This week....

Here are some of the happenings of this week here at the homestead.  August has learned to climb up on chairs.  YIKES!!  This isn't such a bad thing, but he hasn't figured out how to get down yet, so there is a lot of climbing up and then yelling so that someone can come and get him down.  It also means that he has discovered a whole other world of things that he can get into.  Double Yikes!  He has already been reaching up and swiping things off the countertop and table, but when the other kids leave a chair by the cupboards  August is right there ready to climb up and then things just got a lot more interesting in HIS mind!  So nothing is safe now.  At least he hasn't figured out how to drag the chair over to the kitchen-- YET.  Yesterday when I was making banana bread (which was delicious by the way) he happily played the whole time on his chair getting into all the dishes in the sink, so I guess it does have it's plus side.   

Yesterday Oliver's 1st grade class got to go on a field trip!  Always a highlight as a kid.  He had been talking about it all week and was super excited.  They went to see the play Miss Neilson is Missing in Oklahoma City.  (It's a children's book if you haven't ever heard of it.)  I asked Oliver how it was when I picked him up from school and he said it was funny and good, but that he fell asleep on the bus ride home.  I asked him if his teacher had to wake him up and he said yes.  But he wasn't alone in his afternoon siesta, the 2 boys sitting by him had also fallen asleep.  I would have loved to see that, 3 little boys snoozing on the bus together.  Anyway, Oliver thought that was quite funny that they all fell asleep, I think he was probably so tired since he had been so excited the night before and stayed up too late.  Anticipation is a powerful thing! 

 He has also been reading his homework stories to me in different voices lately which has been pretty entertaining.  Apparently he has a flare for the dramatic!  ha, ha. 

This week I made some strawberry freezer jam!  Ain't it perdy?!  The strawberry's were on sale, so I decided to replenish our year supply in the old deep freeze, so now we are "all set" as they say in MA.  I really didn't take long, but it felt like it did because August was NOT happy and wanted attention and would not be distracted.  But I plowed through, tears or no tears and finished it all up.  (Don't worry, he got ample love once I was finished.)

I have also been trying to work in our yard a little bit this week with the help of the kids.  Well kid.  Oliver actually was some help, the other two?  not so much.  But I decided that I wanted to dig up and make a few flower beds next to the porch since our front yard is just weeds basically.  I thought maybe it would help our house look a little less rental house and a little more homey.  So we pulled weeds, and we pulled weeds, and we pulled some more.  It just wasn't working, it was covered, so in the end I just decided to dig down a few layers.  Then I will put some good soil on top and plant some flowers.  Fingers crossed that it works!  Oliver asked me if he was going to get paid for helping him.  Ha, ha, ha.....I said, "yeah- you get paid in satisfaction for helping your mom!"  

 

As for little Miss Ruby, she has been mastering the art of girliness!  Every time I go in to her room lately after her "quiet time" is over (naptime minus the nap) she has been either stark naked or wearing about 20 layers of clothing!  What?!  She's been especially partial to her swimsuit this week!  Not that it's been too warm, but something about it she just loves.  Anyway, she is definitely perfecting the wardrobe change.  Well, that's all that's been going on around our house this week.  Well that and apparently a lot of ice cream eating!