Halloween

Here we are, just like every year- at the square having a great time!!

Pumpkin Patch

...was windy, but we had a blast!

Next year everyone is allowed only 1 pumpkin.

For days we were begged by our children, "Please oh please take us to the Pumpkin Patch!!"
So finally we went on a homeschooling class trip, and brought home way too many beautiful pumpkins! Then we were told we just had to carve them ASAP!!
When the time came to carve had arrived we told the kids, "After lunch we will carve them."
Well, they did all the morning chores, extra well, and without any fusing. They ate all their breakfast, and even made lunch and brought it to us! They laid out the newspaper and got out all the supplies.
They told us how happy they were, and how - I quote "I have been waiting and waiting for this day all year!!" I even thought to myself - we should use pumpkin carving as a bribe more often - and then I remembered why we didn't.
And not 5 minutes after the faces had been drawn on the pumpkin the kids split to the swing-set and we were left doing the dirty work.

Autumn is Cold!!

Sorry to have checked out for so long. It's been a tough month or two - our daughter has joined a great little school, and getting used to the routine has been intense. 

Plus R. and I have been working hard to get ready for winter!! 

Brrr..today was an October day indeed! Frost on our pond this morning! Our daughter bundled herself up all nice and snug with her woolens to take her morning walk to the barn. She lets the ponies out each morning and makes their dinner. 

Hopefully we will carve our pumpkins this week.  We took the kids on the tour of the local co-op pumpkin patch. We went through the corn maze and the kids learned all about caterpillars and butterflies! They each got to pick out whatever pumpkin they could carry, We are so lucky to have such a community oriented town. 

All and all things will be back to normal soon as we prepare for the hoidays. The next few months will be packed full of family crafts! Can't wait to tell you more! 

We miss you Summer!!

Micheals save the day!!

Who needs to spend a fortune on tourist junk anyhow? We relaxed by Grandma's pool. We also took the kids to Micheal's and bought them $1 crafts. Here we made a boat like the one we saw yesterday. It took up a good part of our afternoon, and this photo was requested by my son. He specifically asked us to capture this moment on film....

Tommorow we go home....we'll be sad to leave but we miss Papa a TON!!

Pirate ships

We went to see the Hawaiin Chieftan and the Lady Washington while we were in Seattle. They come by our town every year and each time we miss it. So what fun to check them out while on vacation!!Did you realize that you kid could get a summer job sailing these from port to port between California and Canada? What fun!! Unfortunatly they were docked right next to the sea planes. The kids spent most of their time on the boat watching the sea planes take off and land over and over again. Oh well (sigh)...it was free and again, something that we never have gotten to see!

Then we rode the streetcar in a loop - and watched all the construction in Seattle. If you want to see cranes and cement mixers this is the place. After that we hopped over to the Monorail ... which takes you from the Space Needle to downtown Seattle. Hard to avoid all the tourist stuff there! It looked like any city in USA. The next day at the same time the monorail broke down and the tourists were stuck for two hours while the city tried to figure out how to rescue them!

Space Station

Did any of you on the west coast catch the space station fly over the other night? Here's the link so that you won't miss it next time. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/
or
http://heavens-above.com/
have fun!!
It looked like a bright star flying fast overhead. We saw pictures online of the astronauts working on the station the day before..looks like we have found our next homeschooling lesson!
It was really great to stay up late with just my 6 year old and watch something you don't see every day. 6 is such a great age for learning. It was beautiful to share that opportunity with her and be able to answer her questions without competing against screams of other siblings.

Fall approaches

AS August arrives it is already starting to smell like fall here. The nights seem cooler. Didn't summer just arrive? My daughter has a nasty cold. I made her Rosemary Gladstar's Elderberry Syrup. I think it works the best.

1/2 cup dried or 1 cup fresh elderberries

Simmer in 3 cups water for 45 min

Strain and press

Add 1/2 cup honey.

Store in Fridge

Seems to last 1-2 months

Reggae Rocked!!

We had so much fun last weekend! I haven't laughed that hard in ages!! My kids had a blast, and the music was better than I ever expected. We ate great food from all the non-prophets. It was easy to see how hard everyone worked together to create such a perfect festival.  It wasn't too hot like some years either. 

Next year you should not miss it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I even got to spend a few minutes with my hubby sans les enfants!! We caught a few of Julian Marley's set up front. 

Also Gentleman is my new favorite performer! He really gave it his all. 

Here are a few pictures of the excitement:

Pictures of our fun!!

Blue eyes doing what she does.

The little fairies kept themselves busy surfing in the wagon!

Snow cone bought with her own hard earned money.

Kidlandia provided a cool place to hang out and play games. 

DO THE REGGAE

OK we have been so busy - packing for the festival. We even did a little pre-event camp-out! But today my stressed out overworked and under nurished man moved on site to make sure that the festival will run smooth. Hopefully he will eat more and better while he is there - I heard his favorite taco truck will be feeding the masses there, so he should be happy. We will go down in a few days. I am having the hardest time packing, and now that I have left it to the last minute I will have to do it alone. Hmmm...note to self, stop procrastinating!! 

uh-oh he's mobile

Oh uh he's mobile!

You hear it all the time, but it really is amazing how different each kid is, and how their personalities seem to start very early....

Today my youngest climbed not up one stair or two, but all the way up to the top floor on his first try! I had no clue he was ready for the stairs. He just kept going up - never looking back. Hmmm I wonder if that's a clue to his personality? 

Of course we searched all over for any working baby gates but they seem to have disappeared into the black hole in the barn.

My other two spent the day outside playing in the dirt .

 I may have purposely skipped the 4th of July this year, but there's no escaping all the presidential chatter even in our lives. Yes even here in the back country we here the news. The other day we watched a truck (I think it might of been a U-haul) roll past with a picture of Mount Rushmore on it. She shouts "Look Mama - those are important people carved into the rock!"

I wonder how she could tell.  And that led us into a home school project all about the presidents. She is really annoyed that Hillary Clinton won't be our next President. She wanted the woman to win. 

Well, I am certainly glad that she is an intelligent home schooled child. I don't know if I could really defend myself against all those people who don't think homeschooling is a good idea if she wasn't so bright and articulate. What do they think I should do? Send her to some public school who's only concerned with passing tests?  Our local high school doesn't have the funding necessary to put HOT water in the locker rooms. What else do you think they might be skimping on?

Actually we have found the perfect little school for us, and we will start in the fall. We are so very lucky. 

To the river

So we go to cool down at the river but this little cub won't go in. The hat he's wearing is the one we made together. We went to the fabric store and he choose the fabric...they are snakes. He helped me cut and sew too.

Feels like we're living in L.A.

Just the two of us...

Momma and Papa actually ate dinner without the little cubs, sort of. The other day we were at a friend's and someone took our two bigger ones for a short walk. So we ate yummy fish tacos while the baby slept. It reminded us of simpler times. We could actually carry out a conversation from beginning to end! Not that I am complaining at all about my life. I was just, hmmm....surprised that things seemed so different while we ate that night. 

I guess it just means we should hire a baby-sitter and go out more often.

If only it didn't take over an hour to get to..well, anywhere.

So weird..

Someone asked me recently "When was the last time you sat down for the entire length of the meal?" Now I have an answer.  

Peacock helper

Here my son helps dig a hole for the peas....
See he's got his safety goggles on? He's so darn cute - No pants,
socks or undies..but he insisted on the safety goggles.

Still too hot

Today I caught different peas all doing the same thing, nesting in the sweet cold dirt. 

Or as I call it, tearing up my yard.