Little Red's Caboose

Just incase you were not aware, our little riding lawn mower is Little Red, while the larger tractor is Big Red. After some searching on Craigslist I ended up finding a used trailer for Little Red. We thought this would helpful around the yard as the kids could do cleanup etc. during the day when I am at work. Little Red's caboose needed some TLC before being put into service. We started by sanding down areas where the paint had been scraped off and the metal was showing some rust.

It is always good to use proper hearing protection when the boys are being loud!

Little Red's Caboose is finished and ready for test rides. So I loaded it up with some weight and zipped up and down the driveway to make sure it would hold up.

County Fair

This is always a fun and fairly inexpensive outing for our family and this year was a blast. We met both sides of our families there and spent quite a bit of time looking at animals and even got to watch the 4H kids try and catch soaped up weaner pigs.

Uncle Mark and Aunt Christie learning to square dance. It looked like a lot of fun.

Mia pumping water as Larkin waits for her turn.

We found out that if the kids read a couple of books and filled out the form they got two free ride tickets. So they all did it and went on their two rides, this being the second one. The carnival area at the fair is always a little sketchy or scary, and I am not sure we will do that again.

Waiting for ice cream!

Happy boy!

Happy girl!!

Can you guess? Happy boy!!!

Lily loved sharing a shake with Momma.

Overall it was a lot of fun and the kids got to stay up late. Next time we need to make sure we can see some of the shows, and possibly learn some four square dancing.

First Day of School

Well, we officially started our school year today. The kids were excited. Ethan's words were, "I'm so glad to be back to schooling," while he was surrounded by his books for the year. We didn't take off the whole summer. The kids worked on math and reading and a whole lot of nature and science while outside. Learned some swimming while swimming in our pool, how to snap green beans and can them, and so much more. It was a busy summer and HOT at the end but we are so excited to get back to a normal routine once again and start getting into our books more. We started out with a yummy pancake breakfast. Did the kids weight and height check and took pictures. Then started school work. This week and I'm sure for the next few we are taking it half speed. Just getting a feel for our new curriculum and what to expect. Also it gives me the time to figure out how long it will take for things to get done. So much fun. Just a glimpse of what this year will be like. it should be really interesting with Lily Mae in the middle of everything. YIKES!