Costumed Characters

Special dress up weeks continue at karate! These three are rocking the Star Wars gear--Gabby made her costume. She sewed an old laundry tote into Rey sleeves, the pink sheet was an added pop of color (that would not have been helpful to Rey on her desert planet), and the shoes from Maga fit the ensemble quite well. G$ brought his Wookie and covered his shirt with Star Wars stickers from an old sticker book, and of course lightsabers galore!!



This picture comes from my request that G$ go through his costume bucket to weed out anything that no longer fit. It just so happened that plenty still DID fit, and he put a unique assemblage of it on :) He and Chauncey look pretty heroic waiting for the opportunity to fetch the mail.

All the Trappings

Can you spot the cleverly camouflaged live trap in the photo below? The boys were in charge of baiting the trap daily (we used dented canned chicken) and finally setting and hiding the trap. Our hope was to snag the fox who snagged our chicken, but . . .



Instead we found a familiar face chilling in our cage. It looked about the age our twins would be now, had this been their triplet. It was pretty relaxed until we picked the cage up (with leather gloves) to move it to an open area to release our racoony guest.



Brennen was still eating breakfast, so the release fell to Graysen. I would have done it, but he and B had more experience with opening the trap. So, we threw a sheet over the top (so the racoon would be less inclined to see what was going on), Graysen straddled it with his rubber muck boots, popped the release, and into the woods the racoon ran. We decided not to set the trap again (which is borrowed from our neighbor's dad's farm, btw), because we don't want to capture more racoons.



This process reminded me of when my Grandpa L would trap racoons during the fall in order to sell their skins to the fur trader who came through our tiny town. The more furs grandpa trapped, the more money would be in our white envelopes stuck in the Christmas tree :) 

Flag Football

Ever since the boys heard about a local flag football league a couple years ago (at street hockey), they've been excited to join the team. I wanted them to be on the same team, so we waited until their age range dispersion caught up to the grade level layout of football. After all, I can't possibly attend four separate practices and two separate games each week-- team work makes the family work :) Same team works best!



Buck, of course, couldn't attend (but maybe next week). He asked for lots of pictures, updates, and videos. His dad was a high school football coach (and once recruited for the NFL if I remember correctly?). Buck played football in high school. Grandpa B played football in high school and college; cousin C is playing football . . . football is all "we" talk about for about nine months out of the year, so it only seemed natural that we give these boys a chance to play--but only with flags :)



Drills included: 3-point stance, wind sprints, high knees, butt kicks, bear crawls (to which Buck replied, "Ohh, the classics!") They did some shuffles and karaoke (formerly known as grapevine). They ran laps around the field, they did some strategy practice, they passed, they ran some more . . . over all it was a good time! I think, for me anyway :) I had a book, a chair, a shady tree, and a breeze on an overcast day. The boys seemed to maybe not have "fun" because they were working hard and learning a bunch of new stuff, but they certainly had an opportunity to stretch their strength and stamina to try something they hadn't tried before. 



The season will last through October with a game each weekend starting sometime in September. For now it is practice, practice, practice! 

Science!

Our garden has had its ups and down this season. While at the farm supply store trying to find a solution to our Blossom Rot, the manager pointed out this soil testing kit for just $7.99. What fun! And so many tests to perform!

The kids were super helpful and eager to dig the dirt (from four inches down), put the samples in the test tubes, cut the top off the various testing powders, just add water, shake and let settle, and we now know all about the PH balance of our soil! Umm, now what?

Tests were taken from the watermelon patch (which is also mysteriously growing pumpkin and cantaloupe), the main garden (where the tomatoes are practically exploding on the vine), and the three sisters patch--only the melon sister is looking like she'll make it; our corn crop is ugly, lol :)

We determined our PH balance is good, possibly even a bit alkaline. Our Potash and Phosphorus look pretty good, but our Nitrogen is hurting!! This is a component required for good photosynthesis exchange. How do you get more? POOP! If we can figure out how to get the chickens to poo in the garden without eating any of the stuff we're trying to grow, we'll be golden :) We are also saving Buck's coffee grounds, because they too provide the necessary nitrogen ingredient (without the mess).

Either way, it was a good opportunity for the kids to participate in what pretty much every science class across America will do sooner or later--test for PH balance. I remember doing this when I was in high school; it's so much fun to see the colors shift in the test tube! Like a magic trick--but science-y :) They had to pay attention to ratios, timing instructions, order of ingredients; they had to wait for the stuff to settle, the colors to appear, and then compare them to the included chart. All around, a pretty--patience stretching, but fun--good learning experience. And maybe next year our garden will actually grow! Lol :)

Brennen Builds a Wall

As Buck supervised from that window there in the wall, Brennen dug out, re-leveled, re-set, and re-dirted (?) the landscaping blocks in front of the house. Much like the tree circle he rearranged a few weeks ago, the pavers had shifted and settled and no longer looked very nice or neat. 

Well, Brennen fixed that problem right up! Graysen helped with redistributing/raking the rocks; I helped pull some weeds, and viola! Looking good :) 

BTW, our neighbor's house sold in less than 48 hours after only two families looked at it. There are new neighbors coming down the line! I'm sure they were impressed with our hardworking family during their visit, and that made ALL the difference in their decision to buy ;)

Red Carpet

As the fun dress up weeks at karate continue . . . the kids all got a chance to be part of a red carpet moment! Ha :) I snuck these pics over the shoulder of the camera they were looking at; I'm their standard paparazzi anyway, might as well make it official in light of their theme week :)




This is the only dress up week Caelan has thus far participated in--because she had an opportunity to wear sparkly prom jewelry and make her hair fancy; too good of an opportunity to pass up! :)

An Unusual Anniversary

Knowing our anniversary would likely not be a big to-do this year, we took the opportunity to grab dinner out (thanks to a card and gift from Buck's dad) the night before surgery. Buck fit right into the hipster scene of the trendy restaurant we visited. I was too nervous about the surgery to eat much, but the kids took care of my leftovers the minute we walked back through the door. We also forgot to take an anniversary photo in a cute location, so here's one in the car and then one at home . . . same outfits, but in the second one you can see Buck's eyes. I'm anti sunglasses in memory photos, lol :)





On our actual anniversary we woke up thinking more about pain killer regimens and how to fill recovery hours than the fact that it was our special day. We didn't get each other cards, gifts, or make any plans for special meals, desserts, or activities. Anniversary-ing wasn't a priority. So, we were sweetly surprised to see the kids had put a tablecloth on the table, cut out paper butterflies, made us cards, and even gathered us a bouquet of wild flowers--awwww! They are so thoughtful ❤





Gabby's new signature single page greeting card



Brennen's thoughtful remarks



Graysen's colorful cuteness