Graduation Play

This year we had three friends graduating from Missy’s. AJ, Behn and Ollie will be missed.

Missy had just the right number of kids and decided to brave a Disney production.  The kids did Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (Or Dorks, according to Behn: “which dork are you going to be?”)

Tucker was the best little Sneezy there ever was. I made all the dwarf hats and sewed the patches on all of their shirts.

And Kora, along with all of the others her age, were small woodland creatures.  This was Kora’s pose through the whole play; she didn’t move.

This is Prince Charming and the Dwarfs at the mine, waiting for their big entrance.

“Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s home from work we go”

Look out Kora Bunny.

And Snow White awakes and –Most- of the Dwarves are hiding.

And Snow White rides off into the sunset (or the scorching temperatures as the case may be).

Behn, Cole and Tuck with their mining tools. And the witches tower in the background.

Missy was so brave to even attempt this. The kids did great even in the 90 degree temperatures.  

Worm Farm

For Earth Day I went to Missy’s and we set the kids up with a worm composter.  The kids loved it so I promised Tuck we would start one at home.

We tore up newspaper and cardboard for a week to get things ready.  I also started saving food scraps so the new worms would have plenty to eat in their new home.

Tuck is pretty apprehensive about actually touching the worms.

Kora, on the other hand, has no reservations.

We keep our bin in the garage.  A few of the worms have escaped and we find them dried up on the concrete floor. But there are enough of them still in the bin that the food is disappearing, so all is good.  I am trying to instill some environmental consciousness into the kids.  Hopefully some of it sticks.

And what kid doesn’t just like worms?

Popcorn Boogers

We love popcorn.  We eat it about every evening.  Kora got pretty into it.

Weekend at the Cabin

We had our first family outing to the cabin this weekend.  TJ and Tuck went down on Thursday night and Kora and I followed on Friday night after work.  Kora and I had to do some shopping on the way down so it was pretty late when we arrived.  That 30% off coupon at Kohl’s was just burning a hole in my pocket.

The kids stayed up until “oz-mose” 11 pm playing out on the deck.  We got to see Saturn hanging out next to the moon.  NPR told me to keep a lookout all month.

Kora loved being on the Gator.  She didn’t get far from it, even if we weren’t driving it.

Here is TJ training Tuck how to work for the State Highway Department.  I think they both have a future in shovel support.

Kora spent some quality time in the food plots.  We found a caterpillar and she got so excited about petting it that she was almost shaking.  I had to let him go (hide him) when she started getting too friendly and squeezing the poor little guy.

I tried to get a good picture of her…

Instead I got this:

And not 5 minutes later I got this:

It is amazing the level of trust and comfort that they have in you that they will fall asleep in your arms as you are bouncing down the wooded trails.  She knows that we will protect her at all costs.

And Tucker got a new “fishey” pole.  It has Buzz Lightyear on it. He was trying to convince TJ to buy the Tinkerbell one for Kora and the My Little Pony one for me. He is so considerate.

He got pretty good at casting the rubber fish on the end of his line. Here he is in the dry creek bed.  There was one small puddle that he kept dunking the fish in.

The kids just loved all of their outdoor adventures.  They slept pretty good although Mommy and Daddy didn’t. 

And they just wanted “one more” Gator ride….

Kora is Dressing Herself

I put the shirt and skirt on her the other morning but she INSISTED upon putting the pants on too.

She has just recently begun trying to put on pants all by herself.  It is usually not very successful yet and she often gets frustrated before she gets even a leg in.  But it’s good practice and she’s so proud of herself.  I just have to be quicker, slyer and subtle about my assistance.

But isn't she just the cutest? 

The Boys and the Frogs

The neighbor brought over some tree frogs that were living in his pool.  The kids were pretty impressed. 

This is Jaren.  He and Tuck and becoming fast friends. They are only tolerant of each other in short doses but as soon as they are apart they are begging to play again.

Kora tended to shake the frogs.  She sure got them to singing though.

And for those of you that know me well you will be ever so proud of my calmness in the face of the frogs.  As long as they were confined to the tennis ball container, I was fine.  I even held the container and watched them.   I must force myself to be calm because I do not want to transfer my phobias to the kids.  And I do not want them to hold it over me for eternity, so I will suppress my fears and wonder at the little frogs from afar. They are pretty cool creatures.

Mushroom Hunting

We have been doing quite a bit of mushroom hunting this year.  With all of the rain and cool weather with random sunshine it has been dubbed “the year” for mushrooms.  I think I read somewhere that the season has lasted for 7 weeks.  Unheard of.

TJ and Tuck have been a couple of times to the cabin.  They have found quite a few, enough to have a mess down there and still bring a few home.

We got invited to our neighbors.  TJ was surprised that I was interested in taking Kora out but I was just so excited to get into that woods.  I have been curious about it for years.  I am hoping Tuck and Kora will be able to spend much time over there in the future.  It has a cool little creek that is just out their back door.  Parts of it are pretty steep.  TJ and Tuck crossed over…

but Kora and I stayed on our side of the creek.  We just listened to the birds and to Tuck asking a million questions.  And we ate peanut butter crackers.

My cheesy ‘lil Button.