Nature Walk

It was so beautiful out today I finally took the kids out on the nature walk I had been promising for weeks. We headed out to a nearby park with a couple of trails. I gave each kid a ziploc bag with their name on it to collect their nature treasures in. John was excited to find acorns and pinecones, only to discover that neither were anywhere to be found. He settled for rocks, sticks, and leaves.

There was a lot of running. John kept making starting and finishing lines on the trail and then having the girls race him. He was very excited that he continuously won. Poor girls. Their little legs just couldn't keep up.

About halfway through our walk we came up to a creek that we could climb down to. The kids all had a blast throwing rocks and sand into the water. Natalie kept getting a little too close to the water though. I was just imaging her slipping in and having to walk all the way back to the car with a sopping wet, cold, 2 year old.

After playing by the water for a while we headed back to the trail. I found a tree to put the kids in for cute pictures. We had a talk before we left that everyone would walk the whole way and I was not carrying anyone. They all agreed. Apparently Natalie forgot about 3/4 of the way through though and had a nice screaming fit.

After our walk we went over to the playground to kill some time before lunch. Before I even had the girls jackets off of them John ran over the monkey bars, grabbed on, swung his feet out, and landed flat on his back. He was screaming as I ran over and kept sputtering that he couldn't talk. He had gotten the wind knocked out of him pretty bad. Thank goodness he was already moving by the time I got to him because as soon as I saw him fall I was preparing myself for him to be paralyzed. I think he took a few years off my life. The other mothers at the playground just kind of glared at me. Like I really wanted my kid to get hurt! He's fast, and he's never tried the monkey bars by himself so when he ran to the playground I didn't think I needed to be hovering over him. Plus, I have 2 other little ones to watch. Accidents happen people! Regardless, 2 minutes later he was running around again and all was well.

Continuing Tradition

When I was a kid my dad had bowling league on Friday nights. While he was out, my mom would set up a picnic dinner for us in the living room. Generally it was pizza, applesauce, and nasty Vienna sausages. The latter was only eaten by my mom and brother. Just the smell of them makes me sick. We would sit on towels on the floor and watch all the TGIF shows, Full House, Family Matters, etc. It was nothing crazy exciting, but it was something we all looked forward to each week.

Tonight, while Mike was gone deer hunting I decided the kids and I would do the same. Since the good old TGIF shows aren't on anymore (and my kids are a little too young for them anyway) we hit up the video store and rented Mary Poppins and then swung by Imo's for pizza and salad. YUM! The kids were so excited to get to eat in the living room. We set out our towels and had our own little picnic. After dinner I made some popcorn, turned out the lights, and we had our own little movie showing complete with chocolate covered raisins, which were a big hit. I don't know if this will be an every week thing as they are still pretty young but it was fun to carry on a tradition.

Woo hoo!!!

Rebecca peed in the potty! Rebecca peed in the potty!! Just once, but she did it!!!

Rebecca the Arsonist

Conversation in the car today

John: I want to be a fireman. I'm going to drive one of the big green firetrucks and Natalie is going to ride with me.

Me: That would be a good job. You could help people if their houses catch on fire.

John: Yeah!

Rebecca: I want to catch people's houses on fire.