Reeve's Snow Couch & Mohawk!!!

Our snow is all gone (almost...pretty much!) and so I should post these pictures of Reeve and his snow couch and table.

I think our snow days are over for awhile. Temps here will be in the 50's all next week!
March always brings a bit of madness into our lives...Reeve decided long hair was not for him, and asked me to give him a Mohawk haircut. "Really? Are you sure?", I asked him. Why? ...because he said it would be cool. There are only 2 places that I know of where Reeve has seen a Mohawk and that's on our friend Tim and in the Little House on the Prairie book series.

After it was complete...I goofed up the back and just shaved the back off...Reeve thanked me for giving him the best haircut he's ever had. He spent hours making goofy faces at himself in the mirror. Stella and Kyle were thoroughly amused! Reeve said it made him feel like a real Native American...like the ones we've seen in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I wonder how long he will want to keep it? He's itching to show the world and absolutely cannot wait until our home school group day on Tuesday.
No one had any help for our camera...I have a new one ordered...hopefully more pictures are in the future for this blog...more pictures without the blurry~green~tinged~look!

Day at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve

We are enjoying a sunny February, that's for sure! I love the longer days and warmer temps...now in the 30sF! At this point a sunny day in February with little to no wind and temps in the mid-30sF really does feel like T-Shirt weather!

On Friday the kids and I went to the Kicapoo Valley Reserve in La Farge, WI. It's right across the street from Organic Valley's Headquarters. (Yes, we know we are super duper LUCKY to live so close to an amazing resource of organic food!) We did not go on this field trip with our home-school cooperative and it just did not have the same feel. We missed our friends! Reeve felt isolated. He went on a cross-country ski trail and got lost!
His group returned, instructor and all, and Reeve was no where to be seen! The instructor said he wanted to go further and she let him!
I was worried that he went over the edge into the river. After 30 minutes and no Reeve, Stella and I went searching. Ahhh! At last I spot him.
He was very mellow and told me he got lost and that he just "didn't get it." He didn't understand which way the trail went and he kept searching for other kids in his group.
He was very hot and tried to cool off by rubbing snow on his forehead.
Kyle enjoyed his time in the Geology class.
If you didn't know this Kyle is CRAZY ABOUT ROCKS! He sat in the front row and answered every question the instructor asked...he was VERY ENTHUSIASTIC!
Here is a picture of our house, so you can get an idea of how isolated we are:
Stella is now 10 MONTHS OLD! Can you believe it? In just a few short months our little babe will be a toddler! We're all giving her lots of extra hugs, knowing that she's not going to be a baby much longer!
Her morning routine is to crawl over to where her brothers are sleeping and wake them up.
Well, Reeve is usually awake reading, and Kyle is snug under the covers.
She LOVES her brothers. She also loves the camera and came crawling after it.
This was her reaction when I didn't allow her to grab the camera...
Nah! She's not spoiled...she doesn't know how to get her way!

February Snow Pictures

Long time between posts...we are all well and healthy here. I misplaced the cable that I need to download pictures to the computer. I found it this morning. The first set of pictures was taken from our Canon Powershot Camera, and I'm pretty sure it is not working correctly. Most of the pictures end up with a green tinge around them, and it always happens with the automatic flash...any ideas as to what the problem might be? Any solutions?
Reeve and Kyle enjoying their metal red sleds:

Here are the blurry pics...Tom took the boys to Cascade Mountain, located about an hour south of us, for a fun-filled day of snowboarding:
Kyle Stylin' down the hill:

Reeve:


Kyle reading to Stella in the PC (play center). The PC is Reeve's creation, and it is our living room blocked off with storage bins. The bins are great for keeping Stella contained and happy. She can stand to play with things on the bins and she can walk around holding onto the bins. It's also big enough that Reeve and Kyle can play in there with Stella and she doesn't feel like she's in a pen.


On Valentine's Day we had fun at a birthday party with a HUGE sledding hill:

and lots of love:

Lately it's all about teeth around here. Stella has two bottom teeth:

Kyle has had two front teeth loose for a couple of weeks now. We went to the dentist for a regular check-up and the dentist showed me that Kyle's adult teeth were coming in behind his loose front teeth. This was not good, so the dentist pulled 3 of Kyle's front teeth.
This is Kyle on laughing gas:

This is his new toothless grin:

What do you do in February when there is still tons of snow on the ground and you're bored with making snowmen??? You make your own snow chair, to sit in and contemplate what snow furniture to make next. Reeve's idea and Kyle helped to build:




The other night Kyle got a hold of the camera and took some pictures of Reeve and Stella. Stella is playing with the phone, and she already loves to pretend to talk on the phone. She even gets animated with hand gestures, and "are you kidding me?" looks:

Snowmen & Projects

Stella is 9 months old today!!! I have no new pictures of her right now...she's peacefully sleeping on my back.
She's standing without holding on to anything, babbling A LOT, eating apples, gnawing on carrot sticks, loves butternut squash, and claps a lot. When she's standing, unsupported, she starts to clap then cheers herself on by raising both arms in the air, does a hula hip move, and then falls on her generously cloth-diapered-cushioned-big-bottom.
Reeve and Kyle have had some excellent snowmen making weather...well this was a couple of weeks ago...it's now too icy to make snowmen. It was -11F here yesterday morning and -6F this morning. Nice and sunny though, so at least we have the bright sun to warm up our solar panels and south facing windows.
The snowman they made together:

Kyle's snowman:

Mr. Frosty up close...looks like he has not brushed his teeth in quite some time and has green "hairs" growing out of his nose.

We've been having fun with watercolors and we've been practicing how to make a book for our home-school cooperative.

Happy New Year 2010!!!

Reeve has taken up a new craft. It was one that his Great-Grandfather was passionate about...Leather Crafting. We have many of my Grandfather's leather crafted works of art, and Reeve has been inspired to learn the craft. We set him up a temporary leather working station. He's using the tools and scrap leather from his Great-Grandfather Ed Guilbeault. Reeve's Grandpa B hand selected which tools would be best for Reeve to start with and he included some beginning leather working books.

Reeve prepares his working scrap with moisture.

He tests it on his cheek to see if it is ready to be worked.

He gets to work. He's excited to start making gifts for people.

Stella's been as cute as ever. Eight months old now. She loves her new doll from the Ozarks...we call her "Oza"

She loves standing up to play with her blocks.

She needed some warm booties to wear around the house, so I attempted to knit some. I hurriedly went on to Ravelry.com to find a quick, easy, free bootie pattern. Then I went through my yarn and picked out some soft soy/wool leftover yarn sent to me by the person who always inspires the crafty side in me...ever since First Grade where we got crazy and boogied down in her living room on a regular basis...Ms. Pants :-).

I totally guessed wrong on the size for Stella.

They were so cute when I got down to the sewing up the hem part that I decided to improvise and try to make them big enough to fit her chunky little feet and calves.

This morning I spent way too much time trying to "guess" how to make them bigger...where I needed to add stitches, etc...and I was trying to figure out if I could just knit them on circular needles. Circs are my now favorite way to knit!
I'm looking forward to 2010...there is so much I want to do this year!
Oh and I finished my 2nd fingerless glove...much better than the first! I'm improving and having fun. Tom said he'd like a pair next. Kyle's claimed this pair and the matching hat...when am I going to find time to knit me a pair???