Tooth Party!

Conner lost his second tooth, but it was his first that he put under his pillow since his first was lost on vacation and he sold it (who could resist two dollars from a wonderful Great Grandpa :) ) instead of putting it under his pillow. He put his second tooth under his pillow and got 8 quarters, floss sticks, toothpaste, and an electric toothbrush (though he keeps calling it his "electronic" toothbrush). He was SOOO excited about the whole thing, I will have to post a video when I get a chance, it was really cute.

Conner has had this loose tooth literally dangling by a thread for a weeks. We have tried everything to get him to just pull it out and he just couldn't do it. He even had friends at school trying to help him do it at lunch. Apparently some of them are even now trying to pull their teeth out that aren't loose. :)

FINALLY, before bed as we were getting ready to read Thursday night, it just kind of fell out and went under his tongue. Kaitlyn and Conner were both so excited about it. They really wanted to celebrate, so they suggested we have a "tooth party." So, since the next day was Friday, we decided that would be fun. We watched The Magic School Bus (one of Conner's favorites now) and had a tooth cake and ice cream. Conner helped write "car" on the cake and "we" drew a car on it. It was a fun way to celebrate the lost tooth. As you can see by his face, we had spaghetti for dinner too. In hindsight I guess I should have wiped his face off...but, oh well.

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Me and My Little Worm Hunter

Today it rained A LOT! It was awesome. This morning there were hundreds and thousands of worms asking to be picked up by somebody for feeding pets and fishing. We just couldn't resist. We mad our way to Twin Lakes Recreation Area with a few containers and our rain gear on. The place was beginning to flood and the worms were just begging to be picked up. We stayed for about 15 minutes at which point we were told they were closing the park at the road because it was all flooding. So, we didn't get as many as we could have, but still it's a several month supply of free food for our turtles and fish. :)This is Kaitlyn all ready to go on our worm adventure.

It is hard to appreciate just how many worms we got from this picture, so you'll have to trust me, it was a lot.

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Fishing and Bullfrogs

These are some pictures of our recent happenings. We found a place you can rent a boat (with oars) for $5. We were shocked at what a good deal it was and decided to go fishing the next day. We also went bullfrog "hunting" with some friends and had an awesome time. Kaitlyn also took a great picture of her shoes. Conner still loves school and Kaitlyn and I have found some fun things to do during the day.




This is what "sauce night" looks like at our house. Every once in a while we make meat or vegetables or both and eat them with whatever concoctions we can come up with. The kids love it and sometimes we come up with some pretty good stuff. The winner for this night was Liz's home made jam hands down. It was apple jabenero and peach jabenero...amazing jams.

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What Kindergarten Means

Conner had a great first day...the second day was even better because we rode bikes. Conner loves his teacher and was very lucky to get into her class. He is enjoying his class a lot and has made some very good adjustments. His printing has been much better and it's only been a week and a half. He has already learned a new game from his friend called, "claws and weapons." (rolling my eyes and smiling) I am very proud of him, he is very responsible and caring about those around him. There is a little stream we pass on the way home from school and we occasionally stop to find giant frogs, watch fish, and today we saw our very first Common Snapping Turtle. It was quite a site so close to our home in what we think of as a pretty busy area. Conner seems to have a great memory for what he is told as he can remember a lot of details when you don't ask him for them.

Kaitlyn giving Conner a giant hug before he went to school. She loves to pick him up when she hugs him.

Uncle Jason was here for Conner's first day of school!


This is how Kaitlyn spent the first couple days...dressed up like "Scuffles" the pink poodle hanging out with her uncle watching the turtles. We've evolved since then, but there was an adjustment period.
The day before school started we had a little surprise party for Conner. We made a cake that he decorated himself (see the cool sprinkles). He got to blow out one candle for his first year of school. We also gave him a train pocket watch for him to wear sometimes. He got his jacket on so Mike could show him how to clip it on. It was really cute, he loved the pocket watch and it being a train one was very cool.


Inspired by my friends blog, I was pondering what Conner going to school really does mean for our family. Here are some of the things I thought of that will now forever (what feels like forever anyway) be changed.

• No more sleeping in.
• Conner really does need to shower.
• Time to throw out those goofy looking pants that were always a good backup when the laundry was almost all completely out.
• Time to do laundry more often.
• Planning a complete home lunch and a snack before breakfast...even before it's noonish.
• Yes...I have finally decided he needs a consistent bedtime...it's sad when he's 5 and in bed in the morning saying, "but I'm still tired..." that is supposed to be when he is in his teens.
  
• He wants to ride his bike to school...so rather than being lame and just saying it won't work...we get up and get everyone dressed and ready to go by 8:00...sometimes 8:10. At least I wear a bike helmet so I can put off fixing (and I do mean FIXing) my hair until a little later.
• It really is a good idea to have him wear matching socks...or at least really really close.
• Shoes now need to be on the correct feet.
  
• We have rediscovered the quick cereal breakfast at our house.
• Friday night is different than every other night.
• Saturdays need to be savored...used wisely, they don't happen 6 days a week anymore.
  

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Digging, Dancing, and a Day at the Zoo

Digging
Lately we've been reclaiming our backyard. I find that pruning sheers are the most rewarding way to fix up our backyard at this point. We have taken out so many terrible vines and branches of trees that were overtaking the yard. We have huge piles of dead branches and nasty viney bushes that we have cut down and yanked out. Then we took down an old dysfunctional bird house. The base was buried and was made of an old tire filled with concrete. We broke a shovel digging it out and there is now a very cool pit where it was. The kids were making a "recipe" in it...I didn't ask too many questions. So...for this year, our yard improvements will probably still center around getting rid of all of the debris from it being overgrown. It would be nice except that we need the space to enjoy the yard.
Dancing
Another going on is Kaitlyn has been more into dancing. Conner was actually happy to dance with her and we got a few pictures.
Day at the Zoo

We went to the St. Louis Zoo on Saturday. It was really nice and absolutely free. We even parked free by just walking a few blocks. We were only planning on staying for a while to check things out but ended up staying for many hours. There was so much more to see and we plan to go back soon. We got to see a bunch of animals we have been learning about and recognized a bunch from an Encyclopedia of Animals book we are borrowing. I was shocked how many animals from the book were at the zoo. The turtles were my favorite (and the hippos). Mike's favorite was the alligator snapping turtles. Conner's favorite was the alligator snapping turtles. Kaitlyn's favorite was the donkeys. Jason's favorite animals were the hippos. It was really hot and humid until the end of the day when it cooled off nicely. We also picked up a new bigger bike for Kaitlyn while we were in St. Louis...and of course made a trip to Panda Express (the kids favorite place to eat) since we don't have on in Columbia. It was a very long, hot, humid day and a lot of fun.This is in front of the Alligator Snapping Turtle. When Kaitlyn found it she got a giant smile on her face and yelled, "come see this!" When we go there we asked her what it was. She replied, "I don't know but it is really REALLY Big!"

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Nauvoo Pageant Trip

We took Friday and Saturday to go to Nauvoo for the pageant and for all of the other activities they offer. It was a really neat experience and only 3 hours away! We also took a drive to Carthage to take a tour of the jail. It was awesome and the kids did really really well with all of the stationary activities. The pageant was awesome, more like a play and very good. There were some really fun "pioneer" activities and games before the pageant that the kids absolutely loved...great how the simple games are often the best! Conner said his favorite thing was the games. It was fun that we were there on Pioneer Day. We also got to go on a 50 minute wagon ride tour of Nauvoo, which was Kaitlyn's favorite activity (because of the horses). There isn't a great way to describe the experience except that it was something we'll remember and was much more poignant than I thought it would be. I'm sure we will be back again. We were lucky enough to be there with Jenny and Mike Kunz and family, Crystal, Emily, and Doug, who showed us a great campground and recommended some activities for us to do in our short visit. It was so nice to see them! Our camera lens was sadly damaged in a freak accident involving me and basketball at Chuck'e Cheese's, so all of these photos are from Jason's camera, which we were glad he had with him. Here are some pictures...I will probably detail this more later, but we're about to play Settlers, so I've got to hurry.

Kaitlyn was kind of tired by the time we got to the Browning home with the guns...Mike looked a little tired too.

This pretty much sums up Jason's summer here.

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Everything is Alive Here!

Since moving here, I have been amazed at the level of life around us. We find living things everywhere. It is really fun and we have loved catching everything from fireflies to bullfrogs. Here are some pics of some recent things we have encountered.This is a toad. We found dozens of these on a trail, they are tiny...smaller than a dime. Mr. Squiggles enjoyed a fair number of these.

When we went fishing we saw a ton of bird nests with baby birds calling for food. I didn't get a great shot, but you get the idea.

Mike and Jason caught this bullfrog at a lake near where we live. This thing is HUGE. We kept it for a couple days then let it go. These frogs are crazy, they can eat mice and birds...pretty much anything that will fit in their mouth. These guys can jump 6 feet and their legs are very strong and powerful.

So, Alvin is the small guy, Simon is the next smallest, and the other two are temporaries from the middle of a busy road. Everyone except Simon is an ornate box turtle. Simon is a red eared slider turtle. They wouldn't pose for a picture though. :)

This is Alvin and Simon. Alvin is the turtle Conner found on a hike. Simon is the turtle Jason found at a lake. They are different kinds and you can see that Simon (on the right) is designed for the water.

This is Kaitlyn with the bullfrog right before we took it back. This guy was too strong and powerful to let the kids hold them (in the house). I think we'll be going on bullfrog hunts this summer with the kids though.

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