Meet Spike

We're in love with my dad's new puppy, Spike. He's an 8 week old English bulldog. 

George snapped this picture. Isn't he yummy?! 

Spike doesn't even have stinky dog breath yet... 

 

 Best of all, he goes home with Grandpa Tom! All the fun- none of the work.
(By the way, this is not the way to convince children that we do not need a dog. Whoops!)

Pictograph Caves

After snow last week, the lure of a field trip in 70 degree weather was too much! We ditched our spelling and math and joined friends at the pictograph caves. Shockingly, we learned something while we were there! Turns out that despite having been there several times, having the mama read the placards along the path is NOT the same as having a park ranger educate you. Who knew?!

Park rangers also catch baby bull-nosed snakes on the path and they become part of the education. My boys both thought we should bring him home. Kjersten? Notsomuch. 

George. In a tree. 

Are you read for some (flag) football?!

Cael was quite disappointed to learn that the only gear you get in flag football is a t-shirt. He was hoping for pads and a helmet. The coach made up for it a bit by handing out mouth guards at the first practice. The picture above is from practice last week. Our game was snowed out this last weekend. I'll try again tomorrow (it's supposed to be 68*).

I can tell you that, although it's just flag football, Cael was tackled at the first practice. It has remained the highlight of the season so far! He's counting the days years until he can play tackle football!

Playing Fall Ball!

Who knew there was fall baseball too?! Turns out we have a fall baseball league for kids looking to hone their skills in a more casual setting. George was more than willing to play another round this fall. Only five kids from our regular league signed up (the rest were from "town") and of the five kiddos none were from his spring team. No matter. He's having a great time!

George is, again, one of the younger players and I'm guessing one of the only minor ball players. Most of these boys are major ball players and/ or will be this spring for sure!

The eight year old has had some near disasters this fall (he's had both ball and bat to the head) so he's working through a little hesitation. We're trusting by spring, he'll have overcome his nerves and will have improved his skills. If nothing else, by spring we'll have put a few more miles on the van and George will have had an awful lot of fun!

Cael and Ian providing some crowd noise by running a stick up and down the fence rail. Can you imagine that noise? Yup... That's the sound!

Welcome to Kindergarten...

I had forgotten how very much I love having a kindergartener in the house. Stinky loves each and everything about school. He is a particularly joyful child anyhow, but he is truly enthusiastic every morning when it comes time to see what's in his workboxes. It's like Christmas again and again. Ahhhh... if only it were that exciting to the other three!

As delightful as this all might be, I have made a bit of a mistake. I don't usually start my boys until they're six. Being homeschoolers, it's a bit convoluted. Our "grade levels" are really only dictated by things such as Sunday school, Awana, summer camp, and the like... With George & Rhys, six has been a good starting point for kindergarten. When Cael asserted his desire to be in school this year I never did the math on his age or anything else. Oh well. If it doesn't work out , he'll just get to do this super fun year TWICE!

Bountiful Baskets... Organic

For a few years now, we've contributed to boutifulbaskets.org. Each Monday morning, I log on and decide what we'd like to pick up on Saturday. It's delightful! A basket-full of fruits & veggies, cases of fruit, bread, or other goodies. There's even an option for an all organic box. I change our contribution around all the time, because I can't afford to do it all nor do we have the ability to eat all that food each week! This week, I opted for the organic box.

It never fails. When I order the conventional basket, I look longingly at the organics when I pick up. When I order organic, they get something nifty in the conventional.... So, this week, I grabbed my organic and ran. I didn't even peek at the conventionals. And I certainly didn't volunteer and have to handle all that awesomeness! I need to be content with what I'm bringing home!

(photo courtesy of Kjersten)

Today's Box:

Watermelon, carrots, onions, avocados, peppers, bananas, grapes, 

cilantro, green leaf lettuce, plums, and a bag of apples.

As always, my littles are beside themselves when I get home. It's always a surprise and someone is always very happy with what's in the tub! Today's big winner was George. He's been anxiously awaiting the return of apples. He actually kissed me when he saw the apples!  

Things that make you go hmmmm....

Fine... here's my list of oddities. Which, by the way, I do not find odd in the least.

• I always put my left sock on first, then my right. Then right shoe on. Then my left shoe. There's a reason for this. I hesitate to share, lest you mock me. More than usual, I mean.
• As of this morning, I have 543 unread e-mails in my inbox. It is my virtual junk drawer.
• When waiting for something (a stoplight, the phone to ring, etc,...) I will count down, over and over if necessary, trying to time my count right to end when the light changes or the water boils.
• I wake without an alarm between 5-5:30 every morning. You'd think I'd get more done, being up so early and all...
• 12:36 is my favorite time. Why? Because 1+2+3=6 or 1x2x3=6 or (this is a bit of a stretch) 12x3=36 (See how I used the 3 twice? That's technically cheating.) I also have an affinity for 10:27.
• My head is so big I have to buy man hats, but my ears, mouth and nose are so small they have to use pediatric instruments. That's embarrassing. I should take this off the list.
• I don't like breakfast. More specifically, I don't like breakfast food. I'll eat nothing or leftovers or salad... just not cereal, eggs, pancakes, french toast (blech!)... Bacon, however, is the exception to all rules. 
• Pens. I'm a pen snob. I throw out cheap pens. If you leave your cheap pen here, I will throw it out. Don't come back for it. It's gone. Same with cheap pencils. We only use one kind. The rest, no matter how cute, are gone. Ask the kids. They know, if they want to keep cute, they'd better hide it!
• I cry in church. More often than not, anyhow. I'm the leaky sort. I cry a lot. I cry when I'm happy and when I'm sad and when I'm mad. So, I leak a lot. And, I sit in church alone and it's dark-ish. And nobody knows. 
• Monday is my favorite day of the week. Easter is my favorite celebration. Spring is my favorite season. (see a theme here?) 

Okay, there is enough crazy for your Tuesday. What's your weirdness?