Summer Days

Time Flies When…

…swimming in the pool

…checking for fresh eggs

…petting baby bunnies

…riding big boy bikes and trikes

…growing garden goodies

Time Flies When…

…visiting and playing with friends

…going to vacation bible school

…going to cub scout day camp

…celebrating birthdays

…hanging out with the family

Time Flies When…

…watching dragonflies

…catching lightning bugs

…listening to martins

…capturing tiny toadlets

…watching clouds in the sky

Time Flies When…

…going on a camping trip

…fishing in clear Missouri streams

…kayaking for the first times

…skipping rocks in the water

…finding a tarantula on the camper tire!

Time Flies When…

…conducting fun science experiments

…building forts in the house

…racing hot wheels

…making lego creations

…pretending to be cowboys

Time Flies When…

…devouring pumpkin blossoms

…picking garden goodies

…canning salsa

…baking zucchini bread

…trying watermelon for the first time

What has kept time flying for you this summer???????

Lego Mania

Yes, we have hit that stage…  The age of legos!  The boys have scored big in lego sets between Christmas and Birthdays.  Many afternoons are spent building, and building, and building.  And once in a while creations are taken apart, pieces to be used for a new creation.  Last weekend we opened a couple of more new sets and built a fire rescue brigade.  Braden and I built a fire boat, and Riley built the fire rescue truck.  Braden’s approach is to grab a little life boat and a mini figure and play at the table as I do the rest.  Every few minutes he checks my progress and goes back to his guys. 

 

Legos are right up Riley’s alley.  He loves the detail of putting something together and does great at following along with the instructions.  He is determined and focused.  He likes seeing the finished product.  He then likes to take things apart and rebuild it.  All is good unless someone (a.k.a. Dad) has made modifications to the original.  That throws him off.  We are working to encourage him to create his own ideas and be flexible with substituting pieces if he can’t find the exact one the instructions show.  He will get it… 

 

Of course, once the build is finished it is time to play!  We had quite the entourage of lego rescue vehicles in the living room.  I felt quite safe!  (TeeHee)  TanMan even gets in on the action once he wakes up from his naps.  (Most lego building is done while TanMan sleeps.  He has a tendency to latch on to a handful of legos and stake claim to them, not wanting to give them up for ANY reason whatsoever!)  He grabbed a little life boat and fought with Braden over a couple of guys, then was content to play along with the big boys.

Braden just grabbed his helicopter and headed off on his own.  Easier than having that pesky little bother brother following him around.

 

See…  Quite the crew!  Perserverance and determination resulted in one mega fire boat, one ladder truck, three helicopters, and a rescue truck.  Not bad for a couple of hours of building.

A View from the cam…

As promised here is one of the recent views from my new camera instead of a view of the camera. 

 

You can imagine where this could all lead as time goes on.  Any ideas to offer to my dearest husband for future views?  I am sure he would be delighted to help provide some footage for you.

One Year Ago…

I started blogging!!!  Wow!  I got off to a good start, getting posts on fairly often, yet lately time seems to be vanishing before I my eyes.  Life is still full of adventures.  Boys are crazy as always.  There is never a dull moment…  Maybe that is the problem!  I need a few dull moments so that I am not too tired to get posts put together.  =)  Regardless, I will do my absolute best to get some updates on here a bit more often.

We have spent a lot of time inside recently.  I think I am getting wimpy in my older more mature days.  I can’t stand to be out in the cold and wind.  Give me snow, and I am all for it.  But cold, brown, gray, dreary days of winter?  Nevermind, I will sit inside the warmth of my cozy abode sipping hot tea and watching the boys play. 

I got a new camera.  Intentions are to have it with me to take more pictures and even video when we are on the go.  The first couple of times it would have been handy to have, it was left on the computer cabinet.  Fail!  This will take some getting used to.  Never fear, it has been getting broken in around the house.  Check out my fabulous new camera.

Not exactly what I envisioned my new camera getting used for, but it kept the boys occupied for a good bit.  I am sure that this could just be the start of many train cam/pedal car cam/bike cam/kite cam/etc. ideas to come.  Must get cheaper little key fob cam for Ross soon!!!!!

See you again soon with more pics from the camera instead one of the camera.

BOO!!!!!!

Hope we didn’t frighten you too much!!!!

Albeit a little late, we decided to tackle a little pumpkin carving.  The boys have been wanting to do this.  I got the pumpkins about a week ago, and there isn’t much time left before Halloween.  It is now or never, at least never this year.  Why not?  Might have been a  bit stressful, but overall we had a great time.  The looks on their faces as they each held their finished masterpiece was well worth the mess of pumpkin goo all over the kitchen. 

 

Boys waited patiently, very interested in what the inside of a pumpkin looks like.

(You see…  We have not done this since Riley was just a wee little tike about TanMan’s age.  Time just slips away oh so darn fast!)

Digging into the first one.  Everyone was intrigued by what the insides looked like. 

Riley was the only one eager to dig in with his bare hands to tackle the cleaning out mess.  He was a huge help getting the slimy goo off of all the seeds, although he couldn’t believe that it is really o.k. to eat the seeds.  We will have to roast some and let him try them out for himself.

This takes soooo much time!  Everyone diligently stuck with the task at hand.   All was well until Braden got some goo on his sleeve!  Oh he did not like that!  After we assured him that the shirt would come perfectly clean when washed, he was good to go again.  =)

TanMan wasn’t having anything to do with touching that stuff though!  He armed himself with the long handled spoon and gingerly dug in.  He was fine as long as we didn’t need to use the spoon.

Oooooh!  Look at the stringiness.  Time to clean out pumpkin number two!

Riley and Ross take on the job.  Other boys just sit aside and wait.

Finally!!!!  Time to carve ‘em up!

Riley picked out a ghost pattern that I found.  He wanted a little bit of a spooky pumpkin.

Tanner thought it was fun to watch Riley punch his design into the pumpkin.  Riley did a great job of getting the pattern outlined and ready to cut out while I helped Braden carve his.

TanMan remained in his perch for the entire duration of the carving process.  Even though he was not carving, he DID NOT want to miss out on one second of the excitement.

Braden and I used teamwork to cut out his BOO!  He was very patient about it and let me help him with all of it.  Whew!  Might have had a funny looking boo otherwise. 

Riley did an awesome job helping me cut out his ghost.  He is so patient, and loves the detail.  I have a feeling his pumpkins will get more elaborate in years to come.

 

Once the carving was done, each boy proudly showed off his pumpkin.  I think they look super!  TanMan had to have a pumpkin too.  Maybe next year he will get to carve one, but for now he is sporting the little accent pumpkin.

 

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!

Last Summer Adventure

So the other day (Tuesday) Ross called while he was at work.  He does this…  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Here is how the conversation went…

Ross: “When does Riley start school again?” 

Me:  “Next Wednesday.  Why?”

Ross:  “We never did get to go to the Magic House this summer.  You really wanted take the boys before the end of summer didn’t you?”

Me:  “Yeah.  But that is o.k.  Maybe we can go some weekend this fall.”

Ross: “So…  Want to take the boys to the Magic House tomorrow?” 

Ummm…  I am much a planner.  I don’t like to do big things last minute.  I must have time to absorb and prepare, mentally and physically.  This was a mere 16 hours before we would be leaving to drive to St. Louis the next day if we decided to go.  I tend to worry and fret when I am rushed.  I need to pack snacks, drinks, and and and stuff!  That takes TIME!  And an extra set of hands would sure be nice to take 3 boys to a big children’s museum.  Are we sure that we can make this work?  

Me:  “Let me think about this and absorb a little.”  (And see if anyone else can go with us!)

Ross did convince me that everything would be fine.  I got everything together and ready to roll everyone out the door quickly the next morning.  We got around in good time and didn’t run too late.  (Run late?  Like we had a strict timeline to keep!  I do that to myself.)  The boys were excited!  Riley settled in for the couple hour ride.  Braden was trying to absorb what exactly was going on.  

Braden:  “Where are we going?”  a few minutes later…  “What are we going to do?  Where are we going?”

When we finally got to the Magic House, the fun began!  We spent almost 5 hours there and still didn’t do everything.  We covered most of the museum, but passed a few parts here and there.  Check out the fun.  It was awesome!!!!!!!! 

  Riley hoisted himself about 5 feet in the air!  He thought the pulleys were really cool!

  TanMan took right to going across this plank.  He had to try a couple of times to get brave enough to start, but then there was no slowing him down.  He just grinned as he looked through the net at the people below, and shimmied his way to the other side.  Then back again, and across again.  Over and over for a few minutes.

 

Boy in a bubble!  He got it almost up to his waist before it popped.  The bubble room was pretty fun.  Too bad it was soooo crowded.  We decided to move on so that we could check out more areas.

  Time to “eat.”  Braden is serving up some pizza at the Pasta House.  Every children’s museum that we go to, the boys are pulled in to the cooking/eating/grocery stuff.  It is fun to watch them in action.  Then we repeat the scenario for days at home afterward.  Braden has been cooking cinnamon rolls almost every day this week.  Even Tanner has been cooking up some sort of concoction and offering it to us.    “Here.  Here.  Here.”  Tanner is sharing his pizza.

  Braden is busy cooking, cleaning, and talking on the phone in the kitchen.  Riley and Tanner showing Daddy how to play the piano.

  We had a bit of a hair raising time while at the Magic House!  The electostatic sphere has been there for years!  Braden and Tanner both thought it was pretty cool.  TanMan’s hair did a great job of standing up!    Having a great time!  This was a tunnel under some sort of long cabinet.  A sign at the beginning said something about wiggle like a worm.  Not sure what kind of connection it had to anything in the area since I did not read the rest of the sign.  Oops!  All I know is that the boys loved this!  All three crawled through the tunnel, got up, and RAN back to the start over and over and over and over and over and over…   

A rare picture of all three boys at the same time.  This might have been the only one of the day that everyone was facing the camera too!  Again wiggling through the tunnel.

Tending to the fire at the Lewis and Clark encampment.  I love the fact that Tanner and Braden are working together. 

 

Definitely a fun day!  The boys were all exhausted by the time we loaded back into the van.  I am sure that we will have to go back again sometime.  We will pick a cooler time so that we can enjoy a few of the outdoor areas of the museum too.  There was no way we were going to spend more time than it took to eat on this 100+ degree day!

We are now counting down the days until the start of school.  Riley is getting excited and nervous at the same time.  He is like me, doesn’t care for change.  He will do great and have a blast in first grade though!  Riley and I got to spend a couple of hours in the pool today and hope to do pool time again tomorrow.  We are going to head to the nature center near us on Tuesday to finish up the last days of this sweltering summer vacation!  We are looking forward to fall, cooler days, camping trips, and just getting outside more!