Father Reilly

IHC is losing their priest :( Father Reilly has been transferred. This picture was from his farewell reception. Those kids were so well behaved. The line we waited in was soooo long and it got to be after 8pm before we saw him. He is a wonderful man and will be so greatly missed. When we would go out to visit "dad" at work he would come through the gym and make the kids laugh. He ALWAYS blessed the girls and I. At the reception he said wait a minute lets just all get in a circle and hold each other. We did and he blessed us again. He always let me know what a great job I was doing and said seeing those girls in the school just brightened his day. He will definitely be on our pen-pal list. Love and God bless you Father Reilly!!

ps- speaking of pen-pals we got a letter from Amiya. She is doing well and is already planning her next stay with us. We can't wait!!!

Perch River

We took a field trip for a picnic lunch and nature hike at Perch River which is a wildlife management area.
Jo enjoying her yogurt.

We took a LONG hike down the road to this viewing tower. The kids made it. Poor Georgia wasn't feeling very well but she made it too.

A little scary. It is one of those things that have been around since I can remember and each time I stop to climb it I think about the screws loosening and boards breaking...not good thoughts as you're climbing.

The view is worth the scare in my book. We saw so many birds. Swans, gulls, osprey, blue herons, an unidentified bird that hovered over the water with a rather large bill (my first guess was a kingfisher silhouette) that I must identify, another big bird that was rather large that perched on the marshy grass that was knocked down that I must identify(looked to me like a least bittern silhouette but I was just too far away)...etc. I'll go get to work! :)

swans on our walk back

What a sight.

Brad is off to work so we are back to blogging! We found a walking stick insect a couple of days ago. What a treat. We couldn't get over how the exoskeleton looked so twig like. I brought it in to play on the floor for a bit and no one would go near the thing. Poor little guy. I'm sure his feelings were crushed.

Letter L Activities continued

Emmy will certainly have the letter L down!! We did some lacing ...
Look at the concentration!

She also stamped some ladybugs with a potato! I think we can move on to another letter now. L has lasted a long length of time!

letter L activites

Emmy has been working on the letter L. Here she is playing super L spotter and highlighting the L's in the Letter L song.
She made a letter L out of leaves.

Very nice Emmy.

Here is her letter L song. I must say this is the best coloring Emeline has ever accomplished!!

The Barton Times

Hope you can read this. This was the girls assignment after we read chapter one of the American Girl Meet Kit book. Emmy wrote "Margie Broke a Jar" and Georgia and Josie did the rest. Happy reading of the newspaper.

Georgia's soccer

Georgia's soccer is finally over. What a summer of sports!
She did a great job hustling out there for her team. At times she can be a little on the timid side but that's ok with me.

I said at times she could be timid but we did see her get beamed in the face by a kick and keep right on a going. She did blink every other second for a while but she hung in there. We also witnessed a rather large boy make insignificant contact with her and she folded like a wet noodle onto the field. She got right up and sort of shook it off. I'm telling you this because in my eyes it is a big accomplishment to get a "boo boo" and shake it off. It is a big accomplishment because how many kids did I see get carried off the field after getting tripped, or a ball hit their stomach, or someone looked at them cross eyed and the aftershock of these actions was to keel over like you got shot in the leg. What is happening to kids these days?? Oh I know I'm being totally insensitive. Georgia needs to pat herself on the back for SOMETHING because her soccer skills certainly won't get her any pats!! kidding....just kidding! :)

Rumpelstiltskin puppet show

We went to a puppet show based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin. This is when the King heard of a girl that could change things to gold and he wants her.
There she is, trapped in the basement after being asked to spin the straw to gold.

Rumpelstiltskin shows up to help her out!

The gold appears - soooo cool.

The puppeteer. She was great with the kids while explaining all that she does under there. She makes her own sets, puppets and stories. What talent. There is something a little scary yet so fascinating about puppet shows.

A trip to the Greats

We took a visit to my Grandparents house this weekend. One of my favorite things to do while there is just sit and hang out with them.
Emeline filled Great Grandpa's ear with a story about something!!

Bubble time.

Emmy running with her wand and Margie licking hers.

Go Grandpa Go!

Margie and Mommy

My boy playing in the sandbox!

The mid-state cousins!!!

Of course we took a walk to see a train. I love it....not so sure about the kids :)

Stay on the side Emeline.

Finally we heard a whistle! Here it comes - get out of the way Georgia.

Margie didn't know what to think. Our feet were shaking and our ears were ringing - such excitement.

Emmy was a little nervous! Look at the grip.

The family reunion at my Grandfather's homestead. Kim and Emmy best buds.

Some of the gang.

Margie Sr. and Margie Jr.

My grandparents and my girls and I.

Thanks for the lovely visit. Wish we could stay forever! xoxo

homemade lollipops

****As requested: the recipe!! I didn't have a lot of luck getting mine off the waxed paper (maybe they weren't quite cool enough) but maybe spraying it or oiling it would work better. I had to use cold water after to get the paper off! :) We also used this chart (because I don't own a candy thermometer) to figure out when we were at the hard crack stage. Good luck - they were yummy and fun for me to do. A little too hot and dangerous for the kids to do on their own.

Emmy has been learning about the letter L and we made lollipops.
Mmmm mmmm were they good but oh boy were they sticky.

Emeline loved them! We made strawberry flavor!

cookout and campfire

Grandma G had a cookout and campfire recently.
Emmy roasting

Brendan enjoying!

Mesmerized

Josie is being lulled to sleep while toasting her marshmallow.

A sticky Margie

Ben eating a late supper after work.

Grandma taking care of I think Molly (can't tell them apart from a distance).

Russell