wvu farms kid days

Friday was another day off school for Ted. He had 11 days of school the month of April between Spring Break, Kindergarten registration and built in unused snow days. I hope we NEVER have this school calender again.

His class took a field trip to WVU Kid Days and he loved it! He soaked up a lot of information and talked about it for two days straight. So I decided that we would take Sophie back on Friday. When he went with his class, each group had a "farmer" to tell them about the animals. Since we didn't have a group, Ted was our "farmer." He did a darn good job. And all the baby animals were awesome!

baby black & white cow

baby brown & white cow. those were my favorites

"milking" a fake cow

one of the lambs had a cast b/c it had a broken leg.
sophie kept telling the farmer, "my dog has an acl."
meaning, my dog had acl surgery and has a bandage sort
of like the one the sheep has!

a huge bull and another cow. their size are so impressive

mama goat & her kid

chickens

piglets

chicks

It was a fun (and cold) morning. I love that Ted loves learning about animals. My Dad is always teaching him miscellaneous animal facts which he'll randomly repeat at the strangest times. But animals are pretty darn cool. Funny thing is, my kids missed the years of program when Ben and Scott used most of these animals. They would've LOVED that.

this was the both kids' favorite part of our day

pw & amanda - 2012 wedding #1

We are starting another "wedding season" that will last from April through October. There's at least 4 more. Maybe more. I think it's time to buy another dress. Or shop in Lisa's closet.

Last weekend Ben and I drove to Brevard, NC for PW & Amanda's wedding. PW is an amazing musician that has been on several of our most recent assignments. He's come to Morgantown to do several shows for College YL since we've been here. He and Ben are neat friends so off we went.

We drove most of Friday afternoon/evening. Saturday was supposed to be a total washout but it wasn't at all. Ben and I went on a hike Saturday morning to one of the many waterfalls in the nearby state park.

It brought back memories of our "tour de waterfalls family vacation" in 1992. 

 My bible and some other book were soaked clear through from sitting on a dripping water bottle the entire trip. 36 hours later - still wet. Bummer.

We strolled around the town of Brevard and hit up the neatest toy store.

We had lunch at a cute little grill and saw this sign . . . 

 The wedding was at Carolina Point - a very new and evolving YL camp.

They have one building on the property that is beautifully made into a club room, dining room and game room. It's pretty impressive.

The club room (which is small and may hold about 100) is on the other side of the stage wall. To the right is a small game area with some pool and ping pong tables.

They are starting to move dirt to build dorms.

The pond/lake.

 The weather was seriously unbelievable considering the forecast.
(Kind of like the "snowstorm" that was supposed to hit us today.)

 

The NC/SC boarder runs right through the middle of camp. We didn't realize we were so close to Windy Gap or else we would've visited there too. Next time.

Congratulations PW & Amanda. Thanks for letting us share in your day!

4 day weekend

We are 3/4 done with a 4 day weekend. After having a 10 day spring break and going back to school for 4 days. Ted also has off next Tuesday and Friday. Stupid built in snow days. He has 11 days of school in April.

We finally got Ted his birthday bike! We (well, Ben) put the training wheels back on Ted's old bike for Sophie and off we went to an empty school parking lot because we never have school anymore.

Sophie did really well. The bike is a little big for her but she loves it. Lots of "woohoos"

Ted is rockin' his new bike. A little wobbly and nervous and definitely not trail ready yet. 

We had a few near misses but no collisions. Only individual crashes.

This is my very own Squints from Sandlot. When we play catch (at which I'm horrible), he is Squints or Smalls and I am Wendy Peppercorn. Today he actually quoted the "FOREVER" line in an appropriate context and was straight up funny saying it.

Today we drove Millie to New Martinsville to go to the vet (another story) and the bonus was birthday lunch for Aunt Lois (birthday today) and Doh (birthday tomorrow). Yummy Mexican in Paden City and the birthday girls got a sombrero, song, and pie in the face.

Poor Millie. We recently started treating her for arthritis in her hips. She was having a really hard time with that. She was doing really, really well and then on Wednesday stopped using her back, right leg. So I drove her to see Dr. Barnes who told us that she has torn her ACL. I  guess she was felling a little too spry. So she'll be having surgery sometime in the the next couple of weeks. I'm so sad for her. Ted made her this card before the diagnosis while she was still "hopping around on 3 legs" as he calls it.

Sophie is starting to write her own name. I love it! Especially since I did absolutely nothing to teach her this. Sometimes I can't believe I'm a trained teacher based on what I do NOT teach my kids. 

game night

If you have not played this game, you need to. It's GREAT!

I'll throw it out there that I absolute HATE the board game Monopoly. It is by far my least favorite board game EVER. Followed closely by Scrabble.  We played this for the first time last Sunday after dinner with some of our leaders. Ben and I have played almost every night this week. I love it! Love it! It's equal strategy and luck of the draw. And it's quick. It will be a new game staple at our house.

We've been playing a lot of these games too. They are some of our favorites. It's definitely fun that Ted is getting older and able to play games that we actually enjoy too. Poor Sophie. I haven't been all that into Candy Land or other such torturous games with her. She does a lot of watching or "team playing." Happy family game night!

Sorry

Uno Moo!

Mexican Train Dominos

spring break 2012

Sometimes I blog less when Ben is home more in the evenings or when there's not a lot going on or when there's a lot going on but there's not a complete story to be shared. Let's just say it's a little of all three lately.

We just finished up spring break for Ted. 10 days. It was not what I had hoped for. The kids spent the weekend in New Martinsville but ended up coming back a little early b/c Sophie was sick. (I guess I spoke too soon about her never getting sick.) She got hit pretty hard then passed it along to Grandma, John Pap and Ted. Coughs, fever, lots of snot. Sophie kicked it quickly. Ted not so much. I took him to the doctor this evening for an on-going cough. He came home with an inhaler, steroids and an antibiotic.  Ted, being the homebody that he is, didn't really mind that we stuck close to home. I babysat two days and he was so sweet and kind.

Our week in review . . .

We hit up The Fishbowl with the Grimms one evening.I've never been and we've lived down the street for 18
months. My kids and I had our first Fishbowl experience the same night.

Some "flowers" Sophie picked for me.

We dyed Easter eggs and it wasn't half bad!

We went "hiking" at Coopers Rocks on Saturday.
Ted coughed the whole time so we didn't stay long.

I think they are so cute! Just sayin'

Sophie eating rice with one chop stick. It's
not as funny in the picture as it was in person.

We had a silly string fight with some in the baskets from
Doh & John Pap.

Checkin' out the stash.

And then spreading Easter grass all over the house.

Sophie put on her play jewelry earring herself - obviously!

I fed these hungry leaders for dinner on Sunday. I sure do love them.
And I'm proud of myself for making a 12 pound ham, 10 pounds of
scalloped potatos, a pot of green beans, yeast rolls, Sarah Lee
apple pie & buffalo chicken dip!

Happy Easter 2012