Romp Through the Woods

I've been feeling the need to get out on some trails and enjoy nature, so we took off this afternoon to a state park that is only five minutes away.  It more or less resembles our property, but has lots of well maintained trails.  We've been on most of the trails, but tried a new and old one today.  Needless to say, it didn't quite meet my need to be on Sierra trails, and didn't provide much in the way of vistas and views, but the company was great.

On the grasslands trail the kids enjoyed throwing a football back and forth (yes Amy, it was Rams!).

Ami wanted to pack this heart rock home that she found, but we decided to just capture it in a photograph instead.

The reason the park is called Rock Bridge State Park :)

Stopping for ice cream at the old country store afterwards made up for some of the disappointment of not being able to be on Yosemite trails.

Gymnastics Show

Johanna and Ami have now had one month of gymnastics lessons and are still loving it.  Ami is always putting on her leotards at home and wanting to give us shows.  Last night we had another show, complete with background music.  So fun, and it reminds me of the shows that Michaela and Benjamin would put on for us when they were the same age.  :)

Deer

This time of year we always seem to have even more deer than usual coming right up into our yard from our property.  I think it's the acorns, crabapples and other nuts falling that attract them.  The cats sure don't keep them away, but that's okay because they are so fun to watch. 

Hard to see here, but there were five in the backyard at once.

This one kept trying to nudge Marshmallow.  

Marshy finally got tired of it and walked away!

They followed Marshmallow into the woods.  He didn't mind at first, but then...

....you can see his ears back here!

Twix was under the swingset, but no one seemed to care about her.  :)

Another Sign

It's not uncommon to find signs posted randomly around the house, but these last couple have made me laugh more.

Available stamps include a variety of Hello Kitty and Princess.

Should I Be Worried?

This is a FB repeat, but I had to post it here, too.  Ami taped this on the playroom door and I'm still not quite sure what was going on!

Crawdads at the Creek

Elijah and Johanna have been pairing up a lot recently and taking trips down to Wolfe Creek.  They take the walkie-talkies and enjoy the independence of trekking out in the woods on their own.  They always come back with a full report on how many fish, crawdads, and frogs they caught.  Yesterday I went down with Ami to see them in action. 

We are very thankful for the property that God has blessed us with and are glad that the kids enjoy it so much.

Mexican Fiesta

With our focus on geography this school year, we just finished up two weeks "in" Mexico.  We capped off our time with a little party here at home last night.  We had yummy Mexican food for dinner (as authentic as it gets!) and had our own homemade pinata that the kids busted open.

We used a balloon and scraps of newspaper with liquid starch to create the base of the pinata.  Then the kids decided to paint it like the Mexican flag.

It wasn't that strong and Chris had to fix it a few times in order to get it to withstand at least a couple of beatings!

After the candy was evenly divided up, hot trading pursued.  It sounded like a game of Pit to me.  :)

We followed this same curriculum five years ago, although Benjamin and Michaela were the only ones that participated then (no Elijah, Johanna was 1st grade, and Ami too young).  This time around he's doing some higher level work with our geography units and Michaela is doing totally different high school work.  Here are some pictures from our fiesta in 2007 (with our neighbor friends).

What a difference five years makes!  Look at those little cuties!

Special Delivery

I love checking the mail each day.  It's no fun receiving bills, but I love the anticipation of what good thing might be waiting in the box for us each day....a new magazine, a card or letter from a friend (thanks 'Retta!), a care package from Dad and Mom, free samples, etc.  I love hearing the driveway monitor beep and looking out to see the UPS or FedEx truck in our driveway.  Well this week was a banner week, so I thought I'd share.  :)

Of course the biggest excitement to Chris was his new iPhone.  Yes, he was one of the geeky ones up at 2am earlier in the week to be one of the first to order and receive the latest.  He kept trying to convince me that it was just as great for me because I get his old iPhone that will be an upgrade from my current one.  Whatever.  :)

For me....I received this 11X14 print from my friend, Jeff, who was with my family on our YoSemite trek.  I have loved this image from the moment he first posted it.  It looks too good to be real, but I know it's real because I was there.  I can't wait to get it framed and up on the wall.  (Shameless plug....it can be yours, too, if you go to ebay and bid.  :)  Just search for "Jeff Nixon photo".)

For Ami....we ordered ants for her ant farm two months ago!  Due to the warm temperatures they weren't able to safely make the journey from the big ant farm to our house until this week.  It's been fun to watch them get to work.  Home schooling on our kitchen counter!

Oh there were other beauties in the mail this week.....corn soup mixes from Mom.  We had these mixes on our YoSemite trip and they were so yummy.  I wanted to hide them and save them for myself, but I knew Grandma intended for me to share.  I also received a book from Dad that was a photo journal of a trip that Ansel Adams took in 1938 in much of the same area we were in last month.  Sweet memories.  I love mail!  :)

Nosy Neighbors

Or Peeping Toms or Peeping Bucks.....we had two in our front yard this morning.  :)

Check-ups

It's that time of year when all five kids get to visit Dr. Holly.  It has been a year since they were all there last, which means they've had a healthy year.  Yea!  But wait, it was a year ago that Dr. Holly sent Benjamin on to see the orthopedic doctor that started our walk with cancer.  So we've had more than enough doctor's visits this last year, but other than cancer (!), the kids are all super healthy.  We are so thankful.  The biggest news is that Benjamin only has another 1/2" to catch up to Michaela and another 1 1/2" to catch up to me.  :)  He has definitely had a growth spurt this year.

No, I don't take pictures everywhere we go, but it was too funny to see them all lined up by age to get weighed and measured.  And no, they didn't all share one room, the girls were given their privacy!