It is hard to imagine that my Brodie Bear is 4 years old today. We celebrated his birthday tonight. For dinner he requested steak, spaghetti and corn. And for his cake he wanted a monkey with chocolate chips. Here is what I made for him.
He was pretty excited. I wanted a picture of him and I with the cake and it ended up being quite the funny show.
He had a great night, not only was he excited about the cake he was just as excited about his gifts...Legos.
It's no secret Brodie's favorite animal is the monkey. To go along with our "M" theme this past week we did lots of monkey activities. Brodie was very excited to do this craft. I got the idea from here, and of course changed it up a bit to fit with what supplies I had on hand.
To go along with this craft we also read the book 5 Little Monkeys and the boys took turns looking at the Monkey Lapbook I made them last year.
This week we are talking about the letter "M". We made our version of this cute mouse craft. All you need is construction paper, scissors, and glue. We used felt for the nose, yarn for the tail and of course a googly eye!
Linked to Showcase Friday at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.
Well Jake's first game didn't go very well last night. They got beat 34-0. Jake didn't play a whole lot. When he was in, he played offense. I thought he did pretty good getting to the ball carrier. I realize that I can't sit still when he is on the field. Every time he makes contact I involuntarily lift myself off the bleacher in anticipation!
After the scrimmage he was in the homecoming parade. Unfortunately he was seated on the other side of the fire truck so we didn't get a great shot of him but he heard us yelling at him so he threw us some candy over the back of his head!
(that's Jake with his hand up in the air, behind #58)
It was a great night for a parade.
Here is an activity I did with the boys to go along with our "D" week. Brodie typically hates to have his hands dirty or sticky. I wasn't sure how he would react but he had alot of fun with this.
To go along with our D theme this week, we took a nature walk/ride to the Carney Marsh up the street to see if we could spot any ducks Monday morning. We had a really nice time and saw lots of fun boys things. Like this caterpillar.
And this frog.
Here the boys are trying to trap a grasshopper. The grasshoppers were thick! I myself am NOT a fan of grasshoppers. Frankly, they were creeping me out a bit. They were jumping everywhere.
We did get a quick glimpse of some ducks but there were quickly spooked by our presence and flew off. The swans however were not shy at all and we could walk right up to them for pictures.
I did spot a Gardner snake thankfully while exiting the park. Had I seen that while entering, I may have turning around and loaded the kids back up. I hate snakes!
We are talking about the letter D this week. Ducks happen to be what we discussed Monday. After finishing up our story and felt board activity we made this fun craft.
I got this idea from here. We used construction paper in place of the paper plates. I traced their hands for the tail feathers. That was the boys favorite part!
Tonight I canned 4 quarts of salsa that Will and I made last night. Yes, we are still making salsa. Tomorrow I will be working on apples. I still have 4 bags of apples that I need to get peeled and either canned or frozen. 
The little boys had their cousin Nathan over to play the other morning. They had a great time racing across the yard to Grandma. It was nice to have someone else to play with for a couple hours. I fought a headache for part of the week so I wasn't very much fun. 
On Saturday Will and I took the kids to Ledges State Park in Boone. I can't remember being there, although I am sure I have been many years ago. It is such a beautiful place. We walked up and down the streams. The kids had a blast playing in the water, catching frogs, crawdads, and other random critters. We ate a picnic lunch there and just enjoyed being outside and soaking up the nice weather.
This is a picture of Will and the boys trying to build a dam across the stream.
The boys and all their creatures they caught!
Drew just happily playing in the water with his stick.
My guys.
We had a visitor yesterday. This goose seemed to have lost his way for a while and hung out under a tree in my moms front yard for most of the afternoon. We first noticed him during lunch. We were sitting outside and it came right up between the two houses. I ran inside to get my camera! The kids thought he was pretty cool. I thought he might be injured since he stuck around so long. We fed him some bread and by later that evening he was gone. I guess he figured out where he was going.
Fall garland on the entertainment center. I love that Fall is just around the corner. This is my favorite time of the year and yes I am decorating already.
Boys digging for worms and getting along. I love peace. I love when everyone is happy and laughing and there is no screaming, fighting or name calling.
Homemade cherry turnovers. I made these yesterday too and they were delicious. Sometimes I don't get the crust right. It's either too dry or too flaky, but this time-not to toot my own horn or anything-I did really good!
