Thursday, December 23, 2010

Light Up Micanopy 2010

Light Up Micanopy was great again this year. The kids sang in their school performance and entered their cookies in the cookie bake-off. Kaity did red velvet whoopie pies. They looked very pretty but the cookies weren't the right proportion to the filling.


Will entered pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. It was his cookie idea and he did most of the mixing and dolloping although I had to frost them all. He ended up winning overall cookie and won $8. He was very excited.


The kids also met the "real" Santa. It's the grandpa of one of our 4-Hers and he really looks like the real Santa. He's got a fantastic costume and great beard. Both the kids are really into Santa this year. I think it will be the last year for Santa for Will but this year he REALLY believes. When he wrote his letter, he said he wanted "elf shoos." When I asked him why, he said "because no one else will think to ask for that, so I'll probably get it." Which means this Santa had to think fast and come up with elf shoes. They should be delivered today. He also has repeatedly asked Santa for a Wii to replace the one that was stolen. He also helped Kaity write her letter and sealed it before I had a chance to read it. Not sure what it said, but I know she asked for bouncy balls.


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Gator Basketball

We finally took the kids to a Gator basketball game the week of Thanksgiving. We've never been before and it was loads of fun. The best part (for me) is that it's inside and the chairs have backs. The only reason Kaity goes is to meet Albert. She about had a conniption fit because he was taking too long to get to us, but finally he made it over there.


Will absolutely loved going. He's recently really gotten into basketball and they play at school quite a bit so he actually understood most of the game. He spent the entire game yelling "shoot, shoot!" and "defense!" at the appropriate times. I thought he would get bored, but he was totally enthralled and wanted to stay till the very end.


The other thing that he really wanted was to get on the big screen. He did a lot of waving with the pom poms (we had to give him a two foot berth all the way around) and dancing. I guess those hip hop classes are paying off.


We're hoping to go to one more game this season (maybe tonight!) Tickets are about $10/each, but I guess that's the same as going to the movies.

Camp Cloverbud


Also in November, the kids and I headed to Camp Cloverbud. Usually kids can't go to 4-H overnight camp until they're 8. And, it's for a week so it's really overwhelming for new campers and their parents. So I pitched an idea to our 4-H agent to do a parent/kid overnight camp to where they do summer camp. That way the 5-7 year olds could go and see what it's like, mom and dad can feel more comfortable with it, and hopefully we recruit more summer campers.

We went from Saturday noon to Sunday noon in November. It was COLD. Especially for our little ones. So, we ended up staying in the nice adult cabin rather than the unheated cabins the summer campers stay in. But, we had a great time and did all the normal camp stuff - crafts, campfire, food. We're already planning for next year and making it a two night event so we have all day Saturday at the camp. It was a hit and a lot of fun, but very exhausting!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Visiting Good Friends

I haven't been very good at blogging the last two months, but we've been really busy. And, I haven't been very good at taking pictures either. So, I'm going to try to post a bunch of mini recaps in the next couple of days while I'm on vacation.

In early November, we headed to Athens, Georgia to visit John's college roommate, Ryan and his girlfriend Ashley. We spent a couple days with them and were able to hike in some of the local state parks. Here's a family photo of my kids with them and their sweet dogs.


Doesn't she look old here? I look at pictures from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2010 and she's really grown up. I can't believe she's almost 6.


Will amazingly kept up with Ryan on the hiking. Ryan does many mile treks and walks really fast, but Will did pretty good for our short jaunt.


Family photo.


Typical pose for Kaity - telling everyone how it really is


We also hit the beautiful town of Madison. It was windy and cold, but we all had a great time walking around it.


They found these big leaves in Madison and we carried them around for two weeks.


We've been to visit Ryan twice now in October/November. Next time I'd really like to go in the spring or summer so I don't freeze my you-know-what off!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 was a blast this year. Not sure when Halloween turned into a three day event, but that's exactly what it is. It started off Friday morning with the costume parade at school. Then, both kids had parties in their classes. I'm room mom for Will's classroom so I had a little more to do there. Here's Will's class in front of the big pumpkin.


And, Kaity's class.


And, Kaity with some of her girlfriends.

After school it was time for Cloverbuds (which happens the last Friday of every month.) And, of course, the kids were all sugared up from their parties. They were a good group and were pretty well-behaved for as much candy as they had eaten. That night, we headed to Hawthorne for a party for one of Kaity's friends. It was fun, but exhausting.

Saturday, we mostly stuck around the house (although the kids did both get new boots). Larry came over and carved pumpkins with us. Kaity had one the pumpkin from her classroom, Larry had bought two pumpkins, I had bought one big pumpkin and a couple small ones so we ended up with several jack-o-lanterns.


Will is actually flinging seeds here - not stabbing the pumpkin.

And, the finished products all lit up.


And, our fall display during the day. It's been so warm that they probably have a day or two left before the compost pile gets them.


Kaity dressed as a can can dancer this year. We ordered costumes online and this one was surprisingly well made and cute.


Demonstrating the can can dance.


Will was Jenga Fett (the bounty hunter) from Star Wars.


And, I was a candy corn witch (ordered from the pre-teen section so it's not too risque).


This year, the Harvest Festival fell on Halloween weekend, so the kids and I worked the 4-H booth that morning. That afternoon, we headed to Evinston to trick-or-treat and party with the United Methodist Church. It was super fun. We knew a lot of the kids and families from school, 4-H, t-ball and soccer. Evinston is a really tiny community just south of Micanopy. They actually call all the local neighbors ahead of time to see if they want trick-or-treaters and then plan a route. We had hot dogs and smores first and then walked the route. Kaity ended up onliy being carried the last couple houses. And, the houses are pretty far apart. We also got started at 4 with the party and were finished by 7:15 so this was great for a school night. Definitely lots of fun.


All in all a good, but exhausting, weekend. I'm so glad halloween only comes once a year.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Fall Gardening

John's been busy gardening this fall and has go the kids helping him. Here Will is collecting rabbit poop for the compost pile. Thumper can't figure out what he's doing.


Both are collecting poop now.


Will shoveling some more.


Kaity talking to Thumper.


Dumping into the compost pile.


And stirring.


Kaity, my farm girl, planting some annuals around the baby dogwood.




My fall garden project - a pretty Earthbox container! And, that's my new begonia from Tallahassee Nursery on the left. Definitely worth another field trip to that place.


And, John's major project is his garden. So far, he's tilled up 30 feet by 120 feet, but only planted a quarter of that. He's really excited about the strawberries pictured below.


And, the seedlings in the garden.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Big Gators in a Little Pond

When Alli and Dad were here last weekend, we decided to head down to the pond and check out the fishing. We'd been told earlier in the week that the fishing was really good. So some of us were going to fish in the boat and some were going to plink with the BB gun. But, when we got to the pond, here's what we saw...


On first count, we saw 8.


They're lined up like stepping stones, but I don't think I would try it with these guys!


Dad, Alli, and Will all saying "I don't think I'm getting in that boat!"


They kept moving around and our count kept going up.


Look how big they are! We figured they were an average of 6-8 feet.


Final count: 13 big ole gators!

Pure Joy


This was taken at Coon Hollo Corn Maze when we were there last weekend. It's a look of pure joy and silliness.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

My Favorite Chore

One of my favorite chores as a kid was cleaning tack. It smells good and it's kind of soothing. I cleaned Annie's harness this morning and Kaity got in on the action. She helped for quite awhile and then said "this is fun!" I agree. And, it can be her new personal chore.


PS - Cleaning Annie's tack didn't take any time at all. When I was a kid, it always seemed to take all day. I guess that's the difference between two ponies and one and having a smaller pony.

Self-Portraits

Kaity always likes to take pictures of herself. Usually they are pretty funny with a kind of "up-the-nose" look to them. When Allli was here last weekend, they both got some self-portraits in.







This one is from earlier in the week, but a good self-portrait of Kaity.

 

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