Beauty Surrounds Us

This would be why I often take the camera with me when I take the kids to the bus - I just love what the early morning sunlight does to the fall colors.

Our New Pet

This is the "pet" that the girls found slithering in the lawn and promptly put it into a bug catcher to show Daddy when he got home. Please note, however, this was ONLY a pet for the day. Erin would seriously LOVE to have a snake for a pet - a corn snake to be more exact. However, I am just not going to win the "Mother of the Year Award" as I am not keen on having a snake in my house. All I can say is, the kids must get that from their Dad....certainly NOT their Mom!!!

Up a Tree...

While Trevor was working on his homework, the girls decided to take advantage of the nice weather and play outside. We have some huge pine trees along our driveway that they found make good climbing trees.....and I found they make great photo ops! They were about 7-8 feet up on the tree but they cooperated for pictures so these are a few of what I got.

Spool Knitting

Erin recently inherited an old wooden thread spool that was already outfitted with the nails to begin spool knitting. After looking it up online for a few minutes, she was thrilled beyond words....she knew how to do SPOOL KNITTING. She has been at it for several days and is still loving it! Where DO kids get these desires to learn this sort of thing....especially when Mom has no desire to learn something like that?! It is so fun to watch her have a desire to learn yarn crafts, watch someone else doing it and sit down to do it herself! Keep it up, Erin!

Cricut Expression

We used my cricut expression (after a month of owning it and it being in the box!) tonight for the first time. Trevor is working on a poster for World History and wanted to make his title for it. While working on it, he made a comment about being glad that he has a "creative" mom that likes to scrapbook (paper supply!) AND owns a Cricut. After saying this, he was silent for a second or two and then said "Wow! I never thought I would say THAT!"

Extra Credit

World History extra credit was to make a prehistoric weapon or tool as well as write about it. Trevor made this bow-n-arrow for his presentation of a prehistoric weapon. He looked up the history of how string was made....either with flax seed or animal guts. Of course, he prefers to think that it was flax seed!

Sold....after 20+ years in the family!!

This 3 wheeler has been in my husband's family for over 20 years. Unfortunately, it is almost too small for the girls and WAY too small for Trevor so we have been trying to sell it over the past two years. We listed it again a few weeks ago....and it sold this weekend. Thankfully, we took pictures of it before it was bought so..... I am way too sentimental, though!! But it is nice knowing that another couple bought it for their 2 year old so....

Summer Sizzle

One hot summer day, Kayla came down to visit so we went in to the city pool for the afternoon. We ended up going there several times that summer as we enjoyed the slides and, of course, the lazy river! I see the kids growing up much too quickly so I am trying to "soak in" each and every moment.

Ahhhh...I already miss our summer days together. Now on to the school days (which, don't get me wrong, can be fun, too) of homework, tests, projects, concerts..... "Time passes like a dream....."

Ultimate Frisbee

Trevor was in Ultimate Frisbee this summer through our local Park and Rec Dept. It was only for three weeks but it taught him a lot....and amazingly it was something he really enjoyed. It seemed that every day they had "class" it was 90+ with a high humidity but he had a lot of fun. It is similar to football and, like Trevor said, "it is definitely NOT a stand around sport!" Since then, frisbee has become a popular item here at home, as well!

They have been playing football in gym class up at Middle School recently and he surprised me again by saying how much he enjoys that! They never played it in elementary gym so the only time it was played was at recess. Any guesses as to how THAT goes? He normally avoided it with all the fighting, arguing, etc. about who did what and which team got which point. Even despite a sprained pinky finger from football, he continues to love it. He reminds me of gym days so I can "buddy wrap" his pinky so he can play without worrying about it.

This week he has been pretty stressed out with about 4 projects due by Friday. After helping him to only look at one project at a time, he is breathing easier. There has been a lot more homework and less reading time for him so....Those that know him well know that he is MISSING HIS BOOKS!!

FALL IS COMING!!

Our kindergarten teacher has a tradition of making these "pumpkins" each year using a roll of toilet paper, crumpled paper lunch bag, green felt leaves and a green pipe cleaner. I have saved each of the kids' pumpkins and sit them out each fall. I wonder if teachers know how much these little projects mean to to not only the students, but also the parents....especially those like me that hold on to EVERYTHING!

Happy fall to each of you!

Playhouse Garden

During the summer, I FINALLY got a project done that has been growing in my mind throughout the last several years. One hot day (it was hard to find one that WASN'T hot!), the kids and I tackled the job of changing the landscape around the playhouse we bought when the girls were just toddlers. The four of us combined our ideas and came up with a very pretty garden to display some of the "treasures" I have collected with this in mind. The hostas are pretty small but by next year they should be filled out more along with the shasta daisies that I bought at a garage sale this past spring. The sedum plants along the back of the playhouse are actually ones that I found growing wild along our woods!!

Trevor said that our yard won't even look the same by the time he graduates from high school. Seeing as that is about six years away.....and looking at the changes throughout the past 10 years (since we moved in), I am guessing that he is right!!

Love & Logic.....

Aaaahhhh....the joys of homework and grumpy little ones because they are frustrated with the homework. A few days ago, I was trying to help Emily understand her homework when she started VENTING her frustration. She was bound and determined that I just did NOT understand what she was supposed to be doing. Trevor came to our rescue and when he told her the same thing I had just told her, she became pretty.....well, GRUMPY. He surprised me by telling her that she wasn't treating him very nice and it didn't make him feel good so he was going to just walk away. I was so happy with how he handled it but I just about laughed out loud. The kids all groan when Terry & I use the Love and Logic method of reasoning with the kids....and here was Trevor using it himself!!

2010-2011 School Year Begins

Erin - 3rd Grade
Emily - 3rd Grade
Trevor - 6th Grade

Kids Bowling....FREE!

Our last day of summer vacation turning out to be hot & humid and then it turned rainy. So we decided to go bowling one last time. Emily used this pose to hope for the best after she rolled her bowl down the lane. Trevor had one pin left standing way off to the left side so he was trying to use careful strategy....FUNNY PICTURE THOUGH!! Erin posed so nicely....after I missed the best picture after she got a strike.

One funny memory from our summer bowling program.....Trevor bowled a strike and got a split....in his shorts!!! That is one thing that will be a family joke for years!!!!

Girls Day....

Trevor was setting up at a local gun show with Terry (he is earning college $$!!!) so I asked the girls what they would like to do on Saturday. They both agreed that we should scrapbook.....so we invited a few others down to join us. Mom was the only one that could make it.....I didn't get a ton done but it was a fun day, nonetheless. The night before, I was out to a scrapbook crop and I found the signs in the pictures posted on our front door, porch door and on the table. I'm thinking Emily and Erin were quite excited about our "crop"?!

One last swim......

Last Friday, the kids and I went to visit my cousin who has recently moved to the other side of the lake....much closer than they used to be. Trevor and Michael seemed to hit it off and had a lot of fun. We all enjoyed our time in their community pool for the afternoon. Thank you for a fun day, Janice. You have a nice house with BEAUTIFUL gardens!!!