So Romantic

My husband took me out on our very first Alaskan Date!  Doesn't your heart just swoon at the thought?  Mine did.  Especially when I learned what he had in store for me.

My very first of ever trying to Kayak.  Doesn't that spell romance for you? 

It was actually quite fun.  I am sure once I get the hang of paddling...not like a canoe...I will manage it better.  I tend to lead to the left.....

We are hoping to go on a family outing before it gets too much colder.  All of the boys have gone with dad, and Nia has too, but we need two capable adults to take them all out....

Should have known!

 

You know I have learned over the years with my boys that when they get too quiet you check on them.  Well they decided that since I am well versed in that, that they needed to add another one to my already lengthy list...

 

Apparently asking them to do their chores...more specifically cleaning the bathroom...is now a license to do the cleaning..they do want to be able to play....but to add their own creative flare to accomplishing the levels of cleanliness that their mother holds them to.





 



So now I know that I either have to check up on them, accept their little twists, or be much more specific in what I want to see when they are done...

But thanks Judge.  The bathroom did look great.

Little Storm

The kids were disappointed when they woke up on Monday morning and the snow was gone...that was until they saw this on the way to school....

But it was even more fun on Tuesday when they woke up to this...

 

Kale says at school you can tell anyone who isn't local for sure because they hear every 10 to 15 minutes....look it's snowing!

 

P.S. I am not a bad mother....Nia had a hat on when we started...you have to go behind her and put it back on every five minutes cause she pulls it off...

Welcome Winter!

We wanted to welcome winter in style.....Nevada style it looks like if you see someone's bare legs peaking out from under his SHORTS!

Yo Yo Daddy-O!  What's the deale-o?  Where's I be hanging?

 

First Snow

Well do you think Nia is enjoying her first snow experience?

 She even slightly enjoyed her first of what is sure to many snowballs to the face from a brother...

 Ender and Nia are partners in crime when it comes to enjoying the snow....

P.S. This is our kids first time LIVING with snow.  Not just a treat when we visit Grandma for Christmas this year.  So it will be interesting....

Storm

You know the line, Master the Tempest is raging?  That is what I have going on outside my house right now.  I am waiting for the, Peace-be still, part to follow.

We are supposed to have a nice sunny day tomorrow, so I wonder if this is what needed to move the cloud cover out.  It will be interesting to see what we get.

The boys are excited cause they were told by a fisherman that we should be getting snow next week. 

Family Time

We started a new thing this week....

We are very creatively calling it Family Time....

It is an extended Family Home Evening type idea.  Instead of setting one night a week to do something as a family we are having the kids pick an activity they want to be in charge of once a week and then picking what day they want to do it.

So far it has worked out okay...we have only done it for four nights....the activities are fairly simple.  One night was choosing the dinner menu, then FHE with a lesson and snack of course, then there was movie night with popcorn, and most recently letter night (who are we kidding...a cookie was present).

We still have game night and camp out night.  If weather permits we might even have a take a walk night....it might have to be turned to talk a walk day....

One key point of all of this was we had a talk with the boys and made sure they understood the most important rules.  We do the activity for the chosen night without complaining...and whoever chose the night gets to pick.  With the idea of course that everyone will get a turn to pick the activities and if you want the others to participate you need to do the same....a way to teach them the golden rule, huh?

I need to take a picture of the board the boys made.  Considering it is four kids under the age of 11, cardboard, tape, stickers and paper they did a good job....A for effort!

Superglue Saves the Day!...

...and daddy's finger....  Okay, not quite his finger...but it did the job and he was able to teach the boys a lesson about knives....great way to end a Sunday huh?

Here they had been outside whittling earlier and no problems...but give dad an apple to cut up for them to eat with dinner and wouldn't you know....we have a stitches situation on our hands....

He cut himself pretty good on a finger...it went deep enough that anywhere else we would have probably gone in for stitches...but here we have the great old standby of Superglue...Neosporin and Band-Aids!  He even got permission from Jenner to use one of his special Angry Bird Band-Aids. 

So all in all a learning lesson for all male's in this household.  I will exclude Nia and I for the time being....

Don't let the apples BITE you!

Arrgh Matey!

Well that settles it.  The boys had a blast at Sage's birthday party.  It had a pirate theme (as I am assuming you have gathered) and even a terrific treasure hunt.  They were all thrilled to go on an actual treasure hunt with clues written on authentic (so I am assured by little guys) pirate maps!  They had a blast running around the woods and poking their noses (not in a bad way) and their grubby little fingers into all sorts of things to find the two pieces of their map....  It was only made more exciting by them finding an actual treasure chest (4 and 6 year olds are easy to please) full of treasure!

I think it was made only more exciting by the fact that they got to MAKE their own treasure chests to put their booty in....also there was cake and ice cream!

I can see the possibilities in their eyes as they planned what they would do to make it even more better (their words, not mine) when their birthday's roll around in the spring...  I guess mom had better beware, huh? 

But I was glad they had fun, and would like to thank Molly (Sage's Mom of course) for inviting the boys and for having an excellent time planed for them!

Favorites

We were browsing through the gazillions of photos we have taken since getting here to PA.  We are putting together a calendar for the school to sale at the community bazaar.  It is amazing to see what you have and haven't taken pictures of when you sit down and think about it...

Kale and I really loved these two photos and we decided to post them here again.  They are gorgeous and show the natural beauty of this wonderful town.

Don't you want to just be here?  I do!

Subbing

Boy it is not an easy task being a mom, lunch lady, and teacher all in one day....let alone doing it all in one week....

By two I am ready to call it good, let alone go home and do laundry and think about cooking anything for dinner....my kids should feel good they are even getting cooked meals and not just cereal or cup of noodles at this point....I can now sympathize a little bit with Kale when he is tired so early in the day....

No rest for the wicked...or for the school teachers it seems.  I feel at times I am being rushed and just want a potty break here at home...but it is even more so when you have the kids all around and trying to keep them on task too.

So you have my kudos teachers!  Thank you for all you do...and you can keep your jobs!  I would rather pay you to do the excellent jobs you do than to tackle that one by myself!!!

Time Change

Well how did your Sunday with the extra hour (nudge nudge, wink wink) go?  Our kids were puzzled as to why we would get mad at them for getting up so early on a Sunday....I didn't change the clocks on them in the middle of the night like I normally do....  So when they came down it said one thing, and when I was telling them they were being awfully loud for it being so early in the morning it said another....

Judge got the bright idea to say that, "Well our clock upstairs says a different time.  Yours must be wrong....."

But we had a good Sunday....and the kids enjoyed the primary activity we did....

Happy Hauntings!

I doubt any child in the lower 48 did as well as my kids did in their Halloween Haul of goodies! 

After walking what seemed like FOREVER to them they made it home with 23 lbs...yes POUNDS of candy between the five of them.  So roughly 4.5 POUNDS of candy for each CHILD is what they earned for 1 1/2 to 2 hours of walking and trick or treating....

I will have to take a picture of their haul before they gobble it up....

But Happy Halloween everyone!!!

And thanks to all those here in PA for making this year a smashing success!