Where to begin? Oh...the Petersons. To let you in on how deep this relationship runs, Todd and Sega (David...whole 'nother story) met in middleschool BEFORE Todd even moved to St. Louis on a youth trip. I met Sega and Tricia (who had already been dating for 3 years) when Todd and I first started dating (it was kind of like meeting the parents). So as couples we've been friends for 13 years and going strong. Sega was Todd's best man and Tricia is a dear, dear friend of mine. When we told them we were moving they pulled out their calendar and committed to coming as soon as they could. We love them. Needless to say we were giddy to see them.
We started out Peterson-Palooza running...well riding. We promised the kids a train ride to the good ol' Texas state fair.
We HONESTLY thought this would be the quickest/cheapest/most fun way to go. Well 45 minutes later, the kids became less and less enthused.
This thing was BIG, Texas BIG. We didn't know where to begin. Ok, so we did. We ate A LOT of fried food (so much that it won it's own Texas Tuesday blog so stay tuned). Then we finally let the kids have their fun.
We saw pot belly pigs, kangaroos and lots of pick up trucks. Even with all that this fair had to offer we had the most fun just hanging out and having fun with some of our favorite people.
Art is : "the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect."
My 4 year old has become quite the little artist. I love SEEING what he is thinking. He is such a cool kid, with cool ideas and I'm finding it hard to part with some of his finest especially because they are so symbolic of him and they have a story behind them. So, I decided to throw them up on the blog so that I could share them here AND they will then have a permanent home.
Exhibit 1 "Mom in the Garden"
Don't you just love my makeup?!? He definitely captured my beauty and favorite hobby ; )
Exhibit 2: "Star Wars Battle"
To the left we have Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker with their light sabers (and a tie fighter in the corner) and to the right....can you guess? Look at the hair...look at the gun...you guessed it. Lando!
Exhibit 3: "Man with the Angry Face"
When picking him up from school, we are greeted first thing by their artwork from the day. I see all of these smiling faces looking back at me and then I find Eli's. I believe they were asked to make a face...very well done I might add. (His teachers promise me he loves school)
Exhibit 4: "Picture Hunt"
While painting in the backyard he brought us both pictures of the St. Louis Arch and asked if we could find the DIFFERENCES. We had a hard time...I'll give you a hint. There's more than 1 difference.
Exhibit 5: "Family Portrait"
No commentary necessary...just a great picture!! He even remembered belly buttons for him and Todd (or are those not belly buttons?)
Exhibit 6: "Speed Train"
I love this one because this is one of those things that is constantly on his mind. I love seeing what it looks like on paper and I think he did a pretty good job. He really wants to master the "steam engine" next, so we'll keep you posted : )
I just want to reiterate that this particular blog theme is not just what is purely Texan, but what is different about our life here in Texas. Not that everyone experiences Texas in this way, but what WE experience in Texas and scratch our head at. Sometimes in a good way, and sometime in a....surprised way.
So today I want to point out our trash collection. Yes, our trash. We have yet to follow the rules correctly. We've received notes, comments and neglect. Here are some of the rules we have to follow:
Have your cart(s) curbside by 7:00 a.m. on your collection day. {ok. I can do that. But, yes they are there and if you snooze, you lose.}
Place cart(s) at least three feet apart; includes mailboxes, utility meters, poles, fences, etc. {So, we have 3 carts...all 3 feet apart...not close to poles or mailboxes...Todd and I think we need to just scatter them up and down our driveway}
All trash must be inside the cart! Items outside the cart will not be collected.{A little harsh, but it sure does look pretty on trash day. They don't mention it here, but it has to be THEIR cart. So not hodge podge cans hanging out. One blue, one green. My sister would be sorely disappointed at the lack of dumpster diving opportunities.}
The front of the cart (side with the serial number) should be facing the street. {No comment...but come on, seriously?}
All contents should be bagged with the cart lid closed to prevent spillage.
An overloaded cart will result in non-collection. {yep. That's us}
Insert Maplewood, MO. Land of the free (in the context of trash day). We put out carpet, appliances, wood, drywall, toilets, etc. I was even tempted to put Eli out there once because I knew they'd take him away. Did it look fancy? Nope. But I'm just giving you some insight into where we're coming from.
So tomorrow I'm armed and ready. I have my rules printed off and highlighted, my tape measure, and my super soaker in case they give me any more c$#*.
Wayyyyy too long since a blog post. We've been sick, sick, and sick. Now that there's a break in the action I thought I'd share what we've been up to OTHER than being sick.
I LOVE fall (who doesn't) and it's been fun experiencing this season in a new place and with my favorite people. Here are some of my favorite things thus far this season!
Owens Farm
Hay Ride with Grandma at Owens Farm.
Picking Pumpkins...we have some sad looking pumpkins on our front porch : )
Dallas Arboretum
Ducks on a Stream!
I love how they labeled all the different kinds of pumpkins.
They seriously had the most beautiful displays I've ever seen.
They even had Cinderella's "pumpkin" carriage!
One of our craft projects...went on a nature trail to find sticks, and then came home and made play dough leaves. They turned out really cute!
The kids can play with play dough for hours.
Making pumpkin jars.
Again, they turned out really cute, and with a candle inside they look "spooky" on our front porch.
My fall line up...Pumpkin waffles, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin creamer and a pumpkin candle.
Some of you don't know this, but I am certified to teach German. Scary, right? One thing I do remember about all of my German classes was our "birthday" song, "Hoch soll sie lieben" (Long may she live). We would raise our juice glasses high and chant "Hoch Hoch Hoch" (which I believe means 'cheer'). Anywho...that was all to interpret my title : )
Up in our little slice of Texas (down for most of you) we celebrated Oktoberfest this past weekend. {Mom, you have to come next year.} Now, not everything was up to the Germans standards BUT all in all it was "sehr gut" (very good). They had a live German band, that even included the necessary German cheers (to toast one another with our beers).
Anna may have even been "discovered" there. She was so moved by the music, she just had to dance! You can't tell from the video, but she drew in quite a crowd around her (you can hear the hollers and 'you go girl' in the background). At about 55 seconds she finally stops to look around her and gets a little stage fright : )
After Anna took off her dancing shoes we checked out the market, and even watched a train go by!
Adults weren't the only ones that partook of the beer. Root beers all around for the kiddos. (or as Eli put it, "a beer that floats")
There were even local animals for the kids to pet. (Again, I don't know how German this was, but we sure had fun!)
This where is starts getting REALLY questionable. They served sno cones out of a pirate ship (this is typically down the street from us, but they must of moved it for the big event). Given a choice between a Streusel or a sno cone Eli chose a sno cone....wonder why.
Regardless of some questionable attractions, we had a good enough time to shout, "Danke Schoen" on our way out : )
"Fun" is a word that Anna has used quite a bit the last couple of weeks. Why? Because we've had tons of FUN, of course. Now that they are both in "school", I may be on to something. With 10 hours to myself every week, I've been able to reconcile in my mind that the time I do have with them needs to be somewhat purposeful. (and then the time I don't have with them I can do the 'chores', selfish indulgences, etc. that sometimes conflict with FUN).
So like any teacher, (yes I was one at one time, and like to feel like I always will be on top of being a mom), I've started to do lesson plans on Sunday nights. I map out the "have to's" that week (school, dr. appointments, therapies, play dates, etc.) and then with the wiggle room (typically the afternoons) I try to plan something FUN, and with purpose (even if the purpose it to just have q.t. with my kids).
One pitfall I want to be reminded of is, I used to be VERY schedule minded. So schedule oriented that if anything or anyone got in the way of my schedule, GOD HELP THEM. This stressed everyone around me out, so then I went the exact opposite direction the last couple of years. We'd wake up and just...live. Instead of living, I felt like we were just chasing our tails and we were directionless and I would never have the drive or energy to do any of the activities I wanted to do with my kids.
This time around I am going to try to find the happy medium. I will have something prepared/planned to do with my kids, but if something were to come up I will just let that activity go, or save it for another day. I will also try to be gracious with myself. My role is more than to just have fun with my kids. I also have other responsibilities that may need to take priority and the kids will I'm sure have their own fun...I think being bored is good for kids and allows them to be creative. Eli has had some great ideas while I've been busy doing something else ; )
So I thought I'd share some of the activities we've done the last couple of weeks that my kids (and I) have thought were "FUN".
(Video of us having fun)
*Pillow towers. We took all the pillows we could find on the first floor and piled them in the living room. Then we climbed/jumped all over them.
*Rainy Day activities. No, we haven't had too many actual rainy days, BUT I mean activities that you have that you pull out when the kids are bored/ have nothing to do. Presents they received that need some work putting together or something you typically keep out of site is what I use. For example, last week we put out their circus tent!
*Sidewalk chalk: we made a town on the driveway and practiced writing peoples names.
*Cooking: This week we are making granola!
*Nature Walk: We found sticks & are planning on making trees with play dough leaves.
*Blocks: We made a river using construction paper and then built a bridge/town around it using our blocks.
***Fall back ideas: when I don't have enough energy/time to plan something, some great fall back ideas are the Library, and a playground!***
After graduating from The University of Missouri with a degree in Middle and Elementary education and a graduates degree in Administration, I went on to teach Family and Consumer Sciences (a.k.a. home economics) in the public school system for 6 years. When we decided to grow our family I chose to enter into motherhood full time. Full-time motherhood then turned into the desire to teach my own here at home which has proven to be an incredibly rich way to teach! While spending time with my 4 little ones is beyond rewarding, I also enjoy teaching the joy and value of cooking/reading to as many as are willing. With the “read.cook.grow.” program I can enjoy the best of both worlds!
