When things are pretty quiet on this blog it usually means we've been up to a lot, and there just aren't enough moments in the day to give us the time to keep up here! And when Momma (me) gets the time at the end of the day while Nick's playing with the kids, Momma is reading and resting. But, for those of you who want to know what we've been up to, here's a synopsis:
The kids have been enjoying all the winter snow, and we even had a day where we went "sleuthing" around the backyard, using high tech detective skills (animal track identification) to see what creatures had been romping around back there and what they must have been doing.
This included a pack of dogs--or could they be coyotes, heading back to the fields from a night time hunt through the neigborhood. We determined that that was the most plausible explanation.
We also noticed numerous bird tracks, we're talking hundreds here, that were lingering around where the cow had been weeks ago. We were quite stumped as to why. They hadn't been where her food was, they were where, ahem, where she used the bathroom.
We also noticed that a stranger (neighbor kid) had been lurking back there. If these neighbor kids weren't so great we might have been disturbed.
Savannah and I (Liam gets bits and pieces) have been enjoying delving into the Little House on the Prairie books. Such a wonderful childhood classic. She really gets into it (so do I) and what's neat is that our family has actually done some of the old techniques that they do in the book.
Savannah is continuing her "learning to read" adventure, which includes us reading lots of books together, working together on reading workbook exercises when the rest of the house is napping, and now we are challenging her to read a set number of new words a day, whether they be on food containers, signs, toys, etc.
Liam is working on tracing workbooks, which he loves! Oh, and he's playing plenty of cars and appropriately wearing out the knees of all of his pants.
On another note, recently, by finding a listing on craigslist for free barn wood, Nick, his Dad, and brother went out to the middle of nowhere to bring back all sorts of stuff, barn wood for refurbishing, an antique Westernware vase, wagon wheels, vintage advertisements, antique windows, antique doors (we're talking skeleton key hardware here and peeling depression blue paint- the things my dreams are made of), all for free because the landowner thinks it's junk, and well, to him, it is.
While raiding the junk, Nick met a neighboring cattle farmer who is about to tear down 4 very old homesteads and gave him his card so we can raid them for all there worth, door and cabinet hardware, antique lighting, who knows? May turn out to be just a neat experience. I can't explain how much we love old things. Nick and I both sigh when we see old homes being torn down, silently hoping someone got to take advantage of the antique treasures that might be in them.
Other things that have been going on, well we went to the zoo on spring break with Nana, which just so happens to be a tradition she started with me over 20 years ago, and a tradition which we all love to keep up. The kids had so much fun...
Nana with all 3 grands, Felicity loved the baby bunny.
The kids enjoyed exploring the new children's zoo that just opened...
And then the next day, Nick and the older kids took off for a camping trip to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge with some of our good friends and their kids (it was all Dad's and kids, they had a blast).
The kids look like they're about 2 inches away from a dangerous fall.
"Wait for ME!" says Liam.
The dam.
The campsite at breakfast- they look like they are having sooo much fun here!
Ready for the days adventures with Savannah's BFF Sidney.
Awesome Dad.
Liam thinks the world of little Kayman (the girl in the striped pants), when he saw her for the first time that day he said "Kayman you look beautiful". No other girl gets that kind of attention from him. We've warned her parents ;)
Seeing the buffalo.
That's a quick run down on some of the things we've been up to, spring weather is here and we have been enjoying it, about to get some veggies in the ground:)
