Scarecrow

So yesterday when we got back from the snow caves I told Kendall and Joshua that they needed to help the kids make a scarecrow for our front porch. When my mom and I got back a few hours later this is what we found. I laugh every time I see it! It is a little freaky at night though as we don't have curtains up yet and when ever I look out the window I think someone is standing there.

Ice Caves

On Saturday my brother Joshua and niece Emily came for a visit. We took a trip up to the ice caves. When we went up there in June the caves had not formed yet so we were excited to go again and see the caves. We were not disappointed!

My brother brought his dog along for the trip. The kids just LOVED him! He is a pretty strong dog as Noah learned the hard way. He was walking the dog and the dog took off across the parking lot dragging Noah along. He's got some pretty road rash to show for it too!

We had a picnic lunch before we started on the hike.

Emma and Emily had a great time playing together along the way.

I like this picture with the kids all running ahead and the trees all around.

This was a really cool tree.

Emma and Emily standing next to one of the walls of the outside part of the cave. (No, I did not let the kids go into the cave, way to dangerous!)

The air coming out of the cave was so cold! Daniel loved touching the ice walls.

This is a shot of the inside of the cave. The kids wanted to know why it was "raining" in the cave. The ice was melting all over inside the cave.

This was our first look of at the cave. I was surprised at how big it was! You can kind of see the people standing around it in the picture.

Noah, Emma, Emily and Daniel sitting just outside the cave. It was pretty cold with the wind coming off the snow so we didn't stay very long.

My mom aka Manna and Emily.

I thought this was a funny picture of everyone. It was really hard to get everyone to sit still for a picture!

Daniel

We ran into Kendall's manager from work up at the caves and he was nice enough to take a picture of us.

Family picture.

Noah loved to hide along the trail and then jump out at us. Can you find him in this picture?

Emma and Noah in the hiding place under the tree.

One last break before the end of the trail. It was a wonderful day with minimal whining. We were smart and took a stroller this time so we didn't have to break our backs carrying Daniel.

This year Noah is studying American History. We were reading a book about Jamestown and they mentioned that one of the men was a master carpenter.

Me: "Noah do you know what a master carpenter is?
Noah: "Ya, it's a person who fixes carpets, and makes them look better."
Me: hahaaahaa.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have laughed but it was so not the answer I was expecting! He was a little embarrassed, but I told him it was a very good guess and it was okay. I did say sorry for laughing too. And I did go on to explain what a master carpenter really does.

Sorry about the lack of new posts of late. School started last week. With school starting up all my time seems to be filled with teaching Noah and trying to keep up with my other normal house keeping/mom duties and I don't seem to have time for any thing else. It is really nice having my mom here as she can help out with the kids and she helps with the cleaning and cooking too. She keeps telling me that she has forgotten how fast kids can mess up a home! So for now, don't give up on me, I will keep posting, just not as often as before.

Life is Busy!

Okay, I know it's been a while since I've posted, sorry. Life has been really really busy! My mom moved in with us a few days after we got back from our trip to Utah. It's been a lot of fun having her here and the kids are just in Heaven!!
My mom brought this little piece of furniture with her and of course the kids had to try it out. I can't believe Noah fit into this little cupboard! Emma had a hard time getting into it. Noah is very ummm, how shall I put this....foldable (If that's even a word).

Look how small that space is!!

Since my mom is here and the weather has been nice I decided it was time to finally paint over all the awful walls in my house! The people who owned the house before us knew NOTHING about painting a house! They painted the kitchen in flat paint (who paints a kitchen in FLAT PAINT??) There were grease stains EVERYWHERE! Also, very strange, some of the living room walls were in flat paint and some were in semi-gloss. I was so excited to finally paint!! Kendall took the kids for the day while my mom and I painted the kitchen. The next Saturday Kendall took the kids again and we painted the hall and living room. I was so sore the next day after 12+ hours of painting. It was all very worth it though. I was kinda frustrated that the pictures don't show the color quite right, but you get the picture.

Okay, Kendall made me put this in the blog. Yes, he also made me ware this the whole time I was Painting! Yes, I know I am a strange person....

Kitchen before...

Kitchen after. I love the blue and it is 110% better then it was!

Living room before...

More living room before....

Living room after. You can't tell very well but the walls are light green.

More kitchen and the darker green in the hall. I LOVE this dark green, I'm just sad that it doesn't look quite right in the pictures.

So painting has been a very big project for us the last few weeks. I have also been getting ready for school to start up again. I home school so it's no small thing for me to get ready for school! We start tomorrow, with Emma going to preschool. I do a co-op type preschool with 5 other moms. It's good for Emma to get out of the house and be around other kids too. Sadly she is the only girl again this year. The kids are so excited to start.