Farmer's Market

Today was the best day to go to the farmer's market!  It did not start out very well, the kids slept in and didn't get up until close to 8:30.  And the farmer's market is a good 30 minute drive away, fills up quickly, and all the good stuff goes fast, and then even on the drive to the market, I had to go to 2 different ATMs to get cash because the first one was out of money, so that really set me back!   But anyway, I quickly shoved some cereal down the kid's throats, packed them a cup of orange juice for the ride, and got them dressed - rain coats and rain boots and umbrellas in hand.  It was a wet, and rainy, and stormy morning, and I didn't really want to go to the farmer's market, but I needed to get on the list for our organic, free-range, happy (well, happy until he gets his head chopped off) turkey for Thanksgiving, and I have been on the hunt for my rumba squash to puree up for the freezer for all our pumpkin breads and muffins and pies the rest of the year, so off we went, kids grumbling the whole way.  The farmer's market isn't their favorite place to go, but I promised them we'd stop by Troubles the clown and get them some balloons.

Thanks to the bad weather, nobody was at the market this morning.  I mean nobody!  We parked in the front row, when usually we're like in the way back, and there was nobody walking around, so I had no trouble pushing my double stroller, a.k.a. my shopping cart, through market and being able to shop at the same time.  We hit the jackpot today, well at least for us, we found everything we were looking for.  I found a gigantic bag of basil to make Willow more pesto to freeze up - the girl eats pesto on just about everything, we found a great stash of sweet potatoes for sweet potato chips, some local honey for our allergies (the honey guy has been missing for weeks now), I found my rumba squash (yes! finally!), our turkey farmer was there today too so we got on the list to get a turkey, AND we had enough money left over to get ourselves some Kansas grown flowers!  We also stopped by Troubles the clown and the kids got pirate hats and swords.  It was a great day to go to the market!

Muffins with Mommy

I got to go to Jayden's class today for Muffins with Mommy, where I got to spend about an hour with him doing center work.  When I first got to his class, he gave me a button with his picture on it to wear, but he got too excited about it and decided he wanted to wear it first.

We started our center work at the 'Reading with Mommy' table and read a bunch of books.  Then we moved onto the 'Muffins with Mommy' table and I know this is hard to believe, but we ate muffins!  Next up, was the 'Mommy and Me' table.

Jayden made me some bath salts, poured them into a jar, and tied a ribbon (or 2 or 3) around it.

Our final center work was at the 'Massage' table.  Jayden took a bottle of lotion....

...and gave me a hand and arm massage! He kept telling me how good of a massager he was and then he offered to give the other moms at the table with us a massage too, because he was 'just so good at it.  I really am!'

Willow's Chariot and Computer

The majority of the week, Jayden, Willow, and I walk Jayden to school.  He rides his razor scooter, Willow walks for about 5 minutes, then jumps in the stroller for the rest of the way.  Once Jayden is at school, I fold up his razor scooter, tuck it under the stroller and Willow and I walk back.  Ever since Jayden took the training wheels off his bike, he has been begging me to ride bikes to school.  The problem was my bike trailer has been broken and Willow can't ride more than 100 feet without getting off her bike.  So, Royal to the rescue!  He finally fixed the trailer and it is now safe and operational!  And today, we rode bikes to school!  I said to Willow, 'Hey Willow, jump in the trailer so we can leave!'  She said, 'No!  I no like trailer!'.  I said, 'You don't like the bike trailer?  Well, it's not really a trailer, it's more like your chariot.  Like a princess chariot.'  That won her over.  She got right in and put on her 'helmet crown'.

And on the ride to school, I heard a few, 'I'm the queen!  I'm the queen!' coming from the chariot I was pulling.

Then, while cooking dinner tonight, Willow told me it was time for me to go to work, because she had things she needed to do on her computer while I was gone.  Guess she thinks that's all I do while Royal's at work.  :)

Fall Suncatchers

Royal and I undertook a gigantic project yesterday.  I have been battling a ridiculous moth infestation in my pantry, pretty much, all summer.  They make me so mad, and Royal has squished them all over the walls, which also infuriates me.  But I haven't been able to find where exactly they are coming from, and my pantry is gigantic.  It's bigger than my closet.  It has a window in it, it is so big, and I need a stool to get anything off the top shelf.  It's big.  Finally, yesterday, I'd had it.  I started taking everything out of the pantry, all 6 huge corner shelves, emptied.  It took me a good hour or two.  Then I made Royal go in and kill all the moths, and wipe down all the shelves, and all the squished moths on the walls.  Then it took me another 2 hours to reorganize the whole thing, and wipe down any can or box or anything that the moths might be hiding in.  I actually put 2 moth jackpots back in the pantry without even know it.  Luckily Royal found them later that night and got rid of them, and so far, we have been moth free!  Hallelujah!   But with all the work I was doing in the kitchen, the kids felt a tad ignored, so after dinner, I decided we should do an art project.  An art project I found while cleaning out the pantry!

Snoopy sun catchers!  I had forgotten all about these little suckers.  I found them marked down like 80% last year when we were out doing our Christmas shopping and had gotten them thinking they would be so much fun to do in the fall.  And if I hadn't had to clean out the pantry, I might not have remembered them at all!  Thank you little moths!

This was a really good project for Royal and I.  We are both, very definitely, color inside the lines kind of people.  And kids, well, they just don't color in the lines.  Sometimes, they make Snoopy's head orange.

Both of us had to keep reminding the other person to just let the kids color them however they wanted.  And that if they squeezed too much colored glue in one area, it really didn't matter.

Sometimes, I really need to just give up a bit of control.  What's the big deal anyway?  I control so much of the kid's lives, why in the world do I need to control how they create something.  And I'm sure the kid's probably enjoyed themselves more without me trying to hover over their shoulders "helping" them.  All I did was put tips on the color of the glue they wanted next, and use a toothpick to help spread glue piles that got a little too high.  I think they turned out great!

Jayden Sings :: A Fish Song

It has been almost a year since I posted a video of Jayden singing!  He sings all the time, at home, in the grocery story, in the bathroom, standing in the street, riding his bike down the road, swinging in the backyard...I think you get the idea.  He sings songs he knows and lots of songs he makes up.  I get funny looks from people when we are in stores, but my response back to them is, "Life's a musical when your 5!"

Here is a song he picked up at school.  He is coming home with lots of new material to belt around the house!

Riding on 2 Wheels

The hot weather has finally broken!  You could feel a change real early in the morning, mostly before the sun came up, there was a slight coolness in the wind, but it was still crankin' above 100 during the day.  We endured 54 days over 100, the first being in April, the majority of them in July and August, and the last of them in September.  It has been. So. Hot.  But it looks like it's finally over!  Saturday was 105, then a thunder storm came in the evening and when we woke up Sunday morning, it was 65 degrees outside. 65!  I wore pants to church!  And since then we've just been hanging out in the low to mid 80's.  It feels so good!

We have been playing outside pretty much non-stop for the past 3 days with all the kids on our street, and Jayden decided it was time to take the training wheels off his bike.  He actually learned how to ride a bike without training wheels last Christmas when we were in Washington, but hasn't been ready to commit to it on his bike here, until this weekend.  I wasn't even around when the wheels actually came off, but Royal said he only crashed once and then he was off and riding around everywhere!

And I give the nice weather about 2 weeks, and then I figure things will start to ice over..... :)

Kid Quote :: 16

Willow : Hey Dad, give me fifty dollars.

Royal : **silence** and looks at me with eyebrows raised.

Willow : You say, "Yes, ma'am".

There are going to be some long and expensive years until Willow is out on her own....