Raising Cubs in a Campground

About a month ago I started this meme as a way to combine all the photos I take of our every day life and share them in one post. I know that I will treasure looking back at these every day moments of motherhood and the memories of spending so much time with my littles. I feel like this winter was a turning point for Sam and Julia. They aren't as dependent on me any more. It has been a slow transition that has caught me off guard. I knew this day would come and I know that there is still a long way to go but there has definitely been a shift. I can feel it. It tugs at my heart. Did this happen to you too? At what age? Here are some of the photos from this past week: More beautiful weather - Sunday the kids were wore out from all our outside time that I had to beg them to come outside with me. Once we did they didn't want to come in. Of course. Monday was windy but nice enough for a picnic and three different parks! I've been reading this book and it has really hel...

  We got a head start with temps in the 60's and upper 70's as early as two weeks before the official start of Spring today. As long as that doesn't mean Summer is going to come early and extra hot I'm OK with this mild weather.  You can never have too many nice nights for swinging in the hammock with your big brother!

Over the years as I've slowly been learning more about straw bale gardening I've always wondered about how the wheat is grown that my bales are made of. This year we will be using a new source for straw so I took the initiative to find out if anything is applied while the wheat is growing. I'm so glad I asked because it turns out that wheat that is grown in a field where alfalfa was just grown does not need any chemical treatments. I didn't question why this is the case since I was already asking the gentleman twenty other questions about the straw/hay auction coming up. I'm just glad to know that the effort we make to grow using organic fertilizers isn't in vain. In addition to the good news about the straw, I called our source of plants and learned that they do not use any chemicals either. I thought I remember them saying that years ago but I wanted to double check now that I'll be growing food that will be eaten by Elsa. I wouldn't want my other c...

We had some down time between appointments today and thanks to really warm temps for March we were able to play at two different parks this morning/afternoon. It was a lovely way to spend the day with my girls! Then when Sam was done with school we went to yet another park to play with our neighbors. I don't remember a Spring this nice since 2001 when PapaBear and I were wearing shorts to play tennis in February!

Somehow I don't think Elsa got that memo.

I have put off doing Kindergarten screening for so long, it's gotten to the point that it's hardly worth doing anymore. Julia is almost five and a half. Normally they want to see kids around three and a half. More of of curiosity than anything I finally signed her up to be tested and tomorrow is the big day. I did some research online to double check to make sure we had covered all our bases and from the looks of things we have. I hope the same can be said down the road when it's time for her to take the SAT. I'm sure the day we start the hunt for a SAT practice test will be here before we know it!  As you can see she loves to learn. (No this is not a staged photo.) This was taken this afternoon while Sam and I played "extreme hammocking" with the other hammock (read: swing him really high and let him jump off the hammock). She's already ready some of Elsa's baby books and gets so excited when she spots a sight word that she's learned. I'm...

A little leprechaun ! Julia had more up her sleeve though when she invited Grandma and Grandpa over on Saturday. She welcomed them with a sign: WELCOME TO OUR ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY   She served rainbow sprinkle pretzels, rainbow cupcakes     Irish beef stew , St. Patrick's Day Punch , rainbow goldfish, sour cream & onion potato chips, ham & cheese sandwiches, & I picked up some Irish Amber & some Guinness earlier in the day. Grandma brought a yummy fruit platter to round out our meal.   She just eats up this party planning stuff and she's only five!  We played hot potato using a Youtube video of Irish Music on my phone. The kids loved this game and it was as simple as heating a potato in the oven for a few minutes and searching for music on youtube.   Then it was time for the scavenger hunt .   The purple shamrock led them to Sam's backpack where they found the pot of gold. I was so proud of Sam for sharing the candy...

Elsa's first winter can hardly be called Winter considering how mild it's been. Many years we still have lots of snow in the middle of March but this year it's been in the 70's already!Now that it's warmer we have stopped using the infant car seat. Elsa's first day in her Evenflo Triumph was Monday the 12th. She loves her baby Lazy Boy as I like to refer to the Triumph. On Wednesday the 14th I was able to put a bow in her hair that actually stayed put. I promptly took 20 pictures (none of which are uploaded to my computer yet).  I love how this photo captures her constant chatter and that she's always always grabbing her feet. After a short break from taking basket photos outdoors we were able to return to our porch for our Friday Photo Shoot. I found this green hat on clearance and decided to make it work in honor of St. Patrick's Day.    That was until I came across this hat via Etsy.    Caren Watson of Always Autumn was kind enough to...

Playing catch up again...thank goodness for the notes I write on our calendar and in my planner or I'd never remember all the details of Elsa's development! Week 36 was a fun one for our family! We celebrated my brother-in-law's 40th birthday on the 3rd, the same day that Elsa's second tooth popped through (other middle bottom one). She loved being surrounded by other babies at the birthday party. Another thing she gets very excited about (read: flaps her arms and screeches wildly) is our cat, Allie. Just the sight of her sends Elsa into a frenzy. We finally gave up the swaddle blanket for good this week. She sleeps on her belly exclusively now. It makes me so nervous because I find her with her face in the mattress all too often. Other milestones for this week include clicking her tongue, and mimicking us when we do it first. I was able to capture some of her clapping during her basket shoot this week. All it takes is saying "Yea Elsa!" and she starts cla...

With the beautiful weather i've had lots of views like this. bike rides, picnic baskets, garage sales, sunbonnets, lemonade, hammocks, and disc golf.... Welcome Spring!

LIGHT SABER! When Sam turned six we felt he was old enough to watch Star Wars again. We had let him watch them earlier and he started having nightmares so we held off on watching them again until he was older. The day he turned six the first thing he wanted to do was watch Star Wars. No surprise there! The boy loves shooting spaceships and good guys/bad guys. His favorite thing to do is to have light saber battles with daddy. These $8 ones have held up really well surprisingly! It's usually the cheapest toys that hold their interest the longest.Wish I would remember this fact when I'm buying them gifts!  Do you have an Alphabitty Moment you want to remember this week?