Adventures At Lake Merwin Campers Hideaway

Ezra asks to go to the beach at least 20 times a day, every day. He loves the beach. The ocean beaches that is. It's been a really long time since we've been to the beach, but his memory is fantastic. He knows he loves the beach because even at 2 years old he remembers the beach and how much fun he had the last time he was at the beach (which was aaaallll the way back in September). His memory is pretty amazing. To try and make him happy, we planned a trip to a lake where a friend has a trailer he let us stay in for the weekend, and hoped the large body of water and sandy embankments would trick him somehow into being the equivalent to the ocean beach. It worked. He loved it and we all had quite the adventure!

Some of the most memorable moments we had this weekend at Merwin Lake include the deer Esperanza walked (and did a sort of head bow squat to along the way) right up to, the story about how Ezra's front tooth died and of course the sad news we received just as we were packing up into the car to head out of town for the weekend. I'll come back to add details to these stories and events when I have more free time for writing. For now, enjoy the picture show.

Walks in Grandma's Back 40

Behind the house where my mom lives is a large piece of open property she likes to walk her dogs. Sometimes when the kids and I go visit, if it's nice enough weather, we'll go for walks with them. The kids love running with the dogs, tossing the ball for them, walking them along the path with a leash, exploring the area, picking berries when they are in season and just playing and having fun. There were several beautiful days this past month where we did some of these things with my mom and her dogs. There was one day Angelica joined us as well.

Nature Walk With Opal and Anycia

The kids and I went on a nice little nature walk with Opal and Anycia today. It was a crisp, dry day and we headed over to Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It's such a beautiful and peaceful place to be. We love the trail there because the trail is flat and is super easy for the kids and people are not allowed to bring dogs, which helps keep the peace. While there, we spotted 1 deer, 8 ducks, 1 blue heron, approximately 5,637 Canada geese, 5 garter snakes, many different species of birds I couldn't identify and 1 slug.

Needle Felted Ducklings

Our friend Holly inspired me to needle felt some ducks recently. They turned out so incredibly cute!! 

My Lil Helpers

Sometimes, my kids are so awesome that they help me do things around the house. Things that often seem so mundane to me, are exciting and fun for them. Esperanza and Ezra both help cook, sweep, do laundry, vacuum, feed the animals, clean out the car and other every day chores. 

Here's Esperanza helping make breakfast one morning. Oatmeal is hands down her favorite breakfast.

Ezra helped make laundry detergent the other night. He loved helping with this chore, it was so much fun for him.

Fun Day At ACE Today

We love our homeschooling/unschooling ACE group. Above photo is a small group of kids that Esperanza plays with - from left to right - Maddy, Sasha, Opal, Esperanza, Olive and Izzy. We had fun playing at the park today. It had been raining so it was rather wet, and Ezra wasted no time getting himself waist deep in mud puddles. I only got the before picture, but the after part is quite memorable as well. The kids always have a ton of fun and I am so grateful to have found a group close to us that we really enjoy being with.

The Wind In The Willows

We are currently reading the classic book The Wind In The Willows. Esperanza's love for animals has spilled over into loving books with animals. Every night, we read a chapter or two of this book before bedtime. It is such a great story, with great characters. The book was handed down to us from my sister Geneva and her kids.

Naomi's Short Visit

Naomi flew up to visit for a few short days. She came without Chance, and only briefly. The reason for her visit was to see George, as he has been hospitalized for the past couple of weeks and his health is not improving. He was recently diagnosed with congestive hearth failure, and will only get worse. It was a blessing that Naomi had an opportunity to fly home, to see him for what could be the last time.

The kids and I went over to my moms house to visit with Naomi for a couple of hours and they got some much needed love, hugs and kisses from their beautiful Aunt Naomi.

"I'm Not Getting Old, I'm Staying With Dad"

While at the library for the Dr Seuss birthday celebration, the kids overheard someone say that Dr Seuss was dead. 

Ezra asks me "Why did Dr Seuss die?"

"He got old and died" I replied.

"Why did he get old" Ezra asked.

"Everyone gets old" I say.

"Not me", says Ezra, "I'm not getting old, I'm staying with dad"

A Back Full of Poo

I just felt like documenting this for future giggles. Yes, that's Ezra's poop that went all the way up his back.