Cool article on ACV

As many of you know we drink raw apple cider vinegar like water around here. Reeve and Kyle love it, and I attribute their good health to it. I usually mix about 2 tablespoons of raw honey with 3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, with about a quart of water. Shake it up, and you have what Tommy calls "honey dew" (a healthy alternative to Mountain Dew).
I just found this article on it, and it is also beneficial for lowering blood pressure, and relieving arthritis.
Enjoy Fresh Produce and a Healthy Glow with Apple Cider Vinegar

Reeve's story.... Part 2

Please read the post below for Part 1 of this story.

We loaded up the car and left.


We found the perfect camp spot. Kyle staked down the tent. Papa put some oil in the cook stove, while Mama hid with the mac-and-cheese. She didn't want to get us too excited while we were setting up the camp.


We went canoeing and we were happy that we had decided to go camping.


The End

Reeve's Story... The Best Vacation... Part 1

Here is Reeve's final entry for the contest. Poor Reeve, this is his 4th attempt for this contest. His previous attempts were either a rushed coloring job or way too many words. I think his first story had over 500 words and the maximum word count for 1st Grade is 200 words. He was shocked when Kyle completed his story the first time out with one page removed and he ended up with 200 words. He couldn't let Kyle enter and not him, so he gave it one more try. The irony is that Reeve is constantly writing stories, but we couldn't submit any of his other stories to date because the rules say they can only be on one side of the paper. I had to convince him not to write one of his creative adventure stories, but maybe a story from his real life, and this is what he came up with.

The Best Vacation, by Reeve Raye
One day we decided to go on a vacation. Mama cooked up some pizza, made some sandwiches, and I got out the cooler.


Papa got out lots of camping gear: tarp, hammer, tent stakes, lantern, tent, sleeping bags, and the life jackets.


Mama and Papa had already packed their bags, so Kyle and I started to pack ours.


to be continued....

Kyle's story continued

Please read the post below this one first :-)

This is the continuation of Kyle's story:

We went down the hill and we bumped and bumped down the road. Reeve said "WEEEEE," adn I said "Stop the ride," and Papa said "We're almost down the hill guys."
When we got down the hill we crashed our car and went up in the air. When Reeve heard the crash he said "WEEEEE," and Papa said "I wonder what's happening," and I said "We're up in the air...Stop the ride."


When we got to the place that we were goin, Mama was so behind that I had to walk the stairs myself and I was thinking so much about the love that the love helped me up the stairs.


The End

I'll post Reeve's story tomorrow. I should also mention some of the rules. They had to have at least 5 illustrations and for their age group they had to have between 50 and 200 words (no more, no less). The 200 words or less was a real challenge for Reeve at first. We had to edit Kyle's story and I think it ended up being 201 words! Reeve's story finished out at 121 words.

Reading Rainbow Contest... Kyle's story part1

My kids LOVE the PBS kids show READING RAINBOW, so they were very excited to enter this year's Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.

I can only up load 4 pictures without problems, so here is the first half of Kyle's story.
He illustrated the pictures first, then dictated the story to me.

WAKE UP FIrST, BY KYLE RAYE
One day Papa woke first before Mama. Usually Papa sleeps in, but this time Mama didn't even know it was daytime.


Then I woke up. When Reeve woke up it was school time. Reeve woke up before Mama, so I had to be his Math teacher and give him his math tests.


Mama woke up, and Papa was under the car. Mama had to tell him to put the oil in the car because he forgot to put that in.
Papa put his hat on and we set off.


...to be continued

BRRRR!

Okay folks, it's BITTER COLD here today! I guess we have no choice but to watch that football game :-) GO COLTS!

It's -13F (-25C) as I type this morning and the windchill is

-27F (-36C)

Now that's COLD! I added a weather link that you can click on to see our current conditions.

Whitetail Ridge Winter Extravaganza in Ft. McCoy, WI

We went to a winter festival at a nearby ski hill (very small...185ft high with a 1300' run).
If you click on these pictures they enlarge and are a little easier to see :-). Tom's wearing a light blue helmet and Reeve has blue ski pants...they're riding together on the t-bar.

It was Reeve's first time going up the t-bar lift with his snowboard. It was really difficult and there were a lot of people in line.


They made it up the hill once on the t-bar and then walked up halfway a couple of times.


Reeve had the most fun on the tube run. Kyle liked it too!

More from the Rocky Mtn Ski Trip

Tom picked out a few more favorite pictures to share.


This is Tom's friend Wiley skiing in heavy snow. We had a foot come down on this day in Grand Targhee, WY.


This is a beautiful scenery shot in Grand Targhee. It gets a lot of snow fall... about 500 inches/year :-).


While in Jackson Hole they enjoyed local acoustic artists at a nearby ski resort.

Skiing around the house

We've had some fresh snow here recently, so we decided to break some new trails and go cross-country skiing around the house.

Reeve absolutely LOVED it. I did too! The snow seemed perfect to ski on and the temperature wasn't too bad either. Once we got skiing we warmed up very quickly.

Kyle didn't last long in his skis. We need to find him skiis with boots and bindings. These skis fit around his snow boots, but once he starts skiing they fall off. Kyle was okay following us by foot, but then once he saw how much fun Reeve was having he became really upset.

Tom's Rocky Mountain Ski Trip

Here are a few of the pics from Tom's Ski/Snowboard Trip to Targhee Mtn. Range in Driggs, ID and Jackson Hole, WY.
He had a lot of fun and LOVED snowboarding on real mountains.

This is the only picture of Tom on this trip. They were cross-country skiing in Teton Park near Jackson Hole, WY.

This was his favorite place to snowboard... Targhee Lodge below in pic above near Driggs, ID.

Here's a pic of a Sundog (like a vertical rainbow).


Ummm... I don't think you'd ever catch me peering over that ledge, let alone ski down it!

Thanks Ken & Erin!

I'm pretty lucky to have such a thoughtful brother and sis-in-law! Thank you for the beautiful flowers they really brightened up my weekend. You guys are the best!


Tom the SkiBum Update: Well he made it home safe and sound early this morning around 3am. Whew!

Future Palentologists

On the lowest level of the Indy Children's Museum is the Dinoshpere. The kids absolutely LOVED it! Mom and I enjoyed it too, it's my favorite level of the museum. They attempt to recreate a day in the dinosphere complete with sounds, lights, and smells. The smell is magnolia, and it smells really good.


Kyle was pretending to be a mean dinosaur.


They have a lot of dinosaur exhibits. One of Reeve's favorites is the SuperCroc, found by Paul Serreno (Reeve's favorite Palentologist... based out of Chicago).
The kids also loved the excavation site. It's a recreation of an actual dinosaur found by a family in Montana.


They also have a real Palentology Lab where they work on cleaning real dinosaur bones.

Reeve loved it so much he talked softie Mom into buying him his own dinosaur excavation kit. There are fake T-Rex bones in the plaster for Reeve to carefully excavate. It's a very messy project! (Sorry about the mess in the basement Mom & Dad).

Indy Children's Museum... World's Largest

While we were in Indiana visiting my parents we went to the World's Largest Children's Museum in Indianapolis. The kids have been there before and were thrilled to go back again. We stayed over 5 hours, and could have stayed a lot longer. I have a lot of pics to post, so here's the first set.

In the center of the 5 level museum is a large Dave Chihuly blown Glass exihibit.


Kyle was enthralled with the many interactive computers and spent a long time at each one with my Mom (aka Nana).


This is Kyle inside a train set display.


They had a stage set up for the little thespians. They loved being the star of their own show.


And here they are taking a bow...


More to come :-)

Tom the SkiBum Update: Well he survived the snowboard/cross-country ski portion of his trip with no injuries... Yay :-). He said he had a great last day of snowboarding in Jackson Hole, WY. Tomorrow they start their return drive home and should be back sometime on Sunday.

We're Home

Just wanted to post that the kids and I made it home from Indiana yesterday afternoon. I'll try to post pics from our visit soon. We had a great time visitin my parents.

Tom is now in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He says it's cold and the conditions aren't as great as they were last week. He said next year he wants to go on a surfing trip, and I said "Great! Lets ALL go ;-)."

We Made It!

After drving a total of 547 miles yesterday we made it to Indiana and we'll stay here with my folks until next Tuesday.
Our route is pictured above. We started the day out by returning library books in Elroy. Then venturing over to La Farge to buys some organic cheese, butter, and eggs direct from Organic Valley's main outlet store (cheap!). Next stop was to Viroqua where we picked up a case of organic apples and a 25lb bag of (you guessed it) organic carrots. The day was going great and we were ahead of schedule. Next stop... Hillsboro for our buying club pick up at 1:45pm.
We arrived in Hillsboro at 1pm, (at this point in the trip we've already gone 80 miles) and set up the delivery site. Reeve and Kyle love to help me set up the tables and then unload the truck. I knew the driver would be there early, and he arrived at 1:15pm. I was the only one there early, so Reeve, Kyle, and I unloaded the whole delivery (about 2 pallets worth) and then we organized it all before anyone else showed up. Out of breath I loaded up my car and headed for Hustler, WI. I had picked up two other orders for friends that live in Hustler in addition to my order. We arrived home about 2:30pm. I made the kids food and then I made some road food. I unloaded the food from the car, and then loaded the car with our traveling gear. I fed the cat in his kitty condo (his outdoor enclosed home), had the kids go to the bathroom, and then suprised them with "I'm ready to go to Indiana right now!" They thought we were going to leave the next day. They were beyond excited and we loaded up and left by 3:45pm! Now you ask... "Laura what was your secrect? How did you do all that in an hour and 15 minutes??" My answer : CHOCOLATE COVERED COFFEE BEANS (fair-trade, of course). Keep in mind I don't drink coffee! As a matter of fact I'm still feeling the residual jolt :-).

Our first stop was for gas in Rochelle, IL. I was cold, the wind was blowing, and somehow I didn't end up with a full tank of gas. Next stop was about 100 miles later in Le Roy, IL where Reeve and Kyle insisted that I pull over at a gas station immediately because they had to go #2! What?!? Just when I thought it was sooo easy to travel with boys. We were successful and filled the tank and I made sure everyone got everything out and we were back on the road. Reeve and Kyle both requested that I play rock-n-roll music so THEY didn't fall asleep, and they didn't! We arrived at my parent's house 7.5hrs later at 11:15pmCST.

Tom is now in Driggs, ID where he's enjoying excellent powdery snow, THE BUM!

Reeve Lost his First Tooth!

After eating 5 apples (shared with Kyle & Mom) then Mom flossing his teeth, Reeve's first tooth came out while he was brushing his teeth. He was so excited and proud! He couldn't believe it finally happened. Kyle was dancing around the room singing about how Reeve lost his first tooth while Reeve couldn't stop looking at himself in the mirror.

We called Tom and told him the news right away. He was thrilled and told us he had a great first day snowboarding in Bozeman, Montana. They're checking out of the Bozeman Inn today and traveling about 2hrs to another Montana ski hill called Moonlit Basin. He said the snow is great and they're expecting more snow today.

Going Rocky Mtn. Snowboarding!

Tommy left at 3:30am this morning to go on his two week snowboarding adventure in Montana, Wyoming, and maybe Idaho. We'll miss him and keep the fire burning while he's gone :-).

Elroy Public Library Homeschooling Group

Yesterday was the first meeting of a new homeschooling group in our area. There were over 32 kids in attendance (age range: 2-13) and several families couldn't attend yesterday. Reeve and Kyle hooked up with some familiar faces from the story hour and met some new faces.

The librarian, who is awesome BTW, initiated the kids with an hour long library tour. She gave the kids a map, which Reeve loved, and then at the end quizzed them where certain things were in the library. Reeve, who is not accustomed to raising his hand, blurted out the correct answers (no one need worry about Reeve being shy). Miss Mary, the librarian, had to ask him several times to raise his hand.... I don't think she's accustomed to dealing with homeschoolers :-).

There were lots of 6 and 4 year olds for Reeve and Kyle to befriend. See the girl with the braids and blue sweater in the pic below? She's 6, and Reeve already told me he thought she was cute.

This group will meet every other Thursday, and we're really looking forward to it.

KYLE'S LYME UPDATE: No word yet on the results of his Lyme titer, but his rash looks better. Last night it was barely noticeable and looked more like a bruise than a rash. He was as energetic and bubbly as ever yesterday, so thankfully no other symptoms have presented.

Lyme's Again! Ugh!!!

It's been an extremely warm winter here and not enough frigid temps to kill the horrid ticks! We never found any ticks on Kyle but the other night we spotted three bullseye rashes on his upper thigh area. One tick bite can cause more than one bullseye and the bullseye rashes don't necessarily appear at the bite site, they can show up anywhere. He and Reeve were playing in the nearly 50F temps all day on New Years Day then the following night we spotted this.


Yesterday morning I called his doctor and brought him to the hospital for bloodwork. I should find out the Lyme titer results today or tomorrow. Even if it was a Lyme tick that bit him the results could be negative because his body might not have had a chance to build up the antibodies. We didn't want to take any chances, so he's on antibiotics for 3 weeks. Luckily he feels great and is his usual high-energy-self. When Reeve was bit by a Lyme tick last May he got to the point where he developed a fever and felt lethargic and stiff. Reeve's 100% better now.

Kyle was very brave having his blood drawn. Reeve and I were right by his side. He was very still and afterward told the tech that "No it didn't feel like a bee sting... it was a WASP sting." The tech chuckled, very relieved that it went so smoothly, and offered him a candy cane. I said no thanks he doesn't want a candy cane, he'd prefer stickers. It was true, Kyle would rather have the stickers and he was completely stoked to get 4 big stickers. Next stop was the pharmacist for the antibiotics. We got him the chewable kind, and thankfully he loves the taste. Now we just need to remember to take them 3x's a day.

By the end of the day yesterday his bullseye rashes had morphed into larger splotchy rashes. I sure hope they look better than this today!

Painting a Bird House

There's nothing like a good project that they both can work on to keep me happy :-). They both helped me assemble the bird house and then they both agreed as to which sides they would paint.


Kyle was in a red mood that day and wanted to paint his two sides completely red. This annoyed Reeve slightly, but he was concentrating on making his two sides colorful.
Now we have to find a place to hang it outside and hope that the Eastern Bluebirds will nest in it.


They are my very favorite bird around here, and a very close second is the Rose Breasted Grosbeak.