Bits & Pieces :: November

** We've been out to see Jack, our horse friend, again.  He's so healthy and furry now, but sad when he is alone with his pack away for the weekend.  We love the invitations we get to go and keep him company.

** It is a family routine to read books together at bedtime for 20-30 minutes or more.  We gather on the big bed, now with fuzzy blankets wrapped tight around us, to snuggle and read.

All summer and moving into fall we have read Doctor Dolittle, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, James and the Giant Peach, Pippi Longstocking, Little House in the Big Woods, and now we are in Little House on the Prairie.

This is Evan's second or third time listening to them, but Chloe's first.  She is so attentive and connected to the story.  As I read, she watches me if anything scary or strange might be happening, she laughs whole-heartedly when silly things happen, and she predicts what is coming next with such accuracy you might think she already knew the story!  It is such a precious time together.



** It rained most of October, so fall seems so different this year.  We finally got a stretch of warm, dry days to rake leaves and play!  Amazingly these two responsible, capable children grabbed rakes and cleaned up the entire yard, front and back, to make this mountain of leaves.

They stayed outside for hours and didn't even want to come in for dinner.  It got pitch dark outside but that didn't stop them.  They just ran in the house to grab their headlamps and went back out to work and play.  When their fingers and noses were sufficiently chilled, they came in. 




** 'Tis the season for board games once again.  We've been playing Chess, Monopoly, Risk and Herd Your Horses on a never-ending rotation.  Chloe learned Monopoly this year and, oh my, is she quick to catch on to strategy and money-math problems.

** Chloe's missing tooth space continues to captivate us as she says delicious things like "slip around in my socks" or "colonies and spaceports" or "Speckles reared and pranced."  It's more than adorable and we snicker behind her back all the time.  Plus her other front tooth is dangling there, just waiting to drop out any day now.   She is going to thound tho thilly and thweet.

** One afternoon, Evan was talking about where they had originally found the "walnut boats" they use on their gourd contraptions.  (We speak a different language around here don't we??)  This inspired them to go out again and gather more.  A black walnut tree grows across the street in Kiara's yard and apparently not a soul collects all that free food!  Well, Evan and Chloe did.

They spent days on the floor with nutcrackers and picks, cracking an eating walnuts by the handful.  Evan kept saying, "I can't believe we found FREE FOOD!"  *crunch, crunch*  Too bad meatballs don't fall from trees.



** I've noticed lately that my kids are getting almost too heavy to pick up and hug.  Evan still jumps up on me all the time and hangs on like a bear cub, but lifting him up and playing around with him, I can't do without strain. Chloe is still light enough but she is so l-o-n-g!!!  It's hard to whip someone around in circles when their feet might knock over every candle or plant in the room. 

My little lover-boy tells me he's never going to move out, he wants me to cuddle with him every night no matter how old he gets, and he will still let me pick him up and hug him even if he's taller than me..... We'll see ;-)

Gourds Again

Maybe you remember last year's obsession with gourds and how we had at least 30 of them around here.  The kids really LOVE gourds!  Too bad this year the price doubled and we just couldn't justify getting so many again. 

They use them to make what they call "Gourd Contraptions" in which gourds are precariously balanced in corners.  This year the contraptions are home to all the mini clay jeeps they have made.  Perches, beds, thrones, stairs.... lots of accessorizing can be done for these houses.

They spend so much time setting up and decorating them it only makes sense they would want to remember them forever, especially since they are prone to toppling.  So I took a few pictures one day.

Chloe's

Evan's

Close-up of Evan's

Apparently the kids got a kick out of seeing these on the camera all saved like this and it became the thing to do.  Now every time I pick up my camera there are new pictures memorializing the best contraptions.  Dozens and dozens of these things.  Here are some of the best.   (Evan's are all in the painted corner and Chloe's are by the black bookshelf.)

Randomly there are pictures like this:

And then back to the gourds...

There are so many configurations, it's actually amazing what they can do with just 8 or 9 each.  Sadly, some of them are already starting to rot, so I don't know how many months they'll get out of this batch.  Last year they played with them all winter!

A New Kitten at the Farm

This little kitten lives at the farm where we'll be buying our Thanksgiving turkey again this year.  On a recent visit with Miss Cyndy we met little no-name and the kids fell in love instantly.  Especially Evan.

Too bad turkeys aren't cuddly or I'm sure they would have been picked up and caressed too ;-)

Pumpkin Farm 2013

We went to the pumpkin farm this year with two friends in tow.  Evan can't imagine going here without Jed, since this is the giant playground where they first met and played together.  Chloe was so thankful that Ysabet came to join her too, because she knew the boys would only want to do one thing (and she was right, as you will soon see...)  I didn't take a ton of photos because truly I was sitting alone quite a bit as my kids ran off with friends far away :-)  So different now than it used to be.

The boys insisted on stuffing corn in every item of clothing, including socks.

The kids paired off right away and I stayed with the girls.  These two did a little bit of everything but mostly they loved the giant slides and feeding the goats.

These horses, which last year I could hardly drag her from, only got a few minutes of her time.  Sadly they are all pretty beat up and missing some of the things that made them so fun.  Plus it was really windy and sunny up there on the hill.

They spent so much time here just loving all the goats. 

Meanwhile, down over the hill were these rugged boys tearing up the peddle car track.  I had been with the girls for about an hour and a half when I went to check in on the guys.

There weren't very many people at the farm that day but there was a line of kids waiting to ride.  My first thought was, have they shared these things at all???  So I asked.   "Um, not really," Evan answered as he drove over the tire barrier and into the grass beside Jed.  I laughed to myself.  Ninety minutes of super fun, right?  Oh well.  Also, there was a huge swampy puddle on the track which explained why they were both soaked from the knees down.

I asked them to share at least a little bit and went back to get the girls so we could all be together for a bit. 


When we all came down the track together, what were those boys up to??   All kinds of off-roading in this swampy patch decidedly outside of the track.  I just love these two together.

Best part of the day?  Driving in mud.

Chloe and Evan spent most of October "training" to get in shape for these cars -- daily bike rides around the block, racing around the house a hundred times.  Afterwards they both said it paid off.

Sweaty kids with tired legs needed a break.  Especially since Jed and Evan had been peddling for over two hours.

Once again, the kids split up.  The girls ran up to the goats and slides again, and the boys played tag on the hay bales. 

After a while they ran up the hill to get the girls to come play tag too.  Ten minutes later I heard maniacal laughter coming from the top of the hill.  That's my kid, no doubt.

I could see all four of them bouncing around and when I came up closer I found this:

They are actually called bouncing hot dogs and you never heard laughing and merry-making as these four churned up.  This might have been my favorite part of the whole day :-)

You could actually slide or bounce down the hill on them, or just stand at the top and throw it and make everyone laugh with how funny it looked.

After eating a snack, they were revived for another hour of peddle-carting adventures.  There was a small corn maze that Jed decided was too easy, but just the right size for riding through, so they all followed him.

We were only there for three and a half hours this year, but what fun!