Nature!

Kevin's been talking for years about taking every Friday afternoon in June off.  This year, due to no long road trip plans, we were able to do it!!  One the last of those Fridays, we finally got out of town to a nearby out of state, state park.  Lake Pahoja Recreation Area.  We talked with some friends the night before and they decided to come with us.  I packed lunch and supper and we were going to stay until bedtime to make the most of our outing.  Some of the beautiful things we saw: 

A painted turtle:  which everyone decided was too far from the lake, so Anna (not me) decided that she would pick it up and return it to it's home.  Apparently, her husband was teasing her that he wouldn't leave the park until there was evidence that she was having fun.  Well, she laughed her way down the hillside as the turtle was trying to get her. 

Milkweed in bloom:  I hadn't realized that milkweed has these beautiful pink flowers! 

A root formation:  It looked so neat, and so much like a nest, that I had to photograph it. 

Elderberry flowers:  They were all over the park.  It made me want to come back when the berries come out and pick all that I could...I'd have to get permission though as it was a state recreation area! 

Poppy leaves:  It looked like a poppy leaf, but had been mown down so had no flowers...not certain of it though.  We just planted poppies this spring and found that the leaf formation was somewhat like a carrot. 

The view from my shady blanket/picnic spot.  By this time it was almost supper and I had a bit of a headache.  I decided to sit with the food while the rest of them went wading for treasure in the water.

Shells:  The treasures that were found and brought to me.  Do you spy the wildlife coming out of one of the shells?

Some thorny type of stuff, that I assumed fell from the tree in the last picture.  I need to look that up though to see what it was. 

My Boy Child

Mn, he is a hoot!  Adorable, hilarious, sneaky, oh, my you just have to meet him!

Kj Update

Ah, my Kj, my eldest.  She is growing and learning and exploring and reading and singing!  There was an ocean theme for VBS this year and Kj and I made an electric eel for a skit prop.  If you know anything about electric eels, you will know that something is not quite right with the above combination.  As we researched electric eels, we learned that they are really not eels and they are not found in the ocean.  Ah, well.  We now have an electric eel stuffed animal in our house.  It is quite comfy...

Kj loves exploring.  She loves to "off road" at parks and in nature areas.  This particular park had a river on the bottom of end of some of the trails, so I found myself holding her back.  "Be careful."  "Don't go so fast."  "Get back here."  ...  :P

Cooking is another one of  her favorite activities.  Below is the second time she has made most of the pancakes.  The first time we started kind of late and so I had to finish to speed things up, this time we started way early and had warm pancakes.  One hand is in her pocket, nursing a finger tip burn against a small ice pack. 

Although I don't have a picture of it, her (probably) favorite pastime is reading.  My dad and I went to a few rummage sales on Saturday.  We bought her Charlotte's Web at one of them.  She picked it up mid-morning and was done by evening or the next afternoon...I am trying to remember.  Lately she has been reading through the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories to get ready for a trip to a couple of her homes this summer. 

Read in the last few days:

Charlotte's Web  by E.B. White
Tales from Maple Ridge:  The Lucky Wheel  by Grace Gilmore
Helen Keller's Teacher by Margaret Davidson
The Boxcar Children:  Surprise Island by Gertrude Chandler Warner (reading 1/2-1 chapter aloud to L daily)
several picture books by Neuschwander (Sir Cumference) and Pilegard (Warlord's...) both math books

Yikes, I can't keep up!  :) 

Uncle Zac Hair and Growing Babes!

Mn's been sweating like crazy these last few weeks.  He had a bit longer haircut, but I decided I better try shorter.  Several of my friends buzz their boys' hairs, but then slather on sunscreen.  Well, I am trying for middle ground - less sweating, no slathering.  Here is what we got: 

The comb job reminds me of my brother in jr. high school or high school.  Very nice.  :)  What do you think, Zac, should I slather the sunscreen anyways and comb it this way?

Congratulations to my brother too on the arrival of his baby girl M!!  The day she was born I was taking care of a 3 day old foster babe and I imagined meeting my niece! 

Here is my growing Babe Mn.  I realized that he took up most of his crib the other day and had to get a picture!  He can crawl in and out of the crib now, so the one rail is lowered, so it is basically a toddler bed.  Just haven't made the switch...  If you "highlight" the picture you can kind of see his outline a bit more. 

College Friends!

Late this past winter, I had invited my college friends to visit "anytime".  KJ replied with, "Next month looks free, when were you thinking?"  So, we settled on a weekend and KJ&N decided to get up early, drive 3 hours to our home, play hard and leave at bedtime for the return trip.  What a fun day we had!  The weather was cool but not cold and the kids spent most of the day outside.  During naptime the guys had the kids outside and the ladies had the living room to chat and catch up.  Thank you, KJ&N for taking the time to come!!!

Little A (in blue) had just finished a jump-roping competition at school and Kj (green) was able to learn a few things from her friend!  The girls had been given jump ropes for the birthdays and our goal is to learn and become somewhat accomplished this summer.  Here was the start.  It's nice to have an expert around!

Here's our lovely load of kids - about every other!  And the parents...Kevin was grafted in to this lovely friendship through marriage.  Pictures below: photo credits to Kj and L.  :)

Bubbles, Hiking, Sewing

I became reacquainted with a friend from college recently.  We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years and didn't realize we lived near each other until she sent out a request for a sewing teacher for her daughter, A.  Well, I was desiring to teach Kj how to use the sewing machine so we thought we'd give it a try.  (Maybe I have already mentioned this...)  Well, we started with hand sewing and on an off week Mrs. C. and A. shared with us some big bubble fun and an adventure hike. 

The girls were up ahead, Mn following quickly behind and the mamas bringing up the rear.  Then Mn did, what I consider a very boyish thing...He saw an ant.  He didn't just stoop to look at it.  He didn't just kneel to look at it.  He didn't just sit to look on it.  He got on all fours, then laid on the ground and studied it intently. 

And here is the last sewing school session that we finished.  I should take pictures of the results.  They were testing out the various stitches on the sewing machine with all different colored top threads.  So, while learning their machine, they practiced threading it, making corners, and finding what each stitch looked like, "in person".  Very fun!  Thank you C. for spurring on the learning this new craft for Kj!

Eating Salads

Well, starting at the end of our pictures and moving backwards right now.  We've hit the end of a crazy month full of travel, plans, days off, travel, foster daycare and newborn emergency foster care.  Wow!  We're hoping to get a little more rest in the next few weeks and be able to enjoy our family, house, yard, weather, etc. without too much extra or sudden excitement!

In the last year or so my parents have been reading and attempting to find the balance in a new way of eating introduced to them by their doctor.  They were given the book Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  I was skimming the book a few weeks ago and getting healthy eating ideas from it.  I was almost done when I realized that it was a weight loss book, not exactly what my family needs, particularly my growing children.  I went home considering what to do, then remembered that Dr. J. Fuhrman had another book and it was at our library:  Disease-Proof Your Child - Feeding Kids Right.  The big thing here was being consistent.  Teaching your children why we're eating the way we are, splurging together as a treat, not pushing all the healthy food but modeling a lifestyle that you want them to maintain - for their health.   

We'd already been adding a wider variety of fruits and veggies into our routine thanks to membership-needed-bulk-food stores in the area.  (I'm not sure how we ever thrived on one bag of carrots and 2 peppers a week before we started our memberships!) 

Kevin has been consistently eating salads since my parents started their new eating routine and I gradually got into it, too.  I never expected the kids to eat salads, they just ate all the vegetables separately, dipping some but not all in a bit of dressing.  Well, a couple weeks ago L requested that I buy spinach, and this week Kj wanted to make a salad.  L joined right in.  They both found a little bowl, loaded it with chopped veggies, nuts, (...bacon bits), and L's favorite dressing and they ate a salad today!

Kind of fun...and yes, I'm bragging a bit...forgive me.