It 's just nice to get outside sometimes, you know.

Umstead State Park

 Trying to pose a shot, but Ashlyn knows the rule -

every child is NOT supposed to be doing the same thing at the same time.

 They made a map to find 'treasure' and, of course, it's hidden under a rock.

 Ashlyn - 'I'm smiling, but f-a-l-l-i-n-g...'; 

Kylie - 'Come on, Ashlyn, we've got to get this picture.';

Spencer - 'Wait, I am missing something?'

It's always sad to leave (this picture was taken from a bit away - he was calling my bluff).

Zero Excuses

I have no excuses for not blogging regularly except that we have been crazy busy, but isn't everyone?  School starts for us in 3 weeks and I am DREADING it.  I love having my kids home.  Do they drive me crazy?  Yep.  Do they fight?  Yep.  Do we do any workbooks?  Nope.  Do we do any school charts?  Nope.  For these reasons, I could never home school - I would never do any work.  Okay, never is not true, but we wouldn't do it very often.  As much as I loved homework growing up (are you surprised?), I totally dislike homework as a parent.  I try to put on a happy, encouraging face for Kylie so she'll be motivated to get it done, but I think she sees right through me.  And, as much as I love to have a plan, I hate being on a schedule.  Weird, I know, especially since I teach classes at the gym and have to be on a schedule, but that little bit of forced schedule keeps me at least doing stuff with the kids, cleaning my house and doing laundry, otherwise, none of that would probably get done.

Other reasons I love to have them home - I enjoy watching them interact, use their imagination and be creative.  We work together and talk about stuff.  I am fascinated with their personalities - how they learn, what they are interested in, how they react to situations and how they show love.

Here are a few things I snapped pictures of...

Those last shots are taken at this awesome park.  It's not awesome because of the cool stuff it has, but the layout is fantastic.  The swings, playsets and sand box are in the shade.  The rest of the park is open and HOT, but I can go where the kids play, push them in the swing and slide down with them without being miserable - LOVE IT!




A story to go with the picture - Kylie drew these pictures of her, Ashlyn and Spencer and wanted to give them to me as a present (at this point, I had no idea what she was planning).  She asked me for 17 popsicle sticks.  I told her that we didn't have that many due to the fact that they are always using them for projects.  She was heartbroken, but only for a moment.  "I have an idea, Mom" - classic Kylie.  So, here's my surprise present, framed.  Love this girl.  So creative and thoughtful.

 Each day the kids rotate chores between dishes, wiping the counters and picking up the living room.  This was Spencer's day to help with the dishes.  I was getting after him for taking FOREVER to load the utensils, then I realized what he was doing...organizing them just like he would to put them away in the drawer.  It's crazy to me how their brains work.  He was taught to put the forks, knives and spoons together and, to him, this meant every time.  He quit when he saw that he could no longer squeeze in another spoon with the spoons, forks with forks and knives with knives.  He was frustrated that he couldn't do it how it knew it should be done.  

Licky, Licky

We love to make treats around here.  I have been experimenting with less processed, less sugar treats.  A few of my friends introduced me to a site Oh She Glows, Peas and Thank You and a other sites to check out healthier treats.  I get so sucked into looking for new, different and yummy (of course!) treats.  Sucked in sometimes that I forget I have kids and only when someone screams bloody murder am I snapped back in to reality.  (For the record, there is hardly any blood, but one would think there was with the amount of screaming).

Anyways, I have felt so much better overall and the kids have enjoyed them.  I rarely cook with meat anymore and have upped the veggies around here.  We do a lot of salads, kale chips, lentil concoctions and other bean dishes.  And I love that every single one of our children say, "Yes!  We are having salad!" or "This tastes SSSOOOO good".  There are been very few nights where someone has to go to bed without dinner because they refused it (does that classify as neglect?).  The most success in this department occurs when they help make it. 

Now, we are not 100%.  We have chips, crackers, bread and ice cream, but not as much and for once in my life, I actually think sometimes that desserts are too sweet. 

I'd invite you over to try some, but with all the licking of batter going on over here, you probably wouldn't want to.  So, take a peek at these blogs, I am sure something will catch your eye.

P.S. - More North Carolina activities are coming.....

Strawberry Picking

What a FUN activity!  So close, simple to do and lots to see!  It was on a farm with live animals, but it was drizzling off and on, so even though we could see the animals, they never came out of their shelter.  I am not a big lover of plain strawberries (gasp!), but these were something to behold.  Makes me wonder if it is just that I haven't had good strawberries before.  The owners were super cute, super cool and accepted checks (I just can't ever carry around cash).  We took one of Spencer's new friends with us and it still wasn't stressful.  They loved showing and sampling their loot.  And here we go with another slew of collages....

 

Interruption

A quick interruption of my schedule Raleigh activities posts to showcase Spencer's buzzcut.  We cannot believe how much older he looks and is even cuter now.  The night we put him to bed after cutting his hair, we would sneak in and stare at him wondering how he got so big and so much cuter.  We still think of him as the baby, but, really, he is not.  Before I get crazy on you, bawling and bringing up all the "I remember whens", here's a before and after photo.

He says his hair is 'spicy', like a pine cone.  You know, like a pine cone.

For Happy

MARBLES!

This place is a HUGE indoor playground area, 2 stories high and packed full of a variety of stations and toys.  It was super fun and super stressful because the kids wanted to go in different directions at the same time.  Even with David there, we lost one or two kids for a few seconds (which seemed like a few minutes).  Sorry if you are getting sick of the collages, but it is a great to bunch the photos together without taking up so much room.

The last room at the very top of Marbles is a lemonade factory with balls everywhere.  When we first got in there, I asked the kids to not throw or kick the balls all over the place, then I realized I was completely missing the point of this room.  BALLS, BALLS, BALLS EVERYWHERE!  The kids went crazy!  You could feed the balls through tubes that collected them in a piggy bank that would dump them out.  You could shoot the balls with a launcher.  You could send them up a 'lemonade maker'.  I didn't even get a photo of Kylie because she was all over the place.  The kids had a BLAST!

The best thing about this trip was the cost (you are talking to Christy after all:)).  Normally it's

$5/person, but every 3rd Tuesday night is Target night and it's only $2/person plus Target sets up even more activities to do!

We really DO, do fun things in North Carolina

And to prove it, these next few posts will be some of the places we have visited.  The best thing is most of the stuff is FREE or very close to it and FUN!

DUKE GARDENS

Their favorite thing to do was play in the water and give mom a heart attack.  These money ponds weren't bad, but I didn't get a photo of the larger pond, because  my eyes were on Spencer and Ashlyn.  At one point, Ashlyn decided she was going to dip her foot in the pond while standing and her shoe flipped off in to the water.  I'm sure the mom who was letting her kids lay beside it and put their hands in thought I was a freak mom

 Then, there was this AMAZING tree (and shade AND bench) that we played on for 30 minutes. 

'Til Next Time!