Jack-O-Lanterns

It's good to know that there are always routines and traditions that remind us of the repetition of the seasons . Carving pumpkins is a favorite tradition in this house and one that we do without fail year after year. This year we had to do our pumpkin carving in phases because Eli wanted to get his pumpkin weeks ago and could hardly wait to carve it, while Sadie wanted to wait until the last possible moment.

Sadie carved her pumpkin and made the little one as a craft project at storytime at the library.

Eli, apparently, has turned into a boy of many faces...

Woooooooo!!!.... Ya'll should come trick-or-treating at our house. Last year we got one family! It would be great to have at least two families come this year!!

Chicken Update

It's official: Sadie and I adore the chickens. You might think we're crazy, and 7 months ago I never would have guessed, but it's true, we're head over heals in love with these girls. We've been letting them out every day for a little free-range pecking. It's crazy how good they are at staying in the yard (ok, they do visit Jeff's yard too) and staying together. If one girl gets separated from the others she squawks as loud as she can until she finds the others or until Sadie goes out and scoops her up and carries her to the others. Mabel and Penny easily allow Sadie to pick them up, Brownie and Annie are a little more reluctant, but they're realizing that she's not so bad!
They all come running to me as soon as I say "come on girls" and they follow me back to their coop to be locked in. I love watching their little legs run. Sometimes they even manage to fly a few feet if they're really excited to see me and can't get to me fast enough.
The cat is only slightly curious and if she gets too close they all flap their wings at her and she runs away. We did see a family of raccoons out one night and we ran out as fast as we could to chase them off before they found the girls.
Penelope, Brownie and Mabel are laying but Annie just poops in her nesting box, the crazy girl. We're hoping soon. I can even tell which eggs belong to which chicken. Brownies are shaped like a torpedo, very long and lean. Mabel's are more stout and egg-shaped. Penny's are the biggest. I'm curious if Annie lays white eggs because she's all white or if hers will be pale blue/green like the rest?
It's starting to get cold and the days are getting short. It will be interesting to see how their patterns change during the winter season and how they tolerate the cold.

Snakes

Sadie and I are starting to find our daily/weekly rhythm now that school has been in session for a little over a month. Wednesday is Science Center day as they have a pre-school class that morning. The teacher, Kitura, is the cat's meow. She is so awesome, never misses a beat with the kids, and the activities are age-appropriate and interesting and so scientific. You just can't go wrong. When the class is over, we linger at the science center until it's time to head to school (after eating lunch in the car, which, by the way, is Sadie's favorite place to eat lunch). Sadie's favorite thing to do at the science center is hold all of the snakes and she does. She holds all of the snakes. All of them. Every. Single. Time.
And then she holds a bunny. So crazy that girl.

Sadie and Mom Date: Judy Garland's House and Children's Museum

Last week Sadie and I made a small trek to Grand Rapids, MN to see the Birth Place of Judy Garland. Sadie really had no idea who exactly Judy Garland is, but there is also a children's museum attached so I figured she would find it somewhat interesting. And it really was interesting.

They have the original house that's been restored to the 1920's. The house is a lot of fun because you can touch everything. Sadie and I had fun pushing dolls in the buggy, sewing, cooking, playing the piano and typing.

Outside the house there is a yellow road where you can sign your name.
Along the path there are munchkin photo opps. There is also a museum with lots of photos, some of her belongings and the actual carriage that was in the Wizard of Oz. The museum used to house a pair of ruby red slippers (there are 3 other pairs, one pair being in the Smithsonian) until 6 years ago when they were stolen!


The Children's Discovery Museum was fun too. Though I suspect that Sadie would have had a lot more fun if she had a friend along instead of just her mom.

After the museums, we had a late lunch and made the 80 mile trek back to our house and arrived just as Eli was arriving home from school. Sadie will tell you that she loves our time together and I love it too.

Go Vikings!

The major reason for our trip to the cities was for Eli and Dennis to go to the Vikings game on Sunday afternoon. The guys got to the stadium early for breakfast tailgating with Dennis' friends Mike and Jon.

Even though the Vikings lost (as usual) against the Lions, Eli still had a great time.

Instead of going to the game, Sadie, Mick, Mel and I went out to lunch at Punch Pizza then went to Como Zoo. I have no pictures because Dennis had the camera at the game. We finished the trip by going to Trader Joe's and stocking up on a few of our favorites. Man, I miss that store. And because the Viking game went into over-time we had to waste some time at the Lands End store and Sadie walked out with a few new dresses. It was a good day for everyone!

Fall Harvest Orchard

We took a trip to "the cities" for a quick weekend visit. We stayed with Mick and Mel and they showed us the local sites. Funny how we went to "the cities" to visit a farm, but well, that's just how it goes sometimes (there are way too many pine trees in Bemidji for an apple orchard!). The kids really wanted to pick apples, so we found this fun little orchard that has animals, hayrides, and apples!
The apples were big and beautiful and tasty. We picked enough for eating, and pie baking and maybe even some applesauce.

Ha, ha. Mick and Sadie are the cutest chicks in Minnesota.I think the kids enjoyed the corn bin best of all.
They could feed the goats...

And hold the babies...
and feed all of the apples that have fallen off the trees to the cows.
There was also a hayride where we got to pick gourds and popcorn, that will be dry enough to eat come January. There were also lots of other animals too: peacocks, sheep, pigs, lots and lots of chickens and even a super-friendly farm cat. This little orchard was big on family fun.

Sadie and Mom Date: Itasca State Park

We never made it on our annual trek to walk across the Mississippi while school was out. So, before Sadie started pre-school and while the temperature was still in the 80's we had a Sadie and mom date and headed to Itasca State Park for the day.

Sadie didn't just cross the Mississippi once. No, she crossed about 30 times.


Sadie was bound and determined to touch this duck. The duck would have none of it though and swam away as soon as she made it to this rock.
We also saw Minnesota's largest white pine and did a short hike to see what used to be Minnesota's largest red pine until a storm blew it over! We also hiked to the top of the fire tower.
A picnic, girl talk, skipping and laughing were had. What a spectacular day, one to treasure!
The leaves were already starting to change and now, a week later, it feels like fall. Good-bye summer, hello fall! We welcome you as long as it doesn't get too cold!

First Day of School: Pre-School

Sadie has been waiting for pre-school since we toured last spring. We drive by everyday and she says, "there's my school!" She will be going Mon, Weds, and Fri. afternoons from 12:30-3:00. She was all gung-ho this morning and got ready in her new first-day-of-school dress. She was ready for pictures outside of the church. As soon as we went to walk in, she said, "I don't feel very good." So, we talked about feeling nervous and that it was ok, but that still didn't stop her from crying when I left. I was sort of expecting it considering she'll cry when I leave her with Dennis when I go for a walk. So, I did what I did with Eli on his first day of pre-school. I walked around the building a couple of times, went in and checked on her and she was fine. Same as with Eli only this time I didn't have Alyssa to coach me through it!

Eli's pre-school in Ohio was at a Trinity Lutheran Church too only they called it "Trinity" here it's called "TLC".

This is Sadie's teacher, Cheryl. She's new to TLC this year so I don't know anything about her. Sadie was all smiles when I picked her up and she said she had fun. I have no doubts that Sadie will be her usual self on Wednesday!

First Day of School: Kindergarten!

Today another milestone: Kindergarten. Eli attends the Paul Bunyan Kindergarten Center and was excited to meet his teacher, Miss Albright. He was a little anxious this morning, but was happy to see that two boys from his class last year are in his class. There are 21 students in his class and he said that there are more girls than boys. He will be riding the bus to and from school each day and he is happy that Wes and Roy are his bus drivers again. He'll be gone everyday from 7:30 to 3:20. That seems like a lot of time. We're going to miss him around here.
Sadie can't wait until it's her turn, but until next year she'll just have to live vicariously through Eli. Really, it isn't too bad for her to get to spend all day with mom. She'll start pre-school next week.

Eli was surprised to see that his classroom has a bathtub! I was sort of hoping that he'd come home spic and span everyday, but, alas, it's a cozy little reading area!
He made it home safe and didn't have much to report. They didn't have chocolate milk at lunch, he didn't like the french fries, he loves gym, they played at recess before lunch instead of after, and all of the kids in his class are his new friends. I think he's going to do just fine.
Here's to a wonderful school year!

The Golden Egg

We've been eagerly checking for eggs everyday now since the end of July. Imagine the excitement when we found our first lovely green colored egg this morning? It felt like Christmas!

It occurred to me that you probably haven't seen "the ladies," as they're lovingly referred, in quite awhile. Look at how beautiful they are. Now which one laid the egg? We have no idea, but we have our guesses. We're thinking either Mable or Penelope. From the all white chicken in the front clockwise: Annie, Penelope, Mable, and Brownie.
Woot for town-fresh eggs!!

Run for Fun!

Every Tuesday afternoon in June and July the Bemidji Parks and Rec. sponsors a track meet for kids of all ages. They run the 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, mile and long jump. The kids are split up by age group and gender. Sadie was in the 4 and under group. She usually got first or second place ribbons because her competition was often kids 1 or 2 years younger. She did manage to run the half mile once but she was not interested in running the mile. Eli on the other hand got lots of "great job" ribbons because there were always lots and lots of boys in the 5-6 year old age group. He seemed to do better on the longer distances, but didn't run more than the 400.

Amnicon Falls State Park

We met Dennis' college friend, Jon, and his family in Wisconsin at Amnicon Falls State Park just outside of Duluth. It's a great little state park with fun hiking trails and a series of waterfalls. There are plenty of places to view the river and falls from the trail with opportunities to swim or walk in the river. The weather was perfect, but the mosquitoes were ravenous.

The boys loved all of the opportunites to rock climb. Zack(on right) and Eli loved racing bikes together. They got quite adventurous on the dirt trails. Jonathan and Eli share a love for games, so when Zack and Eli weren't riding bikes Jonathan and Eli were playing board games.

Sadie and Sophie share a gift of the gab and a love of princesses. They never ran out of things to talk about.
This is the first time we've visited a state park and never left the park. There was plenty to do and the kids enjoyed each other's company so much. The adults got lots of time to visit and the whole trip worked out just great.