No Pooping please!

Remember the new castle?

Conversation just now between Grant's pony and Grace's pony......

 Grant (talking for the pony) (pony knocking on the castle door) - Can I come in?

Grace (talking for her pony inside the castle) - Who is it?

Grant - It's Green Tootie!! (remember our lack of naming skills!)

Grace - OK.  We're having a tea party today.  You can come in, but no pooping in the castle!!

Grant - OK, I won't poop.

Honestly, where does this stuff come from?!

Black and Blue

Today David and I went to the farm........

me - to clean house like it never gets cleaned when we're only there for a weekend

David - to work on the farm stuff needing worked on

I cleaned

He worked

We took a break and drove to town to get a sandwich at a little Amish deli.

Great food!!

Sat on the porch to eat our sandwiches from the litttle Amish deli.

Cleaned some more - me

Worked some more on the farm stuff - David

picked MORE beans and cucumbers

Anyone want some fresh free cucumbers???

after much cleaning and working, we decided to go for a drive back to the creek before we closed up shop for the day to head back to the other home where the saintly babysitter was watching our four kids....

now for the 'black' part of my little tale........

figured it out yet?

how about now?

We were an hour or more late getting home because we had to stop and pick the first crop of blackberries this year.  We were surprised to find them ready so early, but they were plentiful and sweet. 

Wish I'd worn something besides shorts and sandals!!

I'll remember to go more prepared to battle the thorns next trip.

Now for the blue.........

As an added bonus, we checked the orchard before we left for the day.

I picked my first (and only) blueberry of the season.

I'm hoping the new bushes do just a bit better next year!!

I was thrilled though with having even one this year!!!

Hmmmmm, wonder how I should fix it to eat???

Our cucumbers are plentiful.  I've been giving them to babysitters and neighbors.

Admire the cucumbers (and cherry tomato too). 

Ignore the mess.

I smell a blackberry cobbler somewhere in my future!!!!!!

Anyone want to come share?

Feathered Friends - Updated

A little commentary to go with the pictures.......

Back to the zoo once again.

We stopped by the lorakeet cage where we had never stopped before.  For a small fee guests can feed nectar to the birds.  The kids like the idea and apparently the birds like it too.



See the bird perched on top of Grace's head??

See Grant's tennis shoes on Grace's feet?

Yes, we got to the zoo and Grace only had one of her shoes.

Luckily, Grant had two pairs of his shoes in the car.  Grant was happy to share his shoes with Grace!

Grant wasn't quite so sure about the bird situation, but he held very still anyway.

I just prayed he wouldn't "love" a bird to death.....didn't want the guilt of innocent bird blood on our hands.

 

Grace's hair is a total disaster in these pictures (worse than even what I consider tolerable)

because she just got out of the zoo's splash park.  She fixed her own hair after getting dressed.

Who's going to argue with independence when it comes to a little girl's hair?

She was proud of it....so it was good enough for me too!

I got luck enough to catch all four kids holding birds at the same time.

This really wasn't a posed shot!!

 

This little guy perched on my shoulder to say hello so I turned the camera around and took a picture of him while he was still sitting on my shoulder. 

'And a good time was had by all'

The end

My Little Pony

Packages around our house can contain a world of different things.

Once in a while a newly opened package will provide

an afternoon of fun for the kids

and peace and quiet for mom.

Notice the rowdy, rotten roughhousing rabble playful three year old in this picture preparing to flatten his older brother.

John smiling in spite of his battle wounds.

Emily used to have a My Little Pony Castle just like this one.

It played the most charming most ear piercing, obnoxious tune.

I got along pretty well with the castle until the off switch broke.  At that point you could turn the castle ON, but the only way to turn it OFF was to take out the batteries.

My ears had had enough at that point.

I gladly donated the castle to charity so some other mother could share my pain let her child play with it too.

Unfortunately, my then two year old Grace saw the castle in the back of the car on the way to Goodwill.  She fell in love instantly and hasn't stopped talking about it since then.

I told her I didn't give it to charity, that it was in the attic (total lie) hoping to get her to stop talking about it long enough to forget it ever existed.

Fast forward three years and she is still talking about the pony castle.

She finally wore me down.

I found one on ebay and now.....

I'm right back to listening to that song once again.

If the off switch ever breaks,.......it goes in the trash this time!!

Grant's dirty little secret

Grant is that child that is rugged, fun, carefree, and into everything. 

He can find fun in the most mundane of things. 

He loves his trucks.

He loves to play in the water.

He loves to play so hard with things they often break.

He has a very sharing spirit.  He will share ANYTHING he's asked to share.

He loves to jump into the pool whether anyone is there to catch him or not.

He loves to climb anything taller than himself. 

He has a dirty little secret though.

He loves to wear his sister's dress-up stuff.

Grant knows his dad doesn't like it when he plays dress-up.

He has boy stuff for firemen, policemen, knights, astronauts and more,

but he really loves him some jewelery and fake fingernails though

The other day he came out wearing all of Grace's pretty princess game jewelery.

He saw me dive for the camera and he RAN to hide behind the couch to rip it all off.

He was in a panic that he was caught red handed!

He "gets it" that the stuff is for girls,

but he is still really likin' it right now.

I'm not worried though.

He's too rough and tumble to ever worry me if he chooses to clip on a dangly earring every now and then.

I kind of figure it will just be good blackmail material when he's older and all macho.

Now his dad.....that's another story.

What guy wouldn't be a little concerned over his young son crossdressing??

Summer Days

Doesn't everyone wear a princess dress, a wedding veil and "glass" slippers while watching their favorite TV show??

You mean they don't?!

When I said take your snocones outside, I never imagined such an orderly scene. 

I walked back in to get the camera I was so impressed.

This guy was the smart one....he sat in the shade to eat his so it wouldn't melt as quickly.

Recipe for fun

Summer excitement

 

can require nothing more than

 

 

two bored kids and two scrubbing pads.

 

 JUST ADD WATER 

I vote Creation

One of the first things we did this summer was visit the Creation Museum near Cincinnati.

It is a HUGE, beautiful place dedicated to explaining the biblical viewpoint on scientific evidence accepted as fact by today's researchers.

I felt like I learned a lot.  I know John and Emily did too.

Grace and Grant just thought it was a cool place to play for the day.

That's OK too.

It made me think about a lot of things I'd never considered before.

In addition to the HUGE, beautiful indoor displays, they also had a HUGE outdoor garden area.

We spent about four hours looking around and no way near saw everything.

Grace and Grant especially loved the petting zoo out by the gardens.

What kid doesn't love a petting zoo.

Oh, true confessions.....

I will once again be nominated for worst parent of the year, because.....

our zoo at home has a petting zoo.

The kids ask what that fenced in place with the animals is each time we pass by it.

I always tell them it is a place for the zoo workers to work with special animals (not a lie).

They never ask if they can go inside...and I never volunteer that little piece of information.

In ten years of going to that zoo, I have NEVER taken my kids into the petting zoo area.

I plan on keeping my record for a bit longer too, so DON'T TELL THEM!

Fine Fotos of Four plus Doorknob

My Four Favorite Kids

in no particular order....

hamming it up for the cameraman girl

Grant and "door" (the puppy formerly known as doorknob)

This has to be my favorite!

Want a Puppy?

Look what we found at the farm......

Ronnie, the tennant at the farm, has two litters of puppies......

 The kids went crazy for them.           

I think the puppies were pretty crazy for the kids too!

Cheer up Meg.  We still love you most!

********************************

While John and Emily were off enjoying their week at camp last week,

David and I loaded up the Grace and Grant for a day at the zoo.

Enjoy the pictures.

They are courtesy of David's new camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monkeying  gorilla-ing around!!!

 

Playing with the interactive displays at the gorilla forest...

 

Cooling of at the splash park....

And finally "learning the ropes" on the ropes course two stories in the air. 

Thanks for visiting...

please watch your step as you exit the safari vehicle!!!