Our little "cornhuskers"

Just wanted to share some pictures with you of the kids helping me the other day when I was husking all the corn we got from Apple Annie's.

All told, I think they husked about 7 ears of corn, but they both volunteered to help, and did what they could. It's not an easy job for a 2 and 4 year old, so I can't complain and I enjoyed the help.

I'm not sure why Grace was wearing her pajama shirt on her head, but I've learned that there are some things that just aren't worth griping about...

Here is a picture of the swingset that David built for the kids. The one we had in El Paso didn't all arrive, so rather that go buy a new one, we just got some wood and used the equipment we already had.

He's become quite handy since he discovered he liked making Grace's headboard so much...

Apple Annie's

Yesterday we decided to take a family outing to Willcox, Arizona. They have an orchard and a farm there called Apple Annie's where you can pick your own fruit and vegetables. We all thought that was great, and the kids had a wonderful time. We loaded up on Granny Smith apples, Asian pears, sweet corn (yeah!!!), green beans, green chilis and eggplant. We got WAY more than we needed, so it looks like I will be spending the week canning and baking.

We plan to go back in a few weeks to let the kids pick their own pumpkins - and see what else we might need. Unfortunately it isn't any savigs from getting your produce from a grocery store, but we had a lot of fun (and you don't get the waxy coating on everything either).

Bubble time fun

The kids took a buble bath the other night - which we don't do often because they like to "pop" the bubbles, and that means a big mess for Mom to clean up...

Our Crazy Kids

Just when I thought I had nothing to say - my children, especially Tristan, give me something to talk about.

While Grace was still taking her nap today, Tristan got up and modeled a few things for me:

The Cowboy
Mind you, this is a Cabbage Patch Kid's hat... but he says "my hat".

He then decided that he wanted to go out in the rain. "Mommy, rain! I go outside." Okay, have a great time... He went to get shoes and comes back with Grace's sun hat on. "Mommy, tie neck?" What the heck - I can use all of this for blackmail later!

When Grace finally arose, she decided to sit in her rocking chair, wrapped up in her blanket, at the back door. The conversation between she and her brother was just hillarious. I know she hears me (despite the fact that she rarely seems to listen), because she sounds like such a little mommy sometimes. Tristan was coloring with chalk on the patio, and Grace says "What are you coloring, Tristan?" Apparently he said "stars", and she just went on praising him on how good those stars were, and talked with him about everything outside, and the rain, etc. Some days I'm surprised I don't wet my pants with all the laughter my children bring.

She did finally decide to venture out as well:

A beautiful gift - a complete rainbow - from our God. We discussed at dinner why there are rainbows - I went with the Biblical explanation, not the scientific one...

Finally, something that just makes my heart smile and swell with pride... Grace made this at Sunday School a week or two ago:

Our Big Boy and Our Little Dancer

I feel I've been leaving Tristan out lately since his big sister has had so many "firsts" lately, so we'll start with him...

Yesterday was his first day of "school". I took him in with Grace and had some alone time... which was very nice (even if it was only 3 hours). He was super excited!

Although I didn't get it on film, he was finally able to ride in a buggy that he has been begging (I ride? Mommy please, I ride?) to get in since Grace started school. It is like a gigantic stroller that seats 8 kids, and they use it to get all the little ones where they need to go. As soon as we checked him in, we strapped him into a seat as his class was headed to outside time. He was thrilled!

Grace had her first day of ballet on Tuesday. WOW was she excited! She had a BLAST, and has wanted to go back everyday since then. We have finally gotten her ballet shoes and a leotard (after driving all over Sierra Vista and Tucson) so she will be all set for next week. I had to put her shoes on the shelf in her closet because she won't keep them off her feet.

Finally, here are some fun pictures of the kids and some of the visitors that frequent our backyard...

The guy on the right we call "ring-neck" (he has a white ring around his neck). He's the one who chases all of the others off, and has been known to stand sentry on top of the hook or the fence... David says we should pellet him to let him know who's really boss...

Grace's First Day of School

Grace started pre-school today, and even though she has gone to day care before, I had to take a deep breath before the tears flowed after I dropped her off.

I am proud to say that Grace is a wonderfully well adjusted child who lives to learn. She was so excited about starting "school" that we couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

Despite the fact that there was lots of screaming and crying in the room and quite a few parents hanging around, Grace had ZERO trouble seeing me on my way. When I dropped her off, she gave me a hug and a kiss, found out where she could put her backpack, and was off to be with the other kids.

Needless to say, I got a great report from her teacher, and Grace said that she had a great time. After all, she got to paint a purple picture (a large purple paper COVERED with purple paint), and got to stamp a dolphin with purple ink. As you might have guessed, purple is her favorite color (along with pink).

The chaos has settled...

We are now back into our routine after getting home from Chicago. The kids and I had a wonderful time! We remained busy every day, and somehow, the kids kept up and were on their best behavior. I was amazed.

We began our trip with a stop at the Morton Arboretum where we had lunch and let the kids run around for a while. A well deserved outing after getting up WAY to early and spending 3.5 hours on a plane...

On Tuesday, Bonnie (my dad's cousin) took us to a little community zoo near her home. It amazes me the amount of things that there are for kids to do throughout Chicagoland! Again the kids had a blast. They saw ducks, sheep, llamas, horses, cows, many different reptiles, a beautiful peacock, racoons, foxes, rabbits, and a bunch of birds of prey.

Then we headed off to meet up with Grandpa after a stop to visit my Great Aunt Mary.

(Doesn't she look GREAT for 94??)

We finally were able to see Grandma Millie on Wednesday - her 99th birthday. She too looks pretty good for her age. She did spend a few days in the hospital over the weekend, but was back to normal by the time we got there. The kids enjoyed playing with her walker (aka a jungle gym for a 2 & 3 year old) and cane. Grandma said that she was worried that she didn't have anything to entertain the children... Little did she know that there was plenty to keep the kids occupied right there in her apartment.

We took her out to Glenwood Oaks (her favorite restaurant) for supper, and she just loved it! She thought it was wonderful to get out, and it sure didn't hurt that we let everyone know that it was her birthday! We had a delicious meal, and topped it off with cake - but not before the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday. They had live entertainment in the bar area, and our waitress told him about Gram's birthday, so he made the announcement, sang her a song, then broke into Happy Birthday, at which time everyone chimed in. It was really neat, and I know it sure made Gram feel special.
Thursday was spent with Grandpa and Bonnie at the Brookfield Zoo. We saw elephants, hippos, dolphins, monkeys, lemurs, and a hundred other things... The kids even got to pet a stingray, a shark, a snake, and a geko! Again, we had another great day.

(our tour guide)

Finally on Friday it was time to head home. We stopped in and visited with Grandma Millie again, and even took her to Wal-Mart... She loved being able to shop for her own things - it's the little things in life...

We had a wonderful visit with everyone, and look forward to returning for Grandma's 100th.