What has Sierra been reading?

Sierra loves to read. I wanted her to make a list of all the books she has read this summer. Here are the books she could remember:

Nancy Drew Mysteries
-The Secret of Shadow Ranch
-The Secret of Red Gate Farm
-The Clue in the Diary
-Nancy's Mysterious Letter
-The Invisible Intruder
Harry Potter 1, 2 , 3 some of 4
The Series of Unfortunate Events 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Science Fair
Lanie, An American Girl
The Value Tales
-Sacajawea
-Nellie Bly
-Confucius
-Elizabeth Fry
-Thomas Edison
Animal Ark
Little House on the Prairie
Fairy Realm 1 and 2

I think this is over 4,000 pages of reading, I stopped counting.

Mason and I have a deal, the number minutes he reads in a day is the same number of minutes he can watch TV. We thought we should change it up for Sierra. The number of minutes she plays outside is the same number of minutes she can read. Each of our kids are very different. It makes being a parent a little tricky at times.

Hmmm...should 16 month old boys help in the kitchen?

The kids found a recipe for chocolate chip banana muffins and had to make them. I let them do it mostly on their own (just after cleaning the kitchen, terrible timing) but they need to learn. Garrett was not the most helpful and the bowl of flour ended upside down on the floor. They still turned out great, even if they spent some time on the floor.

Scenes of Summer... It's coming to a close and I wanted to remember a few of the things we did

Tricks in the loft (for you Lesley)

Garrett walking around like a big kid

Eric and I canned tuna for the first time and Mason is a canning super-hero

Water time, Garrett and Allie spend a lot of time with the hose and buckets. They make rock, mint and dirt soup.

The kids out weeding the garden boxes (it was their own idea) after dinner, everyone working together was worth a picture.

Sierra jumping in near the falls at McDowell Falls

Who is going to dunk first?

Allie and Dad

Summer snooze

S'mores in the backyard



Mason playing T-Ball


He loved having his very own "jersey" and he loved T-ball. Before I know it it will be back to school picture posting. The kids are excited for school to start. I am excited for a schedule again but summer is such a great memory making time of year. I was here too but Mom's really don't get in on a lot of pictures, they are always taking them!

Have we changed in 11 years?

Just Married....

Well 11 years to be exact. We celebrated with a whole day together. A ferry ride across the river, a breakfast to die for (more about that soon), hiking, rivers and waterfalls. it was a perfect day with my one and only true love.

U-pick

I love, love "you-pick" flowers. This place is only about 10 miles from our house.

"Peaces"

I know how to spell, and these guys do too, they were just joking about their 60's "Peaces" sign. We drove up to these characters and they peeled peaches for the kids to eat. If you could see their hands up close and the dangling cigarette you may have felt a little like me. What are we eating along with our peaches? Just dirt I hope. Just another little spot within 10 miles of our home.

Quentin and his cat...

The next few posts are dedicated to our trip to see the Swiss Seables, nope not in Switzerland but someday we will go there together.

This is Mason's good pal Quentin, he dumped out a pile of cat food in his playhouse and just sat quietly by his cat. We hardly saw Mason most of the day, he and Quentin were off on their own adventures.