Fun in the Winter Sun!!

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon today, so we headed out into the backyard.

Even though the sun was shining--it was well below freezing-- but it is never too cold for soccer.

I can barely see you, Mark! You blend in so well with your surroundings.

What a face!

and another face....

Maybe Luke isn't meant for winter activities----

You can do it, Grace!! The littles are waiting!!

Waiting littles.

It is more icy under that snow than it looks.

Gracie's plan.

I am not sure if this will work.

NOPE!!

Maybe Mark will have better luck.

Whooo-hooooo!!!!!

YIPIEEEEE!!!!!!

And then, we call it a day!!

No Snowstorm Here!

We had no snowstorm, but we are awfully tired of winter around here! The high temperature today was 15 degrees and they predict more of the same for the next few days.
You can tell winter should be over when we can't find matching mittens and the only hats left are too big. I knit mittens all fall, and this is what we end up with by March--NOT MUCH!

We aren't even used to the sun anymore-as you can tell by Gracie!

Notice the mittens!

It is 15 degrees and Laura has given up hats and mittens, or maybe she couldn't find any.

Oh, Look! There are Laura's gloves, don't tell Mark they are girl gloves.

I really don't think this is Gracie's hat!

Well, the good thing is is that we move the clocks forward next weekend--I am sure that will do the trick--the flowers will bloom, the birds will return, all the lost mittens will return to the box--we can make it--I know we can!

Magnifying glasses, crayons, and rocks

We have already had "solar fun" this summer, and today was no exception. We used the old standby-a magnifying glass and strong sunlight-but we put a new twist on things, and instead of lighting things on fire, putting scorch marks on the picnic table, or terrorizing ants,

we used crayon shavings and rocks to do a little melted crayon art. I saw the idea here.

The word "art" is used very loosely here.

Mostly it was about watching little wax puddles form, slowly mixing together with the color next to them.

Whatever we are going to call it-it did keep kids busy for a good hour on a hot, summer afternoon. So for me, this is a perfect activity.

A Great Day-For Fathers and Kids

We went to Grandpa's house today to celebrate Father's Day with him.

Of course, we showered Daddy with gifts and love also.
Ten Kids and a Dad
Ten Kids and a Grandpa
Grandpa and Grandma lost a few trees and a few "parts" of trees this past week during a thunderstorm. They became the perfect playground for the kids this afternoon.

Tree photo credits go to beautiful Becky!

Backyard Exploring

Spring seems to be sticking around this time..... the kids have been spending most of their time outside the past few days. The temperature has been in the 50's and the sun has been shining. Nothing has turned green yet, but we are expecting to see that any day now.

Today I gave Mark and Grace each a magnifing glass and told them to go exploring. Mark was happy to find 'crytals' in a rock and Grace spent her time looking for bugs on trees. She hasn't had any success yet, but I encouraged her to keep looking.