Wordless Wednesday

Annual photo with Santa

Bass Pro Shops

One of our annual traditions is a visit to Bass Pro after Thanksgiving and before Christmas.

Free rides on the carousel

Traditional pose with a shark

(Yes, we have weird traditions and we like it that way!)

This is the first year we have explored the games they have set up.

Duck hunting with a bow and arrows

Laser shooting

I'm still not sure this is a good idea, but my kids do know the difference between a real gun and a laser gun and both asked more than once before handling these.

Rowdy!

We just happened to be driving down the street and noticed a gas station was having Rowdy (Dallas Cowboy's mascot) and some Cowboy's signing autographs.

Sweet Daughter ran up to Rowdy!

Cute pose

We went inside and the kids got to talk to the football players. We didn't get any autographs because they were charging money for them and none of these players were names we know - I'm not sure if any of them have ever actually played during a game or if they had just recently signed. My favorite part was when one player asked what their favorite football team is, my daughter immediately named my university (the only football games they have ever been to). The professional had a good laugh at that, as we aren't known as a great football program; though we do have an alum that plays every game for the Cowboys. I wish he had been there!

Dyed Hair

Sweet Daughter asked if she could dye her hair. Our rule is - if you take care of your hair, you choose what it looks like. If I take care of your hair, you get a buzz cut. So here we are dying her hair in rainbow stripes.

2 pink stripes

(She chose the colors and locations for the stripes)

Purple, pink and blue stripes

She loves it!

After brushing - the back

One side

Other side

Throwback Thursday

First, Happy Thanksgiving Americans! Here are just a few of the things I am thankful for:

You know when you are dog sitting and you call the kids to circle time and turn back around to see this? All three were perfectly behaved and seemed to enjoy singing and learning. The kids are 2 years old in this photo.

Both kids love music and this was from one of their first music classes when they were 3 years old. I am thankful for both kids, music, and all of the teachers who have helped them grow into the wonderful people they are.

Wordless Wednesday

Should I be concerned about my kids?

Here Ned is stuck to a table while a soldier with an ax stands over him. Ned is already missing one arm.

Butterflies in the Backyard!

Once we finally convinced the butterflies to leave their enclosure and go free, they stuck around for about 30 minutes.

It actually walked onto his hand.

She also had one that was perfectly happy being carried around!

See what I mean about calm and friendly?

Here they are passing one of the butterflies back and forth.

They did eventually all fly away, so I know they weren't hurt. We also left some orange slices out in case they had trouble finding food. It is November after all!

Butterflies!

Every couple of years we raise butterflies from caterpillars. This year our curriculum told us to so it was perfect. Here are some of the photos from our butterfly release. *Outside temperatures must be above 55F in order to release them, so we can do this at least 11 months of the year. Other locations are more limited.

We opened their habitat and no one flew out.

We enticed them out with orange slices.

One child is much happier about this than the other.

Come back tomorrow for both kids getting up close with the butterflies. These were some of the friendliest and calmest butterflies we have ever had. (I have also done this with classes at school for over a decade and this was truly exceptional.)

Visiting Family

A quick trip to visit family members we don't see often.

Sweet Daughter "teaching" Oma another way to swing.

Papa T proving he is still an expert at the swings.

Another day, another playground.

Life is good.

Throwback Thursday

Here are pictures both kids learning the bear crawl at Little Gym. They are 2 years old in these photos.

Wordless Wednesday

Climbing higher every year

Raking Leaves

Here is the way things work in our family: Each person has their own responsibilities - cleaning their own things, doing laundry, helping with dishes, etc. If you do someone else's job you can ask to be paid. We pay if the kids clean toilets, mop floors, scrub the bathtub, etc. So when the kids want to buy something, we ask if they have enough money. Here Sweet Son wanted to earn money by raking leaves. We agreed.

Putting leaves into the can

Raking into piles

Pumpkin Science

Better known as what happens when you don't throw out your pumpkins soon enough...

Chocolate Run

We signed up for another 5K as a family. Sweet Daughter has continued doing 5Ks and loving them. Sweet Son decided he would give it another chance.

Grandma was in town cheering us on! 

 Mile 1 Sweet Daughter took off - she completed it in under 11 minutes. I was chasing her and Wonderful Husband was with Sweet Son. 

Mile 2 - Sweet Daughter walked the entire thing. Sweet Son was still back with Wonderful Husband.

 Mile 3 everyone is back together. They ran/walked together for all of the 3rd mile. I love when they hold hands.

A 5K is 3.1 miles. When Sweet Daughter saw the 3 mile sign, she took off at a full sprint. Sweet Son realized he was close to finishing and didn't see a reason to run any more.

After the race

Post race family photo!

Throwback Thursday

Here are photos from when the kids learned to ride bikes with pedals and without training wheels. The kids are 4 years old here.

Wordless Wednesday

You know it's Autumn because of the brown grass...

Yes, the kids are in shorts and the trees have leaves.

Welcome to mid-November!

Dissecting Owl Pellets (3 of 3)

First, Americans: GO VOTE!

Here are the photos of what was found inside the owl pellets:

Lots of skinny bones, nothing exceptionally interesting in Wonderful Husband's.

Skinny bones, 2 skulls, and a pelvic bone in Sweet Daughters.

Skinny bones and these two feet in Sweet Son's. Look at the cool set of bones in those feet!

Another angle of the feet. You can even see the joints.

Completely gross, totally amazing, and I am so glad we did it. Then I cleaned the dining room table and floor about 15 times - just to be on the safe side.

Owl Pellet Dissection (2 of 3)

This activity look longer than we expected which was the result of a few things. #1 Gloves make everything more difficult. #2 While our kids have great fine motor skills for their age, this is usually done by older students. #3 Both kids were perfectionists who didn't want to stop until they had searched every little piece of their pellet.

Working intently

He divides it into piles as he goes.

Her organization style was a bit more scattered, haha.

Come back tomorrow for a close up of everything they found.

Dissection Owl Pellets (1 of 3)

When the curriculum calls for dissecting owl pellets we made it a family activity! First, let me assure you owl pellets are not poop from owls. They are owl vomit. Don't you feel better now?

Gloves, white paper to help see the contrast, and tweezers

This is so exciting!

She was too interested to notice me taking photos.

To be continued on Monday