Our Trip to the Farm (or Scream-O-Rama)

We visited a working farm today for playgroup. The girls and I were the first to arrive. We all got out of the car and moseyed over to see some chickens. Then we met the first friendly dog and that's when the Scream-O-Rama began. There was another dog as well, and a couple of kittens. Everytime any animal would look at/head towards/think about sniffing the girls they would both scream. Not a sweet scream like, "Okay...I don't like this..."it was more like, "Oh Crap Mommy! This animal is going to eat me!" It was headache inducing, but I knew that if we didn't stay the girls would leave scared. So, we endured.

Here is a mommy goose. She kept her distance.

Sydney was really just sympathy screaming when Kathryn was, so Farmer Pat picked her up and that's where she stayed until we left.

They gave us some carrots to feed the horses and they loved it. Even when we were finished they continued to follow us around. Now, I can understand being a little wary of a horse. They're huge! And have no facial expression. Their happy face looks just like their mad face, which looks just like their indifferent face. At least to me.

The smelly cows. These are the (huge) babies. The oldest one was about a year!

I'm happy to say that by the end of our visit, the screaming had ceased. The cats would run by us and she would scoot a little closer to me, but (thank goodness) no screaming. When we were leaving she said to me, "Mom, that was fun! And my eyes aren't wet anymore!"

The Chickens

Yes, Kathryn was afraid of the chickens as well. Though they really just all steered clear of us. Farmer Pat found some eggs in the coop and let some of the kids hold them.

Sydney and Farmer Pat...attached at the hip (literally!)

The Flowers

This was the last part of our exploration of the farm. Kathryn had finally stopped screaming at this point, whenever a cat would run by her. Sydney, thankfully, had also stopped screaming, because Kathryn stopped!

Look at Kathryn's sweet face and Sydney's goofy face. Farmer Pat picked some flowers for the kids and Kathryn admired hers while Sydney ripped all of the petals off.

Our friends Kate, Ella, & Dallin.

Kathryn took this picture of me.

I made an apron!

Yesterday I found an apron pattern online that I wanted to try, so I did, and here it is! It is a potential project for our Super Saturday. I was talking to my friend and she was saying that they needed something else for SS, so I suggested an apron. This one is pretty plain, but you could choose any type of cute fabric. I found this fabric as a remnant, so it was an inexpensive experiment. I guess I maybe shouldn't post this, since it's what most of you will be getting for Christmas! I had fun making it and can't wait to go and look for more fun fabric. I'm excited to try and make kid aprons. I actually prefer my kids to wear aprons instead of bibs, because they cover their lap. That's where most of the food end up!

I don't wear aprons enough. I always forget to put them on, and end up getting something on myself. But when I have one on, I feel so...protected? I don't know, it's just a good feeling (for me) to be able to wipe my hands on my shirt (or at least where my shirt would be if I wasn't wearing my fancy apron).

A Fun Saturday...

We had a really fun day today. We slept in (super fun) and then we had biscuits and bacon for breakfast (mmmmm.....bacon). The girls and I got ready for the day while Mike went and ran, then we headed off to Forest Park to picnic, play, and ride bikes. The weather was really nice and it was so fun just to be outside. While Mike and the girls got the bikes ready and played at the playground, I went for a short run, then we rode almost all the way around Forest Park on the bike path. Then we came home and took care of some small chores and the girls played outside with our neighbor, Brenden. Oh, and I mowed.

Here is a picture of my living room mantel. I have been working for a while to put something decorative on it that has interesting negative space (you like that Melynie?). Anyway, this is what I've finally come up with and I'm satisfied. Not thrilled, shout it from the rooftops happy, but satisfied. The wall looks horribly purple in this picture. I'd really like to repaint it. Any suggestions? I thought dark blue would look nice, but Mike made a face. What do you think? I'd love to get some other opinions.

Sydney Anne is 2!

Here are Sydney's 2 year old pictures! What a cutie! She did so well smiling and sitting (relatively) still.

Here is some woman hair (as Kathryn calls it).

A first and a punch!

Here is Kathryn's first time to write her full name unassisted. She wrote it in sidewalk chalk, and you could barely see it, so I traced over it in PhotoDraw. I'm so proud of her. She is a smart little cookie. She really enjoys counting. She counts the number of people in our family and also the families of all of her friends. She is also beginning to add. "Hey Mom! 5 and 2 is 7!" She had a fever tonight so she had to miss dance and she cried. It made me want to cry too.

Last night I was showing everyone my dance moves from Body Jam (a dance type class at the gym) and I (so accidentally) punched Sydney in the face and knocked her over backwards! I felt so horrible, but I couldn't help myself from laughing just a little bit. She cried and cried! Mike asked her where it hurt and she said, "Mommy hit me in my nose!" After that, Mike took the girls up to bathe them and I gathered jammies, but when I came up to the bathroom and she saw me, she started crying a little again, but then she laughed. She is starting to recognize landmarks that we pass during our day such as: Sissy's dance cass, dat's my doctor,
dere's Target over dere, dere's my ouse (house), and we made it! When we stop anywhere that we will be getting out she says, "Sissy, get me out!" Kathryn is a big help now and can unbuckle her, so usually by the time I get back there to open the door, they're ready to jump.

I'm bummed that Halloween season is back, simply because the girls are terrified of any store with scary Halloween stuff. And I can't really blame them. Some of that stuff is so evil looking! I guess that's the point, but I can promise you that it will never be a part of our Halloween celebration.

I'm reading Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn and it's so disturbing. I mean, it's a good story, but kind of out there. I'm only halfway through, so don't spill any beans to me please.

Happy 30th Mike!

Today is Mike's 30th birthday. We had a low key celebration at home and had shrimp for dinner. The girls and I sang Happy Birthday to him and we ate birthday cake for dessert. Mike's birthday present is a trip to TX to see the Aggies play football at Kyle Field. I also bought him an aluminum water bottle.

Playing with Angular Momentum

At the park we went to tonight, we found this fun piece of equipment. It took us a minute to figure it out, but ended up having a lot of fun on it. At least I did! You just have to jump on it and make it spin, and then when you pull yourself in close to in, you spin super fast. This is me trying me hardest to pull in close. The faster you start off, the harder it is (ok, impossible for me) to pull yourself in!

 

 

Look! I'm spinning so fast, I'm blurry!

 

Playing at the Pawk

Tonight we went to Forest Park to go exploring. We found a fun pawk (Sydney's version of park) to play in. The girls had fun climbing, running, hiding, jumping, and laughing.

 

 

They enjoyed drinking out of this water fountain. Everytime they see one, they are suddenly very thirst and must have a drink.

 

 

Kathryn's a Winner!

Kathryn won a $10 gift card to Target for completing the reading program at the library. She (we) read 40 books! She got to choose what she bought with her money, and these are the toys that she chose.

 

I can't figure out if this picture is cute, or disturbing. She looks like she's having way too much fun working the drive-thru at MickeyDs.(sp? intentional)

 

Pretend Camping

Last night we went pretend camping in our backyard. We set up the tent and made a campfire. The girls enjoyed playing in the tent and zipping and unzipping the door. We roasted marshmallows on our fire, but the girls were afraid to eat them (too hot!), so they just ate as many non-roasted marshmallows as they could.

 

In this pic, Sydney is saying, "The fire is big!"

 

 

MIssion Complete!

Yay! It's over! Yesterday was super fun, but really tiring. We woke up around 4:15 and left the house around 5, and got to the race around 6:30. The weather was really nice, in the low 60s. After I checked in, we said hello to some of our friends (from Mike's work) and watched them start the race. Keith is one of them, and he & Mike run together at work during their lunch break. He was kind enough to do the biking portion and the running portion with me last year, as well as this year, for moral support. (And this was after he had finished his race, coming in 1st in his age group of 50-54!) I started my swim at 8:03:30 and I was off! I have to admit that the swim was really tough for me for some reason this year. I struggled through, but refused to walk through the water (like lots of people did!). I did manage to pass the guy that started 30 second in front of me, but then during the rest of the race I realized he was probably in his 70s. So, when that was over, I was so relieved and ran to my bike. I got my shoes on okay, but when I put my shirt on, 2 of the 4 safety pins that were holding my number on popped open! Mike was right there and helped me get them back on and then I took off.

 

Right when I took off, I heard a clicking sound near my front tire. I had no idea what it could be, so I just continued to ride as fast as I could and figured that if it didn't cause me to stop, I would worry about it later. Some nice guy rode up to me and told me that it was my bike computer sensor that had just been turned a little and was hitting the front fork, so I didn't worry about it anymore, but the clicking was pretty annoying. My first bike picture is what I actually looked like, and the second is me looking fake-intense. You can see Keith riding beside me.

 

 

After the bike I felt really good, so I was encouraged about the run, which I usually think is the hardest part. I ended up running 9 minute miles, which is fast for me! I finished in 1:32:06, which is 11+ minutes faster than last year!

 

Afterwards, they serve lunch and boy did I need it. I was so drained after the race. I ate 4 pieces of fried chicken! It doesn't sound like the appropriate food to be eating for recovery, but it was so good! We went swimming for a little bit after lunch, but we were all so tired, that we didn't stay long. Mike and Kathryn went down the slide 5 or 6 times. Sydney only went down twice. Once with Mike and once with me. On our trip down, I didn't catch my feet on the landing and I plunged her under the water, which she didn't care for. So after that happened, she was done with the slide. Then we all drove home and took a good long nap!

Wood River Triathlon tomorrow!

My triathlon is tomorrow in Wood River, Illinois! I'm excited about it and I think it will be a fun day. My goal is to do better than I did last year. My number is 128 and my start time is 8:03:30 am CST. I'll swim 450 yards, bike 12 miles, and run 4 miles. So, be thinking about me! I look nowhere this intense or muscle-licious when I'm racing.

 

Afterwards, we get to all go swimming at their city pool which has big water slides! We did this last year and had a lot of fun.