Crafty

So I made this headband... on Monday night I think after the stress of the first day of school I needed to relax. I repined a tutorial from Pinterest and added my own twist.

The headband is made out of a t-shirt sleeve.
The fabric flower I made of out scrap fabric and some fabric glue. 

This is how it looks on... I have bangs now... I don't love them... that is probably
another reason I am making headbands these days. (Forgive my makeup less face)  

Just another view... it isn't a great picture... but I love the headband.

Krispy Kreme and Me

So I have already written about blackberries but at the end of summer staff party there was a blackberry bake-off and the winner had to be the Cain's with their knock off Krispy Kreme blackberry filled doughnut holes. So on Tuesday I attempted to recreate those... because they are kind of like chips... I couldn't only eat just one. 

I have never made doughnuts before and let me tell you it was quite a process but I would say worth the work and all of the dishes in the end. 

The kids loved them, our neighbors loved them and we can't stop eating them. 

Doughnuts rising on the counter.
You can kind of see the overflowing sink in the corner of this picture. 

Set up and ready to fry. 

Don't they look so yummy... 

These have the blackberry's inside. 

I made a blackberry glaze and a regular glaze. 

Doughnut number one. 

Some regular glazed and some blackberry glazed. 

I've got more blackberries in the freezer... come and visit and I'll make you some doughnuts. 

First Day of School

We started school this week!!! MJ is really excited about doing school at home and I have to say that I am excited about getting to see him learn. Our first day went okay... Grant wasn't used to me giving MJ so much attention but Day 2 and 3 have gone much better. I am still waiting on my curriculum to arrive but I have planned out a week of review material so we are reviewing Letters, Numbers, Shapes and Colors.

 I have found some great resources online and really like  www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com she has some great resources and some really good age appropriate Bible lessons. 

MJ playing match the letter to the beginning word sound.
(He is sitting at the really great desk Micah made) 

This is what Grant was doing... dumping frosted flakes all over the floor. 

MJ practicing writing letters in shaving cream on his desk.
(I remember doing this when I was little in school) 

Grant is getting the hang of school. He loves to sing with us during calendar time. 

Look Mom, No Training Wheels!!!

This morning I took the boys out to play so that Micah could put up a desk area for homeschool (more on that to come in another post) and while we were outside MJ was riding his bike and he kept falling over. I told him I thought it was time to take off the training wheels and try riding without them. He said "okay mom but tomorrow I might want to put them back on" and I told him if we take them off we aren't putting them back on. He agreed and we tried a little in the back yard... then when Micah was finished we took him out to the concrete space behind our house and the rest is history.  

Get Ready

Get Set 

Make a turn... 

Off he goes!!!

It is such a blessing to watch this little man grow up!!! 

Blackberries

Blackberries are ripe and ready for the picking here at Woodleaf.

 We have gone to pick blackberries several times and Grant has eaten almost half of everything we have picked. He Loves the blackberries! 

He is ready to get up from his stroller... but just look at that face ! 

He was covered in blackberry juice! 

I was amazed at how easily all of the purple came off... I thought for sure he would be stained purple.

Needless to say I have begun to limit the amount of eating that he does while we pick berries because his poor little tummy couldn't handle as many as he had eaten on this day.

I have loved having the berries though... I have made blackberry syrup, pancakes and cobbler. I need some other good blackberry recipes if any one knows of any please feel free to share! 

Tableau at Woodleaf

Every week here at camp they have a western night... more of pioneer days since we are in gold mining  hills. So we attempted to attend the very last one of the summer on Wednesday night. We missed the big scene but we made it in time to see the clean up... and to the kids it didn't matter they had a great time just being kids! 

MJ on his way... he was really excited to get dressed up. 

The Dunn Family

I don't look very western at all... I will have to work on my look before next summer.
I wore my boots and french braided my hair but I don't think that is quite enough. 

Super cute Grant with his 5 o'clock shadow. 

Howdy Partner! 

Grant and Dylan in jail. 

All the little guys in jail... Abby is smart she must be the jail keeper.

These are our great neighbors The Gardner's.

Here are 3 families worth of children. 

MJ jumping off of the mine shaft. 

Grant and I trying to take it all in.

We had a great time and look forward to being on time next year for the entire tableau.

Y'all come see us! 

Summer Olympics

On Saturday we hosted the Summer Kid Olympics up at our house along with our neighbors and another friend. We had about 20 kids (I don't actually know the number it just seemed like at least 20) ages 1 - 11. We started off with flag decorating a relay race and then the parade of families on to the games. At the games we had balance beam, high jump, javelin throw, ribbon dancing (gymnastics), weight lifting and water balloon shot put. After the games we raced over to the closing ceremonies for medals and snacks.  It was a great afternoon and MJ is still talking about it. 

This is water balloon shot put (turned into hit Mr. Jeff with the water balloon)

Grant is so strong he can lift the heaviest weights. 

Water balloon shot put quickly turned into water balloon fight. 

Grant is handing me his ribbon... no ribbon dancing for this macho man. 

Snack Time... MJ is about to swallow his cupcake whole. 

I just had to post this sequence of Grant eating a cup cake. 

MMMMM.... that was good! 

Here are all the Woodleaf boys with their medals! 

Say Cheese!