And the Race is ON!!

The boys have been crazy about race cars lately. So they made their own race cars to have their own races. We cut old cardboard boxes and they chose a color of tissue paper to glue on and they picked their favorite number. Thatcher wasn't too excited to make it, I don't think he could "envision" the end product. But when they were finished they were so excited to "drive" them around and pretend to race.

Homeschool

The new school year was a big change for us. Oliver started Kindergarten. Since we are homeschooling, it wasn't sad to start the school year, but it changed our daily lives drastically. No more lazy days, just playing around. We developed a family master schedule that includes what everyone needs to accomplish in a day, including school. The boys started chore packs to help them learn how to do chores without me reminding them all day long, what to do and how to do it. Our schedule is evolving as we are learning better ways of doing things and different times that work better than others but it's good to feel like we are getting things done that need to be done.
Oliver is doing well in school and is learning a lot. I am so excited for him to learn how to read-that is such a big step.
Travis and I decided we needed to start spending more one on one time with each of the boys. So last night I took Thatcher out on a date. He got to choose what we did and he wanted to go to Target. So we went to the mall and rode the toy cars, he loves to drive anything. The ice cream store was out of business (???) so he got a pink drink from starbucks and we walked around the toy section at target. It was neat to give him my undivided attention and to see his personality come out without his brothers overshadowing. The last thing we did was to get pictures taken in the photo booth at the mall. He loved it because he got his own set of pics as well. We made silly faces and one actually looks like I am getting ready to punch him. Not sure how that happened. I hope we can continue to do this with all the boys.
Oliver then went with Travis this morning for breakfast. He chose Mcdonald's for breakfast and they also went to Starbucks for coffee, more for just visiting.
Next week we will switch, somehow working Sebastian into the mix too.

This is Oliver teaching Thatcher the moves to a song they sing at Vacation Bible School. This was Oliver's first year going and he LOVES it. Of course he was apprehensive at first, but after the first night, it's all he talks about, ALL DAY LONG!! It's wonderful to see him excited about going to CHURCH and learning about GOD.

Camping

For Travis's birthday we decided to take a short weekend trip camping in the Black Hills. We left on Friday morning and drove 6 hours to Rafter J campground near Hill City. This is the same campground travis has been coming to since he was little. Oliver has been looking forward to this trip since we mentioned it to him, he remembers camping 2 years ago and was excited to do it again. The boys traveled great and we had to do it the old fashioned way-no dvd player! It broke as we were leaving that morning. But our children suprised us by behaving wonderfully-thank you Jesus!!
The first thing on our list was to go to Old McDonald's Farm, a petting farm. The boys LOVED it!!! There were basic farm animals but we could go into the pen and pet the animal. Oliver's favorite was the lambs and the baby goats. There was a teeny black goat that was only 2 weeks old, soooo cute-not so much as they get bigger. Thatcher's favorite was the baby chicks. He kept saying, "I love these ones." It was pretty cool the way they had it set up. They had a place where they stored the eggs until they hatched, then they are moved to a different warmer, and then they are put in a wooden box where we can actually touch them and hold them.
When you buy a pass for Old Mcdonald's Farm, it is good for the next 3 days, so obviously we did go back, 3 times. On the last day, Oliver and Thatcher had their first pony rides. They loved it and felt so Big!
We had a camp fire the first night and made s'mores of course. The cabin was beautiful and had a breathtaking view off the porch. We had to laugh at ourselves for being so in awe-and these aren't even mountains.
The weather was a little cool, so swimming didn't last long. But they had built a new playground area for children and they had fun playing on it when they could.
There was a cruise night in Rapid City on Saturday night-perfect for Travis's birthday, right? Little did we know, there was a huge thunderstorm in Rapid that evening, hail and everything. We got stuck half way there, sitting on the side of the road, waiting for the hail to slow so we could go back to the cabin. I have never seen Travis more freaked out. Luckily, no damage! And of course, now we have a great story to tell.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back again. We are so thankful that we get to spend time together and make wonderful memories like these, especially viewing God's amazing works of art.

daddy time

I always wonder what Travis and the boys do when I am away......

-watch tv?

-play toys?

-eat junk food?

-lay around being lazy?

Now I have proof....

Houseguests!

We were so excited to have Brittany and Aaron come stay with us for a couple of days on their way to Idaho. We hadn't seen her since August and had not met Aaron yet. The time flew by of course but was filled with great memories.

It was wonderful to get to know Aaron a little bit while we cooked s'mores out by the fire.

They brought their dog along and Maggie and her got along well-unless one of them were trying to eat. (females!) It was funny to watch Maggie being chased by a dog half her size, she's such a wimp! lol