a video at the end of the day. They were trying to submarine the tube and were rather successful several times. They also mastered standing in the tube similar to surfing.

Here are my guys looking gorgeous. Look at my poor baby's cheeks! That life jacket definitely doesn't do him any justice. He did so good out there. At this age all he needs is food, some attention which he always gets around grandma and grandpa, and sleep that the boat's rumble helped along.








And here is me and my dear husband. We didn't intend on getting in the water. It was hot and the kids wanted to see if mom and dad could handle grandpa's driving. I think truth be known they just wanted to see us crash! Our daughter, 9, took these pics. She did a pretty good job for standing in a speeding boat while taking them. She was hoping to catch the big crash on film.

Take note in this photo who is on the tube and who is in the water. It is hard to tell so let me tell you....I survived longer! And just incase he reads this blog I should tell the truth. He let go because I had a death grip on the handles and wouldn't share them with him....or atleast that was the story I heard was the truth. :o)




And after all that bragging about lasting longer I dumped myself when I tried to climb back onto the tube for another round of fun.

In the end we all had a great time. We were starving (snacks didn't hold us over), wet, tired, and had muscles aching that we weren't sure were still there, but we are sure to do it again!