Little Stinker!

Just turned my back for a minute whilst trying to make dinner and the little stinker bit into 3 pears!

I figured she was done digging in the bowl, so I didn't bother moving it but I turned my back and she got another one!  It kind of reminded me of the part in one of the Ramona books when Ramona eats a bite out of a whole pile of apples in the cellar and her mother has to make applesauce!

Well, I guess pear is our appetizer this evening.

The kids were outside having a ball playing on the driveway with the little bits of wood from daddy's projects.  They welcoming the pre-dinner snack of pears!  We are certainly loving this gorgeous Fall weather!  I even got to go running this morning- with Arianna and Grant tagging along on their scooters.  Thank you, Kenneth, for making the pancakes so I could be out during my favorite part of the morning!

Little helper

When I say "monkey see, monkey do" about little Kate, it isn't only the crazy things she sees her siblings do that she tries to copy.  Lately, she really wants to help with the chores around the house, too.  She will try to work right along side of the big kids.  I love it!
Here she is this morning pushing the dump trucks with the chicken waterers to the hose to be filled:

 

 

She will also grab a clean rag when she sees Emma cleaning the table and try to clean right by her.  I also saw her put her sock on her hand and rub one of the school desks downstairs when she saw us dusting (we use [clean] old hole-y socks as rags around here).  So cute!  The one thing I DO NOT want her help with at this point is cleaning the toilets!!! ;0)

My chickens with the chickens

These kids LOVE these chickens.  I tell you, there will be tears shed when we have to say goodbye to them when we prepare to move.  Here are some pictures of the kids with the chickens this morning:

Kate is finally getting big enough to carry these birds around- just like the big kids!

 

Arianna and Beakea

Arianna and Beakea and Emma and Brownie

Grant with Puffy and Goldie

Kate with Brownie

Emma and Blackie, Kate and Brownie and Arianna with Beakea

"Sit still chicken and I'll give you a treat!"

"Here's some grass for you!"

Kate loves to chase those chickens!

I love to see this view out my kitchen window each morning!

 

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago.  It was a gorgeous afternoon and I looked out to see these guys all lounging under the 'burning bush'.

I love it!

 

Grant and Polka-dots

Arianna and Exclamation

Emma relaxing with Flower

It doesn't seem to matter how many times I encourage them to bring the eggs in in a bucket.  They want to do it the hard way, I guess.  Notice the pockets.

I am still in the process of going through all the Europe pictures- there were over 1,000!!!!  So it's taking me a while to get those posts up.  Slowly but surely. . .

On my way!

Here I go!  This was the view during my flight to Chicago.

I put Kate down for her nap before I left for the airport knowing I wouldn't see her for over a week- I had to wipe away a few tears and breathe deeply to keep myself from crying too much.  It is so hard for me to leave my babies for the first time!  Apparently, she is doing great and doesn't miss me yet in the least.  

Can't wait to share all I get to see!

On a side note, aren't sunrises and sunsets amazing?!  They are so glorious. . .and so fleeting.  If we are too busy, we will miss them altogether.  I am so thankful to my a Heavenly Father for this beautiful world in which we live!  May we all take the time to seek out the beauty.

Backyard Campout

The kids have been begging to camp in the tent.  We thought we might do it when the cousins were visiting last month, but it didn't work out.  Then we thought we would do it a couple of weekends ago and we got too busy.  So, we finally set a date and made it happen.  The kids had a lot of fun.  Kate took forever to fall asleep- in fact if she hadn't been crawling all over me, I would have been out long before her!  Dad had a campfire with the 3 big ones- while Kate was supposed to be sleeping, but was crawling all over me in the tent.  Kate woke up at 4:15 and started to get playful, so I ended up taking her to be bed and I went to mine.  Needless to say, Kenneth was not pleased when he woke up in the morning and realized I was no longer in the tent.  He didn't so much want to sleep out there himself!  Ah the memories!  The kids will look back with fondness on it and that makes it all worth it, right?!


Setting up the tent



I love little Kate peeking in the tent!

Now Arianna wants to see what's in there, too!

Everyone wants to push a stake in!

These kids have the best Dad ever!!!  We love you, Daddy!

Art fun

Projects from Thursday's Art day:

Arianna's cat

Grant's cat

Emma's cat

On Fridays I have been trying to have 'mommy time' with each of the big kids.  20 minutes wherein they get to pick what we do- one on one.  Arianna chose to play with horses with me.  Grant chose to play with a train and some animals and blocks.  Emma wanted to draw.  Here's what I drew:

Isn't she cute?!  We watched Rio last week, so I think I had birds on the brain.

  The girls liked 'Fifi' so well, they drew their own afterwards:

Emma's Fifi

Arianna's Fifi Family

 

CTR Smoothie

We finally found a green smoothie we love!  

A few years ago I was looking to eat more healthfully and I was determined to get more kale in my diet, amongst other things.  I tried it in smoothie and I could barely choke it down.  Since then, I've made lots of smoothies and almost always add a vegetable of some sort (spinach, cabbage, Swiss chard, carrots), but I tried to avoid them looking green and didn't add too much of the vegetable compared to the amount of fruit I used. Well, today, I tried a new recipe and I could't believe how well I liked it!  The kids even loved it.  We have loads of kale in the garden right now, so it's great!  

Here's the recipe I used:

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/13/classic-green-monster/

I am loving her blog all around.  I've tried quite a number of things and they are so healthful and delicious.  So, I used kale today and instead of ice cubes, I did use frozen pineapple juice I had in the freezer, so obviously that contributed to the deliciousness, but still!  I think the peanut butter is what makes it so amazing.  

Try it!  If you don't love it now, try again in a few years!

 

Oh, and one of the kids said they didn't like the name Green Monster, so we renamed it the CTR Smoothie.  It's green like the classic CTR ring and drinking your greens is certainly 'choosing the right'!