Spoon River Drive

Last weekend my mom and I loaded up the kids and drove down the Spoon River Drive. For those of you not from Peoria, it is kind of a craft show/flea market type thing that goes on in multiple cities for 2 weekends in the fall. People rent tents and sell crafts, antiques, food, junk, etc. It was fun to see some of the stuff, and interesting that some of it was so junky. We saw a sign for pony rides and so we just had to stop. They were the kind where you actually get to ride around, they aren't attached to some pole. Talmage loved it.

Avri was a pro.
But I think Mercedes loved it the most! Doesn't she look tiny sitting on that great big pony?!?! I walked along with her in case she decided to barrel, but she totally loved it and knew exactly what to do.
In fact if you asked her if she was done you got a look something like this.
I can't help it. I totally get a kick out of this little person! She is so much person in such a small body. I'm still absolutely amazed by these little people that Heavenly Father entrusts to us and how much they know and can do.
Sweet, tender little memories that I will cherish forever!

Learning

Avri has been keeping pretty busy. We were able to get her a scholarship to take a dance class for the next couple of months. She is absolutely loving it. They do ballet, jazz, and tap. She is the one in the pink top and black skirt.
I showed her some clips on YouTube of the 3 different types of dance and she really liked the jazz, which they haven't really done in the the first couple of classes. But she loves the tap too with all the noise she is allowed (and encouraged!) to make. Here she is the one on the far right. Wish I was still that flexible!
At the garden a while back she was able to watch the entire process of caterpillar to chrysalis and see the butterflies that they turn into. It just happened to be during the SAME week that they were studying it in preschool. Here she is pointing to the little green cocoon.

I have to admit, I thought it was really cool, too! I just love seeing new things, and I feel like this past year I've had an abundance of learning and knowledge come my way!

This year Avri is really growing in understanding of deeper concepts and it has been interesting as a parent to get into more in depth conversations. It's hard to know how deep to go with a 4 year old who is just so curious. She asked me yesterday what the President of the United States does. Isn't THAT a difficult one to try to answer!! And she wanted to know if he was "good" or "bad." I'm really terrible with politics and so this was a difficult conversation to have, but a good one too. I think that as she gets more curious it has been good for me to try to learn and extend my knowledge a little more as well. The joys of rearing children. I really do love being a mom.

Random

Here are some random little recent pictures of things that we've been doing. The kids love riding in the trailer behind Grandpa's riding lawnmower. They drive out to the pear tree and get pears to eat on their ride.
Grandma and Grandpa took us all to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" in 3D, so we all got a pair of glasses and everyone had fun. It was my first 3D movie. Very interesting, and fun to do!
This is what the stairs in our back yard are looking like for the retaining wall. But we are now into rainy season and the clay just holds the water for days, so it isn't going anywhere too fast right now.
Back to nebulizer treatments again with Talmage and Sadie. But this time Sadie is old enough to hold it herself if she is feeling like it. That child is so fire-y! Crazy girl really holds her own around here.

Labor Day

Should I even title this "Labor Day" since it is a month and a half later? Maybe I should just pretend like this was just this week. :) Well, this is what we really did on Labor Day, 6 weeks ago. First, Kendall spent the entire morning spreading poison ivy all over his arms, face and neck. He helped with an Eagle Project where they were cleaning off a fence to repaint and he ended up looking like this:




He ended up going to Prompt Care the next morning to get a shot because his eyes and ears were swelling so bad. The worst part (well, besides the itching burning pain that he was in for a month) was that he couldn't donate plasma for about 3 weeks which cost us like $200. Ouch. Poor guy. It is finally all cleared up, but it took a while.

That night we went to my parents' house and Kendall was given this:
This lady randomly drove up and said "I have a truck topper that is exactly the color of that truck if you'd like it." Kendall's been looking for one for a long time so that he could take all the scout stuff in his truck and not get it all wet. Turns out that it makes a great play pen too!
Then we did some bottle rockets with Grandma and Grandpa. Even Avri pumped a little.
And all the kids got wet! (If you click on this picture and look at it bigger you can see the funny looks on their faces!)

Are you smarter than a preschooler?

Avri: Mom, do you know what these little spots on my nose are?
Me: What are those spots Avri?
Avri: They are freckles. Do you know where freckles come from?
Me: Where?
Avri: They come from melanin in your skin.
Me: Oh, I just thought that was where the sun kissed you.

Later while at the mall...

Avri: Where do you suppose the pants are?
Me: I don't know Avri, where do you suppose?

I obviously no longer have sole control over her teaching moments since things like this take me by surprise.