tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69165756818855137512024-03-13T09:37:03.156-07:00The Williams'ziz: You+Me=FAMILYAll of the info you may, or may not, want to know about us...Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-7644482086908534582015-01-29T08:01:00.000-08:002015-01-29T08:01:02.825-08:00The varied moods of Eli<div style="text-align: center;">
I have now done a post about Shiloh, the Birthday Boy, and a post about Micah, the other Birthday Boy. I figured I couldn't skip the opportunity to update you on my middle boy. </div>
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This change from being the baby of the family to a big brother has been an interesting one for Eli. It seems that he loves the baby, but he is quite moody. He will swing from end of the spectrum to the other in no time at all. This was already common for E, but now it just seems to happen more frequently.</div>
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For the most part, Eli is a pretty happy go lucky kind of kid. He is great at playing on his own. He is great at making believe and getting lost in the fog of childhood. He loves to laugh and play with Shiloh too, especially if it has anything to do with building, or as he would say it "boding", or if it is playing with cars. He is loud and cannot quite figure out being quiet. We are working on our inside voice.</div>
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This is usually what we get with Eli. He is a bit of a ham.</div>
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This is what happens when I can't stop nursing Micah and do exactly what Eli wants me to right then. There is no patience in the world of a two year old, and unfortunately, that is exactly what having a new baby brother around calls for.</div>
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He will get used to it right?</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-86052562554811714982015-01-29T07:50:00.003-08:002015-01-29T07:50:57.920-08:00More of the Micah... and a little of the rest of us too<div style="text-align: center;">
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I know that I haven't put anymore pictures of Micah on since he was first born, and let me tell you, this kid has grown! He is a champion eater and fusser! Almost every week, when my midwife comes, he has grown another pound. I am not used to that kind of growing, but I will take it. It makes me way less worried about if he is getting enough to eat, because, well... he is getting enough. He weighs in just under 11 pounds at just shy of a month old.</div>
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The older boys adore him. They can't wait for this little one to start noticing them. I think we will hit a whole new high when this guy can smile back at them or even just notices that they are talking to him. We have to be careful when Eli holds him because when he is done, he is done, and he will just shove the baby off and jump down from the couch.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was a rough start for Eli to warm up to Micah but now all he wants is for him to be close.</td></tr>
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Micah's first bath, kind of. JonnaLu and I gave Micah his first bath. It didn't go so well. I thought that surely we would get a picture of it, but he was screaming and squirming and he knocked the plug out of the sink with his foot and all of the hot water ran down the drain and JonnaLu was trying to frantically get more water in while I was trying to hold onto a squirming, slippery baby. We called it quits and wrapped him up. Then we took a picture. </div>
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We tried it again. Same results. Again, a picture of the aftermath. He sure is cute all wrapped up in a towel, less so whilst screaming in the water. We have gotten into a better bathtime groove with him. He now like a solid 75% of the baths we give him. A definite improvement from the beginning.</div>
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We love having Micah around. He is fussy. He doesn't sleep well, but he makes our family feel complete. Here is to hoping that the next month of Micah will be a little more well rested and a little less fussy.</div>
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I congratulate you if you got to the bottom of this post. It was a long one.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-73545299182484843672015-01-29T07:18:00.000-08:002015-01-29T07:18:50.406-08:00Shiloh and Motherhood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tomorrow marks the four year anniversary of me stepping into the grand challenge called motherhood. That also means that it is Shiloh's Birthday tomorrow. I can't believe he will be four. Actually, the funny things is, he has been saying he was four for a couple of weeks now. In case you missed it, we had a baby at the beginning of this month. Since Ken's mom was here helping out with all of the baby jazz and toddler jazz and Kenny knee surgery craziness, she wanted to celebrate with us. I thought to myself, "why celebrate twice?" I mean, normally, I would be all for cake and balloons and parties twice, but I am going to restate it, I just had a baby and it seemed quite stressful to plan all of it twice, so we celebrated it once, with Kenny's mom and it was a lot of fun.</div>
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We didn't go all out, but we did blow up balloons and make cup cakes.
We also, unpictured, did our annual taping of streamers in front of the
bedroom door. Shiloh loves running through the crepe paper streamers
and tearing them down. I wish we would have gotten a picture, but we
were all so tired that we forgot to wake up earlier than him to take a
picture of it, but it was still fun. Shiloh got a betta fish for his
birthday. We did do a little scavenger hunt for him to find all of the supplies with the fish being very last.
It was fun and he was so excited about having a fish of his very own.
He named it seaweed very first, but then amended it to Nemo with the
middle name of Seaweed. He is very into first and middle names. <br />
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Shiloh is such an experience everyday. He is precocious and lively. He is talkative and social. He is a definite charmer. He can get just about anyone to do just about anything. He has a future is sales or marketing, this one. He loves the color green. He loves monster trucks. If I let him, he would wear his monster truck shirt everyday! He is also a walking musical. He pretty much sings his whole life story. You can often hear him singing a song about what he is doing at that very moment, even if it is about being in time out and how mean his mommy is for sending him there (That actually happens quite often). He is the best vegetable eater I have ever encountered. Broccoli might be his food of choice. It would come in second only to chocolate. He is strong willed and determined. He is smart and might talk like a 30 year old some days. I love him! I am glad that he is my little boy. He would correct me there and tell you he was a big, BIG boy, and that he is almost as tall as daddy, but he isn't a toddler or a baby anymore, and that is bigger than I could have ever imagined he would get four years ago. This ride called motherhood can be rocky sometimes, but I am so glad that I am on it. I wouldn't trade it for anything and it all started with my four year old guy! Happy Birthday Shi!<br />
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Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-31266154244707231412015-01-18T09:07:00.002-08:002015-01-18T09:07:40.218-08:00December 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
Our December proved to be very low key. I was huge and pregnant. Kenny was helping switch hospitals, which was enormous task with lots of extra hours worked, then he hurt his knee. By the time the middle of December came, we pretty much just tried, mostly, to stay at the house. Luckily we put up the Christmas decorations at the beginning of the month, otherwise we might have forgone all of the decor. Besides the quite obvious hard things (such as Kenny being on crutches and me getting big and huge) we had a wonderful December.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My boys are so cute. This was before church one Sunday and they just happened to both look at the camera and smile. It was Christmas miracle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our little Christmas village. Kenny gets me a new piece each year.</td></tr>
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This year, Kenny had the grand idea of giving away our farm fresh eggs to the neighbors for Christmas. We don't have many neighbors so it worked out really well. We had the boys sit down on a table cloth on the floor and paint egg cartons and then decorate them with glitter. They had a grand time doing it and it felt quite personal really. We might have to repeat this every year. We all had so much fun doing this and our neighbors really loved it.</div>
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Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of Christmas Eve. We went to a friend's house for dinner. They had their adult children home for Christmas, and then they invited many of the foreign exchange students from the college in Fulton over as well. It was sooo much fun! Shiloh was in heaven with so many adults around to pay attention to him. The dinner was great. It was such a unique experience because there were students from all over the world there. There were those representing the Jewish faith, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, all celebrating Christmas with a bunch of Mormons, singing Christmas carols and listening to the Christmas story being read from Luke 2. It showed me how much our beliefs can defines us, but with open minds and love in our hearts it can connect us too.</div>
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We didn't take too many pictures Christmas morning either, but the boys had a great Christmas. They were so excited about it. It was low key, but that is just the way we like it. It was such a relaxing day to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having a Birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas night. Tthe boys thought that it was particularly cool to have candles on it.</td></tr>
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A couple of days after Christmas, we decided to go for a walk across the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Jeff City. I was, at this point, grumpy because I had been pregnant longer than ever before and we had been cooped up in the house and we got a break from the frigid temperatures. The boys needed to stretch their legs too. Kenny, unfortunately, hurt his knee more on this walk. It probably wasn't the best plan for him to go, but he went anyway. I believe Micah was born just two days after this evening.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They loved this walk. We were lucky enough to see a train drive by along the side of the river. The boys were in heaven!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-19127600978758625462015-01-16T10:45:00.000-08:002015-01-16T10:45:21.966-08:00Autumn 2014: Pumkpins and Hay Rides and the Like<div style="text-align: center;">
We are going to quickly recap what has happened in the last part of 2014. It seems my norm for blogging these days is playing catch up, but I really do want to share our pictures and adventures and my cute kiddos faces.</div>
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We actually had quite a packed Autumn. Most of our excursions centered around pumpkins and dressing up and Halloween because, well, we love Halloween around our house. It is celebrated all month long. I might be just as sad when we have t take the decorations down as the kids are.</div>
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Kenny is part of a Master Gardeners Program through Mizzou. They put a on Fall Festival at their demonstration gardens in Jefferson City. There was food and games and booths and hay rides and face painting. I got no pictures while we were actually there, Drats! But it was exceptionally fun. It really was a wonderful, and fun activity to take the kiddos to. This was both of our boys first experiences int he world of face painting. I was a bit nervous that they might freak out or want to wipe the paint off the minute it got on or something, but they did great. Shiloh chose to be Spiderman so, naturally, Eli wanted to be Spiderman too, but "a Bdoo piderman mom!" He couldn't handle how much it tickled when they started to paint the lines on his nose so he didn't get his finished, but he didn't seem to notice.</div>
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One of our neighbors a couple of miles down the road throws a Halloween party and dinner every year. We just recently started to get to know them and they invited us this year. We had a blast! They did a hay ride, pumpkin carving, a Halloween themed dinner, and s'mores around a bonfire. We had such a fun time getting to know a few more of the people that live around us and the boys enjoyed all of the tractors and food and kids. It will definitely be something that we make a tradition out of. Shiloh still talks about it. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shi wasn't much into carving pumpkins. He was off playing on the massive playground they had, but E sat there with me and Ken almost the whole time.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ours are the small four pumpkins on the bottom left.</td></tr>
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Like every year, I made the boys' costumes. We went to a town Halloween dinner put on by the Methodist church in Tebbetts. It was almost 80 degrees the weekend that they did it, so the poor boys had take off their costumes after a few minutes. The crazy things was that the next weekend, Halloween, it was freezing, so their little jacket costumes weren't enough for outside. I guess you can't win sometimes. I noticed something this Halloween. My boys were the only kiddos at any of the 3 Halloween shin digs that we went to that had homemade costumes. All of the other kiddos were wearing store bought ones. Isn't that weird? Or maybe I am weird because I make them. I remember putting together things we already had and making parts of my costume as kid almost every year. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My two little T-rexes! Everyone thought that they were monsters. I guess maybe I am not that great at costume construction, but they liked them and that is all that counts.</td></tr>
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My parents came in October. It was great to see them for a few days. We timed it so that they could be there for the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival. It is in this tiny little town that has only a little over 100 people living in it, but on this weekend every year, they get tens of thousands of people coming. We had so much fun showing the festival to some family. We go every year, so it was fun to show someone we loved what we always talked about. The boys were great and it wasn't too chilly. It was a perfect autumn day.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just one of the pumpkin patches in Hartsburg.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture turned out so well with both the boys and NaNa in the background.</td></tr>
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We went to an airshow at the little tiny airport that they have just outside of Jeff City. Apparently they do this every year, but they aren't very good at advertising it. Kenny saw a small sign off of the highway on his way home from work, advertising an event the following day, but it didn't say what the event was. We looked it up and decided to go. We were so glad that we did. I think that our boys had the most fun I have seen them have. When the planes came in for a landing we got to be right there and watch them come in. There was breakfast and model remote-controlled airplanes. There were airplane bikes and an airplane tractor ride. It was such a fun event.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutest face EVER! I love it when he gives a good cheese for the camera.</td></tr>
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Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-1880395877232984092015-01-02T10:55:00.003-08:002015-01-02T10:55:55.724-08:00Micah Bryce Williams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Micah Bryce Williams graced us with his presence yesterday morning at 4:42 a.m. He weighs 8 lbs. which is quite hefty for one of my babies. He is 20 1/2" long and a little chunkier than I am used to. This has earned him the nick name of "Squishy".</div>
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I had thought that he would be born in December, but he wasn't having any of it. He decided that New Year's Day seemed a much more appropriate Birthday for him.</div>
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I went to bed on New Year's Eve at about 9 o'clock ( I know, totally lame, but I am so glad that I did). Ken and I had spent the whole day at doctors' appointments for his knee. As a side note, He is on crutches, and has to have surgery in just a few days. Anyway, I went to bed early thinking that I would remain pregnant forever. I woke up at about 1:30 in the morning for a normal pregnant lady pee moment. I got a huge contraction. It was so out of the blue. I continued to get them hard and fast. After an hour, I decided to wake Kenny up, who had only been asleep for 2 hours, because he decided to stay up until the new year. I also called my midwife. Things were happening way faster than I planned. Sarah, my midwife, lives about 50 minutes away, and was coming right then because she was going to fill up the birthing pool and get all of the other things ready because, well, I was in labor, and Kenny was on crutches and not supposed to stand. </div>
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Before Sarah got to our house, I told Ken that I thought we needed to start setting up the pool because things were picking up. The two of us tried to get everything set up. When Sarah got there,we started to fill up the pool. At his point I was in hard labor. This was new terrain for me. My shortest labor prior to Micah had been 10 hours long. There was lots of mentally getting in the game before the stages switched. This was different I had been in labor for a little over two hours and felt like I had to get in the pool. The pool wasn't even full yet, but I got in anyway. This is where things got a bit intense, but I tried to stay positive. Sarah was such a calming presence to have around. After about another 45 minutes Micah came barreling his way into the world. My other two boys were still asleep in their beds. Micah came into the world squealing and loud and perfect in every way. Shiloh woke up to the baby crying and came out. He was so intrigued by the cutting of the cord and all of the commotion that was going on inside the house. It was totally his sort of environment. He loved on Baby Micah. Eli slept til his normal time. When he came out of his room we asked if he wanted to come and touch baby Micah, he said, "no" and walked away. E still seems a bit indifferent towards him, but I think he is warming up. We are so happy to have our third little guy join the family.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is Micah sleeping on my chest just an hour or two after coming into the world.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Micah a couple of hours after he was born (ps I love having a baby at home for many reasons, but one is that I get to go lay down in my own bed afterwards.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eli, Me, and Micah. E only gets close to baby if he gets to cuddle with me too. (Notice Ken's hand holding Eli next to me, silly kid)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shiloh insisted on pulling a funny face in his picture with daddy and baby. What a silly boy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Ken and Micah. This was taken right before Sarah left yesterday morning.</td></tr>
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Happy New Year to us!</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-68201217517979438462014-10-30T06:20:00.000-07:002014-10-30T06:20:41.667-07:00On Teaching My Boys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First and foremost, excuse the horrendous photography. Apparently these two picture are the ONLY two picture I have taken of our preschool at home adventures so far. Now that that is out of the way on to what this post is really about...teaching my boys. I have always been a fan of the mind set of not pushing my kids too hard in the beginning with things like preschool, i.e. letters, numbers, science, reading. I truly believe that children learn so much from play and interaction and being involved in what either I or Kenny are doing, and that formal learning comes with time, and a readiness that cannot be set at a certain age as per whatever society deems the right age is. Children are individuals, and as such, have different readiness for different things at different ages. I want my children to LOVE to learn, not to feel behind or pushed. I know there are many people out there, many of which I know and love, who would like to tell me that they disagree, but that isn't what this post is for. It is to show you how we are doing and how, sometimes, your thought process evolves, and also, how sometimes, even if you want to do something one way, your child needs something else.</div>
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I hadn't planned on starting preschool at my home this year. Because of the above stated feelings I have, I thought I would start seeing if Shiloh was ready for letters and such around 4, and if he wasn't, we would give it a break and try again in 6 months. I am also pregnant, which makes for a lack of creativity and energy in my world, and since Eli is so close in age to Shiloh, I thought that maybe if I waited I could do some of same things with them at the same time. </div>
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I am guessing that you are guessing that that isn't how we have done things, at least not totally, considering Shiloh isn't 4 yet, and I am writing this post. About 5 or 6 months ago, Shiloh started asking me about letters. He kept asking when he was going to go to school, when he was going to learn letters and numbers, and when he was going to start to be able to read. I gave him vague answers at first, not knowing if he was serious about it or just wondering. He became more persistent. I quickly realized, that for his personality and way of learning and desire to learn, I was doing him a disservice by not starting something soon. Let me tell you, I WAS NOT READY! I thought I had at least another year. I hadn't decided how I was going to approach things, how I wanted to approach this teaching adventure. It seemed daunting. It seemed like the start of something that wasn't going to stop for the rest my kids lives at home.</div>
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I finally buckled down and chose something and decided to go with it. It isn't super structured. There is a lot of movement and room for improvisation. It works on some levels for Eli too, which is a super big plus. It has gone pretty well so far, and I think my boys are enjoying it. We learn new words. We talk about letters. We pretend to be cows and pumpkins and all sorts of things. We make crafts and treats and count things. We check out books from the library that have to do with what we are learning. We make posters and at the end of the day we show it off to daddy, which might be both boys favorite things about preschool so far.</div>
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Here are the boys with their cow headbands they made. we crawled around and pretended to be cows for a little while.</div>
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I have learned a few things in this process so far, and I am sure there is plenty more out there for me to learn as I go, but it has been good. I have learned that if I am not organized, preschool doesn't happen, at least not well, and sometimes not at all. I am not a "just wing it" sort of person. It is ok to skip preschool some days... If I am not feeling well or the kids moods aren't working with it, it is better to just bag it for the day and start again when we can all be more positive about it. I know that at some point that attitude will have to change, but for now, they are little, and they learn so much just from being involved. Having this mind set has made this transition so much easier for me. I have also learned that my two boys are very very different learners. I knew that, but I didn't understand how different until I started "teaching" them. Shiloh wants to be pushed. Shiloh never wants preschool time to end. He asks for it when He wakes up in the morning. We finish and an hour later he asks if we are going to have it again. This was very overwhelming for me at first. I thought that maybe I was inadequate to teach him. I felt like I didn't have enough time to plan something that would fill up the amount of time he wanted to learn. After talking to Kenny and taking his suggestion, I have started doing the same lesson plan again in the afternoon for him because he loves it so much. Eli likes the stories. Eli loves the singing and the dancing and the movement, but he hates you asking him questions. He gets frustrated, so I don't ask him any. It isn't important to me for him to catch on this early. If he was, then great, but he isn't and I am content with that. I want this to be just as fun for him as it is for Shiloh. He usually doesn't sit down with us in the afternoons, but Shiloh wouldn't miss it for the world.</div>
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Here's to hoping for some more learning in our house, for the kiddos, but especially for me.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-9172531840422441322014-10-23T04:44:00.000-07:002014-10-23T04:44:33.980-07:00Grannie and Pops Came to Town<div style="text-align: center;">
Grannie and Pops (Ken's parents) came to town and the very tail end of summer, over Labor day weekend. It had been about 2 years since they had visited our house, so it was a good time having them here. The boys especially loved all of the extra attention they got and had a hard time of it wen Grannie and Pops had left. Kenny ended up having to work most of the time his parents were there, with the new hospital switch over coming up soon, but he did get to take a few days off. We mostly just did normal everyday things (Sorry Grannie and Pops) but we snuck in a few adventures.</div>
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There was a tomato tasting and festival in Columbia. I didn't get a single picture of a tomato, but we got one (a very poor one at that) of us on the tractor trailer being pulled to the event from the parking lot.</div>
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One of the days when Ken had to work, Grannie, me and the boys went to St. Louis. Kenny's cousin Julianna and her little family live there, and her parents were in town. (her dad is Grannie's brother). We had lunch, we played, and then we went to this magnificent, and very large, children's museum called The Magic House. It was amazing, and the kids had a blast!!</div>
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I just loved the above pic because I think the whole time we were at this station, Eli would just push his head into it. He is such a ham!</div>
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Shiloh learning all about water. He was so methodical about the way he played. His apron had to be on just so, the toys had to work a certain way, and he wanted to play with them the way they were "meant" to be played with.</div>
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Eli, on the other hand, had a screaming tantrum over just trying the apron on. He ran and slipped and squealed with delight. He splashed and stole toys that we had to give back to other children and got generally soaked. They both had the most fun in this area, even if they played completely differently.</div>
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Eli fixing a car</div>
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The construction zone... Great Uncle Brad Helping Shiloh with the machinery.</div>
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Eli in the wheel barrow with the rocks.</div>
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Grannie and pops showing off our large head of cabbage.</div>
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I think half of their trip here was spent reading books to the boys. Eli especially loved bringing books to Pops to have him read to him. I am so mad that I didn't get a picture of that! It was adorable.</div>
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We went for a walk on the Katie Trail. </div>
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We are so glad that they came to visit and, as always, I wish I would have broken the camera out a little more, so that we could remember all of the fun we had, but I can't seem to remember to stop having fun for a second so that I can take a picture of it. Next time... maybe.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-63708073064775306862014-10-23T04:14:00.002-07:002014-10-23T04:14:58.936-07:00Balloons for Chairety<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When Chairety passed away, her husband Yogi wasn't sure that he was going to do any sort of funeral service or wake. They had talked about it being a happy event, not something that everyone cries over. He finally decided on doing a "balloon Raising" as he called it. They had done the same thing for Chairety's mom. We went over to their church, grabbed a balloon and a sharpie, and wrote a nice note for Chairety to receive in heaven. I wish we had gotten a pic of the cute pics the boys drew on their balloons for gramma Chairety. It really was a great way to celebrate her life. </div>
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They actually did two different groups. We were in the first group to do it.</div>
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And they are off!</div>
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Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-74217172270561829802014-10-13T08:19:00.000-07:002014-10-13T08:19:51.808-07:00Canning<div style="text-align: center;">
This year the garden and yard have been generous and plentiful. We have tried to preserve some of their generosity. We have also taken a few pictures along the way for yours, and our, enjoyment. Some of the pics you may have seen, but I am guessing that some you haven't. You see? This is one of the problems of taking a blog hiatus...you can't remember which pictures you have posted, and it is overwhelming trying to look through every post for the past few months, so you just hope that with skimming through beforehand, you aren't repeating too much.</div>
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The mulberries don't always make it in to the jams and syrups we can. Some have to be enjoyed right then.</div>
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Just some of the jars... We also made strawberry jam, but apparently there were no pics of the Berries beforehand.</div>
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Eli enjoying the Mulberries.</div>
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This year we had an amazing harvest of tomatillos. We even had a purple variety. The boys were good at peeling the husks. Such good helpers I have. We canned them whole and made green salsa.</div>
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One large tomato. It is called a Kelloggs breakfast tomato. Stupid name. Awesome tomato.</div>
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Canning tomatoes. We canned salsa. We canned crushed tomatoes. We canned tomatoes juice. There was a lot of tomato processing around these parts.</div>
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Eli "helping"</div>
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Shiloh Peeling tomatoes.</div>
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We also canned green beans. We canned apples sauce and mulberry spiced applesauce. We canned pickled spicy peppers and green chiles. It has been a great harvest year. It has made a lot of work for us, but it is totally worth it to us.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-51501576568887892112014-10-13T07:41:00.001-07:002014-10-13T07:41:42.537-07:00Chickens, Turtles, Butterflies, and Blue Tailed Skinks....What do Chickens, Turtles, Butterflies and Blue tailed Skinks have in common? They are all things that our boys love to chase. Here are a few summertime fun pics. <br />
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Here is Eli on the tractor. This is one of his favorite things to do. Climb on the tractor, Ride on the tractor, watch the tractor drive around, and pretend that he is driving the tractor while it is in park.<br />
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Feeding the Geese at McKay Park in Jeff City.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A blue Tailed Skink.</td></tr>
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All of the turtles Sammy brought us. The boys love to "rescue" them. We keep them for a bit and then find a good place to let them go where Sammy won't bring them back.<br />
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We got butterfly nets in the dollar section at some store. Shiloh took to it right away. We have so many butterflies and moths around here. He would spot one and do this funny little stance and sneaky walk. It is soooo adorable. He got pretty good at catching them too.<br />
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Here he is with one in his net. Victory!<br />
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This is a brown thrasher. They are very shy birds. You don't often see them in the wild, but we happened to have one that nested in our bush right by our barn. We got to lift the boys up to see the babies and the momma. It was such a fun experience.<br />
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Another favorite thing at our house is chasing chickens. The chickens don't seem to mind it too much either.<br />
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Our next door neighbors lease out their 20 acres to Chris for his cows and for bailing hay. Chris and his family and his dad also live in Tebbetts. They are so good with our boys. Every year at bailing time, they let us know when they are going to do it and they take our boys for a ride in the tractor while they cut, stir and bail the hay. It is quickly becoming a favorite tradition of our two boys.<br />
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In the summer, we do bath time every night, and sometimes twice a day. My boys get sooooooo dirty playing outside. One night we started the tub. Shiloh can get in by himself, and apparently, Eli thought that we were taking to long to help him and he just climbed right in with his clothes on.<br />
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I hope you enjoyed the randoms of this summer!The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-76312403149307892722014-10-13T07:17:00.000-07:002014-10-13T07:42:26.621-07:00I have been on a blogging hiatus... Utah Trip Part 3... FINALLY!So some of this will be out of order, but I really want to chronicle some of the things that happened between June and now. It seems daunting, but maybe in a few posts I can get caught up .... AGAIN. I think that might be the story of this poor blog.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went to an Aquarium in South Jordan. I was "sea sick" and morning sick the whole time, but the boys loved it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The boys had a night out at Chuck E Cheese while the girls went shopping!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. I don't know the real name, but this was the biggest hit of the week. Shiloh still talks about it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dig Dig Dig</td></tr>
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We really had a blast in Utah and the boys got to all sorts of fun things with their cousins on both sides. When we came home, they were so disappointed that there weren't billions of people waiting to play with them like they ha in Utah. We loved it!Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-90613394649115823932014-10-12T20:23:00.001-07:002014-10-12T20:25:04.863-07:00Chicken of the woods mushroom. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Today I spotted a beautiful orange and yellow mushroom out in the woods. I came inside and started doing some research. It was an easy find. If you look up large orange mushroom you get Chicken of the woods, a very popular and highly sought after mushroom, that does not have any dangerous look-a likes. I checked a bunch of resources and they all agreed, so I took the boys out to the woods to get us some shrooms. They were fascinated by the mushroom and helped me collect it into our sack. It was about 2-3 lbs of mushroom. We took it home cleaned it and did our first test. Sauteed with a little olive oil, Salt and pepper, and you may not believe it, but it tasted like chicken! Well at least it reminded us of chicken, even the texture was reminiscent of chicken. Brittani does not like mushrooms, but she said she really liked it. What an amazing find! On the menu this week is Chicken, vegetable, and chicken of the woods soup. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--w62PX5aACc/VDtAsteMo6I/AAAAAAAAA9U/7VcUg0bSdB0/s1600/DSCN5983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--w62PX5aACc/VDtAsteMo6I/AAAAAAAAA9U/7VcUg0bSdB0/s1600/DSCN5983.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-15054901891146469072014-10-12T19:56:00.003-07:002014-10-12T19:56:49.640-07:00Bugs (if spiders scare you then you might not want to look.)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is our friendly orb weaver spider. He/she is a beautiful spider and an expert hunter. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that awesome web.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We found a few caterpillars on a walk and now they are living in a jar in our house. One of them is now in a cocoon and we are waiting to see what it will turn in to. </td></tr>
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<br />The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-68626866193372498882014-10-12T19:47:00.000-07:002014-10-12T19:47:00.798-07:00Eggs and things<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-us9ENt2YPwQ/VDs6jubyFpI/AAAAAAAAA8E/3Mq1k571jpE/s1600/DSCN5827.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-us9ENt2YPwQ/VDs6jubyFpI/AAAAAAAAA8E/3Mq1k571jpE/s1600/DSCN5827.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A couple months ago our chickens started laying eggs. The eggs started out tiny and sporradic, but now they are mostly normal size and we are getting consistently 10-13 eggs a day. We are selling enough eggs to pay for the feed and still eating lots of eggs and egg recipes. </td></tr>
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We had a pretty good squash crop this year. Our best yet<br />
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I thought these Chilly Chillies were pretty cool looking. They are a non spicy chili. Eli, our non vegetable eater loved these. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was our largest cabbage head. We were eating off this for weeks. <br />
<br />The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-18427389997648636632014-08-17T07:17:00.000-07:002014-08-17T07:17:47.194-07:00In Memorium<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vOWI2dQ9Aks/U_C0E3ZdC_I/AAAAAAAABmQ/GR70Yx3otVk/s1600/DSCN3516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vOWI2dQ9Aks/U_C0E3ZdC_I/AAAAAAAABmQ/GR70Yx3otVk/s1600/DSCN3516.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry that it isn't the best pic, but sadly, we don't have many pics of Charitey and Yogi, which is bizarre, because we saw them A LOT!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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My dear friend and Missouri Ma, as I called her, Chairety Greer walked on this morning. She lost her two year battle with lung cancer. I knew it was coming. That still doesn't make it easy. We were going to go to the hospital to visit her today when we got out of church. I think, as hard as I might try not to, that I will regret not making it a priority yesterday, so that I, and my kiddos, could have seen her one last time. We knew it was getting close, but we thought she still had a few more weeks.</div>
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She taught me so much. She taught me how to be more loving. She taught me that spunk was ok. I always felt bad for the fire in my personality, but she used her fire in the best way. She taught me so much of Faith in our Creator. And, coincidentally, she taught me more about charity (her name's sake) than any other human being I have ever encountered. She took us in as family when we moved here. Eventually, a little over a year ago, Chairety and Yogi asked us to be their kids for real. They adopted us through Native American ceremony, they, being Native American. It was beautiful. They have always treated us like family and our kids like their grandkids, Chairety especially.</div>
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If there is one thing that I want to remember, and I want my kids to remember, and I would want people to know about her, it is that she loved, believed in, and served our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, fiercely and completely. He was a part of who she was, and I want to be just like that one day.</div>
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Our little family will miss her oh so much. We love you Chairety!</div>
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Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-35351545954085726282014-08-15T05:47:00.002-07:002014-08-15T05:47:50.333-07:00Toddlers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FkS5Biu7VzQ/U-3-L56kRuI/AAAAAAAABmA/HyNkdPs5Wxs/s1600/DSCN4915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FkS5Biu7VzQ/U-3-L56kRuI/AAAAAAAABmA/HyNkdPs5Wxs/s1600/DSCN4915.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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I interrupt my normal playing catch up routine to tell you one or two facts about toddlers.</div>
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The first fact: 3 year-old's are very honest.</div>
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The second fact: 2 year-old's repeat only the bad or inappropriate things they hear. You can't get them to say "please" for anything, but "stupid" is programmed into their heads immediately upon hearing.</div>
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Point in fact: The other day I stand up from the table, and Shi says to me, "You have a really big bum, Mom!" I try to take a big breath, and not be offended or reply back (I know, I am as a bad as a kid). Shi realizes that I am in a stunned silence (not because I have any disillusions about having a small bum, but just the fact that he already is noticing these things.) Then he tries to justify by saying, "Well, you do. It is bigger than mine and Eli's and Daddy's." Awesome. I just told him that we shouldn't talk about other people's bums.</div>
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E now goes around saying to me and Ken, " You have BIG bum, mommy/dad. Hahahahahaha." He says it at least 5 or 6 times a day.</div>
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We haven't been around any other adults since then, let's hope that he only thinks to say it to family!</div>
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Heaven help us if he says it to the wrong person!</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-39009360499652608712014-07-25T07:30:00.002-07:002014-07-25T07:30:40.756-07:00Utah Trip Part 2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1i-auiOo1XA/U9JfrUylqFI/AAAAAAAABkc/d7O0a1EjBOc/s1600/100_3901.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1i-auiOo1XA/U9JfrUylqFI/AAAAAAAABkc/d7O0a1EjBOc/s1600/100_3901.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eli with his cousins Ben, Crew, and Ollie</td></tr>
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There were so may things that we didn't break our camera out for. We
did however get a few pics of the boys at Bridal veil with my two sisters'
boys. They have these massive trout at the bottom and food that you
could feed them with. The boys LOVED it. I think we spent all of a
dollar fifty on fish food and the boys were entertained for at least an
hour. Well worth it.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a darn cute picture of my boy!</td></tr>
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Shiloh has been asking for months to go fishing. We don't even have a pole. My dad, Pop Pop, is an avid Fly fisherman. He also had his days of cast reel fishing too. Shiloh asked Pop Pop to take him fishing. I think they were both as excited as the other to go. There is this little place in Payson, UT called Spring Lake Trout Farm. My dad used to take me and my siblings here to fish as kids. We looked it up, and it was still there. Basically you go and fish in a small, ultra stocked pond. They provide poles and bait. They also clean and filet the fish. They do this by a reasonable by the pound fee. Really quite wonderful for little people.</div>
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Shiloh Caught EIGHT fish in an hour!!! Amazing! He is so independent that he thought he wanted to do everything by himself. Kenny and Pop Pop convinced him that they should help him cast out, but that little guy pulled most of them in himself. Kenny said that you could tell it was a struggle, but if there is one thing that Shiloh has, it is perseverance. Eli was less excited about fishing, but I guess he had a blast playing with a puppy that was there. I guess that makes it a win win. E did end up pulling in two. All of the boys enjoyed themselves, young and old.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LUr9C6cXXnc/U9JhKQbJklI/AAAAAAAABlg/I3Y3Rp-PWKE/s1600/100_3929.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LUr9C6cXXnc/U9JhKQbJklI/AAAAAAAABlg/I3Y3Rp-PWKE/s1600/100_3929.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shiloh spotted this chair across the pond and walked over there to fish "by himself" I love all of his funny little ideas and plans.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CN66WplUD8/U9JgywLJT1I/AAAAAAAABlQ/hkJqfCFlctw/s1600/100_3921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CN66WplUD8/U9JgywLJT1I/AAAAAAAABlQ/hkJqfCFlctw/s1600/100_3921.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toward the end, Pop Pop convinced Eli to fish. The minute he could see it coming he would run away though.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shi reeling one in</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1QYyvD54iSc/U9JgW-e01yI/AAAAAAAABlA/rN2xr-YuolU/s1600/100_3913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1QYyvD54iSc/U9JgW-e01yI/AAAAAAAABlA/rN2xr-YuolU/s1600/100_3913.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the fishies Shi caught</td></tr>
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They came home and we grilled up the fish. Shiloh loves fish so it was good! Thanks Pop Pop for teaching Shiloh the ropes of fishing... or reels rather.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-25989579335867335092014-07-25T06:40:00.001-07:002014-07-25T06:40:36.716-07:00Utah Trip Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yu_FGyRuzWc/U9JVHU97qoI/AAAAAAAABjc/1ADx-mtfsV8/s1600/100_3885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yu_FGyRuzWc/U9JVHU97qoI/AAAAAAAABjc/1ADx-mtfsV8/s1600/100_3885.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have a weird affinity for goofy pictures. I almost always choose them over traditionally posed ones.</td></tr>
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During the middle of June we visited Utah. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. I was feeling sick, I had a 2 and a 3 year old who were going sit in the car for 2 and a half hours, then go through airport security, and then be on a plane for 2 hours. I knew once we actually got to Utah things would be great, but I was pretty skeptical about the actual getting there part. We had a miraculous voyage out. The boys didn't cry once the whole time. Did you get that? No crying the. whole. time. It was amazing.</div>
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Now on to more exciting things. We got there on a Friday night, fairly late. We crashed at my parents house. The next day, we saw most of Kenny's family. First we went over to his sister Rachael's house. She was, unfortunately going to be at girls camp for most of the week while were there, so we wanted to make sure and see her family. Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house for dinner. </div>
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One of Ken's sister's families couldn't make it this trip. So sad, but we got all of the cousins that could make it in a group picture. I just loved the funny faces in the picture above so I had to put it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RSfBFw9mJDA/U9JU5-JXlmI/AAAAAAAABjQ/_MB0ml0REko/s1600/100_3879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RSfBFw9mJDA/U9JU5-JXlmI/AAAAAAAABjQ/_MB0ml0REko/s1600/100_3879.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maya and Camille with E</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spencer and Shiloh playing a game.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wjNyMOTL9g4/U9JVclIpmRI/AAAAAAAABjo/XhX-6ue68gc/s1600/100_3888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wjNyMOTL9g4/U9JVclIpmRI/AAAAAAAABjo/XhX-6ue68gc/s1600/100_3888.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two peas in a pod, E and Becca</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shi eating ice cream with the cousins</td></tr>
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The boys had soooooo much fun with their cousins. I have always said that Shiloh thinks he should have been the youngest of seven so that he could have a bunch of older people constantly paying attention to him. Needless to say he was in heaven. There was never a lack of older girl cousin attention to be paid to him. Eli had a lot of fun too. He and Becca hit it off! They had each other giggling and giggling. They would hide under tables, play cars, and throw balls at each other. They seemed to be quite well matched. It never ceases to amaze me how kids can just become best friends in 5 minutes. I love it.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just loved this pic of me and my SIL, Janelle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">E eating his cupcake</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spencer blowing out his birthday candles</td></tr>
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I actually didn't get many pictures of the rest of the people that were there. I am horrible at wanting to stop having fun so that I can take a picture of the fun. I really need to get better at that, because I always regret not having more pictures of our events and the people we saw. We had such a fun time, and the fun was just beginning.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-4347169509583372412014-07-25T05:52:00.001-07:002014-07-25T05:52:11.993-07:00Back Track to th End of May: Eli's Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I failed to document a very important mile stone in Eli's life. He turned 2! For the past 4 months, I have been in nauseous, Morning Sick oblivion, so blogging hasn't necessarily been a high priority. Eli had a very low key Birthday, for the above stated reason. We opened presents in the morning, and then for dinner, Kenny brought home a Papa Murphy's pizza (in which Eli ate half of a large all to himself!) and Ken also had the goodness to buy some of their cookie dough and a #2 candle so that we could still have a treat and I didn't have to worry about making anything. That is one good man! Luckily for us, Eli is young enough and easy going enough, that he didn't notice how low key everything was.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eli opening some gifts.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nanna and Pop Pop got him a sand set</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating the cookies before he blows out the candle. I love toddlers!</td></tr>
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Eli is a wonderful little boy. He definitely lets you know what he wants, but he really is a happy kid most of the time. He loves pizza. He loves cookies. He loves cheese. That might be it. Getting him to eat is one of our largest frustrations with him. He loves to do anything that Shiloh is doing, much to the chagrin of his older brother. They are starting to play well now that Eli talks so well. Eli has the amazing ability to play with one or two things, by himself, for an hour or so. It is quite nice. He is very good at keeping himself entertained. He loves to get into things. He loves animals. He loves trains and tractors and pretty much anything that moves. I think his favorite thing in the whole world though is to go play in the sand box. We love you E! We are glad that you are in our family!</div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-NRTygtS7xu8%2FU9JOC_H0HEI%2FAAAAAAAABis%2Fp8WbrPXtfsM%2Fs1600%2FDSCN4924.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NRTygtS7xu8/U9JOC_H0HEI/AAAAAAAABis/p8WbrPXtfsM/s1600/DSCN4924.JPG" -->Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-53920422661762505822014-07-21T20:08:00.000-07:002014-07-21T20:15:05.764-07:00Garden Colors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The garden has come to life and we are tasting it's fruits...and vegetables. We have been eating green beans, summer squash, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, kale, peppers tomatoes, tomatillos, and peas. Here are a few highlights of the colorful garden.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VwFKKo_1lUM/U83PCwaEVSI/AAAAAAAAA34/af-VqUF3AbA/s1600/DSCN5438.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VwFKKo_1lUM/U83PCwaEVSI/AAAAAAAAA34/af-VqUF3AbA/s1600/DSCN5438.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>Painted Acorn squash. Tastes good and looks good</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Purple cauliflower, which is more like purple broccoli. Shiloh picked out this plant and planted it himself. He was proud of his purple cauliflower. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cushaw Squash. These baby's get huge ad they are producing like crazy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spaghetti Squash</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pumpkins are starting to turn yellow</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patty Pans, our favorite summer squash.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Pumpkins</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awww how cute, the three melons are all cuddly. We actually have some large watermelons this year. That's a first for us.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are tasting new heirloom tomato varieties every day. Shiloh is our big tomato eater. He will go out to the garden pick a tomato and bite right in. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one is an evergreen tomato. Huge, green, and ripe</td></tr>
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<br />The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-9786363886679915942014-06-10T17:19:00.004-07:002014-06-10T17:19:51.215-07:00The mullberries are dropping, get out the tarps and shart shaking!<span id="goog_784811389"></span><span id="goog_784811390"></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost every day the boys and I take our rounds in the wagon or "blue dragon" as Eli calls it. We check the chicken's food and water, then the peas, then the greens bed, then Britt's flower bed, then the herb bed, and the blueberries bed and so forth around the "farm" until we check up on everything, but the whole time we are going around all Eli can think about is MULBERRIES. If we are picking strawberries or smelling chocolate mint he is saying...Ummm cai ha some muberries. For weeks we had been watching for the wonderful day when the mullberries would be ripe and finally it came. The first few days you have to hand pick them. The boys can eat them almost as fast as I can pick, so at first we don't get too many to save, but soon they started dropping. Then we get out the tarps and start shaking. It's like berry rain. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was our berry cleaning party from our first shaking. We froze 4 gallons of berries, because the boys love them frozen and they are great in our green smoothies. </td></tr>
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This was our first batch of jam. We froze some strawberries and made some strawberry jam too. <br />
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The Garden is growing rapidly, Green beans are close to picking time, little tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos are growing, squash are beginning to flower, and we ate our first cabbage head. <br />
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<br />The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-53985470520944885192014-05-28T18:15:00.000-07:002014-05-28T18:16:36.891-07:00We Love Missouri: Rock Bridge State Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We decided that we needed explore the state we live in a little more thoroughly. We always say to everyone that we love it here, and we do, but we realized we hadn't done much exploring. So we have a goal to see more of what Missouri has to offer because, well, we want even more reasons to love it. The first place we decided to check out is Rock Bridge State Park. It is just about 45 minutes away from us, and we couldn't have picked a more lovely day to go. We also didn't even see the half of what the state park there had to offer, so be forewarned, we will probably be revisiting this title down the road. You can see the main attraction in the above picture. It is this massive rock bridge (duh!) in which a stream goes through. The really amazing part about this whole place is there wasn't a "Stay on the designated path" mentality. There were paths, but park rangers said to feel free to go under the bridge and explore off of the path as well. If you know me and Kenny at all, you know that is definitely the way we like it.</div>
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Before we started our trek, we had a picnic lunch. A cute fuzzy caterpillar joined us as well and was a highlight for the boys.</div>
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There was a little stone plaque right by the picnic area that the boys got all sorts of use out of while Ken and I finished eating.</div>
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Here is a view of us heading into the tunnel. The boys had a blast throwing rocks into the water and keeping their eyes opened for bats!</div>
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We decided to have a go with some of the boardwalk paths. What you don't see in these pictures...there were soooo many stairs, sometimes 20 or so at a time and they went up and down and up and down. Eli loved it! Which is great. He didn't want to stop. He wanted to just keep going. No nature admiring for him, just pure climbing and energy disposal. Needless to say, he kept me warm and a little out of breath. Notice cute Shiloh's walk and how big he was carrying his own backpack and both sippy cups.</div>
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The story that you can't see from this pic: Shiloh having a freak out just prior and Eli rolling his cup off of the boardwalk for attention, and me, daringly mind you, climbing over the fence and onto the mountainside to get the cup to avoid further screaming from Eli. We lucked out because a tree root stopped it from rolling off the twenty or more foot cliff into the stream below... The things you do for your children and, maybe more importantly, for a little peace.</div>
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Just outside the Devil's Icebox, a very chilly cave with bats.</div>
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Shiloh in the cave. He got to see a few bats and was very excited about it. I didn't go in. I have seen enough bats in my life that I was content to just let them alone.</div>
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This is a view looking up from Devil's Icebox. The walls were covered in moss and ferns and it was just gorgeous.</div>
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We loved this outing. The boys had a blast, Ken and I had a blast, and we got to discover more about where we live. I am actually really excited to see more of this state park and to explore the other state parks that are close by. Stay tuned for more posts about why we love where we are.</div>
Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-83047888881119629662014-05-24T20:34:00.000-07:002014-05-24T20:34:24.199-07:00Summer Cuts and Swimming Pools<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's starting to feel like summer! We've been in the 80's
more often than not, the garden is all planted and growing, the pool is
put together and filling, and yesterday us boys all gut buzzes. Here
are a few "pre-summer" pics. </span></td></tr>
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Last weekend we did a backyard campsite preparation and test run. We re-cleared our fire pit area and campsite, Cooked silver turtles in the campfire (Foil Dinners- no we did not roast the turtle in the picture below) Set up the tent, tried popping some popcorn in the fire, told campfire stores, then broke down camp and went inside for bed. It was fun. Soon we will do the real deal<br />
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Turtle season is in full swing. Our dog Sammy brings us turtles almost daily, or we pick them up on the road and bring them in to our turtle "sanctuary" The boys get to play with them for a while and they are safe from Sammy and then we take them to a stream or let them go somewhere when Sammy is not around. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here are a couple garden pics. This year we planted 2 plants each of 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. We will have yellow, orange, purple, black, green, striped, white, multicolored etc.., and various shapes, and sizes of tomatoes. The peppers will be almost as assorted as the tomatoes. It will make for some interesting Tomato Sauces and Salsas. The Green Beans, Peas, Potatoes, Sweet potatoes, Broccoli, Cabbage, and Cauliflower are growing great, and the Melons, Squashes, and Gourds are just coming up. We also just started eating strawberries and mullberries. The Boys ask to go check/try the mullberry tree and strawberries multiple times a day. This year we also planted more raspberries, blueberries, and elderberries. This is a fun time of the year. </span></td></tr>
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<br />The Willieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10630928353201640915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916575681885513751.post-80626861940243110042014-05-15T06:15:00.000-07:002014-05-28T19:35:34.661-07:00Tadpoles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is a little place that we like to go called Runge Nature Center. It has paved and unpaved walking trails, ponds, and indoors there's an area for bird watching, aquariums for fresh water fish, animal puppets, a nature library, snakes, turtles, lizards, and animal shows, but all my little boys needed from there on this outing were.... TADPOLES. We started a little walk. This little pond is about two minutes down the path. It is ritual to get on the rocks and look in the pond. Sometimes we see bugs or a frog. They were so intrigued with the tadpoles. They stayed there staring for about a half of an hour. It was cute.<br />
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Here the boys are after we had almost finished the hike. Eli had been a stinker the whole time, when it came to pictures, so this is the best one of him. It isn't a great pic in the first place, but Shiloh's smile so sweet that I had to add it in.Brittanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12261148624995338972noreply@blogger.com1