My Boy Being a Boy...

I love looking outside and seeing my boy doing boy things. Like climbing trees.


Or running gleefully with a rotten apple to chase his younger brother with.



And his sister following close behind.

It is a good day....

Fall and Food Fun....

The light was shining on the leaves and looked so pretty. Fall is my favorite time of year, and the trees here are wonderful to watch as they change. It is cool and crisp out, a little cold but dry.


Whenever we get a little carried away with the whipped cream, the kids squeal with delight at the silliness of it all.



They love to get it all over their faces and then pretend that they didn't even know how it got there. I wonder where they get that from....

Apples....

The kids have a new hobby...Picking apples...It is amazing how many apples they can bring in, and they haven't even put a dent in the trees.

Katie likes to pick them and eat them. We have three trees that have tart apples and one that has sweet apples. Surprisingly, it is the green apple that is sweet.

I learned quickly how to make applesauce and it is sooo good. We have had apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, and apple butter. I would like to make more applesauce, but, all of the local stores are out of canning supplies. Next year I will have to be more prepared!

Back in South Dakota...

Here we are in South Dakota again! It has taken a long time to post, I know, but we are working on getting faster Internet service out in the country. This is our new house on a beautiful fall day.
There is a lot of room for the kids to run around and play, the house is roomy as well.

This is the view of the backyard. We were all taking a walk to the road in the back. There are nice gravel country roads with corn and soy fields to see.

The back view of the house, a nice sun set. We are waiting to see the color of the trees and enjoying the crunch of the leaves on the ground. We miss all of our new friends that we had made in Florida, but we are glad to be back here in South Dakota.

Pumpkinland

We went to Pumpkinland in Orange City, Iowa last week with our local homeschool group.

The kids had a great time going through the giant corn maze. Here is a picture of the maze, the kids had to find 6 mailboxes to receive a prize of candy.

Justin is standing at the top of the bales of hay. They had lots of time to run around, look at animals and pick pumpkins. After we left Pumpkinland we went to a dairy and I have to say, we were all impressed.

Fun at the Park....

Robert gave Justin some swinging lessons. Katie listened closely and tried her best too.

Brother and sister, I wonder what they were talking about...

Justin looks out to see if he is still master of his kingdom.

The Proud Parents...

Aren't we cute? We love to take pictures of our kids and laugh at the ones we take of each other.

Clyde was happy to take a picture of us together, a rare event. Thanks Pappy.

Talking on the Phone....

Rebecca spoke with her friend Ally while we were at the park. She talked and talked, and walked and walked. By the time she got off the phone, she worked up a good sweat.


Sooo cute....

How to Slide Down the Slide...

Step one, climb to the top and look really excited.

Step two, glide down with no hands...

Step three, repeat step one...

Father and Son at the Park....

Pappy's House....

Don't these boys look happy to see each other? We finally arrived at Pappy's house yesterday afternoon.

Time together after so long apart.

This is the look of a girl that is happy to be out of the car.

We drove through St. Louis, Mo on Saturday afternoon. There was a good amount of traffic and it was tricky getting a good look at the Arch. On our way to Florida we stayed in O'Fallon, IL and this time we stayed in O'Fallon, Mo.

A pretty tree in the parking lot of our hotel. It definitely looks fallish to me.

Daisy was really looking forward to the end of the trip. I was trying to gather up my things and she dashed out the door. For a little while I thought we weren't going to be able to catch her. Robert caught her rolling around in the grass. She is safe and sound now though and has complete reign of Pappy's house.

Happy Birthday Robert!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband! He is 10 today, according to Katie. The kids were so excited and all get dressed and made their beds right away so that they could watch their daddy open his gifts.

Justin is his buddy and stood by him all the way.

See the boxes in the background, we are getting ready to move soon. I am sure that you are all so surprised to hear that. But, we are. Happy Birthday honey!

Disney World Magic Kingdom!

Today is the day! We waited patiently on the dock for the green flag ferry to take us to the Magic Kingdom.

The kids were so happy to finally be on their way. You wouldn't know it by their happy faces just how hot and tired and thirsty they soon would be.

Here we are at the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. We all thought is was a great way to start off and wished that we had one in our back yard. As with most of the attractions at the park, this didn't mean a lot to the kids because they have not seen the movie. But, I think they did appreciate the construction of it and the idea of such a great big tree house.

Eeyore came up behind the boys and they were so thrilled. They were not at all scared by the costume and couldn't wait to hug as many characters as they could find. We went to breakfast at one of the character buffets in the Magic Kingdom. The food was great and the air was cool.

Piglet was definitely a favorite.

Katie really wanted Piglet to come over to her chair, but he couldn't fit between the tables. She wasn't shy at all and bounded over to him and gave him a hug.

The Merry Go-Round...

Rebecca looks like she is in another land. Far far away....




Every kid must ride the merry go round. Even one as cool as this one.



Robert was such a good Daddy and stood with Katie and Justin.