Dirt, Birthday Party, and Cards

The dirt is here!!! Yesterday Paul’s dirt arrived we had a mound of delivered to the street Friday evening. This meant that today was spent moving this dirt from the front to the back yard. Everyone pitched in to help, Nathan, Kayla, Emily, Maddie and me!! For a while it was me filling the wheel barrow while Paul hauled it to the back yard. The kids would fill Kayla’s gardening bucket and wheel that to the back. It was too sweet and a lot of fun out their together hauling dirt!!

Once we finished that it was time hurry and clean the street level off the dirt in the garden walls and take baths before going to a birthday party. Nathan had a birthday party for one of the boys in his Scout Troup. It was a t an indoor bouncy play area. The kids had a blast playing, although Kayla was slow to warm to the idea, once I forced her to come play with Emily and I she had a blast.

After the birthday party we came home to finish dinner and tidying up the house for our friends Mr. and Mrs. Grundmeier came over for dinner and cards. It was a good night and reminded me of the good times we had in England and Spain staying up to the wee hours of morning playing cards.

visit with Gram and Pop

Mom and Dad are here!! They called Monday and said that they would be stopping by on their way to Mississippi to visit Dan and Emily. It was a quick stop but good to have them come through. Riley had a good time harassing Sally and Sally is get use to him, I think. She still tries to act like she is tough, but really she is not. If Riley put is paw down he would squash her, yet he seems to be intimidated by her. They will be back through on their back to OKC, so we will see them again on Monday then they are planning to stay until Thursday morning.

the begining

...and so it begins. Last weekend Paul bought the wood to build the frame for his garden and today he began the building process.

B.B. Gun

Today Paul took Nathan out to the back field and let him practice with his B.B. gun. Paul said that Nathan took the directions very well and was a good student. Nathan came in and was proud of his target. He seems to have enjoyed that time with his daddy.

ma in her kercheif...

Today we were playing out front and since we are having a "deep freeze" it was colder than normal outside, Kayla and Emily put on hats and gloves. Well, Emily liked the idea of wearing a hat so much that she decide that she wanted to wear one to bed. Yes, I tried to control the situation and tell her no, but then I thought about it and realized that it was not a fight worth fighting so off to bed she went with her hat!!

Success!!

We received our little caterpillars in the mail early December, and we watched them grow and grow until they were BIG fat caterpillars. Then we hauled them to Oklahoma City where we watched them turn into little cocoon's and then they emerged as pretty butterflies. We were excited that all 5 of them survived and are feeding them oranges to keep them alive until this cold snap warms up a bit and I can release them out into the wild. Yes, I am pretty sure they will not live very long out there as it is too cold and I think they will have a hard time finding food, but as long as they do not return to the yard and the kids find their dead bodies laying around all will be well.

Pre-Christmas Celebrations

Before we left for Christmas break the kids had some Christmas performances that we attended. Nathan’s was with the kindergarten through the 4th grades and they sang songs in the church. There were a lot of people there but we were fortunate enough to find a place to sit and listen to it all. Nathan was a little reserved in his performance, but when it came time to sing “Go tell it on the Mountain”, he was having a good time. After the show they had cookies and punch in the parish hall and it was PACKED!! Kayla’s class had a live nativity, children were dressed up as Mary Joseph, a cow and most were angels. They sang Christmas Carols and it was a nice performance. Then with Nathan’s Boy Scout troop they sang Christmas Carols at the nursing home and then we went back to the gym where we had a Christmas party and the kids could sit on Santa’s lap and get a gift. Emily and Maddie wanted NOTHING to do with Santa, but Nathan and Kayla (with some help) sat on his lap. Nathan was given his pine wood derby car and Kayla was given a Christmas coloring book.

Happy New year!!

Emily got all dressed up to wish you a New Year full of joy and laughter and more happy memories than sad ones. Have a great Year, and make the most of wherever you are!!