Dr. Doolittle's Mansion

Grammy and Paw Paw generously gave the girls the Playmobil Large Grand Mansion and the Horse Farm with Paddock (which I think was less expensive at a local store than it seems to be on Amazon) for Christmas. The first night after it was all put together, Kansas Dad and I found ourselves intrigued by what we found after the girls went to bed.

 The zebra and the goat rule the second floor...

 though they do have to share it with a family of squirrels.

 The first floor is apparently a nursery and guinea pig habitat.

 All of the people, meanwhile, are living in the stable...

except for this one little girl who is dangerously wandering the roof.

Interesting...

First Day of School Pictures

These are a few weeks old now, but it seems like the blog would be incomplete without them.

Second Son is four years old and will mostly be getting into trouble. I have Making Music Praying Twice (not an affiliate link) for him, though I don't intend to start until Advent. He'll be in my Level 1 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class and listening to family read-alouds like The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Second Daughter is six and will be in kindergarten this year. She has a late July birthday so we waited a year to start formal school. She's very excited to learn to read!

First Daughter is seven years old (soon to be eight!) in second grade this year and is most excited about preparing for her First Reconciliation in December and her First Communion in March.

First Son is ten years old and starting fifth grade. He'll be learning about the human body this year and starting a writing course of study. He'll also be in the first cohort of Level 3 students in our parish's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. So exciting!

The first day of school was a little rough, but it's been better since then. Let's hope it's all uphill the rest of the year!

7 Quick Tales Vol. 6: Hawk Pellets, Silly Pictures, and Chickens

--- 1 ---

Yesterday, I had my hair cut. I doubt anyone will notice. She took off five inches, but it's still pretty long. I can't believe how much nicer it looks with a nice blunt cut at the bottom instead of the straggly ends I had.

--- 2 ---

A wonderful veteran homeschooling mom shared some bird pellets with us last weekend. We invited some friends over and enjoyed an afternoon of playing after dissecting them. First Daughter was the most enthralled.

We learned the difference between owl pellets and hawk pellets, deciding the four we had were from a hawk.

--- 3 ---

I've started going through all the picture files on my computer. I think there are a thousand pictures from the kid cameras. Some of them are awesome, though. Here's a small sampling.

Sadly, Second Daughter's camera is having issues. It's still under warranty so we're mailing it off to see if they'll repair it. There are still two kid cameras roaming the house so I don't doubt the interesting pictures and movies will continue.

--- 4 ---

In the course of wading through the photos, I found a few videos to upload. Apparently, I had to make a new "channel" on YouTube which will not link with my old videos. They're still online; I just can't access or alter them. Ah well. Here's a link to the new channel, for what it's worth.

--- 5 ---

I also updated the banner photo at the top of the blog and all the kids pictures in the sidebar. The one at the top is from Easter. The ones on the side are from January when I forced the kids to each sit for a photograph before we had our family picture taken by a photographer at church for a new directory.

--- 6 ---

Our new chicks arrived today! We picked up 25 chicks as soon as the post office opened this morning.

--- 7 ---

We are very close to being diaper free in our household - day and night. This will be very momentous and yes, worthy of a family celebration with frozen yogurt.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

A Field Trip

Ready to Learn (or to play with chalk)

Trying out the historical swing

Bad guys behind bars

Ready for a trip

Mud, and Lots of It

These pictures are from late July, but I can't resist sharing them even if it was a few months ago.

I love the hand print!

We didn't get a picture of First Daughter as she came in, but she was just as muddy as the younger two.

Needless to say, they all went straight to the bath or shower and their clothes went through the washing machine twice on their own and a third time with other clothes before I thought they were clean enough.

But the kids had a fantastic time. If I'm lucky, they'll remember it for the rest of their lives.

Making Me Laugh

Happy Fourth of July!

Grammy and First Daughter dueling

Kansas Dad hits Grammy

Second Son needed help holding up the water gun

Second Daughter takes a break to get a drink

Then it was time for fireworks.

Including blowing up a banana

Teeth Twins

I haven't touched our picture files in months, so this picture is a little delayed. First Daughter lost both her top teeth over the holidays. (That girl always seems to lose teeth when we're visiting my parents in Illinois.) I worked hard to get a picture of First Daughter and Second Son, both missing both of their top two teeth back in January.

Through Their Eyes

I happened to look through our old camera and discovered over 300 pictures on the memory card. A few of them were ones Kansas Dad or I took when we were in two different places or couldn't find the new camera, but the vast majority were ones the kids took when we let them play with the camera. Here are a few of the most amusing pictures.

There were some good ones as well, but they're not quite as fun to share on the blog.

Bobblehead Kansas Mom

All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

I Look Terrible!

He can't believe some people do this kind of hair style on purpose. In public!

Pajama Time!