Tongs and Toys Revisited

Anna came upon a couple pairs of tongs I have been holding onto from a fine motor skill activity from Noah's preschool days, so I humored her and gathered up all the gear so she could give it a go, too.

The tools - Tongs.

The challenge - Trinkets and Toys.

Noah remembers this activity from awhile ago - 3 years ago to be exact!

We'll dub him The Veteran then.

This being her first go at it, we'll call Anna The Rookie.

Showing off. 

Getting frustrated.

Working it out anyway. :)

It never ceases to amaze me how much fun the most basic tools and toys and can be.

Shelf Shout-Out

Wanna get excited about doing laundry again?  Or for the first time?  Whichever! Wrangle your hubby into finishing up a long-anticipated laundry room(closet) improvement!  

That little half shelf above the dryer is our new addition.

It's nothing flashy, but I have been dying for an extra shelf in this very small laundry closet for awhile.  Its arrival marks the end of all that gear on it from sitting atop my dryer day in and day out, thereby monopolizing the work surface I needed for folding and temporary hiding of things. :)  Now when I open the laundry closet, I see order and space and actual room to work!  It makes me grin so.  I should have had that bad boy added 5 years ago when we moved in!!

Joshua strikes again!  Thanks, babe!  Thanks also go to his trusty helpers, Noah and Anna, who each earned $1 by scrubbing the wires down so it would be clean enough to use.  It had actually been sitting in the garage and/or outside for a number of months while I whined and complained and begged for its installation. :)  I don't know who's really more excited to have it done.  Me, because it's so helpful, or Josh, to finally get me off his back!

Finally Some Fall Foliage

It JUST finally got cold this week which means this stuff
JUST started happening.  :S 

I was dying for some color on our tree, so I skipped right out the door to welcome the first reds,

which are unfortunately a bit muted compared to previous years.

I will accept these meager seasonal offerings, Mother Nature, if you will make up the difference come winter.  Kimmie still has her heart set on some serious snowfall.  MUCH, mUcH snow!!

Eye of the Tiger

There was a cringe-worthy close call of a game this weekend that ended in a 17-17 tie.  The important part of this news is that Noah's team is still technically undefeated!  

Every season lately, a professional photography company comes out and snaps action shots during games.  This weekend we got a handful of those entirely precious prints of my boy doing his thang!  

This one's my fave.

Can you say ...

Eye

of

the

TIGER?

Swoon!  I love him, love him, love him, love him.

Taa Daa: Kimmie Sews!

Yesterday at iMom, our DIY craft was a pin cushion and a bookmark.  The pin cushion we made was situated atop a mason jar and they gave us a little sewing kit for inside.  Too cute!

Then they got felt in our hands and we got to cutting and sewing.  I did not get off to a good start with this part of the morning.  My little threader broke and then while I attempted to sew a button, my NEEDLE broke in half.  After how long it took me (and my friend, Becky) to get that darn thing threaded, I pretty much just up and quit at that point.  Told myself I would try again at home.  And  I did try it at home that afternoon.  Unfortunately, attempt #2 had me almost-cussing under my breath.  Why do people torture themselves with such tedious tasks?!, I wondered.  Finally, after threading and actually sewing the edges together, my thread got tangled somehow and I broke the thread trying to fix that.  Of course that whole half-hour of work had to be undone and I put it all away again.  Annoyed would have been an understatement.

But then, I gave it one more try with my own thread (from a sewing box I have, but obviously never use - ha!) and the good Lord had mercy on me and blessed my pitiful efforts.  In the end I finished up this little gem for Noah. ♥  It's not perfect, but that sort of makes it more special, I say.  Any sewing project by yours truly would have to be!  It's my first.

I told Noah it means, "OWL love you forever." :}

Ouch!

I wonder if I Cirque du Soleil is in need of any child performers?

We can't afford gymnastics for her right now,

but once she is done with Pre-K, is it so ON!

PS - I am pretty sure this was her posture of choice in utero which explains the breach situation we encountered.  :S

Boo x 2

I owe the kids a couple art projects since we haven't done one since August.  So today, on a whim of Anna's, we got one done from my Pinterest to-do list.  Noah and Anna picked it out themselves.

You cannot imagine the squeals of delightful agony that those two emitted while I brushed paint on their feet.  It was so funny!

Shelf Life

I wonder what the shelf life on these things is?

Who am I kidding? I would keep them past expiration anyway.

Seriously though, they got a kick out of themselves this morning while I was rearranging our playroom. 

Rearranging, you say?  Oh yes, rearranging because we scored a sweet deal on a dining table and 6 chairs yesterday.  You can get a sneak peek of it there in the background.  If you want a real-live peek, then you gotta come visit.  

Neener, neener, neener!

Totally Random!

I found these two reciprocal signs interesting at the toddler play area at the zoo awhile back; specifically, the first one.

Gettin' silly at Target.

Anna Banana in the flesh/peel.  :}

Chewie, only moments after we wrangled his latest kill from him this past week ... a squirrel half that he BROUGHT INTO THE HOUSE. Don't ask.

We bought and returned a Softub hot tub for $150 on GTP this weekend (it ended up not working) and, while we were at it, we went ahead and sold this beast of a slide since the kids never use it anyway.

Anna and her daddy are devising some plans for an extended treehouse in its place.  The people who bought the slide last night gave us a good idea ... a cargo net bridge that reaches over to the tree! We are in LOVE with that idea.  Stay tuned!

One Tooth Down ... Finally!

We were beginning to lose faith it would ever happen.  That poor tooth just didn't seem to want to get loose.  But Noah took me at my word this week and wiggled and wiggled and wiggled that tooth to MAKE it get looser.  I caught him turning it SIDEWAYS earlier today and knew that meant that sucker was ready to come out today or tomorrow. That must have really motivated the boy, because within the hour it was out!

Only 7.5 years in the making!

The stinker managed to do it in the car with Josh while out running errands, so I missed the whole moment, but they called me on the phone as soon as they wiped up all the blood. "Guess who's coming to our house tonight?!!" he proudly declared.  "The tooth fairy!!"

Such a fun milestone!  Way to go, Noah!

He could hardly get to sleep tonight with being so excited and jittery about his expected visitor.  He ended up coming downstairs all anxious and weird and groggy but confusedly alert after falling asleep for a little bit.  Then, after a couple hours when Josh went in to do the Tooth Fairy deed, Noah, who usually sleeps harder than a rock!, jolted right up in bed after Josh pulled his hand away from the pillow!  He made up some excuse on the spot about checking on Noah since he was so rattled earlier.  Noah bought it, but he also threw his pillow up to see if the tooth fairy had come and was totally thrilled to see that she had. Ha!  

There was, in the end, a  BIG payout for the long anticipated milestone.  And also, we had no other cash in the house. :}  

Noah, who usually sleeps with his door closed, left it open so the tooth fairy could get in.  He also usually sleeps on his stuffed bear, Calvin, but last night, for the first time EVER, used a real pillow.  Tooth fairy protocol, I guess.  Adorable!  In the end, I am just so glad he finally lost a tooth before he got too old to enjoy the fun magic of the tooth fairy. ♥ 

PS - He remarked in the morning, "She knew my name!"  and then it occurred to me how that is a big deal.  Don't we have to tell Santa his name every year?  Just part of TF's magic, I guess.

When Anna's Inspired

When Anna is feeling inspired, the joy just overflows into her mood, her speech, her energy, and .... her art. :)  She can't help herself when all the world is right.  She just cranked out these two beauties after we got home from a beautiful day at the park with friends. I don't know who to be more impressed with:  Me for being able to read her messages on them, or her because she is getting better at spelling all on her own!

This one one reads, "iPRAStheLORDNOMADRWUT" 

(I praise the Lord no matter what). 

She tells me it is a heart with a bible on it with a cross on that.

This one reads, "ILOVEAllTHATUMADMEGODThEWRD."  

(I love all that you made - me, God, the world.)

Baby love knows how to praise the Lord, that's for sure. ♥

P Things

Pumpkins, paint, park, picnic, play.  

Perfect day!

Back to Bottom View Farm

We have been such fans of Jackson's Orchard for three years now that we have neglected to give our poor little local Bottom View Farm another glance.  Until this week, that is.  We are enjoying our second week of Fall Break and the weather is to die for, so we went a few minutes up the road with friends and visited their patch again yesterday. What we didn't expect was all the new fun stuff they have added to their fall scene.  Do you know Noah remembered going there with his cousins back when Anna was a newborn?  That was FIVE whole years ago!  I love that he remembers stuff from when he was that little... only 2 and a half at the time!

Yesterday our favorite stop was the great, big jumping pillow. :D  It was such fun, I can't wait to go back for breakfast one morning after Fall Break and let the kids have it all to themselves.

Noah was also a fan of the tractor track.  They were really fun!

Anna took a liking to the corn crib and stayed in there all by herself until I made her leave.

Noah opted to grab handfuls of the corn and feed them to the goats instead.  That boy sure does love animals.  He had to be pulled away from this area when time was up.

It probably was a mistake to wait to do the hayride later in the day.  By early afternoon the sun was SHINING/beating down on us and it got hot fast.  

Still, we retrieved a few more pumpkins for the porch.  Tomorrow we get together with our field trip group to paint them at a nearby park. :)

We had lunch and then ice cream at the little country restaurant on site and then let the the kids expend what was left of their energy on another turn at the jumping pillow.  By then there was some shade for us mommas and some killer beautiful clouds to adorn the sky.
Just look!

I can't believe we have done two pumpkin patches already ... and both without Josh.  So weird!!

Into the Woods

We have been so lucky this year to be a part of a small group bible study that meets outside of any church-run program.  We get together about 1-2 times a month to chat bible stuff (Romans, lately) and have dinner together and we even have a sitter that watches the kids while we talk.  I have known these families for a few years now, but we have quickly become an even tighter group of friends and this past weekend we all headed off into the woods for a camping trip together.  It almost didn't happen when the government shut down trickled down to our campsite at Ragland Bottom.  They called us the day before we were supposed to arrive to say they were closing.  Luckily, we were able to pull together a decent Plan B.  Standing Stone State Park!

The weather was gorgeous and only a smidge on the sticky side.

We had wonderfully shaded campsites all together
and we had clear skies.

We enjoyed the cool evening breeze once we all got tents set up that first night.

I loved staring into the fire and listening to the crickets chirp, the kids play, and friends laugh together.

The kiddos enjoyed much bike riding and all the free play time.

I use the term "kids" loosely. :}

We {mostly} turned off our iPhones and tuned into our beautiful surroundings and the freedom and fun of our weekend escape.

There was this driveway that looped around our campsites and a number of others near us.  Very convenient!  It really was safe enough for the kids to do laps alone, but one or the other of us ended up walking along behind them.  At times you would find us stationed all around the circuit.  We were a well-oiled machine of parents of many little people.  :}

Our own parking pad and tent set-up.

All four of our campsites.  From left to right was us, the Williams, the Lewis' (whom we adopted into our little group for the weekend), and then the Graffs.  We sure did miss the Jeffs who couldn't make it at the last minute. :(

More of our view. 

We all really looked forward to fishing.

Not wanting to touch worms or get caught in any child's stray hook, I designated myself the photographer of the fishing trip and stayed in the background snapping pics of any and everything going on.

Anna cringing as Josh baits the first cricket.  I'm with her; I don't know how anyone can stand to stab those poor little things.

Noah was in his element again.  This reminds me of him fishing last Fall Break at Fall Creek Falls.

Anna gave it a go, too ...

But her interest languished rather quickly.

Isn't she sweet?  Grinning at her folding of her legs here.  So her.

Josh spent much time baiting the kids' hooks, but got in a few casts of his own along the way.

The only picture of the weekend with all of us in it ... except me. :S

When the kids *really* lost interest, the grownups got in some good fishing of their own.

While we were out, we explored the park's suspension bridge.

The lower side of the dam.

When we got back, we were all tickled to discover Anna's pole that was left in the water had actually caught something!  The only fish of the day.  :} 

Anna even got the nerve to touch it and throw it back in.

Enjoying a little downtime back at camp.

Besides resident photog, I also stepped up to the plate to kill as many yellow-jackets as I could. My apologies to any and all who got caught downwind of my efforts.  Ha!

The crew loaded up later on that day to go hiking.

This proved to be an more of an adventure than they realized they were getting into. More on that later.

Back at camp, Anna (who was stricken with a bout of untimely diarrhea) got inventive with how she spent the next few hours alone.  Here she is a pirate, the table is her ship, the bowl is her steering wheel, and the coloring page was her map.

Back on the hike, the kiddos were troopers!  Turns out, everyone thought the other knew where they were going and no one knew til after the fact that they were following the most strenuous of the hiking paths offered at the park. 

Several hours into their hike, they stopped and checked the map and realized they were lost.  Love the look on George's face!

An angel in disguise just happened to pass their way and drove the guys back to the truck to return for the rest of the hiking party.  Phew!  After a restful BBQ dinner, we gathered around the fire once again.  It goes without saying that we enjoyed more than a few s'mores both nights. :)

The kiddos followed suit with their own version of a campfire.  They even got a round of almost-ghost stories going.  All weekend we remarked on what a great age range we had and how well all the kids were getting along ... not counting that sucker punch Noah got from his buddy, James, during a game of zombie chase gone wrong. :}

The morning we left, there was rain moving in, so we packed and boogied on out of there a little early just to be safe.  I snapped a parting shot of the falling leaves that came down in the finally cool air.

I even had to pull out a fleece.  I also forced my way into a picture of just us girls. 

Josh proved himself a Camper Extraordinaire.  He basically packed this entire weekend's necessities; I really only packed my own clothes and the kids'. He did all our camp set up, cooked our assigned weekend meal, and pretty much managed all the kids' showers and medicines along the way, too. It's too bad I didn't snap a pic of Noah hooked up to his nebulizer in the great outdoors.  It was something to see!  Anyway, Josh was really in his element on this camping scene.  That said, he votes for a cabin on our next woodsy adventure.  Ha!

 

Our fearless leaders!  Good work this weekend, guys!

Just a few of our motley crew of kiddos.  They had SUCH fun in the wide open space and outside air over the whole weekend.  We hadn't even gotten home yet before Anna starting counting down to our next bible study gathering. Apparently, the littles bonded as much as the grownups did.

Before we left the park, Josh and Noah gave it a go with the fish one more time.

After 30 or so casts, we told Noah he could do one more and then we needed to jet.  Wouldn't you know he finally caught one of those elusive fish on that last try?  So fun!  You should have seen his celebratory dance lap after that! 

It was the perfect end to a great weekend.  So great, in fact, we are already googling cabins for a Gatlinburg group getaway in January.  You just can't know how significant these relationships have been to us during this season where we were starving for community at our old church and as we continue to seek it out within our next church home.  (We are getting close, btw.) So thankful for these families and for getting to share these memories with them.  So blessed by the Lord's provision.