Little Bitty is not so Little Bitty Anymore...

Look how helpful...

folding our hand towels,

Putting your laundry away,

and not many people can beat you to the kitchen...

You Are Always Wanting To Help Cook!

I loved spending the afternoon with you organizing the kitchen cabinets.

You cleaned out your drawer and I cleaned out our homeschool books.

You in that pink hat talking to me like a little lady...

Made my heart smile:-)

I want to remember you like that forever!

Then I look at how big your brothers are getting and I know you are growing bigger everyday...

Just last night you crawled in my lap and told me you loved  me so, so much!

I love you so, so much too!

Snowy Days...

We were blessed with a couple of big snows this year (big for us anyway)

I remember my excitement as a girl when it would snow

and I still get excited watching the happy looks on little ones faces when they peek outside the next morning hoping to see a winter wonderland...

Did it really snow?

Oh yes!

 Time for some fun!

Bo, remember mommy is awesome with a snowball!?!

before the snow melted we were able to build a snow baby and a snow girl!

Trapping and Tanning Class

The boys participated in a trapping and tanning class last week at the local agriplex.

They learned about the history of trapping and fur trading.

They saw lots of traps...live traps...snares...steel traps.

It was very interesting to learn how to find signs of wildlife in an area.

The most exciting part of the night was watching the instructor skin a bobcat that he had found ran over on the side of the road that day...

On the way home I heard lots of ideas for their own trapping adventures...

Upcoming post...live trapping action...

Watch Out...

for Miss Neenzie

with a bow...

she grabbed the bow during laundry time and pointed at Bo

I hear her say,  "I'm about to kill you...say your last words."

Can you tell she has older brothers?

They need to teach her how to hold that bow;-)

Before and After

Before

 

 

After...

 

Surprise in the Guitar Case

Can you believe these boys?

So the boys have been loving Turtleman lately.  We saw it a couple of times on vacation this summer.

We've been watching it on netflix lately, too.

Chris had just finished saying how he was going a little stir-crazy from bring cooped up from surgery for nearly two weeks.

I see Boo walk by the outside window like he is carrying something really heavy.

They had been out in the pasture exploring around the "snaky pond".  So far they have only been allowed around that pond during cold weather...because of all the snakes we've heard about.

I think when I see him walk by they must have found another cow skull to add to their collection.

Bo walks in about that time and says come here and see what Boo has.

I open the door and I am shocked by what I see...

I call Chris out to see what he has caught...he was just as surprised as I was.

Leave it to the boys to get daddy's mind off of being in the house for nearly two weeks;-)

I could tell daddy was beaming with pride...and of course the story cracked us up.

Bo saw the turtle and asked Boo if he wanted to catch it.

Boo asked Bo if he wanted to...Bo said, "No"

Boo assessed the situation and said, "Yes!"

Here's the story...

I saw that his head was under some ice in the pond.

So I knew he couldn't get his head up to bite me.

I saw his tail and picked him up.

See the demonstration...

Mr. Turtle was slow because he was cold.

He started to get warmed up before they got him back to the pond.

He started opening his mouth and hissing at them

Boo says he realizes that he'll be much quicker in warm weather.

He wanted to clamp his mouth shut and kiss him like turtleman...I wouldn't let him go that far;-)

 

Transported To Holland

Temperatures in the single digits for a couple of days allowed us to experience a frozen pond and a frozen ditch in the front yard.

This turned out to be a mini-field trip for our three oldest.

I have been  reading aloud Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates.

Bo, Boo and LouLou went outside on one of the first warmer days after the cold snap.

I heard Bo say, "We're in Holland skating on the canals, come on!"

I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures of their Holland field trip...

one ditch in the front yard turned into a canal in Holland with a little imagination.

Here are the boys sitting at the end of the pond.  They enjoyed kicking chunks of ice across the pond, hoping each piece would make it to the other side.

 

Surprise At The Bottom Of The Laundry Pile

Yes, we have Mt. Laundry in this home...some days 3...4...5 loads to put away.

So the littles each fold and put their laundry away.

Boo brought all the laundry to the over-sized red chair and dumped it in...

right after he had placed little brother in the chair...and when the other kiddos went to get laundry....SURPRISE!

Nature Study Even When It Is Frigid

So we had very cold weather for the south last week.

Boo and LouLou put on their cover-alls and headed out for a walk.

They soon came back in with some nature study excitement.

Boo: "We were walking in the pasture near the creek."  LouLou said, "Do you want to catch a snake?"

and I said, "There ain't no snakes."  LouLou said, "Yea, right there!"

And I looked and saw this snake with his head in the creek buried in the ice...

the snake was dead ...but a very interesting find on a frigid day.

We're not sure but thought he may have gotten caught out in the cold weather.

The temp dropped a couple of nights before very quickly and it hasn't gotten out of the teens since.

Of course the boys wanted to hold the snake the three oldest drew the snake in their nature notebooks.

Boo dug the snake out of the ice...

Bo had been in here doing math...he wishes he would have been along for the adventure

Boo's notebook...blogger rotated the image

Bo's notebook

Welcome 2014

We welcome a new year....

we welcomed a cold 2014 with daddy home recovering from hernia surgery.

We have so enjoyed his time here...slowing down...reading Home Ranch to the boys...playing with Christmas presents...teaching the boys banjo and guitar...waking early each morning for a week putting the boys through "boot camp"(before the surgery of course)...just being here for snuggles and tickles and putting puzzles together...playing Rummikub and Blokus and Monopoly and Wildcraft...watching Netflix together at night... this slow time with one another has been so refreshing...giving us each time to savor moments that we otherwise seem to rush through