a woodpecker in the house . . .

We heard a LOUD thud on the sliding glass door and when Cambrie went out to see what it was, she found this cute little baby woodpecker. It was pretty stunned so she thought she would bring it inside and hold it for a while.  It wasn't long before it was feeling well and taking off in flight.

Before we knew it, this is where it was.  Clear up on our fireplace rock.  As we tried to figure out how we could get it, he decided to try to fly out through the window, resulting in yet another loud thud.  Fortunately he survived yet another crash.  We took a couple more pictures then sent him off on his way.

 

 

Jake-man the 70's gymnast!

Jake has been taking gymnastics and absolutely loving it! He has quite the sense of style and insisted on wearing this headband to class. It was priceless. Everyone commented on Jake's headband.

As we were leaving class, Jake said to me, "Mom, I am soooo cool. Everyone loves my headband!"


Jake on the bar.


 

shower power

Jake has finally discovered the shower. It took some coaxing, but we finally convinced him that taking showers was cool and what do you know, now he can't get enough of them. Here he is enjoying one of his great shower sessions.

cinnamon toast and independence.

Many months ago I told the kids that I won't buy anymore sugary cereals for breakfast. Fortunately for them, we had quite the stock pile in our food storage, so they haven't had to go without. But alas, we have run out of Tatum's beloved Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not to fear, she has figured out how to make her own replacement. . . actual cinnamon toast. Here I found her after proudly making her own breakfast - 4 slices of cinnamon toast! Well, I don't know that it's much healthier than sugary cereal, but she seems pretty happy with herself and her creation.

flying high . . .

After spending quite a bit of time upstairs together, the kids came down with their new creation. Jason and I were both very impressed with their GIANT paper airplane, complete with pilot, copilot and passengers. 

don't feed the bears -

 I was walking upstairs and saw something strange in the mouth of our bear rug (Jason's newest addition to our house). As I got closer I started laughing when I realized that his mouth was full of goldfish. Jake quickly claimed feeding the bear because he was hungry. I thought I would take a few pictures because it was so priceless!

Cleaning the Coop!

Jake and I have been enjoying our time at home during the days with just the two of us. Friday we cleaned out the chicken coop. Actually, Jake more or less cleaned it out. He informed me that I was using his shovel and that he wanted to get all the poop himself.
How long will this last for?

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!

We really don't know for sure, but we think that at least one of our ducks is laying now. Cambrie found this HuGe egg and had to document it. She took all the pictures herself, then wanted to cook it up and was so excited because it was a 'double yolker' as she calls it.

Most of our hens lay brown eggs, but recently we've been getting some white eggs, most likely from Rose, our newest hen.
This was the big egg in Cambrie's hand.

All of them together. She's quite proud of her eggs.

Magic Butterfly.

The kids found a butterfly outside and were convinced that it must be magic because it wouldn't fly away. I'm convince that it must've been something other that magic. At any rate, they sure enjoyed holding it and taking their picture with it.

Our Pampered Pooch

Cambrie just happens to have a book that tells how to make your dog a princess, so she decided that Hershey needed some pampering. She gave each of us an assignment and wrote it on green papers that she taped on us. I was the 'Head Massager'. She brought Hershey's bed over and served her meal and treat to her on a tray. I'm not sure what Hershey was thinking, but the kids thought it was great.

Could It Be??

Tater has gone 15 whole days without sucking her thumb.

woo hoo Tater!

American Girl Photo Shoot

Cambrie received a subscription to the American Girl Magazine for her birthday and has since read it cover to cover. Actually, it has been taped page by page all around her room, but she's already made one of the recipes and the other day, she decided to take photos of her dolls in action. (There was an article with tips on how to get good shots). Here are some of the MANY photos we have.

Here, Felicity is apparently about to give Elizabeth a haircut.

And here, Coconut is getting a bath.

After the bath. Notice the items in the dolls hands and the towel on the dog.

Tatum took some of Mikayla, Haddy & Licorice too.

Sooo Big!

Sunday as we were getting ready for church, Cambrie informed me that she wanted to do her hair ALL ON HER OWN. She has been doing this occasionally for school days, but I usually prefer to do her hair myself on Sundays. I figured I would give her a try, but had no idea what ON HER OWN actually meant. She took my hair dryer, curling iron and hair spray to the bathroom upstairs and got started. I too was trying to do my hair and having a hard time without my hair dryer or hair spray, so I asked her to join me in my bathroom. She had her hair all dry and a good portion of it was curled. She really did a great job.
Here is the final result. I did not have any part in this.

We've now decided that next time we're in town, we'll stop at Target and Cambrie can use some of her Christmas gift cards to get her very own hair tools for her bathroom. I can't believe it's come to this already.

Sicky Sicky Jake-Man

So much for a quick 24 hour bug. Jake is FINALLY starting to feel better. Woo hoo! Still not sure exactly what he had, but he was one sick little guy.
Here he is sleeping on the floor in our room. This wall heater was put in my bedroom for Christmas (by Jason to help keep me nice and toasty during our LONG winter here). Jake pretty much demanded to sleep by it constantly. I can only imagine what our electric bill will be this month. I loved this picture. Hershey was feeling for the little guy and cuddled up next to him (that or Hershey likes the heater just as much as Jake) hard to say which one it is. Nevertheless, it's priceless.

After the puking stopped, Jake became obsessed with his drinks. (I'm guessing he felt overly thirsty or something). He had to have 5 cups, each with a different drink (apple juice, orange juice, lemonade, water and chocolate milk) and they had to go with him from one resting spot to another. Here he is on the sofa watching Tom & Jerry (I now have every episode on our DVR memorized), and eating Doritos. I rarely ever buy these, but am convinced they are coated with some sort of addictive substance because he would not eat ANYTHING, but once the Doritos came home, he was all over them. Well, I guess it's better than nothing?! We're just glad he's getting back to his usual self. I've missed his cute little smile.

Back to School Cookies

Sadly our Christmas Break has come to an end and the girls are heading back to shool tomorrow. What better way to prepare than to let them stay up late and make cookies?! Anyway, they're excited to be going back and even more excited to know there will be Snickerdoodles waiting for them when they get home.