Snow Soccer

Grandma and Grandpa Barry came to visit and brought with them my sister's oldest child Owen who is Gabe's age. The trio also brought with them the frigged temperatures from the north that descended upon Fort Collins the same day they arrived.It seemed fitting that we show our southern relatives what real winter is like. (they live in North Carolina where everything shuts down for more than an inch of snow.) Between birthday parties, school,sledding, basketball games and pizza outings the week seemed very busy but pleasantly so. Not to mention a few games of snow soccer and cups of hot chocolate. My children all enjoyed the cousin and grandparent time along with a whirlwind of activities. We look forward to the next visit. 

Alternately reading and giggling in bed with grandma and grandpa Barry

Birthday Boy- Take 1

Can you see the 5 on the personal pizza?

This is smiley guy. He turned 5 this month. As per tradition in our household, the celebrant get to choose the menu on their special day. We had homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch and pizza for dinner. I must confess that I didn't eat the hot dogs and only ate the cinnamon rolls as a dessert but tradition is tradition. We waited to have his transformer party for a week so that his grandparents and cousin Owen could attend when they were visiting from North Carolina. The  festivities were held inside due to the arctic blast Fort Collin was experiencing outside. After glow-in the-dark transformer bowling and a rousing game of HOT and COLD to find the birthday gifts the party was a success. One exuberant child exclaimed, "This is the best party ever!" Near the conclusion while we were eating cake and ice cream another party goer let me know that it was , "the best cake ever, " but that it was, "the worst ice cream ever." Children are very honest.Well truthfully, it probably was the worst ice cream ever. That is what you get when you buy ice cream at the dollar tree. 

Mac, excuse me Kenny, is now the proud owner of two African Dwarf frogs which he named Cutie and Happy and a very large transformer dinosaur toy among other wonderful gifts. He didn't actually eat any of his cake but he did love blowing out the candle and being celebrated. This little man holds a special place in my heart. The oldest of my littles and littlest of my big boys. I love his cheerful attitude and special hugs. As of late he has also developed quite a talent for addition and loves to play Operation math on the ipad. I better teach him subtraction quick before the motivation evaporates. Happy Birthday Mac! Don't transform into an adult too fast Please!

Budding Beethoven

 Babies are fun. Banging on a piano is fun. If you have access to a baby you should hang out together more often. If not, you should come visit my baby. He is a lot of fun.

Witches Brew

       Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble. Witches Brew- Preschool Goo- it's all the same thing. 4 c Corn Starch + 2 c water = sensory fun for the 5 and under crowd. Lincoln kept trying to taste this tasteless concoction but other than that we had a fun time mixing and mashing. If you can imagine a substance that is simultaneously liquid and solid you will begin to understand this goop. Fluid as it touches water and hard as it touches air. Chalky and slimy all at the same time. I love home preschool. 

Hooray for the little guy!

Look who can go DOWN the stairs now and not just up. We've been working on it. He has begun to uses signs as well, although I have not been as faithful with baby number five about using them him consistently to help him learn. Poor thing. 

Next up- walking. 

A Not-so-Themed Halloween

 It all started out with Cerberus the three headed dog, guard hound of the underworld. Between his classical school and Percy Jackson, my eight year old is fixated on all things Greek/Roman or mythological. He came up this Halloween costume idea months ago and I agreed since it sounded simple enough. I thought that we would go with a mythological theme this year but children don't always want to be what you want them to be. (Is there a life lesson there some where?)I was even willing to don a toga and plastic armor to be Athena, but alas, it was not to be. In the end Poseidon opted for the dragon costume instead of the golden trident and fish we sprayed and then it just sort of deteriorated into individual costumes from there. By the end of the night even Cerberus wanted to take the third head out, since it was too crowded in that single t-shirt, and be Orthus, Cerberus's less well known two-headed cousin. That's Okay, the children still have approximately 5 gallons of candy between them to show for their labors, and had a great time collecting it.

There was no way she would be wearing anything BUT this tutu this year.
 Dressing up is not just for Halloween

My cute little cherub being cupid

Wear black and add a $1 yard sale hat and you've got yourself a costume

My would be Poseidon turned fire breathing reptile 

Didn't Hades do a great job on his own make up? Very convincing 

Motivation

          So motivated was David to have leaves to jump in, he raked most of this pile himself. He actually cleaned up a good bit of the yard without an prompting from mom and dad. Then, BONUS, he and Mac played "garbage truck" and scooped all the leaves into a box and hauled them to the leaf pile in the corner of the yard. Bless his heart.

The words of Mary Poppins comes to mind, "With every job that must be done there is an element of fun. "

Now to just clean out the sand box.

Familia Tua

Other first graders are asked to draw a picture of their family, David was instructed to "Illustra familia tua".

                               
                     A fairly faithful rendition I would say.

Harvest Festival

       Me and the littles took a trip down to the local harvest festival this year while the older two boys were at school and Lincoln was napping at home with Zach. I felt so unencumbered having only two children with me I actually got to enjoy most of the attractions. It was Friday-Field-Trip day and we celebrated. (Aside: I feel as though life should be celebrated. Any excuse is a good one. If it involves Family, Food, Friends or Fun I'm there.) After all, it is not everyday that you get the opportunity to ride in a barrel-train powered by a 4-wheeler or watch a pig race. The best part by far though, was the corn cannon. None of us hit the field target but who cares? We shot hardened corn cobs 100 feet into the air from pressurized guns. For a total of $12 the festival was a bargain. We are certainly going back next year. 

Snagging our chance at a photo-op in the surprisingly comfortable over-sized rocking chair.
If you can get in you don't want to get out. 

Down in Rabbit city...

our assistant had an on/off switch, just in case there were any trigger happy youth

the cannon remains