20th HS reunion

Well, this summer marked the 20th year we have been out of High School. Better known as your 20th High School Reunion. I did not go to mine. Too big. I only went there 2 years. And I keep in touch with those who I want to keep in touch with...... albeit very poorly. I need to do much better at that!  I did get together with a few of my former elementry school chums from Evangelical Christian Academy. That was fun. I hope to do that more often. There is something special about that class.
We did go to Dave's HS reunion though. It was a fun time and it coresponded with the Crowley County Days festivities. So, that was a fun time and we also got to stay with friends there and the kids had a blast as did us grown ups. That is a must do more often! We got to play with dogs, kitties, see more chickens and goats and shop at the farm market and eat good sweet melon from the best melon growing area on earth! Rocky Ford. We drove out to Cheraw where Dave's mom grew up and through Sugar City where my Gramps spent some of his childhood. We told the kids stories we had heard. It was  good time! Here are a few photos from the trip.

Chickens

Here are the girls in early July. We are down two. Now we have 10. We did get two free though, so that is some consolation. We got our lesson in naming food. Not a good idea. We were sad Mama Fluff-ruffle got eaten. She was an Americana with distinctive markings. The Australorpe is hard to distinguish from the others and had no name and so we were not as sad.......   No more naming work animals!  A weasel got in and ate two of them. Our two "defender" chicks got it, I imagine they were protecting the rest. Someone will have to take over. They are getting so big and feathery..........hoping for eggs in a few weeks.

Book Character Birthday Party

Well, Olivia turns 11! WOW! We celebrated with her friends last weekend. It was a fun book character birthday party. I am going to write this up in case anyone is interested in doing one of these.
Everyone came dressed up like a book character (we choose children's classics).

 Olivia is Repacheep from Narnia and the boys are Wee Feechies from the Wilderking trilogy (ok, not a classic....YET). We also had a Persian Princess, Lucy from Narnia, a fairy and a mouse from the Rescuers.

I made a birthday cake that was two books stacked on top of each other. It turned out well. I used a boxed chocolate cake, a stiffer cake would work better. The butter cream frosting worked well, stiff enough to hold.
We also served slices of ice cream on which the kids used Alpha Bits Cereal to write messages. That was fun and they liked eating it, but not the best idea in the world. Alpha Bits cereal is hard to find. In our city Walmart, King Soopers, Safeway DO NOT carry it. We had to go to Albertsons to get it. Not one of those anywhere near us. Yummy buy though.

We played some fun games.
First off we mixed it up by guessing what book character was taped to our back.
Then we sat around and introduced the character we had come as and a little about the book. I had the kids share what they liked best about that book or character.
We got a few new book titles to go check out!
Then we played a game of Children's classics trivia. That was a bit long and there are so many books, not all the kids had read them. It might be good to pick a couple that you know they read at school or summer reading books. Trivia game can be viewed with this copy and paste link below if this link does not take you there: link. And our invitation should be one of them.
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-obhHD6VxLWOGQ5MzcxMjctMzIxNC00MmYzLWEwMjMtZmI5ODYwZjZhYjAz&hl=en&authkey=CLjv2fsP
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=143WS6OrIueEzZf48q4F-k8UtLZnMm-Tt6hxRyFmM6to&hl=en&authkey=CPiY5dAI

Then we went downstairs to make a beaded ribbon book mark. And play a game of build a castle out of books. The kids did a good job. This one was the most tall castle like.
Then we had cake and ice cream, opened packages and enjoyed a fun mixed up story. We used the Mad-Lib's idea with the story of Cinderella. You can do this with any storybook. I suggest using a Little Golden book version of a classic and substituting words (names, places, items) for a funny twist on an old familiar. 

The girls then did a play acting of a classic story all mixed up called Fractured Fairy Tales. This needs some tweaking before I can actually post this game.
The girls received a book for their party favor. You can buy a bunch of the same one or a variety of bargain books that are actually good. We went to discount shelves at Big Lots, Barnes and Nobles, Borders and Mardel's Christian Book store.  And, of course my daughter insisted we pass out candy as well.

All in all it was a fun party and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and go home happy.

Poor Jigs even got brought into the action as Aslan from Narnia. He hated this dress up and he ran and hid under the bed when it was time to put it on. Then he moped around while it was on him.

Fun times.

Chickens

Chickens have arrived! We ordered 10 and got 12. I guess in case they don't make it...... there is one who seems quite lethargic. Hoping. They had quite the day. At two days old they got loaded in a box, shipped overnight and unpacked. They got some water, then I picked them up and put them in the back of the car with a bit of food in their box. Drove to pick up kids and gave them water, drove to show them to Dave and then finally home. That was likely nearly 24 hours after they got loaded in the box in the first place. Poor little things. Well, they are happy in their big box with bedding, food and water and a light. But, they are sooooo tired, they just keep falling asleep standing up and then fall over. Then they get up and run around and eat and drink and preen and then fall asleep. They are sooooo cute all those little chicks. Name them? NO. Every one is smitten with them, but they are work animals, they will lay eggs and when they quit they will be named fryer and nugget, etc. I wonder if they will peep cheep peep cheep all night long? I hope they get some sleep!

The lethargic one, cute red headed gal.

Awwww, so cute.

Fluffy yellow chick. We think this is an Americana, she will be bluish.

An Australorpe gets a drink

She is soooo tired she just went to sleep. Then she got up and ran around and then went back to sleep. Such a cute baby.

New look on adoption blog

New look over on the adoption blog. Hoping it will be easier to read! I think the other was too dark.

End of May

Well, we had our first boy stitches. Fun times. The boys were sliding on pillows on the tile floor. Not such a good idea. Nate missed the pillow and hit the floor. 7 stitches on a Friday night. Why does this happen when offices are closed? Anyway we got in and out of the Memorial urgent care. Nate was a brave boy and only teared up a bit when they gave him numbing shots. I said "ouchi wa wa" and he giggled and then it was numb enough to not cry. He was really tired of being still though and just plain tired. He went to bed quite late that night. This is after he got the stitches out.

Please take a picture of me too Mama! Such a handsome son.

Olivia enjoyed a special day at school celebrating Colorado History (of which she enjoys a great amount of her very own personal history and blood line as a native and daughter of the Pioneers). They also got to see the Thunderbirds fly over for the Air Force Academy graduation which is across the highway from the school. Great show.

Dave went over to 4th grade to show them buffalo heart and lung to end up their resperatory unit. That was fun for all!

And field day. What school year is complete without the compulsory field day. The kids had fun and enjoyed their "team class" shirts. Phoebe's last field day. Of course I had to record it on film.

Graduations

Well, Phoebe has finished grade school. The end of elementary. On to Jr High! We celebrated with a little party with some of her friends from school. It was fun. Phoebe is off to the big school and will do just fine as a 7th grader. Scarry? Well, not really when you are as competent, friendly and organized as Phoebe is! No worries for her parents anyway. Good job girl!

The boys also ended their preschool years. Well, Kedus will move on to Kindergarten at TCA and Nate will homeschool a modified PreKinder with mommy. :) So, only Kedus officially graduated. They had a cute little ceremony at school. They had a great time at TriLakes Community Preschool. Ms. Megan was the best this year. They have also enjoyed homeschool two days a week this year. Good job guys!