Simple Sunday

I can't believe it has taken me 9 days to get these posted! Referring back to the last post...yeah...it has been super busy around here! Just pretend they're from this past Sunday, and it won't seem so bad. :)

Anyway, J was gone most of the day on a freelance shoot for a local church. So the kids and I had to decide what to do with ourselves for the day. We had nowhere that we needed to be, the weather was lovely, the choice was simple really...

We packed up and headed out to the farm!

The kids could happily spend hours there just palling around, and did.

First, a picnic.

Little Sis reeeally enjoyed her juice box apparently!

The boys wolfed down their food as fast as possible and hurried off to explore,

leaving the ants to enjoy the crumbs.

Big Sis and Little Sis entertained themselves for a considerable amount of time pulling leaves out of the water trough and "painting" with them.

The boys returned only every once in a while, to check in, and show me what they'd found.

This time, a flower for me!

After the water trough was sufficiently de-leafed, the girls decided to take a walk too.

Though their brand of exploring involves much less battle crying and sword wielding than their brothers'.

"[Brother] I am too allowed to go over there!"

From my place on the picnic blanket, I caught a glimpse of Big Sis telling Younger Brother how it is.

The boys get memos like this often!

Can you spot the butterfly Little Sis was chasing?

Back from battle, I see.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Princess A...

She was thoroughly enjoying sticks and leaves and farm field things as well!

And I can't forget to mention the very best part of all!

All of the kids love to help take care of the horses.

Big Sis especially is a true horse girl at heart.

The last time she came out with me, she spent a full 2 hours cleaning stalls, dusting cobwebs, and scrubbing the algae out of the water trough with a toilet brush...happily!

She works hard!

(For those who have recently joined my blog, click here for more to the story.)

*

For the boys, it's all about fun.

Tossing out goodies from under the pear tree and watching the horses scramble for them falls in that category for sure.

"Hey Mom, you have a lot of poop to clean up (giggle)."

(Brought to you by your, "Boy Humor" moment of the day.)

Ace and Little Sis always seem to like to visit at this same gate for some reason. He always comes over to see her.

We ended up spending a good 3 hours or so just hanging out.

Princess A was infinitely patient as usual!

It's so nice to have such a peaceful, idyllic place to steal away to for the day.

Thanks Mr. A and Mrs. R for always sharing your amazing farm with us!

:)

Losing Light

It has been one crazy busy weekend!

My one-legged camera (one-legged because my best lens took a nasty accidental blow from a 2yo with a rock) took somewhere in the vicinity of 1500 photos this weekend.

One of them being this shot of the flowers at sunset that I took as I was packing up to head back home tonight.

Now it's time to begin the task of going through everything that has been taken, and hopefully some pics of my own that I've been wanting to post!

Biggest Brother, Younger Brother, Big Sis, Little Sis, and Princess Aurora had quite the time at the farm, and of course mom took pictures....which may have had a little something to do with the aforementioned rock to the lens incident! You know, not to name names or anything. ;)

Outside World

Guess what?

I can reach the windowsill now!

Wowwww!
:)

Bountiful Harvest

Biggest Brother's garden has done exceptionally well this year.

He started these tomatoes from seeds under Aunt L's indoor grow lights.

And today when the boys went out to look for a few ripe tomatoes, they came back with all of this!

I'm glad he has a green thumb, because plants just hurry up and die when they see me coming to save themselves the torture!

:)

A Country Life For Me

Surely somewhere in the Good Book it must say...

God created children,

and farms for them to play on.

And it was good.

Sidekicks And Siblings That Weren't

I looked up from pushing Princess A on the swing to discover that I was being hunted. Being that Biggest Brother has taken a great interest in the Lord of the Rings series lately, and judging by his attire, I assumed that Legolas was my crouching foe.

I was close.

According to him, he was not Legolas, but rather Legolas's brother, "Crystal."

Crystal?!

(I'm pretty sure that Legolas did NOT have a brother by the name of, "Crystal.")

He was not convinced.

*

Crystal is apparently a fearsome warrior!

The backyard kingdom fell to him

in a matter of minutes.

*

Little Sis was highly impressed!

Can't you tell?

(Truth be told, she had successfully tuned out the entirety of the commotion around her.)

***

But not everyone was so unmindful of the events at hand.

Or more specifically, the capturing on camera of the events at hand.

*

If you don't know of whom I speak?

Then here's a clue.

Need another clue?

*

Yes indeed.

Faster than a boy in front of a combine summons Superman,

a boy, or more accurately anyone, in front of a camera summons...

dum-da-da-dum-dum-dum-daaaaa

PoseALot!

Oh PoseALot, we've missed you these past few posts.

:)

Tiny Tumbler

Little Sis had her very first gymnastics class yesterday! She was sooo excited! It proved to be a bit of a challenge finding a leotard small enough in the arms and legs to fit her. But we ventured up to the nearest dance store where we discovered two to choose from. One was light blue with silver sparkles and the other black with hot pink hearts. I didn't have to guess which one she would pick! :) She looked so preciously adorable, I just had to snap a few pics on our way out the door to class.

Every week she goes and watches the boys play soccer, and Big Sis in her gymnastics class. So it was pretty special for her to get to go to something just for her.

She was just a little bit proud!

Can you tell?!

*

I didn't want to be the crazy mom with the camera on the first day of class, because believe it or not, I do strive to not have a camera in my children's faces all the time! :)

But I'm definitely going to need to capture a few sneak peeks one of these weeks.

Her class does all of the same things the big kids do; vault, uneven bars, balance beam.

And oh my goodness! Her little 22lb pigtailed self running down the lane to the vault was just too much stinkin' cuteness for me!