Life in Dairy Land

Someone recently asked me how life was going in Wisconsin for us.  Seriously, I cannot complain at all....here's just a look at how much fun we have up here in our own backyard....

The hammock and tire swing in the back corner of the yard.

The chicken coop:)  Hi lovely chicken ladies!

Seriously cute baby who really isn't a baby any more.

The mini-orchard!  Pears, peaches, and plums....oh my!

The garden in the other back corner with the cutest little gardener digging up....

....toPotAtOs!  :)  at least that's what he called them.  There were also some yummy carrots, sweet topotatos and leeks that still needed to be dug up.

The pergola - designed and built from scratch by the big daddy.  He's very talented.  We have grapes growing in there!

The kids treehouses, swings, and mobile home...hee-hee

The mobile home for the bunnies and chickens - we move it around the lawn so they can hang out with us.

I think I would have to say life is good....very good here in Wisconsin.

Madigan and Cricket

The latest creatures to join our menagerie.   ToO cUtE!!  Callie likes to call them her own little pez dispensers....because Callie can talk and she tells me these things.  Huck likes to call them fruit snacks, but we haven't let him try them at all. 

Dragonfly By

Smoosh was at one with nature today.  Beautiful.












We saw the dragonfly in the flowerbed and the little guy flew right over and landed on Smoosh's leg.

Happy Smoosh :)

Smoosh's First Day of 4K

And Smoosh started school as well this month.  He is going to an afternoon program which is scary for many reasons:  1) He has to be awake during a time he is normally sleeping.  For Smoosh, this is bad news.  He has so exhausted himself by noon most days that he sleeps for 2 to 3 hours.  And now he is supposed to be in a group of other 4-year olds at that time behaving.  Uh oh.  2) He has to ride a bus.  Ok, ok, so it is only a few days a week that he has to do it and only for the drop off.  Not too bad I guess.  He is very excited about riding a bus though as it gets him one step closer to being as cool as his big brother and sister.  3) Well, there is always that anxiousness about Smoosh being in with a group of other kids.  Every time he gets near other kids he has a tendency to run them over and somehow hurt them.  Uh OH.

Amazingly enough, when it is his turn for a solo pic,
he is able to sit for a few seconds.

 I was a little bit on the wicked side and gave him some hot chocolate and biscotti before school (well, we normally have tea and biscotti but I ran out of tea and thought, eh - its the first day, everyone is excited anyways....that won't be able to link that insane sugar rush back to me.....will they?). 

Going.....

uuuummmm....yeah.....gone.

 









And some shots of the big man at his big school:

And what does the little Squeaks have to say about all the other chillens' no longer at home with her???

Whose room should we destroy first Mommy?!??!?!?

First Days of School

It is so difficult to get a picture of Smoosh because he never sits still.  And when he does, he decides to be a grouchasaurus.  We literally had over 20 shots at this pic.....what a stink. 

Beans took it upon herself to be the social director of the morning and show all the kiddos she could manhandle where their teachers were.  Nice Beans, nice.

 Two weeks ago (wow, I am slipping!), the older kids headed back to school.  It always reminds me of my back-to-school days and how the night before I would lay out all of my new school clothes and leave the backpack right by my door.  It is such fun getting my little Beanie ready for her first day and lying out all of her first-day clothes with her backpack ready to go.  This year, she even got a little bit of the Mommy Beauty Salon treatment with nail polish, blow dried hair, and some yummy smelling schtuff in her hair.  I don't even know what the heck that schtuff was except that it smelled good.  While I love having a Beanie to pamper, I also love having Otter who is very nonchalant about it all.  As Otter puts it, his favorite days of school are the first and last.  I don't think I could really argue that one.

That's How We Roll

Smoosh exponentially increased our family fun time when he learned how to ride a bike.  The big man rocked out on his older sister's pink princess bike with her purple Care Bear helmet on and did not mind one bit.  He is all boy, even when he was decked out in all girl gear.  Over one weekend, he learned how to master the wheels while Beanie learned how to master her fear to get back on the bike.  She had quite the unfortunate event involving a bike, a fall, and certain areas that should never be hurt on little girls.  Egad.  I know pride is bad, but, man oh man, I was so proud of my two kiddos seeing one learn to ride with mostly his own motivation and seeing the other learn to get over her fear and move on (its been months!).

We have been taking family rides each night now.  Big Daddy sports the scooter so he can pick up anyone that falls and I get Squeaks in the child seat on the Anaranjando Fox (yes, I named my bike.  I love it).

Last night, we all went to the little farmette that is in our neighborhood and picked out some pumpkins.  We also got to pet all the animals there and dream about the day when we have our own little farmette.  We are getting closer every day to making the move.....

Dentist Trip

The dentist trip is a fine-timed, 3-ring circus I run with the kids.  Two kids going at the same time in different dentists chairs and me manning 2 other kids while running back and forth between those 2 chairs.  The kids love the dentist though because they have cable TV and we don't.  Its the only time they get to actually watch something fun like PlayHouse Disney.  Except Otter....for some reason he just doesn't get quite as excited about Handy Manny as the rest of them do.  This was also Squeaks first visit.  She eventually flipped over on the seat and had her teeth cleaned while on all fours, but, hey, it worked. 

She LOVED getting her x-rays done.

Oh yeah, he is a lot cooler than me sitting in the dentist chair.

There is nothing this little girl goes through where she doesn't have her big brother to help her out.

No cavities.  And they said giving her cookies and Coke every day would rot her teeth....silly medical professionals.