When They Out Grow The Swing Set

Today my oldest son showed me what he can do.

My son wanted to show us what they have been doing on the swing lately.

He showed me, he has no problem going back and forth with out stopping.

Next one in training.

Her confidence is building.

I am thankful the littlest child had no interest in trying.

Later that night, I happened to look outside to find them up in a tree at least 20 feet high.

They were looking for a good spot to build a tree house.

Now I know what the kids do when they out grow the swing set.

Time for a trampoline I am thinking.

A BOOtiful Party

The kid's Halloween party was a success.

YEAH!

Fun had by all.

My three having fun with the mummy wrap.

Don't you love the chandelier.

Every garage should have one.

As you can tell the Mummy Wrap game can be a bit messy.

My son gets ready to Pumpkin Bowl.

I wish I had been able to take more pictures of the garage as it looked, before the kids arrived.

BUT, I was up to my bloody eyeballs getting everything ready.

THERE WERE 17 of them.

They outnumbered the adults.

We survived!

It was awesome, so I was told by my children.

I will never forget, one little girl kept saying that none of it scared her.  

She wasn't scared of anything.

Then she came out of the bathroom.

YOU HAVE BATS HANGING FROM YOUR CEILING.

That freaked her out.

The kids paraded around showing off their costumes to the parents. 

Even Mr. M. and I dressed up. 

We were Mr. and Mrs. Vampire, of course, I being the picture taker did not get one of myself.

At one point in the night I was worried because the kids had managed to whip through most of our games and there was still over an hour left in the night.  Mr. M. said relax and turned the music up.

The kids loved playing freeze dance to spooky music.

The party was a success to be talked about for the following week at school.

We asked what was their favorite part of the night.

CANDY!

No, really they said pumpkin bowling and the mummy wrap.

I was told I was the best Halloween party planner mom.

Let's do that again.

How about you?

Did you have a Bootiful weekend?

Summer Bandits

I happened to look out in the back yard and I saw a flash of color.

It seems that the children raided the dress up box.

You wouldn't know it from their state of attire but it was;

84 outside.

They were playing cowboy/soldier and a lady.

The coat is his sister's, but he said it made a great soldier coat.

Don't worry, that's not chew in his pocket, for some reason he has my furniture movers in there.

It is not always important to ask why, but to let play.

Imagination, it is a wonderful thing.

Let's Play Ball

I thought I would share some photos of the kids from their baseball games today.

Mr. M. always enjoys a post while he is out of town working.

I caught the little guy in the act of dancing while standing on 2nd base.

At least he wasn't one of the three sitting on the ground playing in the dirt,

or running around trying to catch each other in the outfield.

I know there were a few testing Coach's patience for sure.

In fact, I know that the coach was surely missing his assistant coach.

That's my girl sporting her pink and reds.

Don't you just love the socks. 

Even in the rain they played a good game.

The coach even said he was proud of the team for not complaining about it raining during the game.

And my oldest son being a great helper.

Even though he wasn't playing, he helped his sister's coach by being back up catcher.

Dad should be proud, he is doing really good with his throwing.

I guess he has had a great coach for baseball!

I may have to eat my words because actually baseball is not too bad this year.

In small doses of course. 

Mr. M. your baseball players miss you!

ME TOO!

Back to School

I think if you are quiet you can hear mom's yelling all over.

Why? 

Well of course, school has started for most children!

Today my husband and I took our youngest son to his Kindergarten orientation.

Celebrations are to be had, our last child entering school.

As we waited for the bus to arrive to pick up the two older kids, we practiced, on how to make friends.

Children do not always find it easy to talk to other children.

So, when my oldest son was getting ready for his first day of school, we practiced.

"Hi, my name is Chase, what's your name?  Do you want to play?"

And we discussed the three important rules of school.

1.  Listen to your teacher

2.  Make friends.....this is where practice helps.

3.  HAVE FUN!

For about two weeks we practice these three rules and how to make friends.  It helps me feel better about sending them off to school knowing that they can turn to the kid: sitting next to them, in line, at the lunch room or even on the playground and make a new friend.

I know this has helped over the years, now that my oldest is in 4th grade he can walk into any situation and make a friend to play with.  By practicing the simple sentence; hi, my name is ......., what's your name, do you want to play.  It makes it easier to role off their tongue and they do not have to think about it. 

I had to do this with my husband when I was pregnant with our first child.  He would go into the Credit Union to cash his pay check, and because it is one of the Credit Unions where he works on their computers, they would always stop him on a Friday to look at a problem.  This would always delay him from coming home at a normal time and infringe on our weekends.  So, I came up with a simple phrase that he could repeat over and over until it rolled off his tongue every time they asked him to look at their computers.

"Hi, my name is Chris."  No, just kidding, he would say "I'm sorry I can't stay, my wife is pregnant and I have to get home.  Call me on Monday and we will set up an appointment."

I really did make him practice that every Friday before work, and it did work.  By using, the wife is pregnant excuse he was putting the blame on me, and I did not care because I wanted him at home.

So next time you see your child hesitate at the playground or in a situation when they are with other kids, remember they may be shy, teach them how easy it can be to make friends.

I hope everyone is having a great day.

I know I am, you know what I am listening to?

SILENCE!

Happy first day of school.

For a Daddy far from Home

At the request of Mr. M. I am posting some pictures of our children.

He is out of town working.

We miss him so!

 

Mr. Bullrider keep yourself safe.



Christmas Cookies and A Bad Tradition

Today I am spending the day baking Christmas cookies. 

I make the same ones every year, the ones my mom used to make for us.

This is a tradition that is expected and I love to make them for my family.

  There is nothing special about these cookies other than we only make them for Christmas.

That is a tradition I love!

However there seems to be another tradition that I was hoping would not happen this year.

BUT IT DID!

You see my oldest son has been sneaking into his gifts every year since he was about 4.

I started trying to hide them where I thought he would not look.

HE FOUND THEM!

I tried to quick wrap some so that I could get ahead of myself.

You see, I have to shop for presents from the kids Grandfather and Bonnie and I also shop for his other Grandmother.  There is a lot to keep track of!  I am only human, I forget where I put things if I hide them TOO good!

HE FOUND THE ONES THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FROM SANTA!

So I would have to REWRAP the Santa gifts and change them with the gifts from my father or their grandmother.

I do NOT want to be the BAD mom who lets her son find out there really is no Santa.

This year I put the gifts, half wrapped again, only because you know I will forget what I got and I will have to unwrap them, and YES that has happened......several times.

This time, I put them behind a locked door.

OR SO I THOUGHT.

There is more than one key.

bam, bam, bam,

pull, pull, pull.

That was the sound of my head hitting the table and me pulling out my hair.

This happened yesterday.

What did I do?

Oh I did contemplate harm,

 so off they went with their father for the day.

Goodbye.

When they came home the children found bags of toys in the kitchen.

I was done being nice.

I took them ALL back.  

I went shopping for ME!

A new sweater,

 an ornament for my stocking,

 a garden angel from my father.

 

Oh, I had a grand time, I was in one of my favorite stores, T.J. MAXX.

Where else can you get all of that and have money left over.

Then I went to Target to return more toys!

More shopping for me!

And so this was repeated

4 TIMES!!!!

I made sure that I shopped until the kids were tucked into bed.

NO sugarplums dancing in their heads!

Today I am not as MAD but we did have a chat this morning.

I had to ask

DO YOU WANT SANTA TO COME?

I think one of the elves is going to have to make a visit tonight, maybe leave a hint of,

THE NAUGHTY LIST!

What do you think, do these three angels belong on the naughty list?

Has this ever happened to you?

Were you a peeker or shaker?

I feel better talking about it, it is a new day and I am off to bake.

Have a wonderful day!

Nets In Hand

Today is all about baseball, frogs and having fun.  After my older son and daughter play baseball in the town park, Mr M. and I are meeting friends at a pond we have in the back of our land to go frog hunting.  This is for FUN only, NO FROGS ARE HURT IN ANY WAY!!!  We have been doing this since my oldest son was able to walk and it is has become a favorite Summer time adventure.  During the summer I bring a magazine, snacks and we make a day of it, with no time pressures.

In the beginning of Summer we try to go back once a week to see if the baby toads have hatched.  The baby toads are usually only a little bigger than a pencil eraser and you have walk stooped over so you can see them.  We bring nets and buckets to fill with their finds.  Catching baby toads is lots of fun, all you hear is "found one" being yelled out all around the pond.  We try to catch as many as we can so we can take them home and set them free in my flower gardens. EAT THE BUGS little ones. 

Last year on a rainy night the kids were in out in our yard with flashlights gathering up as many big toads as they could find.  It was so funny, I have never seen anything like it, they caught 14 toads.  My kids like to build castles in their sand pile for the toads to hop around in.

I am trying to talk Mr. M. into digging a small pond in our back yard.  We have plenty of room for it and then the kids would be able to put the tad poles there instead of a puddle in the driveway.  Poor little things, we have to dump a bucket of water in the puddle every day it does not rain.

After a couple of hours when all the kids have at least one frog to take home and play with and some tad poles to put in the puddles at home we are having hot dogs and hamburgs for dinner, smores and movie night.  Don't you just love this time of the year.

It will be a fun day for sure! 

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I try not to think of all the mud and sand, I try to remember there is always a broom on hand.

Up In A Tree

The days are getting longer and the grass shows more than the snow. Spring is something that can not be rushed, yet I yearn for it with such anticipation. The birds flirt in the bushes and the males check out all the birdhouses to decide which one they will stake their clame on.

Today, after much head beatting over how to master this blog, I intend to put on my rubber boots and bring in some apple tree branches for forcing. I can pretend it is Spring inside if it is not quite ready outside.