Jumping and Climbing and Throwing

Last Saturday we drove down onto the beach in front of our house. The water in the reservoir is low enough still that we can drive along the beach for quite a ways...until we come to a small "stream" where water drains from the hill into the river. We climbed the rocky hill (the water was at the top of these rocks until about July), explored the beach and threw a lot of rocks into the water.
Last time Tadd and Ezra came to the beach alone this stream was narrow enough for Ezra to get across. This time it was a little wider and only Tadd was able to attempt a crossing. The rest of us walked up and crossed over on some rocks.

And running back to cross the other direction. Isn't he quite the athlete? : )

We climbed the rocky hill (the water was at the top of these rocks until about July), explored the beach and threw a lot of rocks into the water.

As in most cases, going up was easier than coming down and Ezra was quite optimistic as to what he could handle. I remember more than one time climbing higher than I should have in a tree only to cry out loudly for my daddy to help me down. His usual reply was "You got up there, now you have to get down". But don't worry, he really did help me if I actually needed it : )

For those of you worried about the kids proximity to these rocks and the water, don't worry. The house is set back on a hill above all this fun stuff. We drive down to the boat ramp in order to access the beach. We could slip and slide down the hill from the house to get to the water, but the kids do not want to attempt it themselves as it is full of thorns and weeds and not such a fun climb.

The water was this NASTY thick green paste near the shore. I'm not really sure if it's an algae bloom, or simply all the plants that grow while the water is down getting beaten to a pulp and then mixing with the water as the levels slowly come back up. Anyone out there know?

Last Sunday during Sunday School the speaker was talking about the Lake of Fire and how we need to be saved from an eternity there by taking the Lord Jesus as our Savior. He said to Ezra "you live by a lake, what if that lake was made of fire?" to which Ezra replied in a voice loud and clear enough to be heard by all "No, no, that's not a lake, that's the Snake River". Of course, this drew a lot of chuckles. After Sunday School someone else raised in the Seattle area told us he was quite glad to hear that we were keeping Ezra informed..."Lake Washington, now that's a lake" he said, "the reservoir is not!" To clarify...the body of water behind our current house IS the Snake River and it is dammed up (very close to the house) to form a reservoir.

Look at that form, would ya?

The kids like to ride in the very back of the pick up when we are going slowly on the sand like this. I'm afraid that these pick up adventures will have an abrupt end once our family numbers 5.

The afternoon was warm and wonderful and we enjoyed ourselves playing soccer under a canopy of falling leaves in the backyard. Thank you Lord, for the gift of beautiful fall days!

Yes, Ezra was recently relieved of a lot of hair.

Ezra, Caroline and Penelope in Burley

Ezra and Caroline are my born-children. Penelope is my unborn child. No, that's not the name we've picked. No, we don't know whether Penelope is a boy or a girl. It's simply the name the kids call the baby. So, I'll be talking about Penelope instead of "Baby" from here on out (except for when I forget, of course).
Oh my word, a guy just came on Monday to replace some of our internet "stuff" and told me that I wouldn't believe how fast the internet would work from here on out. I had my doubts. However, normally I have to wait a good 20 minutes for 5 pictures to upload onto my blog...sometimes they fail and I have to try all day to get any pictures to upload. But in the time it took me to type the first paragraph, my pictures uploaded. Whoo hoo! We still have internet issues, but it's because of our computer...or rather, the stupidity of the computer's users. But, I digress...
Last Thursday the kids and I packed up and headed west to Burley. Where? Yeah, it's a big metropolis in Idaho, I'm surprised you don't know all about it. Why would we go there? To meet a friend for lunch! That's right...my friend Charlene who was visiting her sister-in-law in Burley knew I lived within driving distance and emailed to see if we could meet. Yeah!!!

Before meeting Charlene for lunch, the kids and I went to a local park called "Storybook Park". This place was fantastic! A bunch of local moms got together and raised the money to build this fabulous park. Each structure has a plaque with the name of the individual or local business who donated money for that particular feature. The kids had a blast, and so did I. It was a crisp, sunny fall day. The park is surrounded by mature deciduous trees which were dropping leaves and nuts all around us. Squirrels chattered and chased. Perfection!

The "tot lot" was a section of the park specifically designed for toddlers. The theme was "Old MacDonald's Farm" and there were wooden animals and barns all around. A germ free petting zoo : )

Charlene taught at Opstad Elementary when I taught there. She recently retired and can kick up her heels whenever she wants to now. I have to tell you that she is one of the world's best teachers. She is one of the specific reasons I was sad Ezra could not go to the school where I taught. Not that it would have mattered, I suppose, since she up and retired on us. This woman was at the top of her game when she quit--no dying years of parents complaining that it was time for her to leave. Nope. Plus, she's a pretty fun gal. This last year she went sky-diving for her birthday and I had a blast hearing all about it over a gourmet meal of chicken nuggets and milkshakes which Charlene so kindly bought us at the Burley McDonald's.

Thanks for taking time away from your family to come play with us! The kids are still talking about "Miss Charlene" a week later.

And here is a picture of our ultrasound we had 3 weeks ago. Little Penelope with his/her balled up fists up around his/her face. What do you think? Is this obviously a boy or a girl??? Wait! Don't tell me, I'm waiting to be surprised : )

Saturday Adventure

Before I get into our Saturday Adventure, I'd like to give a children's book recommendation. We have it checked out from the library for our second time in the past couple of months. The book is called One Giant Leap and it is written by Robert Burleigh with paintings by Mike Wimmer. Any time the by line says "paintings by" rather than simply "illustrated by", I jump at the book. The paintings in this one are beautiful and realistic. The story is about the first trip to the moon. It uses dates, names and actual facts. It is thought provoking to both myself and my three year old--I LOVE that! Tadd and I both love to read it and Ezra loves to hear it. It is written in a mix of poetry and prose. While I have not explained the difference to my children as of yet, they hear enough of both to know what they are. There are no rhymes. If your library has this book--I recommend you get it! With this past July being the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's first steps on the moon, this book has a lot of relevance for science and history for all you homeschoolers. As a teacher, I love it when one book can reach across so many subjects and touch so many different EALRs. I can think of so many classroom projects I could jump to from this book...paintings of the moon involving texture (sponge paints--oooh! I actually might do this one with my kids)...moon research from the classroom or public library...space poems...short stories about "when I go to the moon"(thinking of doing this one with Ezra dictating his story to me since he always wants to be an astronaut after he reads this book)...a "what was it like in 1969" history study...building rocket ships with the tinker toys and then using them as a scale model to make bigger ones using toilet paper rolls, construction paper, etc.... I'll stop now. Seriously, before I make any more of a fool out of myself than I already have. But maybe, just maybe my foolishness gave you an idea of something to do with your kids some snowy/rainy/windy/boring day this winter, I hope.
Saturday morning Tadd suggested we hop into his pick up and go on An Adventure. The kids love to ride in the pick up and they love adventures, so in we piled. He drove us up into the hills behind where we live to look at fall colors and wild life.


We saw many birds and one very large, dark moose. We also saw a lot of hunters out and about with big guns. Since none of us were wearing anything that even closely resembled hunter orange, we decided that it would not be a good day to get out and hike around. As it was quite cold and slightly windy, none of us were too terribly disappointed. We did have to stop and stretch our legs a couple of times as the pick up is a very squishy fit for all 4.5 of us.

Doing a little exploring.

On the way home we had to climb this hill so that Daddy could reminisce about the old days when it was just he and his pick up and also so that the pick up could show off to the kids what it can do that the mini-van surely can't do.

We got this great view of where we live as a reward for the hill climbing.

Brrr....it's cold! Let's go home for lunch and take a nap in our nice warm beds! Thanks for the fun adventure, Daddy.

Absolutely Unorganized Post

This post is simply all the photos I can't neatly categorize into some cutesy post from the past month. It is cold here and we're turning more and more to indoor activities. I think the weather is supposed to go back to being a bit warmer and more fallish by the end of the week. This is good--because I have a lot of yard work to do!
Check out this sunrise Tadd captured the other morning. Incredible. It was really blood red. The sun rises quite late these days and has shifted so that it is behind the hills, making it even later.

Anniversary roses from Tadd's parents when we got home from our trip last month.

Peaches and zucchini relish. One makes the house smell sweet--the other, not so sweet : ) Thanks for the recipe, Mom. We still haven't tried any to see how it tastes--but it accomplished the goal of getting rid of A LOT of zucchini, all the jars sealed and it looks pretty

Daddy got out the ramps in order to change the oil in his pick up the other day. Ezra has always enjoyed "helping" change the oil, and today was no different. As soon as Tadd was done with the ramps, Ezra made sure to put his own car up in order to "fix it".

Caroline put her car up on a ramp too, but that's as far as she got. After that she simply began pack-ratting toys out beside the car.

And here is our newest nephew/cousin Levi. We visited him the morning after his birth--so in these pictures, he is brand spanking new...and Alan is pretty tired, yet excited. Can't wait to get to know you little Levi!

Pumpkin Painting

It's been quite a long time since I've posted about activities--but 'tis the season of staying inside in the evenings rather than being out on our bikes every night. Saturday night we enjoyed a fun family activity of painting pumpkins. This is a cheap seasonal activity that is easy to set up--especially if you keep kids crafting supplies on hand. All you need is paint, brushes and pumpkins. We had about a dozen mini-pumpkins fresh from the garden, so the project was easy to prep for.

I use either water colors or tempera paint when letting the kids paint and in this case we needed tempera. My favorite container to put the paint in is an old egg carton. An old sheet was laid out on the table and each pumpkin placed on a napkin.

There are a few scattered photos of other ways I used the mini-pumpkins for fall decor.

In addition to paint, brushes and water, I put out leaf shaped cookie cutters and a pen for tracing on the pumpkins if we wanted.

The kids chose to forgo any leaf tracing and jumped right in with the paint.

Tadd got in on the action too. The kids love it when we do a craft with them--especially daddy!

Caroline's pumpkin.

Ezra's finished product.

Being the non-artist that I am, I chose to stick with a leaf stencil and writing "give thanks" on my pumpkin.

Tadd was quite creative.

After we finished up with the pumpkins I let the kids use the leaf stencils and paper and paints to spend some more time painting.

I highly recommend this activity--especially if you don't want to carve any pumpkins. This method is so much easier and does not involve any "gut removal" or knives. Any size pumpkin can be used. We used the minis since had so many from the garden. Give it a go!