Soccer Fun on One of The Last Days of Summer

My little rugrats having some fun kicking the soccer ball around.

Monday, Monday......

I mulched around the front and side of the house yesterday and today. I probably shoveled, loaded and dumped the wheelbarrow over 20 times. I went to bed Sunday night just knowing I would be unable to move the next morning, but I was pleasantly surprised and I wasn't that sore! If you want arms like the first lady and can't get to a gym, I suggest shoveling mulch. It will tone those arms right up!

I am going to plant mums and pansies around the front and I'm still not sure of the colors yet. It won't hit me until I get to the store and see what they have.

AnnaBelle has started riding on Nathan's 4-wheeler in addition to the real one. At first she was quite hesitant and wouldn't let me out of her sight, but after a few trips around the yard she realized how much fun she was truly having. George took her around the back of the farm and to the pond and he said she talked and screamed with glee when they would go faster. Now we can't get her off of them. She'll climb up on Nathan's and hit the pedal then fly over the handlebars or (since it's happening quite frequently) holding onto the bars and being dragged until she lets up off the pedal.

Mr. Muscle Man had to give me a flex shot when I was shoveling mulch.

One of the many beautiful sunsets on the Woodland farm. I can never tire of them and I have found that no two are alike.

This is a before picture of the mulch project. We once had a massive amount of mulch and plants around the front of the house. We had a young man from the high school plant the tons of impatients and begonias and soon they started dying off. We found out that he didn't take them out of the containers. Now this was back in 2002 and since then I have had 2 children and been hospitalized close to 75 times with pancreatitis flare ups so we just never had the time or desire to remulch. Well here it is 2009 and I'm finally strong enough to handle it and 2 children running circles around me while I do it! Thanks God for your wonderous gifts!

The butterbeans are still producing, George picked half a bushel today and last Saturday we planted our fall garden. The snaps are blooming and we added rows of collards, lettuce, broccoli and savoy cabbage. Can't wait to pick the first snaps so I can put them up for the winter.

George's mom celebrated her 71st birthday and we went to Dockside to eat. Nathan loved the frog legs saying they were better than the chicken strips we ordered for him. We made her popsicle stick frames, glued pictures and then put magnet strips on the back for her to hang on the fridge. We also made her some stained glass flowers to hang in her window. I think she really loved the box of goodies, she couldn't wait to make room on her refrigerator.

This was the cover of the box. Nathan helped put the stickers on. The little ladybugs were his favorite. I went to Michael's to replenish our craft box and boy did I stock up. I absolutely love that place and they are already putting out Christmas stuff. I think this year will be a crafty one for family and friends. We have had some real quality time sitting down and thinking about what we are going to make from the huge containers of well, everything you need to let your imagination run wild.

I love love love this picture. I asked Nathan to help her down the slide and he helped her so gently and lovingly. AnnaBelle is starting to play more with Nathan. Before she would whine whenever he came around her, but now she is laughing at the funny faces he makes and imitating him when playing with his cars and toys. She loves to go into his room while he is at school and dump everything out of the toy box. I watch her on the video and its hilarious. She pokes and prods through all of his things with not a care in the world. Nathan will come home sometimes and run to tell me, "Mama my room is dirty but I didn't do it", now he does contribute his share with costumes and clothes everywhere, but AnnaBelle adds the icing by dotting the floor with little legos and cars and army men and those awful die cast metal planes I always manage to step on when putting him to bed at night.

Sidewalk chalk was great, but sidewalk paint is awesome! We made some fascinating colors with the brushes and pumps. I highly recommend buying some for any youngster you know that loves to use sidewalk chalk. It's made by Crayola.

One of the sunrises on the east side of the farm. This is one of my favorite spots at Woodland. It has the best morning sunrise show and on clear nights I sometimes ride the golf cart and gaze at the stars. In the summer its fun to watch the lightning bugs light up the edge of the woods like blinking Christmas lights. Ahhhh the country life. And Autumn begins tomorrow evening.

The storm clouds behind her were threatening but the rain just missed us. Annie B's doctor's appointment went well. She is in the 95 percentile for height, 75 for her head and 25 percentile in weight. The doctor said, no worries, and she also looked at Nathan's chart and his were about the same then but AnnaBelle is slightly taller. She said, " You're just going to have tall skinny kids". Okay I can live with that, I did for most of my life till the 40's hit! lol :)

Yes the weather was threatening on this day and we did get some rain towards the end of the week, but it was needed and the past few days have been sunny and warm. That might come to an end towards the middle of this week. Looking forward to heading to Williamsburg on Thursday to meet with family for some waterslide fun! You know I'll post some pics of Nathan and AnnaBelle's first waterslide park trip. Can't wait to see those eyes!

Monday Evening News

AnnaBelle has a doctor's appointment this week. If I had to guess her weight, I would say she is about 27 pounds. Some days it feels like alot more than that when you're balancing her in one arm and a load of clothes in another while going upstairs!

She's really starting to understand the idea of independence and walking where she wants to go without me chasing her. That is one of the luxuries you have raising kids in the country, you can let them go pretty far around the farm, but they are always within sight. That is a luxury that we now have to put on hold. Animal control believes a pack of wild dogs killed an entire families livestock PETS a couple of weeks ago. The farm is not far from us. George talked to a guy from animal control and he feels like it was wild dogs and not coyotes. Whatever it is we now have to be vigilant outside and with the children at all times. Ellie is also nearby to alert us of any danger, but my best buddy is locked up in my gun cabinet and I have a pretty good aim.

This year's elephant ear plants have been the biggest ever since we planted them 5 years ago. I think they are so exotic looking, and Nathan wanted to know if it was a real elephant ear!

Still kicking that soccer ball around. And we have been enjoying afternoons on the basketball court with the sidewalk chalk.

AnnaBelle is still getting used to riding on the 4-wheeler. She is still a little leery of it.

We finger painted Sunday afternoon after playing outside. This was AnnaBelle's first time and I think she enjoyed wearing one of Nathan's shirts more!

Oh yes, Spiderman still lurks around Woodland. I can find him anywhere and at anytime. He is constantly battling his latest villain, Venom, and also the bees that sometimes fly by him when he is in the garden....pssst, let you in on a little secret, Spidey is terrified of bugs in the garden...and he's a spider? Hopefully it's just a phase.....

Little Miss Priss is all about playing outside. She tries to squirm out of my arms when its time to come in. We have 3 kittens who love to keep her at arms length and sometimes she is lucky and will pet one.

Yes Peter Parker a.k.a. Spiderman is very popular around here. (that mask looks a little freaky to me sometimes when he pops around a corner in the house! )

Little Miss Independent eating one of her favorite cookies, Keebler Fudge Stripes. Pretty soon all that garble she is talking will become words and then sentences and then nonstop chatter. Right now her favorite word is no. When she does something wrong and I tell her, no, she will repeat it 5 times and point her finger while slanting those eyebrows, look like a mini-George sometimes!

Thursday Stuff

Nathan started 4 year old preschool at the Methodist Church this past Tuesday. I took this picture before we left. He had a good week and managed to stay in the green. He was excited to start back and I'm glad to get him into the routine of school, again.

Little Miss AnnaBelle loves the one on one time we have in the mornings now. She is starting to really try and form sentences and goes into an elaborate conglomeration of baby talk where you can make out one or two words, but boy does she look at you like you know what she's saying. It's priceless to watch her point at something and explain it to me in a mouthful of garble. I love this age.

The bruise under her eye is from her brother. As you know he is rougher than a gourd and ran by her with an extended elbow. She hollered for a minute and ran to me for a quick hug and then she was off again.

We found quail eggs in the brush pile. We have been calling to a quail for the past week and have been hearing it respond fairly close. We didn't realize how close until we were down in the garden and Ellie scared up a quail from the brush pile and then stood on point. We walked over and found the eggs. There must be around 12.

These flew over while we were playing basketball . They were headed to the pond across the field.

Goodbye August, Hello September!

We picked close to 5 bushels of butterbeans this week and that is from just 2 rows. The row on the left is what was picked this week, the row on the right is for anyone who wants to come and pick them!

Yes my baby girl is holding watermelon by herself again! We opened up two this week and though she hesitated at first when she saw Nathan slurping away on a chunk she couldn't resist it and had her Daddy give her a slice.

I took some pictures the past week of AnnaBelle is some of her dresses that she got in early Spring for her birthday. Most of them were 18 month dresses and the all fit like a charm. I let her run barefoot down the lane in the front of the house and she couldn't believe the freedom she had been given, and with a dress on too! She took full advantage, squatting down in the rocks and laying them on the front of her dress.

That is her rock pile collection in the front of this gorgeous little dress.

Spending time in the garden watching flowers and butterflies.

I framed this using Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo. This dress also has a beautiful short-waisted knit sweater with little purple flowers. It's an absolutely beautiful dress given to her by her Godmother, T.

Nathan has suddenly taken an interest in soccer, again. I moved the goal, Wednesday over to the field in front of the garden and he has been playing every day since.

He was even telling me how to stop the ball and soft kick. So I guess the $25 camp at Chowan paid off.

AnnaBelle was ready to play, dress or not.

Yes she didn't mind taking a tumble, and Nathan can deal them out on a regular basis.

These cool days this past week have been a taste of Fall. It's my favorite season. The sights of the harvested crops, the glow of the cotton on a moonlit night, and the smell of the changing leaves and freshly dug peanuts. Football games on Friday night and College games on Saturday, and of course the World Series and I am rooting on my beloved Yankees to make it this year!

This butterfly found its way to the garden for another picture this week. I told Nathan it was my mother, Nanny to him, and that she had turned into a butterfly to come and watch him play. He was fascinated with it and followed it from flower to flower.

You can't enjoy the summer without a popsicle. This was only the second one AnnaBelle has ever eaten on her own and she was sticky from head to toe, after this pic was taken they proceeded to play in the sandbox and emerged with it everywhere and in every crevice.

Nathan starts preschool on Tuesday and he has Mrs. Mitchell for his teacher. Bless his heart he is only 4 going on 5 in November but he has the attention span of about 2 minutes on a good day. I have all the faith in the world that this will be the woman to get my little man ready for kindergarten in the Fall of next year. She is great and full of energy and enthusiasm. I like her no nonsense approach to discipline, they are warned once and then its in the red. Getting in the red around here equates to losing something of value, the ds, a prized toy, or television/wii time. I'm going to see how it goes the first couple of weeks and I'm hoping he will be consistent in paying attention and following directions. But I am glad to have him back in school and into the routine of things again!

He has had a fun filled summer of full independence around the farm. But I can see the excitement of going back to preschool. When we walked in to meet the teacher on Wednesday he walked way ahead of me and knew exactly where he was going. He greeted the teacher by himself with no hesitation. My little man doesn't know a stranger and is always greeting with a smile.

This one will be going to the same school in another 2 years unless they offer a 2 year old class. I am finding out how quickly the time flies! But I'm absorbing every moment of it.

Another sunset here at Woodland.

And this little ham wanted another picture taken before the sun set completely!

I took this last Sunday. It's such a solemn look down the lane, and AnnaBelle looks like a little Angel.