Nolan lost a tooth!!

Nolan lost his first tooth yesterday. It had been barely hanging on all day and when we were at his music class he all of a sudden says "My tooth is gone." We looked around for it but I think it probably got swallowed. Oh well......the tooth fairy got a nice note and Nolan got a nice handful of change.

Birthday Girl

Thea celebrated her 4th birthday this week. The celebration included.....

......a birthday playdate with a special friend, poofy princess skirts,

birthday cupcakes,

"mmmm....which one do I want"

and playing dress up.

Thea's school also had a little ceremony for turning 4.

"The earth (globe) moves around the sun (candle) tra-la-la". She walks around the sun one time for each year.

No birthday is complete without a treasure chest full of princess attire.

The long awaited booster seat. Now she can buckle herself in....yeah for Mommy!!

Happy Birthday my sweet not-so-little-anymore girl!!

First Snow!!!

We got our first snow today!!! Brya and Nolan had all their gear on and were outside before 8 o'clock. For me.......the count down to spring begins!

Not enough for a snowman so we had a snowface.

Poor Thea is sick so she had to stay inside. She was actually the first to see the snow because she was up at 4am with a coughing fit. Troy took her outside to try to help with the cough. She had to wake me up to tell me about the snow.

They played happy until the bus came.

Book Worm

I can read them here or there....
I can read them ANYWHERE!!!

The difference between what you say and what they hear...

The other day Thea wanted to know why we saved only the pink lids from our yogurt instead of the silver ones......Nolan piped up, real important like, to say "to help them find a cure for "breath" cancer. Needless to say everyone received a lesson in anatomy. :-)

Ever had a day like this......

Actually today was a good day. The kids wanted to watch videos of themselves tonight instead of bedtime stories. This one always sends them into a fit of giggles and Thea always says "that fit is ugly" :-) This video was taken about a year and a half ago. My sister, RoCherra, told me one time that blogs don't always give the whole picture as people only post the good stuff....so this one is for you RoCherra.

Horse Camp

Last week Brya got to go to a summer horse camp. It was part for her birthday and part because she did not have her discipline folder signed for the whole year (school thing). She has been obsessed with horses for about a year and a half and I was hoping this would get it out of her system.....I was wrong. She absolutely loved it. She was up at 6am ready to go for most of the mornings. She was even excited to "get to" muck out the stalls. The only thing she complained about was the flies. I'm very glad we live in a subdivision that does not allow horses...whew!! The other day I caught her bouncing up and down on her bike and when I asked her what she was doing she said "I'm practicing my posting!" (something you do in an English saddle not a Western saddle, she informed me.)

Riding bareback.

Nolan and Thea liked to go into the barn and pet the horses too. Nolan even got to feed one a peppermint.



Brya wanted to help with the "untacking" (is that a word??) but she was too short for some of it and needed help.

Sorry about the picture quality. My camera and the barn were not getting along.

The Green Team

When Robin, Amanda and Alayna were here for Brya's birthday in April, the girls also wanted to celebrate Earth Day. So we did a trash pick-up around one of the ponds in our neighborhood. I can't believe how much we found in less than an hour. We decided you had to really look at what you are picking up because Amanda almost picked up a dead white fish that looked like Styrofoam......we also saw a dead otter or was is a raccoon or was it a possum (no one could agree)....anyway whatever it was it was biodegradable because it was 1/2 way decomposed....yuck! The kids enjoyed the pick-up party and afterward had some nice things to say about the earth and they called themselves THE GREEN TEAM!!!

More Mud

Should I be worried about "swine flu"? My kids are starting to act like pigs.......:-) These pics were taken before they got really muddy.....oh and this cute little pigsty is (someday) going to be a cute little flower and strawberry garden!!

Ever had smoke in your eyes?

Last evening Brya was at a birthday party for a school friend. When she got home I mentioned that she smelled like a campfire (they had made s'mores in the backyard). She said "That Dad said that smoke follows beauty and I even hid behind a tree and it still came after me". I snickered and sent her to bed. Then this morning on the way to meeting we were talking about camping and she pipes up from the back and said "Dad, you won't have to worry about getting smoke in your eyes because smoke only follows beauty".

Mud Buddies

Recently we spent a long weekend with my sister in Ohio. The kids asked very innocently if they may play in the backyard for a few minutes before bath time.......instead they bonded over mud balls.

"But Mom, my hair is already washed."

Just one more push-up Alayna.

Mud-Ball Construction

The Scene

Just what we need Brya - MORE WATER

FPA - Future Plumbers of America

Amanda contemplating the mysteries of Life - be the first to go in for a bath or stay outside and clean up?

Always the nature lover......Brya kissing a worm

Beautiful Sisters

Someday they may talk about boys but for now it's all about Mud.

The person on the swing would get their feet nice and gooey and then swing up and put them on the back of someones shirt.

Thanks to Robin's excellent laundry skills, most everything came clean.