GROSS!

We had a relaxing Sunday afternoon, we went out for lunch after church, went on our little walk, and then let the kids play outside all afternoon. After the neighbors went inside and our kids were the only ones outside my kids were bored. Daddy went inside to make dinner, and I was laying on a blanket reading a book.

All of a sudden I hear "Look what I found Mommy, A dead birdie" ..... About 2 inches in front of my face is Princess holding the wing of a dead bird. After my little yell to "LET THAT GO and GO WASH YOUR HANDS" I calmed down and decided it was time to take everyone inside. I can handle bugs, poopy diapers and vomit everywhere, but picking up a dead bird and showing it to me was a little bit too much.

Daddy brought the kids out and let them look at it, before he disposed of it. He is better than I am with dead animals.

Perfect Hike

We found a new favorite place to take the kids for a walk. We found the Weyanoke Bird and Wildflower Sanctuary. It is only 7 acres, and pretty much either fenced or adjacent to a stream, so the kids could run without getting lost. (It is also close to church and can be explored in about an hour, you can't get any better for little kids.) I got to introduce the kids to silver shillings and wild blackberries. They loved watching the birds and the butterflies. Their favorite part was one tree that had a horizontal branch that went over the creek. It was big enough for everyone to sit on and play "Balance Beam" It was also the perfect stop to take pictures.

Personality

Today was the first full day of school. It meant the first day of just being with the 2 younger kids. We went to the grocery store and Buddy was so excited to be on his own. He was happy and didn't get in trouble, but he was very loud. For the first half of the store he kept running in front of me and then yelling back to me "Come on Vamamos!" I think he watches a little too much Dora.

Then for the second half of the store, he tried to skip and sang "Skip to my lou, Skip to my lou, skip to my lou... my darling" It was hilarious, he even found one woman who sang along with him. I got lots of strange looks, but since he wasn't hurting anything, pulling stuff off shelves or bothering any people it didn't bother me.

1st Day of School.

This week was the 1st day of school for the big kids. Princess has to wear a uniform, which she loves so far, but I am not sure she realizes she can't wear all her dresses that she loves. We will find out.

They were very excited and did fantastic for the 2 hours they were there. Buddy only goes 2 mornings a week, but Princess will have full days every day for kindergarten. She is excited.

Buddy didn't want his picture taken, so we convinced him he could wear his cousin's sunglasses for all the pictures. And he is wearing his backpack this way because that is how Diego wears his Rescue Pack.

I finally have a picture of all three kids that is not absolutely terrible... This isn't great but is an improvement over all previous pictures.

Peek-a-Boo

The BOY Bike

Buddy has been riding around on this little bike for quite a while. He likes it better than his red and blue tricycle, but I am not so sure. He doesn't seem to mind, but part of me feels he should have a little boy bike. This weekend Daddy helped us out and found a solution.

We found a slightly bigger and definitely better bike for $5 at a yard sale. the only problem was that it was pink yet again. Well after $3 worth of spray paint and a lot of this scene in the back yard.

We have this.. A happy boy on a NEW bike.... The only problem, the training wheels are still pink plastic, but that is minor. At least it is blue and white and ready for some stickers.

He loves it.

The mall toys

My kids love going to the mall because I am not a frequent shopper and it is pretty rare. The good mall has a play area where they get to run around crazy with all the other kids. The only challenge is that my kids sometimes don't want to play in the normal play area. They like to climb on the rides that cost money. I refuse to put any money in them since there is a huge play area right next to them, but they don't care. For some reason we spent an hour on the little rides.

This time even the baby got in on the action...

The non-vacation

I have found my favorite vacation, my husband took the week of work and we didn't go anywhere. Actually we went lots of places, but we slept at home every night. We ate out at restaurants a little more, and we took a few day trips. We spent time at the pool, cleaned the storage area, re-arranged furniture, went blueberry picking, made relish, went to a museum, and walked around Williamsburg. I even did back-to-school shopping with just one child.

It is great to have time at home. My husband is pretty wonderful too, after a night when the baby was teething and I was awake a lot. He took all 3 kids with him so that the boys could get haircuts. I stayed home and took a nap. I need that to happen more often.

I loved the fact that my husband is back at work and I am not stressed out with lots of laundry to do. I am all caught up.

I don't think this will happen very often, but right now this was a perfect vacation for us.

Horses

We spent some time in Williamsburg and Buddy loved the horses, The princess and I kept walking down the road and after about 20 minuted went back to find out where they went. They were still looking at the horses. He loved them.

The living Museum

We found a new fun activity for the kids this week. We went to the Living museum, and it was a lot of fun. They had lots of cool animals and fun things for the kids to do. Of course I didn't take any pictures of the animals, but we saw a red fox, a red wolf, otters, beavers, turkeys, white tailed dear, plus lots of fish, turtles and birds. the kids were excited about the skunk, even though it didn't move.

Zucchini Relish

As part of our adventures for the week, we picked up some zucchini to make relish. My mom makes this relish and my husband now loves it. We haven't made it for a while, but the kids loved grinding up the zucchini and onions to start the process.

Princess liked to play with the zucchini, too bad she won't eat her vegetables.

Blueberry Pie

Imagination

I posted a while ago about the kids imagination with a set of chairs that we have. They continue to play with the chairs and play with them. We had the baby out on a blanket playing in the yard and I came in the house, when I looked outside this is what I saw.

Princess had created this all by herself without any help. It was a cool fort. I love watching them be creative.

Blueberries

We picked lots of blueberries this week, we spend less than 2 hours and got about 15 quarts, with 2 adults and 2 kids. Well the kids didn't pick much, they basically ate everything they picked. They had a fantastic time. We made pie, crisp, muffins, froze lots and gave some away. We still have a lots to eat on cereal in the morning too.

More Mail

I love the mail lately. I have started signing up for free samples online, so I get samples of stuff in the mail and then we have some wonderful family members. This week we got the kids new favorite game. The New York family sent us a box of toys, and the kids love them. THANKS Uncle John, Aunt Maryanne and Cousin Julie. The baby loves her new toys too.