Fun with Water

This post should actually be titled Fun with Water and a Few Chickens, but whatever. 

Each time we dump food scraps into our compost bin either the chickens, the dog or the cats immediately show up to snack. On this particular day, the chickens were the winners, sorry Chuckles.

 The real excitement that evening wasn't the compost, it was impromptu Slip-n-Slide! We have a couple cheap tarps so we laid one out, added a bit of dish soap and water and let the boys go cray.

 They thought the farther back they started their running approach the better the slide would be.

 They had a great time! Plus they were actually clean when they were done....kind of.

 They continue to enjoy having their "pool" even though the weather has been cool and rainy for days. I think Levi put a frog in it...so who knows what else might make a home in the pool, too.

 Likely the most exciting addition to the yard lately has been the Razor Rip Rider 360. The boys can pedal all around the shed (it only works on concrete) and spin themselves until they're dizzy.

 The best part is that it doesn't make any noise!

 And the chickens...we love how they make their way all over the yard...we just have to keep an eye out to protect grandma's flowers (right, mom?!). :-)

Fun with Water & Kittens

Since school let out for summer, it's become clear to me that our children don't have much to do outside. If they put their imaginations and muscles to good use they could come up with endless things to do outside, but they either aren't to that point yet or aren't wired for that kind of play. 

 So, we're trying to provide the simplest of outdoor play options. First up, a place to play with/in water.

 This black tank has held a couple batches of chicks, baby kittens and provided water to cattle. Clean? Nope. But we did scrub it out and rinse it several times before the boys jumped in.

 Jump isn't the right word....they got each other wet and then had fun splashing each other. Levi cracked me up when he came outside with his swim trunks on an his new pool noodle around his waist. He's been begging to go swimming since school got out on May 15!

 They played for a long time and had a great time.

 We ordered a new toy for them to pedal around the shed on, it should arrive on Wednesday. The calendar is marked and it's a frequent topic of conversation. Hopefully, the toy lives up to all the hype.

 I have the materials for a tree swing, so once we get that all figured out that'll give them one more thing to do outside...when they aren't busy following farmers or house builders around.

 We'll see how long they think this tiny stock tank is fun...I've got my fingers crossed....

 We also have absolutely adorable little kittens living outside our back door. Mama Chuckles moved them there from the hayloft. We think she intended to get them into the garage but we won't let her. That's happened too many times and then we end up killing kittens as we drive off the yard. Being a kitten killer is a terrible feeling...

 It was a warm, lazy evening for these little ones.

House Progress

The blue roof is gone and now we have lovely Thunderstorm Grey shingles. 

 Plus, the little roof over our walk-in garage door was added. The front of our house is getting closer and closer to looking like it's supposed to.

 Harold, always curious, always a part of the action (even if that's just me walking around snapping pictures).

 Jeremy's crew put up sheet rock for our three mechanical closets. We'll slap a coat of paint on them so the H VAC guys can move ahead with installing our heating/cooling and water systems.

 Thankfully we like the shingles! We picked them out so long ago, it's a relief to see them up on the house looking just like we hoped they would.

Now the crew is busy putting up the soffit.

On the landscaping front: there's a short strip of wheat growing in our new front yard. It's out there all by itself, holding strong and standing proudly. I smile each time I see it.

Baseball Season

It's baseball season again for Noah! Ben's helping coach, while Levi and I make up the cheering section. 

 They played their first game this week and did a wonderful job! Noah had a lot of fun, getting several hits and a home run!

 The home run was a HUGE deal to him. Noah lucked out that his first game happened while Grandpa and Grandma Schrag were visiting.

 Levi always has a handful of friends at each game to help pass the time.

 He wishes he was old enough to be on Noah's team...but he'll have to wait to play until next year.

 Thank goodness Levi's got friends (and usually somebody's got snacks to share) and Noah's games are only an hour long. I'm not sure how we'd survive if the games went much longer than that!

Schrag Visit

We always have a wonderful time when Ben's parents visit from Illinois. They were at our place at Christmas when there was snow on the ground. Now we were busy spending nearly all our time outside enjoying the warm sunshine!

 We also made the trip south of Wichita to visit Ben's aunt Susan. She's planning to move away and we wanted to make sure to see her before she left. As always, fun discoveries were made at her lovely farm - mowing with a reel mower ( it's more challenging than Noah expected!) and we picked several containers of beautiful ripe strawberries.

 But the best part was getting to sit down and visit with Susan. We didn't stay long, she was supposed to be packing not sitting around visiting. All the best to you Susan as you move into your next adventure!

 The next afternoon was dedicated to fishing. A friend of ours allowed us to fish in his pond and we had a fantastic time!

 The boys kept their grandpa very busy, but I don't think he'd have it any other way. Tim loves to fish and he loves to share this past time with his grandsons.

 Ben kept busy fishing too while Sue and I lent a hand here and there to help with the boys.

 We caught lots of fish which helped to keep the boys' attention. The sun was beating down on us and we'd forgotten sunscreen and/or hats, but that didn't bother the boys.

 I was impressed with how long they stuck with it.

 There was lots of teaching going on...

 And finally, the photo that Tim has been waiting to see:

When Tim was taking the hook out of this fish, he saw one crawdad claw in its mouth. He pulled on it and out came that crawdad! The boys were pretty impressed - that fish wasn't even done swallowing his first catch when he moved on to the next. Too bad for him the next crawdad was a lure and not the real deal.

It's always good to share some of our day-to-day lives with Tim and Sue. We live at such a distance that we simply have to make the most of our times together. We pack the days full and try to enjoy each minute. The boys just eat up the attention and try their best to show their grandparents all their toys and more. We're looking forward to hosting them in our new house the next time they come to visit!

Sleepy readers

Ask the boys if they like to read and they'll tell you, "No!" But it's not true. 

And once in a while, they read long enough it puts them to sleep....just like their mother.