Giddy Up

Clayton and Sierra having fun last week.  Keagan and Clayton stayed with us during the days last week while their mom was working. 

Having Fun

Went to the zoo this week.  We all had a nice time.  I am glad we bought that membership last summer before the bottom fell out of the economy.  Of course, with the five of us, we only have to go twice to get the money out of the membership and this was our third trip so it was like going for free. 

Preschool Memories

This is Sierra's best friend from preschool this year.  He missed the last day and was anxious to see her at the ice cream social.  She was happy to see him too, as you can see. 

Sierra was also glad to see Mrs. J at the social.  Mrs. J was her teacher this year but she missed the last month or so after she broke her ankle. 

I love this picture. 

Goodbye preschool until September! 

Happenings

Preschool is over for the year.  Sierra will miss her friends and teachers.  I will post some pictures later.

While doing math yesterday, Sean made the following observation:  "If they had not invented 19, then we would just go straight to 20."   Just a few more weeks of Kindergarten but we will be taking a week off next week while Jeff is on furlough from work.  It will be kind of like Spring break again.  Well, for Sean anyway.  Callie will continue to do her school throughout the summer which is mostly on the computer.  We have found curriculum that both of us like really well. 

New Do

Callie wanted a new haircut.... here it is. 

Just a Swingin'

Staycation 2009 Part 2

Freedom

With fewer wheels this year, Sean has been enjoying riding bikes with his friend from down the street.  It took some persuading to get him to try the bike on the road.   Sierra loves riding along with them. 

And a little more video for your viewing pleasure. 

Staycation 2009 Part 3

Mom's Night

Preschool had mom's night this evening.  Sierra has been looking forward to it and it's all she has been talking about since someone came to class to show them how to do massages.  She took this assignment very seriously.

The evening started with exercising.  Sorry, no pictures of exercising.  I didn't know exercising could actually be fun.  Try exercising with your motivated four-year old.  That makes it more fun.  I might have to start recording the exercise show on PBS so we can exercise together.  

Then we moved into a nice hair-brushing.  I don't have a lot to brush at the moment but Sierra was very meticulous about it and it was quite relaxing in spite of the chatter of about one hundred preschoolers and their mothers. 

Next was the temple massage.   

I do not like this picture but I do assure you that I am alive although I look very much dead.  I was taking the picture with one hand and somehow the flash gracefully captured my allergy black-eyes.  Yuck. 

The temple massage was quite involved and Sierra became tired and decided to take a break.  She was quite intrigued by the "pickles". 

Somewhere along the way, there was to be a foot massage.  Sierra waited for the cue but they were on their own at this point and it was hard to hear in the big room.  She kept watching everyone else to see when it was time to switch from head to feet, but it never happened that she could see.  Once most everyone cleared out for lemonade, I suggested she go ahead with the foot massage since she'd been looking forward to this part.

Here's another video.  You can't hear anything she says because the noise level was not good and audio on my camera isn't great, but I like it so here it is. 

Did you Say Chicken?

Sierra is excited about a tentative hatching of chicks at preschool.  "Five more days until the chicks hatch," she told Sean yesterday.  He explained to her that last year, their chicks did not hatch.  He was disappointed but got over it. 

They went on to discuss it some more.  I heard Sean say, "If you cook them, be sure to call me because I like chicken."  She replied in disgust, "I don't even know your phone number!"  So, he quickly got some paper, wrote it down for her, cut it out (don't ask me why he does this) and put it in her tote bag so she'll have it at school. 

I guess he's expecting them to have either scrambled eggs or chicken nuggets sometime soon. 

I have insider news that ten of the eggs are believed to be viable so very soon they should have baby chicks.  And I have permission for us to visit them (field trip!) so we can all see them. 

Shoes are not for Squares?

Even though the temps have only been hovering around the 50-60 degree mark, our teen has insisted on going barefoot outside regardless the weather in the past several weeks.  She says she does not feel the cold.  She also claims that shoes are for "squares". 

Last night her perspective on wearing shoes has changed at least temporarily.  After being dropped off at church for youth group, she decided to go outside, barefoot, in the pouring rain until her friend talked her into going back inside. 

As they came in between the double doors, on the tile floor, our teen slipped and fell, not realizing that, in doing so, she cut her leg.  Deep.  It wasn't until a few minutes later, one of the leaders, who saw blood flowing down the girl's leg and saw that she was leaving a trail of bloody footprints, stopped her, that our teen realized she was injured. 

Okay, so I am ready to accept that when our teen is outside walking barefoot that, perhaps, she does not feel the cold just as she claims.  If she can walk around with a cut that requires three stitches, dripping of blood, without any clue, then perhaps she might not notice a little cold ground under her feet. 

And, at least last night, she was ready to accept the fact that maybe her parents aren't total geeks when they tell her to wear shoes when it is raining.  That just maybe it is safer to wear shoes when the ground is wet.  She said, "I guess shoes aren't for squares."  Oh well, we can enjoy it for the few days that it lasts.  Once the pain subsides, she will probably feel that she once again knows more than her parents. 

I'm a Little Slow (Okay, A Lot)

It finally occurred to me today why there is a major tree trimming project going on along the major highway that we travel into town regularly.  It's more than tree trimming, they are cutting them down completely.  A lot of them. I hadn't thought much about it other than - "I wonder why they are cutting those down...." until Sean asked me what those men were doing at Wendy's.  I looked to see and explained that they had cut all those trees down and were now raking the tiny limbs.

That is when the light bulb went off.  My ah-ha moment.  All of those trees, the ones by Kroger, the ones by homes, and many more are coming down to make room for the major widening of the road. 

I am not looking forward to this major pain in the neck road construction project.  However, I know, because we drive it often, that it is much needed.  I think I read that they will start on the other end of town so we will still have some time before we deal with the traffic issues. 

Speaking of cutting down trees, Jeff spent this afternoon working on one in our backyard.   It is in a bad spot and last year a limb out of it did some damage to our gutter and roof during a storm so it's time for it to go.  He has most of the limbs off of it and I was noticing how much lighter it is in that direction and how much more of the interstate we can see.  Things should improve once the tree near it gets some leaves. 

I Had A Dream...

I had a dream that the kids were playing a CD.  I made them take it out and hand it to me so I could put it in the refrigerator.  I knew the play quality of the CD would not be good because the CD was too melted.  Putting it in the refrigerator would chill it so that it would play correctly. 

In the dream, I did not take a bite of the CD but I sure have been thinking of it a lot since then.  I have no idea why I dreamt this but could it be all the Easter candy that I see in the stores? 

The CD closely resembled these: 

Spring or Not?

Spring break began with warm weather, fun playing outside with new friends. 

Then it got cold again.  Although 40s isn't really cold, it feels like it after it's been 70 for a few days. 

Money Making Chores

Sean and Sierra decided to try to earn some money over the weekend.  They unloaded the dishwasher.  Then they decided to clean the mirror in the dining room. 

With disinfectant wipes.

How Do You Get To Heaven

Yesterday out of the blue, Sierra asked me, "How do you get to heaven?"

Oh the pressure.  So I start to explain how you have to ask Jesus in your heart... and so on.  She looked at me again like I was talking over her head which I'm sure I was. 

Then she says, "How do you get there?  Do you fly?   'Cause God is in the sky." 

GOD's Promises

I was delighted to look out the window on Sunday and see this rainbow.  When I first saw it, it was vivid and bright.  By the time I showed it to Sean and Sierra, grabbed my camera and ran outside, it was fading in and out.  I was glad to be able to catch a glimpse of it with the camera but the image I captured in my mind is so much more memorable.

Cake Decorating Fun

Callie has been working on her cake decorating badge for American Heritage Girls.  In a couple of our meetings, the girls learned to use some tips.  They  had to decorate a cake for a ceremony.  She is really starting to enjoy it.  Tonight she learned how to bake a cake.  Before decorating the cake, she practiced with the tips.   Wax paper is a good way to practice without needing a cake. 

Since this was her first attempt at decorating, she kept the design simple.   

  

Short Post

I did not want to miss posting this weekend, but I will make it short.  We had a very nice weekend.  I have pictures to share later - hopefully enough to make several posts.   Today I have spent hours and hours uploading photos to Walgreens so I can print them for 10 cents each.  I haven't uploaded, edited, or printed any in 3 months so it takes forever to catch up.  It's not that I'm printing that many, but I have to select them, upload them, fix them (if needed) and zoom and crop them, and then trim down my order to the very favorites.

One quick story. 

On Saturday, I asked Sean to throw the old spinach leaves out in the garden spot. 

Later I went out to toss a banana peel and found this. 

 

 

 

I guess I should have been more specific.