Expelliarmus!

The other day as the kids were riding in the car, they entertained themselves with pencils as wands.  We had recently seen Harry Potter, so everything straight has become a wand. 

(The interesting thing is, if you have ever been up here before you know that our car trips are not long, and this was a 3-5 minute trip to the grocery store.  They still tend to entertain themselves most days doing something during their "very long" drives back and forth.)

So they were sitting in the backseat of the car waiving their pencils around shouting things like:

"Expelliamus"

"Stupify"

"Adavra Cadabra"

"Stupidify"

"Fire"

"Turn you into water"

"Forcefield"

and many others

It was all fun and games until Abby got her eye poked out.

Tag You're It!

My children, like most children enjoy a good game of tag.  I have learned however that the rues have somewhat changed from when I used to play.

When I was younger you tagged someone, said "You're it!" Sometimes you even said, "No tag backs."

However my children say a few more things at times, and it can be a mouthful.  If they know they are getting close to the end of the game is when they normally add these other things.  So sometimes I will be tagged and hear, "Tag.  You're it.  No tag backs.  I quit.  No recalls."  Apparently that means that I am it, that child has quit the game of tag, and nobody can start the game over - unless all have quit and are ready to start it over.

We will play tag as we run up the driveway, or even sitting int he car.

The other day, North decided the grocery store was a good time to play.  He was a little wild at the store, so Cody put him in the seat in the cart.  He normally does not like to sit in the seat, but this time he made the best of it.  He started playing tag with his dad.  Cody soon involved the girls in the game, but running away was not allowed, so it was a lot of "Tag, you're it. No tag backs." Being said.

Well, Cody tagged a gentleman in the store and said "You're it."  Then started walking away.  North looked at his dad with a look that said, "You can do that?" The other gentleman started walking down the aisle as well, and Cody said, "Uh oh North, he's going to get you."  Then the guy started walking faster to catch up and as he passed Cody and North, he tagged North and said, "You're it."

Then they got into the checkout line and as they getting ready to leave North tagged the bagger who then tagged North back and it went between the girls, North, and the checker.  As they left, North turned back to the checker and said, "Ha ha Jason, you can't get me now."

He makes me smile.

April's Story

In school April had to write about her house and draw a picture of it. She did a very nice job.

Here is her story with her spelling:

I live in a two story house.  It is under my neighbors.  It is brown and yellow.  It has stairs so my neighbors to get to their house.  In the back of the house their is  a trampolene.  My familys names are April, North, Abby, Autumn, Cody, and Heather.  My house is on Miller Ridge Road.  I have eleven neighbors.My neighbors are nice.  I can ride a tricycle but not a bicycle.  I like my two story house it is my home there are three bedrooms.  I love my fimily.  They are the best.  My family does not like the devil.

It is a cute story.  As I read it, I thought, "Wow, she is doing a great job."  Then I got to the last sentence and just started busting up laughing.  I'm not sure how that fits in with the rest of her story, but she is right, we do not like the devil.  :)

April and her hair

To say April has a lot of hair is an understatement. Not only is it very long, but it is thick. She likes to wear it straight down. And it gets tangled very easily. One friend used to say that you could tell what kind of a mood she was in by how crazy her hair was.

Every morning she wakes up, and it is an ordeal to get all the Charlie Snarlies out. For a little while we would braid it before she went to bed, but most mornings she would wake up with the braids out and lots of snarls.

Today she went out and laid on the trampoline. When she came back in, she had pine needles, pine cones, little pieces of branch, and Old Man's Beard in it. It was quite funny.

She has been wanting to cut the "dead ends" off for a while, but we haven't gotten around to it. We have tried to talk her into getting it and donating it to locks of love, but I don't think she understood that she would still have some hair after donating. Her aunt Dawn cut her hair recently and donated it, and April saw the pictures, so today when she announced that she wanted to cut her hair and donate it to Locks of Love, we quickly responded and got out the scissors.

So the picture above is her before picture:


And here is her after one. It almost doesn't even look like my same April. I am sure she will find a way to have CRAZY HAIR even with it being shorter. One plus to the new hair cut, is that the bangs we were trying to grow out now just look like part of her hair.

Carlanna Lake

After living here for 7 years, you'd think we've been to most common places.

Not true!

Yesterday, I ventured where I had not before - Carlanna Lake. I think Cody and some of the kids have been there on trips with the Youth or friends.

It was a beautiful day so I thought North and I would go do something between he got out of school and the girls did. We got to have an extra friend along with us, and I decided to venture to the Lake.

It's just about a ten minute hike up to the lake, but then there is also a path that goes part way around. After peeking into the water right at the lake, we decided to take the path to the end.

North and Aspen Peeking into the water.

They were looking for fish and being careful not to fall in.

(They may have been looking for Alligators. They asked on the hike up if

there were alligators in the lake and I told them they'd have to check.)

Letting me take a cute picture of them and the Lake.

North often has funny faces for pictures, so it took me a few tries to get a good one.

At the end of the path.

The path does not go right along the side of the lake. It goes next to it, but in the "woods." For a little while, North was quite worried that we were going to run into a bear. When we stared on the path he said, "We should have brought guns in case we see a bear." Luckily, we met a man who was walking the other direction so North asked him if he had seen any bears. He hadn't, so North was not worried anymore.

North and Aspen kept talking about the Jungle we were in. I told them it was a rain forest. Then they wanted to know where the monkeys were. It was a pretty fun walk.