A Fun Weekend!

We had a good weekend with lots of fun!  I already posted about Friday, so I'll begin with Saturday.  

We went to a fall festival celebration at a Pioneer Farm.  We saw how to build a fire using flint, the girls made necklaces, ropes, and yarn dolls.  We also learned about candle dipping, soap making, honey / beekeeping, popcorn popping over a fire, living in a log cabin, etc. 

Lil Sis receives the rope she just made.

Big Sis churns butter.

 

The girls sit in at a desk in the one room school. 

The girls loved playing in this corn pile.  They dumped corn out of their pockets at home. 

Here's a bit of trivia.  This is the only mule cemetery in Iowa.

Cool Daddy-O drove the tractor in the parade.  While we waited on the parade to start, the girls had fun rolling down the hill.  I'm sure pioneer kids rolled down hills for entertainment also.

 

Saturday night, we went to a marching band competition.  Big Sis passed the time coloring and playing with her Leapster.  Lil Sis actually watched the show and decided she will be a member of the color guard when she's in high school.  She says she'll play an instrument too.  For now, her decision is to play trumpet.  I'm sure she'll change her mind a few times before she decides on one.

On Sunday, we went to church.  I accompanied Lil Sis to her Sunday school class.  Today was the first day of class and she was a bit nervous about staying alone.  I'm glad I stayed.  She was fine, and I was able to help out a bit with the other kids while I was there.

After a quick lunch, the girls went out for some fun with Cool Daddy-O.  They rode bikes, practiced soccer and played at the elementary playground.  While they were out and about, I printed out some information for geocaching and ran some errands.  

We all met up again at the elementary and finally found the cache we'd unsuccessfully looked for several times.  We remained in town and found 3 more caches.  I'm proud to say I spied all four of them first.  Usually, Big Sis is able to spy some first, but the girls were a bit distracted today.

The weather was very nice and warm this weekend and it was quite pleasant to be outside.  Lil Sis is prepared for the first day of fall tomorrow.  Happy last day of summer everyone.  

We visited our local drug store today and they were stocking their Christmas merchandise today.  I don't think walmart even has their Christmas stuff out yet.

Geocaching In A New Town

Big Sis had the afternoon off from school.  Since the weather was so nice today, we went geocaching.  I remembered the GPS was in Cool Daddy-O's car.  We went out of town to get the GPS and stayed there to geocache.  Above, is the first one hidden on the railing of a bridge by the river.  We left a key chain and Big Sis grabbed a quarter.  
The second cache we found was the most fun.  It was near an area where workers were moving gravel, sand, etc around after the flooding was resolved in this area.  They looked at us and I could tell they wondered what we were up to.  We were parked in an area off the beaten path. We told them what we were up to and they jumped at the chance to walk with us for the last 100 feet of our search.   One of the guys actually spotted the cache and then stepped away to let us find it on our own.  I think they welcomed the diversion on a Friday afternoon.  

While we were preparing to hike out of the hiding spot and back to the car, Cool Daddy-O called and was ready to join us.  He helped us with the last two.  

At the third sight, we spotted grasshoppers, deer tracks, butterflies, and some pretty wildflowers.  We also found the cache, eventually.
The fourth and final cache of the day was near a gas station, in a small wooded area.  The above picture shows how well it was hidden.  The clue was "natural camo".  It was well hidden, indeed.  At this spot, Big Sis carried a monarch butterfly around for awhile.  Apparently, monarchs are migrating right now and are quite plentiful in Iowa this week.  Sounds like they like clover.  Big Sis also informed us that predators stay away from Monarchs because they're poisonous.  Monarchs eat milk weed, which is what makes them poisonous.  Not sure if this is all making sense, as Lil Sis is having a major meltdown while Cool Daddy-O is getting her ready for bed.  Sorry.
To end the perfect day, Big Sis had a soccer game.  Here's an action shot of her preparing to kick as she was warming up before the game.  Her team didn't win tonight, but that's o.k. because the weather was warm, it wasn't raining, and she had fun.  What more could you want.
During the game, Lil Sis commandeered the camera.  She keeps asking if she can have a camera of her own.  I think she got a pretty good picture of Cool Daddy-O tonight.  We'll see if Santa has any cameras in his pack of goodies this year.

Too Good To Be True?

I have blisters on my hands from using a broom this morning.  I was helping a friend by cleaning the floor of a new building.  It was a good workout.  

Lil Sis has been her strong-willed self lately.  Otherwise, not much new here to report with the girls.

Yesterday, Lil Sis and I went to Iowa City for an oil change.  We returned some items that we no longer needed / wrong size / etc. and went to Target and started stocking up on little Halloween favors.

One thing we bought today (which seems entirely too good to be true) was a Halloween treat pack at McDonalds.  For a mere $1 (cash only) was able to purchase a little booklet of 12 coupons, each good for one of the items on the dollar menu.  Um, let's see, that's $12 worth of product for $1.  I'm still wondering where the catch is.  The small print says only one coupon per person per visit and they must be used between November 1 and December 31.  I thought it was a great deal.  I bought 3!  I might buy more later.

I agreed to be the room parent for Big Sis's 1st grade class.  Part of the responsibility is helping to organize the fall (Halloween) party, Valentine's Day party, and snacks during the Iowa Basic Skills testing week.  Between my trip to Target yesterday and the purchase of the dollar menu coupons, I have a great start on some awesome goody bags for Halloween.

Soccer Fun

Here's Big Sis taking a break during her game last Friday.  It's fun to watch her play this year.  She's learning lots of new skills and all the girls on her team are about the same skill level and are working well together.
Here's Lil Sis kicking off during her scrimmage on Tuesday.  She's still extremely shy during the first few minutes of soccer, but then warms up quickly and runs around chasing the ball.  It's her first official season.  It's fun to watch little 4 year olds running around chasing the ball.  She just needs to gain some self confidence and she'll do good.  She's smiling the whole time she's out there (except for the beginning when I have to hold her hand the whole time).

The weather is a bit dreary today.  I'm hoping it improves and we have another fun night at soccer practice.

On another note, we recently purchased an iMac.  I've been busy transferring data from the PC to the iMac.  It's been pretty easy, just time consuming getting used to everything.  Overall, I would recommend the Mac.  It seems very intuitive.  There are a lot of things I need to figure out, but I'm up for the challenge!!

First Day of the Last Year of Preschool

She wasn't looking forward to going to preschool this morning. She tried pulling the old, "I'm going to miss you" routine. It didn't last long.
Here she is waiting for the elevator. She loves riding it and was instantly snapped out of her funky mood.
Here she is happily standing in the elevator. We walked toward the classroom, deposited her back pack in her cubby and then did our hugs and kisses routine (kisses, hugs, cheeks, ears, eyeballs, forehead, and chins, with the grand finale big hug). We walked into the classroom, where she instantly reverted back into the funky mood (see photo #1). We did the hugs and kisses routine again, wrote her name on a coloring sheet, and I told the assistant teacher I needed some help. She engaged lil sis in conversation and I left. She didn't cry though. I didn't either.

When I went to pick her up, she was so excited (much like she is in photo #2) to show me the little book she drew in class. She drew a picture of her house, family (I think she forgot she had parents, because we weren't in the picture) and herself.
The other day, Big Sis tied Lil Sis up. They were playing some version of Wacky Races and Lil Sis filled the role of Penelope Pit Stop. They switched roles later, but had the most fun this way.
Over the weekend, at one point, the girls were being kinda wild and crazy, so we sent them to the toy room. They returned to the kitchen a few minutes later looking like this. It's not uncommon for them to dress up silly when they're in a bit of trouble. I think they've found it lessens the tension in the house when they do this.

Soccer Season Starts as a Cool Front Approaches

Tonight was Lil Sis' first ever soccer practice. Not surprisingly, yet ever so frustratingly, she was extremely shy and refused to participate at the beginning. I struggled between holding her hand and walking her through the steps, to standing with my hands on my hips in frustration.

I finally had a little heart to heart. She said she wanted to play soccer, but wanted everyone else to leave. I reminded her that soccer is a team sport and they need to play together. She then asked if she could still keep her shirt if she didn't play. I told her no, she'd have to give it back. Her shirt is her favorite color (yellow) and I knew that would have an impact on her.

Soon after that, she started participating, first taking turns kicking the ball across the field with me....then before we all knew it, she had this huge grin on her face after she kicked the ball! From then on, I was able to stand on the side lines and cheer her on. She returned often for high fives, low fives, etc.

Near the end, her team had a scrimmage with another team. She did her thing and was soooooo cute with her shin guards, soccer socks, and soccer cleats on. Once after a big play where another kid kicked the ball when she was trying to, she came walking toward me with a weird look. I thought her feelings or foot had been hurt, but when I asked her what was wrong, she said she was thirsty. She got a little drink and ran back on the field. Next time we'll encourage her to wait til there's a break in the action, but at that point, I was so happy that she was participating, I didn't care.

After practice was over, Lil Sis insisted on staying at the soccer fields and kicking the ball some more. Fortunately, we had our 2 soccer balls in the trunk, so the girls went to one of the full sized fields and practiced scoring goals against Cool Daddy-O!

On another note (pun intended), the song that Uncle John plays drums on is #1 on the Country charts this week! WhooHoo!!! Big Sis wants to know if that means he's famous now. Kudos to Jimmy Wayne and "Do You Believe Me Now"!!! If you're looking for some good music, go buy the CD or download it! Yeah, I'm biased, but I think it's pretty awesome, and I'm not really even a big country music fan! I just like all good music!