Saturday, June 27, 2015

May

We won't be able to fit four boys in the tub for much longer!
With the arrival of warmer weather, we've taken the opportunity to go treasure hunting for geocaches.  It's such a great way to get the kids motivated to go for walks and do some sleuthing
Blossoms on the trees
There was an Emergency Response Day in Strathroy, starting with a parade through town and then an opportunity to see all the vehicles up close at the arena.  We caught the parade in two places and then headed to the arena afterwards
I think all this soldier gear weighed more than he does, but he was pretty pleased about it!
Aaron was pretty happy to try it on as well
The boys tried out a real fire hose
Sitting in the front seat of the fire engine
I was in charge of the candy room at the CCS bazaar this year, and this is how it looked before the sugar-fed craziness began
Pony rides!
Nate was especially happy about the pony rides and did it several times
May 10 and the boys were in the pool!  It was a chilly 65 but the older two had a great time in there. 
Sunset through the neighbour's tree... so nice to have the leaves back again!
Water droplet in the setting sun
Mom came for an overnight visit and made us some fancy pancakes.  It may or may not be the first and last time the pan is used, but we enjoyed the farm animal pancakes with the kids :)
This is just the coolest thing!  Nate found a tree frog!  We hear them all the time but I didn't realize that the were tree frogs before he brought this one to me.  How neat is that?
We hosted the Adult Fellowship Bible study group in May and had our dinner in the sunroom
Aaron's idea of perseverance... I won't give up until I can shoot a gun.  Hmm.  That's some dedication but I'm not sure if I like it
Boy:  Noise with dirt on it

Some silly robin decided to build a nest in the apple tree where the boys have a tree fort.  That poor bird had a stressful time nesting her eggs!
Mom VD took this fantastic shot of one of the hatched babies
Nate was SO excited to have Kindergarten Day at the end of May!  He talked about it all the time and was counting down the sleeps until he could climb on the bus with Peter.  He is really looking forward to September!
I found this paper under Aaron's bed - I think he must have been done his schoolwork early one day and his teacher asked him to do some writing.  "I am going to have chickens hooray!  The rooster is going to be a baby.  If it is a bad one it is going to have a yummy supper of chickens".  I love it!  We've told them that if the rooster is too loud or mean we'll be having rooster soup for supper
I've done a few "photo shoots" with the chickens to see how they've grown.  I fondly think of these pictures as their "Grade 8 Graduation" photos... they are kind of in that awkward fluffy-new feather stage.  Not quite chick and not quite chicken. 
Stephen is very excited to go see the chickies, but not so pleased to have them on his lap haha


April

Happy 6th birthday Aaron!
One of Aaron's gifts from us was a kite, and the sod field behind us is perfect for flying it in
Only a few more days to go until the chicks arrive... so the boys thought they'd take the opportunity to sleep in the chicken coop!  It was a wee bit chilly but at least they can knock that off their bucket lists
The kids and I painted Easter eggs with Sharpie markers and drizzled rubbing alcohol over them to make these neat tie-dye style designs
Nate came crying up to me, "There's Playmobil stuck in my nose!"  and sure enough, there was a little connector piece lodged up there.  A quick blow and the bit shot out, and somebody hopefully learned a lesson
On Easter Monday, Mom, Uncle Gord, Aaron and I went for a walk to see the bald eagle's nest in Delaware.  What a neat thing to have so close!
I did some photography experimentation with my phone... this is taken through a pair of binoculars.  Not bad for a phone camera I think!
Another photo experiment.  This is taken using the lens from a laser pointer, placed over the camera lens and laid right on top of a quarter
Dave, Bethany and Leah came for dinner one evening
Spring is coming!  The first flowers poking up out of the ground.  Spring flowers were neat to watch for as it was our first spring in the new house
Enjoying a pancake breakfast on Aaron's 6th birthday
Blogger is being silly and not letting me load this picture up the right way around... these little guys surprised the kids for snacktime at school
Didn't you know?  I am a fairy!  Thanks Aaron!
It seems that Stephen's trouble-making antics are on his older brother's minds as well... "I don't want Stephen to go outside because Stephen will get into trouble"
Dad and Mom, Danielle and Martha came up to visit one day.  This was one of MANY pictures we tried to take with them and the kids on the couch.
Chick day arrived!  The much-anticipated chickies came on Tuesday April 28, one day old.  They were so cute and fluffy!  I loved their sweet little peeps and the way they fell asleep standing up
Hi chickies!  Four white, four honey, three black, two brown/black, and one grey
Teaching them how to drink
Beautiful sunset