School Picture Day

It's that time of year again, time for the thrilling school pictures. Ally was more than thrilled! That girl loves any reason for pictures. Andrew, was really unhappy about pictures. He was even less happy when I told him he needed to take some pictures for me before they left for school. Luckily I finally got him to give in for just a couple shots. Poor kid!

Vanessa is like Ally, can't wait to jump in and pose for a picture.

Labor Day at Trafalga

We celebrated Labor Day with our good friends the Lewis' by going out to lunch and then we went to Trafalga for some miniature golf and batting cages fun.

Vanessa didn't quite know what to think about the whole golfing thing but she was very good at wandering and creating her own fun.

It was fun to hit softballs again even though it's been way too many years and I could feel it in my hands and arms the next day. Jim decided to be a show off and hit left handed after showing us all up hitting right handed. He hit a ball off his leg and got this to show off.

He then was an awesome dad and helped Ally hit a few balls. I love that he is patient and willing to teach our kids the things that he is so good at!

It was a great way to spend the day off of school and work. Many memories were created and fun was had by all, although; I think the adults had the most fun since we decided we'd have to go back sometime without kids for date night.

Andrew's Navajo Hogan

Andrew had to create an Indian dwelling for school. He of course couldn't choose the easiest one, the teepee. He had to go with something that stretched his mom's creativity a little more. All right, so he came up with how he wanted it all on his own, I just had to come up with how to make it happen. While he was out behind our house looking for some small sticks he came across some 'clay mud' that would make 'the best ground.' Since no small sticks could be found we had to get really creative. I decided cinnamon sticks would make fabulous sticks for the structure of the house and then we used clay for the roof. A trip to Cal-Ranch for some animals, a description tag, and clay cactus later and voila...

a Navajo Hogan. He did such a great job and really worked hard on this project. I'm so proud of him.

Vanessa's time out spot is in her bedroom. Some days she spends A LOT of time in there. Whenever I go to get her out she's usually doing something unique. I've found her in her closet, under her crib, and most recently...

Yep, sitting in her toy box. The funny thing is she loved it so much she'll go back in there and play throughout the day.

Golf Ball Pyramid

Grandpa Davis recently gave Andrew a large box of golf balls. After Jim went through the box and took out the balls he wanted, the kids decided the rest were to be used for building. Andrew was set on building a pyramid even though the balls kept rolling once he got so many together. The great thing about Andrew is he doesn't give up and he will continue to try things until he can get it to work. He went to his room and came back with Legos (shocking, I know). This is what he came up with

Pretty impressive huh? He was really proud of his creation.

I love his imagination!

Fairy Wings

I was very busy one day making oodles and oodles of peach jam so Vanessa was left on her own for entertainment. Luckily she is pretty good at finding her own entertainment (whether I it's good entertainment or bad). This day her entertainment was fairy wings.

She enjoyed running around with the wings on and then would pull them off and come running back in for me to put them back on.

Aren't the wings just the perfect accessory for her diaper-ware?

Spinach Smoothies

My kids love spinach smoothies! So much so that when I tell them to get a healthy snack they head for the kitchen to make their own smoothies.

Even Vanessa was involved in the process, she was on clean up duty. All right, so she was just doing her most favorite thing to do, playing at the kitchen sink.

I love that my kids love these shakes so much and they are willing to make them healthy by adding the spinach, in fact they get mad at me when I don't have spinach to put in the shakes. Now if I can just get them to eat healthier, less sugary cereals and other snacks. I guess I'll take what I can get.