Bits & Pieces :: Late November

**Bunny hopping on the scooter is something that defines "big kid" around here.  Evan once saw Mikey (a friend from years ago) do it and that solidified it in Evan's mind.  Now, he's an old pro and Chloe watches him with intrigue.

**Chloe has recently added a small herd of dogs to her daily horse-play.  (I love the rubberband bridles and the tinsel hay for the horses.)

**Evan has always love old-fashioned cars.  He has a small set from his Gramma that he treasures and we just recently found these three models at the second-hand store.  I don't know what it is that fascinates him so much, but he really loves them.

**Todd is making progress on his current building project -- the walls are up and the roof is in the works.  How nice of him to take a break to visit with us when we came... or maybe it was nice of us to show up so he could take a break...

**Aunt Bryce's car with two stowaways.

**Chloe and Evan build 'gourd contraptions' on a daily basis.  Sometimes they turn out so great, they have to take pictures of them to remember how to build it just right.  This one is Chloe's.

**It's always nice to have an extra set of hands for doing yard work.

**I spent hours hanging from swings and monkey bars as a kid, so when I see my own kids like this for hours on end, I always smile.

**Friends came over early this week and entertained my children for about 6 hours.  No one interrupted my thinking or said mom even one time.  It was so glorious.

**We found a sweet little kitty during our walk on Thanksgiving.  She looked and acted just like Ruby except she was dark with faint gray stripes.  Maybe Ruby wandered from here on the day she showed up on our doorstep so many years ago.

**Chloe loves to draw with sidewalk chalk and Evan still prefers to just observe.

Flying!

I was washing dishes the other night and heard lots of noise coming from my bedroom.  When I heard Evan shout, "I think I actually FLEW that time!!!!"  I had to go see for myself.

Apparently if you jump off the bed onto the trampoline while flapping handfuls of turkey feathers, you might be able to fly.  Who knew?

Blessings

Thanksgiving Blessings::
::Sunshine pouring in every window.
::Visiting all day with my mom; a visit unlike any we've had before.
::Chloe dressed up in her prettiest rainbow bright outfit all day.
::An organic turkey cooked perfectly, and done 2 hours earlier than expected.
::Blue skies and mild temperature perfect for a walk and an afternoon outside.
::Savoring a simple dinner, soaking everything in delicious gravy.
::Evan belly-laughing till he cried and his face hurt (thanks Granny!).
::Candlelight and piano music, just right for a peaceful day.

Bits & Pieces :: November

**Pumpkin cookies baking today... my house smells so good.  Chloe helped with the entire process this time and did a wonderful job measuring, mixing and scooping.

**Ruby kitty is so bad when the weather is cold out.  She's starting already with her feisty frisky ridiculous-ness.  Don't let those pretty green eyes fool you.  She is full of mischief.

**The men, cannons and horses from the Risk game have been in all sorts of games the last few weeks.  So meticulous these two are with setting them up!

**Catapults were involved on this day.....

**I think Chloe kisses her Dad 300 times a day.  She gives him one hundred of those every night at bedtime.  Isn't he so lucky?   (This is how I found out she can count to 100.)

**Evan and Grace have been friends since they were born (just 2 months apart) and it only gets better with age.  With so much in common, it's no surprise she is his second best friend.

**Chloe and Lilah get along better than I ever thought given that they are both pretty strong personalities.  Horsie love is a bond between them I guess.

**Oh, how Evan adores Roy.  None of us quite get it.  Roy is only cuddly when he's been out all night and comes in exhausted.  Observe:

**Proud Dad.

**Chloe has gotten the braiding bug again.  She pins a bunch of embroidery floss to the couch and braids like an expert.  This morning alone she made three.  And that was just while she was still in her jammies.... there is string everywhere.

**This past Sunday it was lovely out.  Evan and Chloe went out and we didn't see them again for almost five hours.  They have so many adventures outside, I have no clue what they do half the time.

**This is (almost) all of the stuff they had to put away when they were done out there. The shed was nearly empty!

**Always in motion when she's outside... becoming just like Evan in so many ways.

**A few games of Battleship, Chip (his beanie kitten) and a pocket knife.  Morning essentials for Evan.

**Todd is working on a huge job right now which involves lots of mud and construction equipment.  Bonus for the kiddos!  Chloe got to drive the skidsteer by without Todd's help.

**So did Evan.  But he's an old pro after all.

**Family.  What it's all about.

Twirl

She is a blur of rainbow color :-)

Bugs

Inspired by a little bug puzzle set we got for Chloe, Evan spent a lot of time this week working on making insects out of pipe cleaners. 

Here are his scorpion, spider, bumblebee, and ant....

Later in the week, he made an earwig, flea, butterfly, caterpillar and praying mantis (oh, and a lizard).

 

{This photo is by Chloe}

Turkeys

Evan and Chloe love turkeys.  They think turkeys are hilarious to look at and equally as funny to listen to.  I even bought them turkey jammies to laugh at, which they do.

 {Turkey Twins}

So when our lovely farm-owning friend, Cyndy, invited us out to hang with the turkeys she's raising for Thanksgiving dinners, we emphatically said YES!!!  So yesterday we did just that.
(I forgot my camera so Cyndy was amazing enough to take a few shots in the yard for us.)

These turkeys are a beautiful, colorful heritage breed with glorious brown feathers and light blue heads. 
They wander and peck the ground in a group, and follow Cyndy everywhere. 
They gobble in unison, especially when startled, and they peck at all things shiny, including your eyeball if you squat down. 
They like to stand close to you, but if you reach out, they shy away, shunning you temporarily.
They were as hilarious as we expected them to be.

We also got the "three penny tour"of the 220 year old farm to see the meadows, the chicken coop, both floors of the barn, and the garden where all our summer CSA produce was grown.  It really is a shame I forgot my camera because it was so amazing.  And Cyndy was fantastic with the kids.

She helped them gather tons of chicken and turkey feathers, she helped Evan hold a turkey after he requested to try, she ran across the yard with Chloe and Evan trying to get the flock to follow her and take to the air (they didn't), she talked turkey bathroom habits, she made the male turkeys heads turn dark blue by whistling classical music, she introduced us (by name) to the chickens and two cats.... She was so great, and yet she claimed she wasn't good with kids!

In the barn, she showed us the massive piles of hay bales that were stacked 20 feet high, and when Chloe asked permission, she let them both climb to their hearts content.  But the best thing (that I didn't get to take pictures of) was the rope swing in the hay loft.  Cyndy, who is 53 years old, demonstrated this dare-devil trick for the kids and then told them to try if they wanted.  You probably know where we spent the next half hour.  All the kids' rope-swinging skills came in handy while dangling 15 feet above the ground.  What a thrill!  They were both covered in sweat and hay bits and smiling from ear to ear.

So we went to see turkeys and ended up with so much more.   This 90 minute morning was all the kids talked about all day and into the night, and Todd heard every detail of their memories at dinnertime.  An unforgettable day.