The Artist!

I have been meaning to post this drawing that Katie made a few weeks ago. It is probably my favorite she has ever drawn! The elephants are so detailed, and I love the humor of it. There are two tiny worms popping out of the ground in front of them, causing the elephants to jump up in the air. She drew their wrinkles, raggedy ears, tusks, toenails and motion/sound lines coming from their trunks. 

James' Latest Drawings

James has a new hobby: drawing his own Where's Waldo pictures. He draws all sorts of fascinating scenarios. He is getting quite the sense of humor. This drawing has several Waldos hidden, distinguished by their striped hats.

Here's a close up of Giant Waldo, who is quoting from Jack and the Beanstalk. He has also been drawing some fabulous cartoons in school, such as a cactus leaning over and begging a cowboy for water. And a giant sharp-toothed fish coaxing a scuba diver to swim into his gaping mouth. I love the drawings, but I'm starting to wonder if he needs a little more challenge at school.

Snow! Crafts! Bread!

The weathermen have been predicting snow. First 4-10 inches, then 2-4, then 4-6, and then....it didn't snow. And didn't snow. Argh! I was surprised and happy to wake up to find that it finally, really snowed! Not a ton, but about 6 inches. Tyler woke up, looked out the window and exclaimed "Ho-wee Shoe!! It 'nowed'!" You can imagine I was thinking he was going to head another direction with that and I was wondering where on earth he would have come up with that phrase. I don't know where he came up with the phrase 'Holy Shoe' either...silly kid.

The kids were out by 7:15 am, trying their hardest to work with the light, fluffy snow.

There were rosy red cheeks,

And great big grins. And warm oatmeal from the crock pot when they came in. 

And in other news, yesterday I had a Martha Stewart on 'roids kind of day. I was highly productive, which surely means I will accomplish nothing from now til next Tuesday. Yesterday morning, the kids and I did a batik watercolor project, which we let dry and cut up for a few projects. I cut hearts from the paper and hung them from a tree branch on the ceiling for a Valentine's Day mobile. Probably first and last time I decorate for a holiday other than Christmas. And with the rest of the paper I made a set of coasters for some special people who's names start with R and P.

We put clear Elmer's glue on nice watercolor paper. I dried it with a hair dryer which made those nice little scallops. Then we painted over it with watercolor and sprinkled sea salt on it while wet. The sea salt (or any salt for that matter) sucks up the paint around it and leaves a light star shaped marking. I made the coasters by modge podging the artwork onto kitchen tile. While I was in the crafty mood (ok, so I am always feeling crafty) I also cut out the pattern for James' earflap hat, a purse for Katie, and the journal cover for Rachel. And now I have successfully turned this into my craft blog. Oops!

Close up of the glue/salt design

This one was Katie's. I cut my favorite section out for this coaster.

And on to the bread...no pictures available...but yesterday I decided that I simply must use up the remainder of the ridiculously expensive beer I bought for the mustard. $13 for a pint and a half? Is that normal? But I digress...I made yeast bread with beer. Two loaves to be exact. I was completely entralled with the incredible amount of foam that beer makes. I need to get out more. Then I thought to myself, 'Self! You should make that Buttermilk Flax Bread you've been wanting to try.' So I doubled that batch, which was supposed to make 6 free form loaves but I made 4 huge ones instead. And then I thought, 'What the heck! I shall make those homemade bagels I have been wanting to try while I'm at it!' And so I did. And I doubled the batch. And I am crazy. But at least I have 6 loaves of bread and 2 dozen poppy seed bagels to feed the hungry beasts that beg for food 10 times a day!

Tyler: He Keeps Me On My Toes

The other morning, as with most mornings, the Squatch and I were making something in the kitchen. The boy loves to sit on the counter and help cook. I turned around to do something and when I turned back, he was looking at me very sternly, wielding a big kitchen knife. He said to me: 'Mom! You left this out! It NOT PON-HIBLE!!!' Well, then. Take that from the 3 year old waving a knife around. I must work on being more responsible!

Meet Dino

Yesterday, Tyler informed me that he has a friend named Dino. (pronounced like DINO saur, not Dee-no) Apparently, Dino is his imaginary friend. I can't tell you how excited this made me (or why) but it did. Maybe because we used to love watching that movie Harvey, with Jimmy Steward and his imaginary bunny. He told me how Dino is his friend, but he lives very far away. His Daddy 'got dead' but he lived with his Mommy. He likes trains. He doesn't take naps...ever, ever, or in Tyler-speak 'eher, eher!' And he doesn't sleep at all, because he doesn't like to.  In fact, he doesn't have a bed because he doesn't need one. Dino shares his toys, even though he lives far away. When Jeff asked Tyler about Dino later that day, he said that Dino's Daddy was alive again. Well, that's good! I wonder if Dino will stick around, or if it was just a one-day friendship. We shall see!

Bedtime

Katie has two favorite songs: "You Are My Sunshine" and "Oh, My Darling (Katie Grace)". Every night, she asks me to sing them to her over and over. Lately, she has been singing along with me. She knows all the words and it is so sweet. She can also a few verses of Amazing Grace pretty well. The other night when we sang it, she asked why we didn't sing about 'snares,' so we had to sing that verse too!

Pictures and Ramblings (Technically: Rantings)

The last couple times we have been near Target, Tyler has pointed in the direction of the Devil's Lair, also known as Toys R Us. At first, I thought he wanted to go because it bright and colorful. But he started talking about wanting to go there to buy 'Thomas' trains. What?! I really can't remember when, if ever, he has been there. It has to have been at least a year ago, if not more. I really HATE toy stores. While I have fond memories of standing in the aisles of KB Toys in Mesa Mall trying to figure out how to spend my piggy bank stash, I have yet to take my kids to a toy store for kicks. Go ahead, call CPS, but the whole commercialism of toys, and the gimme-gimme-gimme, I have to have it! thing makes me feel a bit hostile. Here at ye olde Groves homestead, our kids play with sticks and rocks. They do have toys too, lest you think I am a total scrooge. I just am not a fan of a LOT of toys. Or toys with batteries. Or toys that only do one thing. Or Tickle Me anything. Anyway, all this rant to say...how the heck does Tyler know what Toys R Us is?! Did someone take him there without my knowing?! I think I would rather him hanging out in a smoky pool hall than the Devil's Lair! I ended up telling him that we will only go there if he gets Christmas money, at which point he can buy himself whatever he can afford. Until then, you can find us sharking the regulars at the pool hall. 

Here's my little sunshine hanging the fragile ornaments. She is such a great helper! There were a few ornaments that didn't have hangers, and she asked 'is this one that needs to perch?' 

The boys snuggling before school

A dress I made for myself and finally got a picture of.

Tyler making Christmas cookies

James hard at work

Katie showing off her creation

Tyler got a knife and added a butt to his gingerbread man. Boys! And it actually looked very realistic after baking.

The doll I made for Katie for Christmas. I can't wait for her to open it! I had so much fun making it. 

Little History Buff

James is very interested in history. His primary interests revolve around anything 'Wild West,' pioneers, covered wagons, stagecoaches, farming and cowboys. He is also very interested in the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I recently found a series called Liberty Kids at the library. Apparently it is/was a PBS series. Lucky for him (me?) there must be at least 25 episodes to watch. That kid is a sponge! He is telling me all about these various battles, and about Indians and the rebels and Hessians. The cool part is that a great deal of that history has occurred in our area. We are within close distance of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross' house, Washington's Crossing and the list goes on. We drive through Trenton often, the place where George W. and his men defeated the Hessians on Christmas day. He has been playing George Washington with Tyler, who has no idea what is going on. Today, Katie was mad because the boys were chasing her. When I talked to James he told me, 'well, she is a rebel! We have to go after her!' I had to explain to him that you can't just volunteer someone to play with you. They have to WANT to play! :) When James' teacher emailed us the class Halloween picture a few weeks ago, we had to laugh. There were about 10 superheroes which all looked the same to us, your garden variety witches, princesses and lady bugs, and then James, dressed as Davy Crockett!

Farm Hands

Last night I stayed out til midnight, believe it or not, with my Bible study ladies. I have absolutely no energy left, but I thought I would give you a quick bullet list of all the kids did at Farm Hands today. It was pretty much awesome! 

• Shelled pop corn by hand and by antique hand cranked harvester
• Harvested pop corn out in the field
• Checked out the ice house...amazing!
• Made caramel corn
• Herded sheep
• Fed chickens and collected eggs
• Pumped water
• Herded chickens into the coop (this was hilarious to watch by the way)
• Climbed up in the hay mow and jumped down into the hay, over and over
• Helped with fire wood
• Learned about an old egg grader
• Pushed the manure spreader all the way across the barnyard 'without horses!!' as James reminds me
• Learned a little about blacksmithing
• Watched the barn cat hunt and capture a mouse
• Learned about wood ducks, corn worms, caterpillars and Osage Oranges

James was in heaven, and I loved it too. Watching the look on his face for 3 solid hours was priceless. He ran everywhere he went, that sort of joyous happy run that comes from being in his element. 

Homework

Last night I let James do part of his homework on the bathroom mirror. He had to practice his spelling words, so he wrote them several times with dry erase marker. He declared himself 'the luckiest boy in the whole school!' He asked if he could do number bonds and number sentences on the mirror. Of course! Then he told me to go out, because he had to write a secret message. This is what he wrote, shown to me in a fit of James-giggles:

Seecrit Mesij

I put a radl snac undr my Moms pilow and made her screm!

Creative writing at its best. The other day, he had to write a sentence using each of his spelling words, and illustrate one. He proudly wrote out 'Why does Mom have a beard?' and drew an illustration for that. I am sure the teacher was entertained that day grading papers.

 

 

Tyler, Sweet Tyler

We were at the store this morning and I was checking out. Tyler was in the cart and chattering away. I was not paying any attention to him. Next thing you know, things start to click and I realized what the little bugger was saying. Ever so matter of factly, he was telling the cashier that 'Katie have poop in her butt, and animals have poop in their...' and I cut him off at the pass. Thankfully the cashier didn't understand what he was saying, and I pushed the cart forward so he couldn't give her anymore helpful biology lessons.

In other news, Dad preached in church on Sunday. It was a superb sermon if you ask me, which you can listen to here. All week I had teased him about bringing my giant foam hand to wave around and yell things like 'Amen!' and 'Preach it, Brotha!' Shortly before the message, he looked so serious it was painful. He was in the preaching zone...Minister mode...the clergy cloud. OK, I'll stop now. Anyway, I wrote him a note on the back of a receipt and passed it over to him. He read it, smiled and went to pass it back. Then, he changed his mind and kept it. Mom and I looked at each other with an 'Oh, no!' look. Mom told me I was sunk. And she was right. Dad got up and said I passed him a note which read 'Dad, unfortunately I couldn't find my giant foam hand, so I brought my kazoo instead. I hope you don't mind.' And it felt just like old times.

Chicken Pox

So, Katie has the chicken pox...which I found out AFTER I had her in child care at church this morning. She has not been vaccinated for chicken pox. I had hoped that she would catch it naturally and gain immunity, otherwise she would have had the shot later in her childhood. I really didn't expect her to get it since it is becoming more and more rare. So, while I am not exactly excited to see my girl (and probably Tyler) miserable and itchy, it is what I had preferred. The doctor was very thorough and though she wasn't convinced that they were chicken pox initially, when she looked Katie over she decided it actually was. It was the first case she had ever seen. And NO, I will not be sending out any chicken pox lollipops.

Fun Pictures

My friend Michelle and I attempted to photograph our children yesterday. I saw attempted because, well, if you have kids you know what I mean. Getting three circus midgets to smile at the same time is nigh onto impossible. To top it off, yesterday was the day from H-E-double hockey sticks. The kids fought constantly and I was about ready to apply for early retirement. It was one of those days where your kids act like you never, ever discipline them and you expect Super Nanny to swoop in at any minute and tell you how much you stink as a parent. Today was much better though, and I have removed my ad for 'free children' on craigslist. Just kidding! No such ad was ever posted. Fortunately such rough days don't come around often. I was surprised we even got them to smile and act civilized, but we did manage to get a few nice pictures. Michelle and I decided to go back another day and try again. Her kids weren't terribly cooperative either. Next time there will be much bribery involved....

Don't you just want to pinch his little cheeks?! This is his 'say cheese' face.

Ben was doing a jig behind the camera, which of course the kids thought was hysterical. I love James' toothy grin.

I think this one is my favorite. I love it so much. 

See, look! You CAN get along! 

And here's my little sunshine :)

P.S. I edited these in PicMonkey, and while I generally eschew photo editing, it was kinda fun to play around. :)

Miscellaneous Part 945.3a

These photos were found on Jeff's phone. The kids must have been having a lot of fun clowning around. In other news, I present to you....the bullet point list. So original, I know.

• James was less than enthused to ride the bus today, because he was afraid that he wouldn't know what to do/where to go/what bus to ride. He got himself all worked up, despite my best attempts to get him to cheer up. I could get him to giggle momentarily by reminding him of the many times Tyler has come streaking out of the room (literally) in nothing but his birthday suit, shouting 'I naked!' But as soon as the laughs were over, it was back to sobbing. When we got to the bus stop he started to really get scared, then started to cry. The moms there were so nice and encouraging. One lady asked her daughter to take James under her wing and make sure he got to the right place. The girl was awesome. Here's this over-sized first grader bawling his eyes out and she was totally unfazed. She walks up to him and says very matter of factly, 'C'mon James, you're gonna sit with me.' He didn't calm down and she looked at him with a 'Buddy, this ain't my first rodeo' look, and declared in a firm voice 'I've been riding the bus for three years now. It's gonna be fine.' We managed to get him on the bus with this poor girl, and he tried to bolt but the bus driver told him he had to stay on the bus. That's when I turned around and started walking home...and I started crying. There is something so awful about seeing your kid screaming for you and walking away that I just can't take, even if the kid does need to put on his big boy undies and ride the darn bus. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better.
• We are still looking for a car. Annoying, but true. Large non-mini vehicles are not so common apparently. We are going start looking at Nissan Pathfinders too. I want to find a car, and I want to find a car now! No more dealing with creepy used car salesman and shady scam-artists. And I won't even get into the 'Your Credit Guaranteed! As long as you have a pulse, we'll sell you a car!' people. Oi!
• Today is my sister's birthday...Happy Birthday, Rachel!!
• Tyler is in to mustard. He wants it on everything. A piece of cheese? Check. A pancake with blueberry jam? Double check...eew! Today, in fact, for lunch he went rummaging in the fridge for the mustard. He brought it to me and asked 'what can I have on my mustard.' Fine way to plan a lunch, my boy!

Birthday Bash: Numero Dos

Ever since Tyler's birthday in July, he has been asking 'When are you gonna make my birthday?' It didn't take me too long to figure out that what he meant to say is 'When are you gonna make me another birthday cake?' He asks me every day, sometimes many times a day. Apparently the cake I made him for his actual birthday only left him wanting more. I was hoping to put him off til the kids' birthdays in September but I finally figured why not make the kid another cake? So, we did. Tyler loves to help cook. Almost every morning, he crawls into my bed and puts his little face in mine, where I open my sleepy eyes to hear 'Get me something to eat! Can we make pan-pakies?' The boy loves his pan-pakies, and he loves helping make them. He was also set on making his cake, so he sat on the counter and assisted in all manner of licking spoons, measuring cups and bowls. That's a tough job, but someone has to do it. We made the cake, decorated it with a gold (plastic) coin donated by Katie, and a few candles. Tyler wanted 'fire' on his cake, so he got it. He also requested we sing happy birthday to him, which we did in true Cheyney style. If you've never heard that, well...you're missing out. Loud. Off key. Improvisational melodies (or not). Did I mention LOUD? It's awesome. And Tyler blew out his candles, and we had cake. It was quite fun and random, and I think we might have to have a faux birthday party every now and then just for kicks.

The End Of Summer

I'm sad to say that the summer is coming to an end. It has gone by so fast, and I don't really feel like we've done anything terribly exciting. I guess a non-eventful summer is a good thing. This week, James rigged up a pretty clever boat out of a small storage bin, a dowel stick, and a sail. He even tied a tether to it, which he attached to a bracelet so it wouldn't sail away.

Of course, we had to take it on a maiden voyage. It sailed quite nicely, despite the Pocket Sized Dictator running around brandishing half a tree. 

There were little minnows and crawdads. I am sad to say that my once ninja-like catching skills are dusty from misuse. I did catch two crawdads though. The little tiny ones that hurt like crazy when they pinch you. Tyler found out for himself what it feels like. 

The boat sailed quite nicely until James tripped and ripped off the sail. 

But the boat was repairable, and of course there was more to do at the creek. They even pretended to like each other so I could take a picture! :) 

P.S. Yesterday we got the 'yellow postcard' in the mail, which has the location of James' bus stop and more importantly....his teacher's name. A few weeks ago, James had told me he met one of the three 1st grade teachers last year and really liked her. He really hoped he got her. Well, guess what?! He did! There was a grin from ear to ear when I told him which made me very happy too. His friend Kayla from church is also in his class. Since I have no experience with the teachers at his school, all I can do is go on is her web page through the school. And if that is any indication of her teaching skills, she is on the ball! James' Kindergarten teacher has only the most basic of information up. His first grade teacher has well over a dozen different pages up, including pictures from all the fun activities she did with her class last year. I am excited to see how it goes!

Bacon Roses, Etc.

I think we've all settled back in nicely after the craziness that was VBS and having company. However it seems I keep forgetting I have a blog, thus the lack of updates. Here are a few random bits from the last few weeks:

Shelly had seen bacon roses somewhere and wanted to try them. Why not, I say! So we hit the grocery store for bacon and the dollar store for fake roses. They were remarkably simple to make, and pretty hilarious. Shelly wants to make her prom date a bacon corsage, so we decided that her qualifications for finding a prom date now include the willingness to find prom attire at the thrift store to avoid ruining a suit with bacon grease.

So...these pictures...it all started when we finished the wolf shirt (post here). I was taking a few pictures of Shelly in her flashy new shirt, and it all went south from there. He, he! Johnathan took the pictures and we just goofed off for the camera. Shelly scored the sombrero at Amish Walmart for only $3. Everyone needs a sombrero, right? The funny thing about these pictures is that the whole time, Shelly kept saying 'you have to post these on facebook! They're so awesome!' and I kept saying 'I'm too old for this! I can't post ridiculous pictures of myself on the internet like this!' In the end, I did post a few (she has the photo shoot in its entirety on her page...) and it totally made her day. :)

While the kids were here we took them to Five Mile Woods, which is a pretty nature preserve near us. I decided not to tell Johnathan that salamanders lived there, because I knew he would stop and turn over every.single.log in the place. That kid is a critter magnet. Although I do aspire to actually see a salamander in this area someday. I have only heard they exist...

Other than that, we've been keeping busy sitting in front of the air conditioner, visiting the library about every other day, or more, picking stuff out of the garden, and finishing TWO chapter books! (By The Banks of Plum Creek and Old Yeller...if you must know)

**P.S. I think I am up to almost 70 pounds from the garden so far. I am nearing the point where I will be hauling stuff in by the bucket every day. And I've said it before, but eating fresh garden tomatoes every day, all day, is one of my favorite luxuries!

Fireworks

Three blog posts in one day...that's a record. I forgot about posting this and want to write it down for posterity. Jeff took the kids to the fireworks stand over the weekend. He came back with a sheepish grin and said that he had 'spent more than he planned on spending.' He rather quickly followed that up with the statement that 'the kids need to have fun.' Yeah. I am sure it was for the kids. Ha! We had a good laugh out of that one. The kids have had fun lighting off a few things each night. Tyler covers his ears, even when we light the 'nakes' as he calls them. (We always called them snakes...the box says glow worms?) Also, as the kids were watching the first snake coil outward, Katie remarked that it looked like the ground was pooping. And I must admit, she wasn't too far off.

Lancaster Photo Dump

The view was quite nice!

The farm cat napped under the tree by the door. Tyler was obsessed with the cat. I don't think the feeling was mutual,
however the cat did stick around and put up with his antics.

Swing and playhouse right out the door

Finally got a cat to make friends with him

I don't want to hurt you, really I don't.

The innkeeper went and dug this out of the barn for the kids. It ended up causing a lot of fights and we had to put it away, but that's another story...

Pretty flowers (and the girl is pretty darn cute too!)

Swimming in the pond

Tyler spent his time relocating the baby frogs back into the water where he thought they wanted to go. He ended up squeezing a few a little too much.

James was in heaven!

Katie wearing the bonnet I wore as a little girl

One of the little frogs. They were everywhere!

Catching frogs and tadpoles

Neighboring Farm

Old-fashioned Fireplace