Friday, October 24, 2014

Another three weeks

The time really has been flying by around here. I don't know if Sara Beth or Hudson was the one with the initial idea, but both now love going in the backyard and digging holes under the play fort and behind the hot tub. The kids will go outside at every opportunity and come back in covered in mud after making their holes just a little bigger.
Heather has found a place down the road that offers horse riding lessons for Sara Beth, and she loves it. We had to go out to the boot store to get some pink cowgirl boots as apparently those are required before she is allowed to ride.
While Sara Beth learns how to ride, Heather and Hudson hang out around the farm. Hudson has found a donkey and some farm dogs that he likes to hang around with.
Once they get home from lessons, Sara Beth teaches Hudson everything she has learned about how to control a horse.
Now that the weather is starting to cool back off to pleasant temperatures, the plants in the front yard have started to grow again. I got my parents hedge clippers and chopped everything back down to a reasonable height and the kids helped rake all the clippings into piles. Or, to be more exact, Sara Beth raked the leaves into piles and Hudson dragged his rake through the piles, spreading them out.
We got a new kitten. One of our friends in the neighborhood found a stray cat with kittens in their backyard. And since we only have 3 currently, I told Heather: "sure, why not get another one?" I think. So now we have Rainey (aka Petra). This one is so young, it likes being carried this way by Hudson; or, at least, she doesn't care enough to make much of an effort to get away.
We went over to our neighbor's house one evening to chat. Apparently, Hudson had a long day and fell asleep on their couch. He didn't wake up when Heather carried him back to our house.
Just taking some pictures out in font of our house.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

School Time

Well, school started for Sara Beth about a month ago, and I guess I am finally around to posting pictures. I need to really figure out a process to stream line this procedure. So this is Sara Beth's first day in the first grade. 
Hudson has enjoyed having Heather to himself most days. I'm not sure exactly how he talked Heather into letting him take his stuffed tiger out on a shopping trip. He apparently can be rather persuasive.
And then, one week after Sara Beth started school, Hudson began going to preschool. He likes going, but I can never get many details out of him about it. When I ask him how school went, he just says "Good."
So, Sara Beth has had her ears pierced since July. Well, one of them got infected a couple weeks ago. Initially, she said that the earring back got stuck inside her earlobe. It turns out the that the knot inside her earlobe was an infection, and as soon as we got the earring out of her hear, it wouldn't go back in. Fortunately, a couple days later after it had started to go down, Sara Beth bravely and patiently let me go poking and prodding in her ear, and I was able to re-insert an earring. Once we got it in, we decided to let it stay in for a couple weeks until everything settles down again before we change it out for a different pair of earrings.
Currently, every day that I get home, Hudson waits by the garage door and opens it for me when I pull into the garage. He will then ask if I need to mow the lawn. He is not a fan of being outside when I mow, but he will stand by the front and back doors and watch while I do it. Apparently, he talked Heather into letting him take his pretend lawn mower outside to do some mowing of his own.
Apparently, after mowing the lawn, he needed to come back with the tractor and wagon to pick up the grass clippings. The red tractor and wagon were toys that I played with as a kid. I'm glad to see that they still provide good entertainment.
Just another typical popcorn, cheese, and fruit dinner at our house. Well, except that I think we were running a little low on popcorn, so there was a rush to get the last bits before it disappeared.
One evening, we went to Hobby Lobby to look for Christmas presents. While we were there, Sara Beth found a make-your-own mermaid doll. Heather and she put it together the next weekend and it sat in Sara Beth's bed until Sara Beth decided that the doll was too fragile and moved it up onto her shelf next to her tea set.
More miscellaneous toy pictures. This one is his toy submarine with a sampling claw.
 Last Saturday, we went with my Dad to a coin show. Hudson loved looking at all the shiny coins and was more than eager to help my dad search though the silver half dollars.
 After the coin show, we ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a fun atmosphere with fish aquariums and animatronic animals hidden among the fake shrubbery. Hudson initially didn't like the fake thunderstorms that rolled through the restaurant, but he was ok with it after I explained that it was just the room lights flickering and someone playing "thunder music" on the speakers.