Sunday Silly

The sun is very bright around here. After the selection, Eric mentioned that from here on out, I have to be the one to take CJ.  I giggled and said that indecisiveness is exactly why they don't often get choices or they get 2 controlled choices.

She finally decided on these:

And it took him a while as well, but these won:

I think, because they are multi-functional!  I love them! They make me giggle.

She was the quickest to decide. And once she has made up her mind, there is no changing it!

 Enjoy your Sunday and make sure you have some silliness in it!

Graduation

We officially have a First Grader in the house!

 All lined up ready to go

 The march in

 Her diploma

She says she would like to be a veterinarian when she grows up.

 Take a guess, what do you think they all ate at the little classroom reception?

 She loved her teacher!

A family event!

They did stream the ceremony live, and if it turns out well, later I'll get a link that I can share. Let me know if you would like that link when it comes.

Field Day

The last week of school is focused on having a great time so the kids remember school has a happy and fun place.  That way 7 short weeks later, there are fewer moans and groans about the return of school.  At our house, I already know that it will be 7 long weeks of, "When do I start first grade?" "When do I go to my preschool?"  Loving school and loving learning are important and I'll take their eager attitudes!

Sack race

Bouncy race

A "fire" needed putting out, good thing they had invited the Fire Department to come to Field Day!

 Teamwork! In the fire line and in tug of war.

Dress up

One of the perks of having big sisters includes really fancy dress up clothes!

 And fancy barrettes for getting hair done too.

He had a blast! So did the girls!

Cheese

We've got some camera hogs on our hands:

 She requested the first picture, then decided she needed a hand on her hip and insisted on another shot.

Madera Canyon

We have just found our new favorite place to hike, Madera Canyon.  I had heard about it, I had seen a sign for it, yet we had never made the trek over to check it out.  It was wonderful!

The first wildlife we saw from the brochure the kids got was this:

An Acorn Woodpecker. And we saw it while we had a pre hike snack at the picnic table.

We could still see the parking lot at this point, she checked out what she could see, and declared she had seen an alligator.  Then she pulled out her wildlife brochure and said, okay now let's find this:

Well, THANKFULLY we did not run into any black bears. That was not high on my list to find while hiking.

The trail we picked was considered an "A". It began nice and wide headed up hill.  And quickly turned much more rocky, narrow and steep.  Lots of fun!

He always uses his binoculars backwards. Always.

Everyone did pretty well. Coming down was a bit scary for the little guy at times, so he hitched a ride for a short bit.

A fabulous time was had by all, and we will be returning to our new favorite hiking spot!

Growing up

In so many ways parents love to watch their little ones explore and discover new ideas and watch them develop into their own little people.  Of course, this also brings great sadness as they grow and learn and no longer need you for every moment --that is a blessing too!  Often we want to bottle up their energy, innocence, or the precious age they are.


Then there are times when parents are told over and over, they will grow out of this.  This -could be a number of things. Twisting their hair, holding their breath until they pass out, or having nursemaid elbow.

 In a regular basic mommy vs the kids wrestling match, Mommy grabbed her wrist. No malice, not roughly. However in the course of play, her movement with mommy's, cause her elbow to pop out again.  UGH!  Maybe it was because we had been ER trip free for 7 months.  Maybe I just needed confirmation that this is NOT my year for the Mother of the year award.  Whatever it was, the doc was surprised that at her age it is still an issue, and again said she'll grow out of it, soon.  HOW SOON????????  I hesitate to let her do the monkey bars.  She showed off how she can "pop it out" her self by rapidly pumping her arm.  I think it just makes a popping noise, since she doesn't scream in pain like she does when it is actually out of place.

Praying for her to grow out of this, even though I know it means she will be growing up.

This one however, he is growing up too quickly!  I take the cuddles, smile at the tent he wants me to make each night over his crib, and try to keep my cool when I find flour and oatmeal scattered across the floors.  He seems so tall, yet right on track and not any taller or bigger than his sisters were at this age. No I take that back, he is just a bit shorter and lighter than CJ was at this age...He has 10lbs on what Sweetness was at this age, she has managed to keep a 3lb advantage at this moment on him.

Under the category of things I never imagined saying, "don't lick the ants off the sidewalk."  Yes, it's true. Once he tires of smashing them with his foot, he gets down on all fours and attempts to lick the ants up. 

And this one, dear me. We're on count down to the end of Kindergarten and when, finally as she feels, First grade starts up.  Only recently has her homework been of interest to her, causing her to actually sit and do it for more than 3 minutes.  Most noticeably, she now asks follow up questions and wants to know more.  They have perked her interest.  Addition was a breeze, but now onto subtraction.  It has slowed her down,  the other night, she and Daddy had a chance to not only do homework together, but to expand on it.  She kept wanting to subtract larger numbers from smaller numbers so he explained negative numbers. It was a light bulb moment for her and now subtraction is clicking and fun!  They moved onto fractions, and smart daddy used cake and apples to explain. It made it real and fascinating to her.  There are some math people in her extended family and maybe she too will continue with a love of numbers.

Either way, she's growing up.

I recently purchased a grown up purse.  I hardly ever used a diaper bag, too bulky, although I did try and at least had one stocked and stashed away somewhere in the vehicle.  I'd rather not use a purse, however due to pockets not always available or enough, I usually carry a small purse. The one I have been using, while I like it, I had a struggle to get my wallet in and  out. It did hold my wallet and a pen, but not much else.  So I broke down and admitted to myself that I'm not a carefree single young adult who can carry around a cute little purse that holds nothing except my wallet.  I even strayed from my earthy browns and greens I usually opt for.

I do in fact, have a couple of purses that have been given to me and I like them, I find that most of the time they are too big and bulky for my every day needs.  This one seems to be a nice middle size, yet held my book, a game, an ice pack and towel the other night for our trip to the ER, along with the normal items it carries around.

I guess, we're all growing up.

Busy

We've been busy.  Nothing too exciting busy, but we've been busy.  One thing that has kept me busy is the case of apples I bought a couple of weeks ago through bountiful baskets.  Most of them have been dehydrated.

This is one container of apples.  I also made an apple pecan pie and some yummy apple banana muffins. We have had some cooler temps, as in instead, of being in the 90s it has been in the 80s. Today our high may not reach 75 degrees.  So I have taken advantage before it gets too hot and we have to turn on the AC.  I also cleaned out the frozen bananas and made oatmeal banana muffins again, with chocolate chips and walnuts.

Last Saturday I picked up a case of organic Roma tomatoes.  At first Eric thought I had lost my marbles.  He and Sweetness are the only two who actually like to eat tomatoes as they are.  But I had a plan!  I made sauce!

 It was a family affair! From chopping onions and peppers, to digging out the carrots, pumpkin and spinach from the freezers.  Getting the garlic ready to be pressed, opening the baggies and pressing all the air out.  I borrowed my friend's sauce master --oh how I dream of one of my own --and it made quick work of saucing up those tomatoes!

We are stocked up on basic tomato sauce, waiting to be used for any number of dishes!  I left a few whole tomatoes out to make some salsa and for anyone who would like to add a tomato to their meal.  It has smelled more like fall than spring, either way it is a good way for a home to smell!

Just a quick update on our little nest. One egg never hatched. The baby chick is currently still in the nest, but will be flying away soon.  We noticed yesterday that another egg has been laid!  I need to do some research and get more familiar with the habits and lives of pigeons!

Spirit Week

This final full week of school is filled with spirit.  On Monday people wore clothing for their favorite sport team. There was some purple and gold UNI going on around here!  Today is Crazy Hair day.

Initially she wanted to do something like a unicorn.  However, she also wanted to "do it" herself.  So, I added some color, for craziness, and pulled out my old Boss Waver.  She styled her hair.  She loves it and thinks that it will be the craziest at school.  I think, hmmm I used just wear my hair like that on a regular normal school day.  Okay, not all the barrettes, but you get the idea.

 Her teacher said it wasn't limited to crazy hair

 So she thought stripes and plaid, of various colors would be a good starting point.

Yep, I'm pretty sure my hair has looked like this, during my "cool" days -HA!  As if I ever ran with the "cool" crowd.

Certainly didn't want to limit the fun to just one.

We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how about YOU?

Desert life

Often when we walk to school, we find these little things:

You have to keep a good eye out.  They camouflage well with the desert!  Sweetness is usually the one to see them first.

Then this afternoon, on a walk with the dog and toddler, we came upon this.  I only had my cell phone, so this was the best I could do from a relative safe distance of oh about 50 feet away.

Using my basic photo editing program I have, I was able to zoom in this close:

Under the tree there.  Its head, the size of a toddler's.  Long tail.  While laying there watching us, guessing at least 20lbs...that could be a low guess.  I believe this is what is called a mountain lion trying to have a siesta.

Anyone up for a hike?  Or just a visit to our place?