Thursday, November 30, 2017

Thanksgiving Part I

We kicked off the week with Thanksgiving themed treats from Elaine's cooking class.
 
 

Then we headed to the land of unending prairie and beautiful sunsets.
 

Where grandpa put Nick to work in a backhoe, cleaning out a pond.
 

There was a little hunting, preparing for hunting, reviewing of the hunting plans.
 

Up close with Number 7.
 

And we turned North.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Veteran's Day 2017

Getting all dolled up for the events.
 

To the Middle School, where our boys are in there, somewhere.
Yet, we never did see them.
 

But there was a lesson on the history of Veteran's Day, where I learned a new thing or two.
 

And the next morning, to the girls' school, where there was singing, celebrating, and honoring.
 

And after all the celebrations, we ditched the luncheon to take the girls out to lunch.
Perfect.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Homework

That is a dog. Not a cat.

I know this because this is a cat.
A dog and a cat.
 
And last Saturday morning Elaine brought me a three ring binder and a full cup of coffee.  It is her cat book and her arguments for adding another family member.
I quickly pointed out that she had some more research to do: how to make it so the dog doesn't eat the cat....

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Renters!

I raked up the leaves in the yard, and then I conscripted the brood to help me bag them up.
 
"Can we jump in them?"
"If you want to rake them back up."
"What if we jumped in them in the park?"
 
And so, that was the day my children took our yard waste across the street to the park and dumped it there.  They played there for an hour, and I had no leaves in my yard for about four hours until a new wind blew down the next batch.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Conversations with Ben

Who adds these things to my grocery list. 
 

And then adds cereal. 
I stopped myself from telling him I wouldn't buy him cereal until he spelled it correctly.
 
But I couldn't stop myself from telling him that power is not a toy, and I already bought you that cereal.  But, I'm hiding it until the other three open boxes in the pantry are eaten.  He waited half an hour, sucked down half a box of Fruity Pebbles, and then casually walked up to me and asked about that cereal? 

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Fishing Season
 

Hunting Season
 

The man who has a sudden interest in the weather and the winds, and can tell you all of these in three spots in the US at any given time.  Next week, we get you for a road trip, and we're sure we'll hear tales.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Won't Be Long

Before rolling eyes meet me instead of these.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Elaine could run this place

Cold and rainy outside?
Wear your warm jacket under your rain jacket. 
We've totally got this Northern weather.
 

But start the day with apple pie made for your family.
Seriously, she took a cooking class, came home and made us breakfast two days later of cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling. 

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Kojo Coding

Last week, we were able to attend the boys' last coding class of the year and try out their maze games they created--think PacMan.
 

Super cool, and they loved it.
The first night Ben got in the car and told me he killed six sprites in an hour all because he didn't know to turn them 90 degrees in the coding.  Instead they would just fly off the screen each time he ran his game.  By the last night, we got to sit down and try to win their maze games.  That's a pretty big turnaround in six weeks.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Happy Halloween

They went to the house with the scary specters, and all the other houses.
 

Elaine because she wanted to be a deer.
Ben because he had no idea what to be and took advantage of Elaine being a deer.
 

That's Harley Quinn, Joker's wanna'be girlfriend from Batman.
 

And, Nick.
Nick wasn't going to go.  Then we made him.
 
And then after 20 minutes, he arrived back with at least four full sized candy bars and a full pack of gum.
Thank you for making me go, he says. And he left to get more.

Most home-made creative award this year--Elaine the doe, who just happens to have some horns.