Jiggety-jig.

We took our visitors back home today. It's been nearly a week of daily tea parties.





My girls will miss those cousins.

But we get to stay a few days with them at their house. And their mom is *fun*. When she was visiting at our house last week before she left some of her kids with us for a few days, she did some experiments with my girls.

She got them to drop mentos into pop bottles,

which was exciting.

She explained acidity to them.

She sent Hannah on a scavenger hunt around the kitchen to find liquids to test for acidity or baseness.

I'm hoping Hannah doesn't drive her crazy here at her house with requests for more experiments. So far she's settled for telling her lots of stories. (She told her tonight that in her dreams she's a Professional. "Of what?" A Professional Thinker of Words.)

The cousins are glad to be home, but they're missing the little things about farm life.

Soaking in our visitors.

My cousin came to visit us last week and when she left a few days later, she let us keep a few of her kids for a few more days. We'll be taking them home tomorrow, but the kids and I are loving having the company.

Yesterday was snowy still. I thought it would melt quickly as most early snowstorms do, but it's stuck around for two days. It should be all gone by tomorrow.

But yesterday there were snow angels to make.

In the first week of October, in case you needed to be reminded.

There were snow pies to be made and cut up.

And pony rides, of course.

Today there was an art project (I'll post about it later), and sewing, and lots of checking on eggs.

There was homemade ice-cream which was a hit. Even with the cool kid.

Who has declared that he shall go by 'Andrew' on this blog. So meet Andrew.

There was lots of dress-up.









Then a four-wheeler ride and lots more cousin play. Long, full days.

Keeping busy.

We have two of my cousin's kids staying with us for a few days, happy to be here and be able to get in lots of horse riding and country play in our beautiful fall weather. About that .... We've had to find ways to entertain ourselves indoors today, what with our freak winter storm and all.

First order of business was Gardenopoly.



After that game was finished, we made some monsters.



I set them up with the tools, told them the basic steps, and turned them loose.

Then they turned on me and I had to stitch some of them together. Not Jay's - she did most of that herself - but Hannah and Jay's brother needed some stitching help.

This batch turned out cute also. I'm wondering if these little monsters ever *don't* turn out.

(Hannah's)

(Jay's brother's - he has yet to pick a moniker for this blog)

(And Jay's. This one may be my favorite out of all of the monsters we've made.)

After monsters, there were board games. Guess Who, Dragon's Journey, Memory. Computer games. Reading.

Feeding baby calves.

Another game of Gardenopoly. Such a cute take on Monopoly. They hit a lot of gardening stuff just right - for example, to get the money gathering in the middle of the board, you have to land on the 'Free Compost' space. Every gardener knows how much compost is worth ...

Also, the pieces that you move are too cute for words - a gnome, a worm, a ladybug.

One thing I've learned since they've been here - a nine-year-old boy cannot sit still.

Then a dancing show that both Matt and I had to participate in.

Gray was my partner and after our dance he wouldn't stay off the dance floor, much to the frustration of the next dancers.

Jay was Ains' favorite partner.

Then a movie (The Last Unicorn) and to bed. For me, too.

Snapshot Sunday - The 'I dislike fall' edition

It's not that I *want* to dislike fall, but I do. I love the idea of fall, but the reality falls short too often in this neck of the woods.
This is NOT cool, crisp fall days that ease you into winter.

This is NOT driving along lanes of trees with leaves changing colors.

This is NOT wearing sweaters in preparation for a winter of heavy coats.

This is NOT the heady smell of the earth changing seasons.

What this is is me wishing for an Oklahoma summer. That's what this is.

I was seriously disheartened when I woke up this morning and saw this. It's 6:30 pm and it's still going strong.

How it began.

Problems, problems.

Internet connection problems, Blogger problems, camera problems. They all lead to a frustration problem.

I'll post as soon as I can with pictures of our 100 year old piano. It's gorgeous, we love it, and my husband walks around with headphones on now. My girls (and I) are not concert pianists yet.

We're on our way.

Heading to my Grandma's house to bring home a family heirloom. Very excited about this.

It's a four and a half hour trip, so we've got to stay busy.

We'll see if we make it there in one piece. Psychologically speaking.

Pie-uts, Katrina Daisy Petal, and an owl.

Danni asked me if Ains had had any special birthday wishes. She had. A doll with pink hair is what she wanted. And something pirate (she is a self-proclaimed 'pie-ut girl').

We give our children four things for each birthday.

Something they want.
Something they need.
Something to wear.
Something to read.

The want was obvious.

I'd been working on a doll with red hair, but she was adamant about the pink, so I gave it pink hair instead. She wuvs her. Her name is Katrina Daisy Petal.

The need was also pretty obvious if you've been watching the pictures of her of late - a hat of her own.



I'm not totally happy with it, but she is and it's the first hat I've made, so I'm cutting myself some slack (even if I did cut the brim too short. Grrrr....)

Something to wear was a skirt. Easy, peasy (if you don't count all of the gathering, which I don't or I'd go crazy) and such a sunny skirt for the beginning of fall.

Katrina Daisy Petal got a matching skirt.

Something to read was When Stella Was Very Very Small which was bought a week before her birthday, back in the good ol' days when she was still proud of being 'wittle'.

Luckily, the book ends with Stella becoming a big girl ("Like me?!?!?" says she), so we're good.

Also, siblings give to siblings. Hannah gave her a blanket that she worked hard on making for Katrina Daisy Petal. Luckily it was almost as big of a hit as the doll.

She stayed up late with me the night before Ains' birthday sewing the buttons on the blanket. She was falling asleep while she was stitching when she cuddled up to me and said "It's fun loving someone so much that you'll make stuff for them, isn't it?" Yes it is.

About the pirate something. We decided on the cake.

Everything on it but the pirates, chopsticks and sails, and licorice is edible. Who eats licorice? (Besides my husband and mother.)

The sailboat carries the captain of the pirate ship - a Pirate Girl. The only pirate Ains won't let Gray play with.

Hannah made a kick-ass pirate flag.

Here are some other snapshots of our day.











(See the pirate walking the plank? You can't see the pirate standing behind him with a sword. Ains put him there "or the otha pie-ut not go on pank." My girl's a bit bloodthirsty methinks.)

Thank you for all of the lovely birthday wishes!

'Free' at last, 'free' at last!

Then.

Now.

*sniff*

Love. Peace. Two.

You see this sign?

It's one of my favorites, and it has three meanings.

Peace. Specifically "Rock Obama say PEACE." Pulled out when mommy gets 'canky'. She learned it from her sister who coined the phrase after one of the presidential-nominee debates last year. Barack Obama did indeed say 'peace' many times in that debate. It's been a year and the phrase - and sign - is still going strong.

It also means "I love you." Hannah and I have always done the actual 'I love you sign' with each other, but Ains' little hands couldn't do it. She tried, and her efforts produced this sign. It has become our own 'I love you'. I love it.

And it means 'two'. As in "I am two." As in "I am wittle, right Momma?" She flashes that sign and a proud "I too-an'-haff" to anyone who asks her name, compliments her hair, or glances in her direction.

Today is the first day of autumn. She was born on the first day of autumn. This year, her birthday falls on the day after the equinox and my little girl is so excited that tomorrow she will be 'free'. Three is so big in her mind. Overnight, sometime in her dreams, she will go from being 'wittle' to big.

Tomorrow that sign will have only two meanings.

It shouldn't be this hard. I was so excited for Hannah to turn three. I don't want Ains to go there. I want to wrap her up in two and hold her there for just a little bit longer.