Bald Sons

It's 10 days before preschool pictures.
I came home from running errands today and the boys had gotten into the scissors.
It's not because they were unattended.
Daryn was here, and my mom and sister.
15 minutes alone is all it took.
Huge patches out of their hair.
Now Anteneh is bald-I had to shave it all off to make it look right.
Like, really bald-I'm not exaggerating.
Luke looks like he's going into the military.
Ah, the joys of having 2 four year old boys.
It was only a matter of time.

Purdue

Well, we just got home yesterday from a GREAT weekend at Purdue. Look at two of Purdue's running backs, class of 2024...

More later on our trip...I forgot my camera so we're waiting on people to send us pictures!

How Grace defines herself

I loved the paper that Grace brought home from school today...I love to read the way she defines herself... here is what her paper says:

The One and Only Grace!

This is what I look like: I have brown hair. I have green and brown eyes. I am tall

These are people in my family: Luke, Anteneh, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Papa, Eli, Meredith, Rachel, Ethan, Ava, Mathew, Aly, Scott, Camille, Jocelyn, Megan, Levon

These are some things I like to do: I like to play soccer, swim, go to parties, and read

These are some places I like to go: To the movies and to Florida

Here is more about the one and only me! I love animals. I adopted. I have a dog. I am a Christian

To me, this is a really special paper...I am going to love to look back with her at this paper when she is a grown up and see the way she defined herself at 6 years old...I love her last answer. That is her...she is all about animals...and the fact that her brother is adopted is PART of WHO SHE IS...she is a dog owner...and loves Jesus...I love her.

First of the First

Well, yesterday was the FIRST day of FIRST grade for my little baby Grace!
How cute are these kids? The boys and I drove Grace to school and walked her to her classroom...
Daryn and I woke up at 6:15am and Grace was already dressed and brushing her teeth-she was SO EXCITED for her first day of school! I have been dreaming of packing her lunch for probably the last month. The first day I was so excited that I tied her little baggies with ribbon and put a very special first day of school note from Mommy and Daddy in there...after school she said, "momma-I loved my note" (tear....) Grace putting on her backpack...special lunch box from Aunt Tracey-she was the coolest girl in school with THAT lunch box!
I think I'm going to make the self portrait and annual thing before every first day of school...beginning with Kindergarten...this was 1st grade...and below is last year's Kindergarten self portrait! Grace looks SO MUCH OLDER this year...and somehow I look less wrinkly...that's strange! The funniest part of comparing these two pictures is Grace's shirts-Grace picked out a teal horse t for the first day two years in a row-bahaha-I love her.

All Natural

OK...so, I'm making dinner last night and my recipe calls for 'breadcrumbs'...I was about out of bread so instead of making my own I glanced in the pantry to see if I had any canned. And I did. And then I read the label. Here is what it said:

Ingredients: Enriched flour(four, malted barley, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate[vitamin B1], riboflavin[vitamin B2], folic acid), high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil(soybean and/or cottenseed and/or corn and /or canola oils), water, yeast, salt, brown sugar, honey, molasses, sugar, wheat gluten, whey, soy flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, corn flour, oat bran, cornmeal, rice flour, potato four, butter, dough conditioners (mono and diglycerides, sodium and/or calcium staroyl lactylate, soy lecithin, calcium carbonate), yeast nutrients(ammonium sulfate, calcium sulfate, momocalcium phosphate), distilled vinegar, skim milk, buttermilk, lactic acid, calcium propionate (preservative), potassium sorbate(preservative), may contain sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds.
Now, that just took me 5 minutes to type....literally...does that sound appetizing!? I just wanted some CRUMBS OF BREAD!UGH...needless to say, I left the storebought breadcrumbs unopened and toasted my own 100% Natural Farmer's 12 Grain (w/ no trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors)for breadcrumbs...
And taking the advice of a good friend who would rather stick a random picture on a post than post something that's just words...here's a shot of the boys torturing their dog:)Look at Shadow-under their blankies...this picture makes me laugh so hard...
PS-I just did spell check on this post and the spell checker couldn't recognize NINE of the words in that ingredients list...why do we as Americans eat like this? Maybe most of those things aren't bad for you but what ever happened to a few simple, healthy ingredients?

246 pictures

Literally. That is how many I took. I have 3 8"x11" frames around my kitchen table that have been empty since November when we moved in. It's pathetic. And with my best friend, Tracey, coming to visit(w/ her cute hubby, of course), I had to fill them. So, the kids and I braced eachother for a 94 degree photoshoot yesterday-they were good sports and all I had to do was bribe them with some gum! Haha. So, here they are: the best of the 246 from yesterday! Not bad for just sticking them in front of some of our flowers...I think in a few weeks we may go to the park and so do a few more:)



This last one was literally the last picture I took...see, they are all still smiling after 246 shots! See, I'm not too cruel!

Fun

What's wrong with me? Three posts in one day-do I have anything better to do? Actually, the kids and I spent the last few hours making homemade bouncy balls..it was fun-for them. Haha-it was a sticky, gooey mess but they were so excited. I love this picture-look how sweet Luke's little face is. I love having a craft room for the kids. I love that the table is covered in paint splotches, stuck newspaper and glue. I love that I don't care what happens to the floor in there. And I love the posters I got at the homeschool convention(even though I don't homeschool!) That room is literally a dream come true for me. I have always wanted a kids' craft room. Every drawer is labeled with it's kid friendly contents "scissors, glue, craft paper, worksheets, etc..." They spend hours in there sometimes. Bring on the creativity! Photo by Grace West:)

My boys

Last week the boys spent the night with Grandma Darlene for the FIRST TIME! This picture is of them right before they left...they had great time! Thanks Grandma, Darlene:)
This picture just makes me laugh...they are scooting around with poor stuffed animals tied to ropes, dragging the ground...haha...

Going to the Fair

The kids and I went to the fair with one of their Aunt Megans,cousin Jocelyn, and Grandma Connie. It was so fun! Our very favorite thing was the Llamas. I've always dreamed of owning alpacas (similar to llamas) but after seeing their personality compared to the llamas, we are now huge llama fans. The babies were so sweet and one of the llama mothers was really friendly in spite of the fact that we were obsessed with her baby. This is Grace having a bonding moment with one of the awesome Llamas...they are so gentle and good with kids. We'd love to have a few. They are easy for kids to work with, lead on a leadrope, and don't bite. You can have them as pets, sell or donate their fur to cottage industries, and the babies sell for a nice profit. We just want them to raise:)
Grace and Anteneh with a Llama mamma-haha
Jocelyn with Tinkerbell-a really sweet llama
"Can I please have a baby goat, mom? Why not?"
I LOVE this picture. balloons from the Vanderburg County Sheriff, soft serve ice cream cones from the Future Dairy Farmers of America' booth, walking down to see the horses.
It was a great day at the fair! Grace is asking to do 'mini 4-H next year'...we might do it. It was so cool to see all the kids display their hand raised animals and collections in the exhibit hall. Grace would do really well at 4-H, I think!