Oatmeal with Mustard

Yesterday morning Leland was excitedly talking to me about the oatmeal I was cooking. He was telling me what he wanted on it: "Honey and budder and honey and budder and honey and budder and honey and budder and honey and ..." You get the idea.
So we were teasing him a little, "Do you want...honey on it??"
"Yeah!"
"Do you want butter??""
"Yeah!!"
And then, just being silly, "Do you want mustard on it?"
"Yeah!!"

Well what do you know, after I had fixed his oatmeal with honey and butter he started crying. When I finally got him calmed enough to understand what he was upset about he told me, "Want mustard on it!"

So, yeah, my two year old ate not one, but three, bowls of oatmeal with honey and butter and mustard on it yesterday for breakfast.

Happy Halloween!

The Conductor, almost ready to go trick-or-treating

Admiring our Jack-O-Lanterns The boys wanted them to have round eyes, and be very happy.

He-who will-not-be-photographed. Also He-who-will-not-dress-up. He told me he wanted to, "not BE anything, just wear rainbow clothes," so there ya go.

Waiting for trick-or-treaters

Chickens go away!

I'm trying to sit on the lawn and do my German homework. The kids are occupied, but the chickens won't leave me be! Ack!

A new plant species?

James, after seeing a picture of an oat plant on a Cheerios box, "Mama, is that the plant that Cheerios grow on?"

New friends and old friends

Isaac, James, Kevin with Stella, and Michael with Leland.

James and Isaac

GABF

This picture cannot capture the huge size of the great american beer festival! Lots of fun, more than lots of beer.

Leland goes for stitches- again

You know what the important thing is about cutting your hand and getting stitches?

The nurse gives out really cool toys! James is showing off the top he got and Leland is showing the firetruck, which he held onto the entire time while the doctor stitched his hand. We were in the backyard today and he was carrying a metal box and fell down with it in his hands. He cut the base of his thumb- about 3/4 inches long, but didn't hit any ligaments, whew! The doctor and nurse said he was a joy to work on. He was chatting with them the whole time, telling about his chickens and kitties and saying the doctor was funny when he made chicken sounds. We're home now, bandaged up, but in good spirits thankfully.

Being Read to Is the Best

Our friend Erika recently gave the boys two Richard Scary books about Busy town. They are really in love wih these books as there is SO much to look at- all different stories about what people do all day. This morning I walked into the boys room and found James, "reading" to Leland on the bottom bunk.

Boys + mud =

Happy

Know what this means?

Our younger chickens are starting to lay! The little egg is the first we've gotten from the hens we got this Spring (we think it's from Rock Crusher.) The other two are from our older gals. Soon we'll be getting six eggs a day!

Papa's Are Really Good For:

Airplane rides!

And romping and stepping upon.


And COOL things like motorcycles.


We're so fast! Papa even stands behind us and says VROOM and jiggles the bike to make it feel like we're really going somewhere. We're such big kids that Papa even let us open the cap to the gas tank and tell him if there is gas in there. We're very good helpers like that.

The glasses just keep on giving.

Got dirt?

The boys are happy anywhere they can play on a dirt pile. We were about to head home from the pond when they spied this one.

The dudes

So cool...

Micro-Soccer!

Cleats, check. Shin guards, check. Team Shirt, check. Yup, he is ready. He plays for the Green Deer; the team's choice for their name.

James started Micro-Soccer this weekend and had his first 'practice' last night. It was largely an exercise of Coach Kevin herding cats... James played for the whole scrimmage against the Orange Scorpions without a break and helped to score one goal. Next time you talk with James, be sure to ask about soccer.

Time to climb

We found a great rock pile to explore this afternoon, out off A-1 mountain road. I think we'll come camping out here sometime.

Window and Landscaping

We've made some changes to the front yard- for before and after photos click on the photo above! Note the 22 tons of rock- that's why we had kids...

Garden Safety

When gardening, safety is a paramount concern. Our gardening staff takes this responsibility very seriously. We believe in both hand and foot protection when working; sometimes using the same safety gear.

My that glass is clean...

Or actually it's not even there. Today Michael is installing the new front window we got earlier this year. Yay! No more ice on the inside of our house in the winter. It is, however, monsoon season right now. Knock on wood this project goes smoothly!