Pokemon

Ryan has discovered Pokemon! His newest obsesion. Before that was Star wars and since those of you who know me , know that I do not rush out and boy all the mainstream plastic toys to go along with consumerism. However I do find ways to make sure my boy of boys has the toys to go along with his imagination. When my oldest son was young we actually did buy all those plastic toys - he had all the "boy" toys and since discovering a more natural lifestyle that even applies to our toys I now make as much as I can and only buying a few here and there.

So now that Ryan has moved on from Star Wars to Pokemon I knew he needed a few pokeballs of his own. At his request I needlefelted him a Pikachu. This little guy has become his favorite and I love the smiles and hugs it brings. Ryan also decided to make his own pokemon. THat is the little one to the right of the pic up front. It is apparently a bird type pokemon who uses electricity has its power. His name is basil! I love that he made his own. I think that is what it is all about. Being interested in these mainstream things are fine - but I feel strongly the kids need to use it "out of the box" so to speak and that is what helps the imagination grow not rushing out to get the latest toy.

Eggs,Eggs and Ducks

My mom gave a call the other day and invited us over to her house to hunt eggs and have lunch! We had a wonderful afternoon over at their house today. As soon as we had a bite to eat we heard the easter bunny had been in the yard and headed out to see what wonders he had brought.

I think Adeline found something .. and she is excited about it

My little one loves eggs so after finding one the thing to do is to crack it open of course!! This makes for slow hunting , but very yummy.

The boys had their own hunt in the backyard with the plastic eggs that can hold goodies.. In this case MONEY - whohoo
As soon as Sage found that out - boy was he determined to find some eggs..




After the egg hunt and a nap (for the wee one) we headed for a walk to find some ducks.

We finally found a few ...


Once the bread was gone the fun began for Adeline and Madison. Who can resist running down a hill - not my little one!
Time to head back this time with Adeline pulling her cousin Madison.

Then Madison took a turn at it.
while Sage and GRandpa chatted.

It was a very nice afternoon - plus we rescued a very cute baby raccoon!!

Math fun

Lately our math games have been getting stale. The same ole skip counting , clapping, ect...

So yesterday I decided to tell a math story. It went something like this

Along time ago in a kingdom far away the king had locked the princess and her mother up in a tower with no way out except for the key the king had. One day a prince from another kingdom came ridding into this kingdom and heard stories about the princess and her mother. He, being a kind prince knew he had to rescue them so he rode at once to the tower. There he looked around but saw no one in. Then the princess looked down at the prince she told him how he could unlock the magic stairs and rescue them. He need to count by sixes. The prince who was not only handsome and kind, was also smart and immediately started counting. Each time he called out a new number a stair would appear. Finally he made it to the top and rescued the princess and her mother. On the way down he counted backwards by six to close the stairs. When they reached the bottom they rode away on the princes horse to his kingdom and they lived happily ever after.

The next day I drew this picture and had Ryan copy it into his book and write the answer to each 6 times table fact. He loved doing this and did not even give me a hard time doing his math!

Family Form Drawing

This does not happen to often but we had a quite evening. Adeline did not nap so she went to bed early. After watering the garden we settled in to family form drawing!

Sage's

Ryan's
Mine
Tony's
I love these kind of nights!!!

The Birthday Dress

My tradition I am starting is to make Adeline a new Bday dress each year. This will be her third one. The first when she was born, one last year and now a 2 year old version!

I bought this Heather Ross mermaid fabric 2 years ago and love it!! I used the same smocked pattern as the previous dresses but added a ruffle and a pocket because my baby loves "pocs" right now!

The photo shoot!!

The are we done look : )
Yep she can run in it - its perfect!

Happy Birthday Sweet Adeline!

Well Yesterday my little baby turned 2! It seems like forever ago that she was born at home in our little house in CT.

We celebrated not once, not twice but three times!!!

First we celebrated with our cousins who were visiting for the week. Tony and I made a delicious carrot cake!

Yumm!!
I gave her the fishing game I made for her that day. It was a big hit with her and all the kids! My mom gave her the cutest pair of shorts and floppy hat. I dont have a pic yet - but I will!!

Friday morning we celebrated with ice cream for breakfast , crossed the rainbow bridge with big bro Ryan on the other side to give her a hug

and some more homemade goodies

Tony designed this card for her based on the book they like to read together with a squeaky duck at the end.
Ryan made this cute pillow using the owl fabric she loves!
This is the magnetic fishing game I made. I had so much fun dyeing the wool (as if you did not know I love doing that stuff! )
Sage made her this cute knitted hat. Great job Sage!
Then we had a small family bday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa
and Ice cream with strawberries for dessert - you can never blow out to many candles!
Grandmom and Grandpa gave Adeline this super cute wooden outdoor playhouse and came over and put it together for her. Look at all those pieces. They started about 7 and finished about 10 that night using flashlights to finish it up! That is dedication to make sure one sweet little 2 year old get her playhouse!
TaDA! Adeline had to wait till morning to see the finished house - but she was super excited and so was Ryan who just could not wait to "move in"! What fun they will have

Hello - wanna come play : )

Family Reunion !!

This past week we had great fun when all our relatives from my Dad's side of the family came down here for a family reunion! Cousins galore to play with!! Since they live up in Ga and Tenn we do not see them often so this was a real treat to hang out with them for a week.

We had a picnic with ...

swinging

face painting
ballons
balloon hats
yummy food and desserts!
a clown and magic show
tug of war
Then on to the beach house for marshmellows on the beach!

trying hard to find sharks teeth. My cousin Damon is the winner there - finding teeth just about everyday - I have no idea how he does it!
just lounging in the water, building sand castles and sand planes and jellyfish houses!! Lots and lots of playing!
and running!
The beach house with my Nana relaxing!! Without her none of us would be here today : ) She deserves to relax!