The BirdMan

BirdMan of Winterset

BirdMan of Alcatraz

Byron has been complaining that every time he goes to mow the yard that birds follow him around.  I always brush him off because it sounded like such a silly thing to complain about.  Birds are following you around the yard?  Well, you're outside for heaven's sake!  Of course there are going to be birds outside.  Well, I guess you have to see it to believe it.  (BTW, you won't see it.  I tried to take some pictures but they didn't turn out.)  I watched from the front door as Byron mowed.  At least 30 birds were circling him while he mowed.  He moved to a new spot in the yard and they followed.  This goes on for at least a couple of hours!  He said they come about this time every year and they always follow him around.  So weird.  I told Byron he is officially the Birdman.  Can't you see the resemblance?

Well Now She's Got Something to Say

I took Grace back to her first speech therapy appointment this morning after her summer hiatus.  The good new is that she scored the exact same on her speech test that she did in May which means no back sliding at all.  Yeah Grace!  Her teacher Mrs. Abby also said she is speaking clearer and louder than the end of May.  Well I can attest to that.  See when I take Grace to her appointment their is really nothing much for me to do.  So the kids and I usually sit over on the other end of the room and play quietly.  This affords me the chance to hear some of Grace's lesson.  Today she managed to tell her teacher that we have spiders in our house (true), that she has been bit by a mouse (not true), we have poisonous snakes all over our yard (not true), that her sister gets poopy diapers (true), and some various other things that I think I might have understood but her teacher did not. I'm not sure I'm so glad she's finally sharing with the world.

Night Crawler

My little Maddie is a night crawler.  She will frequently turn up at my bedside (on in my bed!) in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.  I usually get a "Hi Mom" as I drag myself up and put her back in her own bed.  Lately she has been skipping the midnight drive by in our bedroom and trading it in for just doing her own thing.  A few times I've found her in the living room playing with toys at 4:30am.  One morning I found her sleeping on our pillows from our bed that were piled on our bedroom floor.  This morning I go to leave for work at 3:30 and I found her curled up asleep in a living room chair.  It's kind of cute except it scares me have to death.  To think of her walking around the house at night and I don't even know about it!  She could crack her head open!  I tell her every time that she needs to stay in her bed.  You know the answer I get?  "Okay mom!".  But I'm sure she'll be at it again tomorrow night!

Check Out My New Blog

I've got a new blog up and running.  I'm homeschooling my kiddos this year and decided to do a blog to help them share their work and myself share what's going on etc.  So if you are into the teaching thing, or the homeschool thing, or you are a grandparent of one of my children (you know who you are) then you might find it interesting.  Don't worry if you don't fall under that list.  You can do your part.  My favorite wine is a nice light Riesling.  Don't be stingy now!  I'm going to be with the kids ALL DAY!  Actually while you're at it, you can send over any headache medicine you have laying around too.  Don't worry, I won't mix the two.  Promise!

http://thehallsgettingschooled.blogspot.com

Maddie Kenevil

Maddie is the daredevil of the family.  I don't know if it's because she's the youngest or it is just her nature.  She does things at age 2 that Kendall never did at that age and Grace still isn't doing at 3.  She conquered the highest tornado slide in the park earlier this summer.  She's been climbing to the top of our playground and sliding down our super fast slide since she was 16 months.  She climbs to the top of the bunk beds.  She jumps off the last 4 or 5 steps of everything.  She eats spicy foods that the other 2 won't touch.  She jumps into the pool.  She warms up to people right away and talks to anybody.  She has no boundaries as far as watching out for the road or staying close to mom.  Dancing on chairs, jumping off the bed onto her sisters, climbing on top of tables; she's always on the go.  I have had SO many close calls with her.  But we love her crazy self anyway.

Grace's Bad Day

Poor Grace.  You know how sometimes you just have one of THOSE days.  Try having that and being 3 years old.  Grace woke up this morning not feeling so great.  I won't go into details but she spent twenty minutes in the bathroom with no real success.  After we finally got that sorted out we had her least favorite breakfast, eggs and bacon.  Then her favorite dress was in the laundry so she had to settle for her denim dress which I'm sure was hot since it was in the upper 90s today.  (side note, I told her to wear shorts and a tank top, but she insisted on a dress).  Then we were outside playing and a bug flew in her mouth.  She flipped out!  I'm surprised the National Guard didn't show up in our driveway with how she was going on.  You'd think it was a disaster.  After 30 minutes of convincing her the bug was gone (BTW, she is still telling me it's in her mouth even this afternoon) she went back to playing only to have a tree frog jump on her face!  I am not making this up.  After she calmed down we were able to head out to her doctor's appointment.  While waiting for her antibiotics at the pharmacy she spilled her chocolate milkshake on her dress.  I tried to make things better by putting her favorite movie on in the van but it kept skipping and wouldn't play.  She hasn't had any more mishaps today but we still have bath time and bedtime to go.  Poor Gracie!

Happy Birthday Kendall!

I know, I'm late.  In my defense we were out of town with some family in the Ozarks and celebrated Kendall's birthday while we were gone.  Ever since we have been back I have been all messed up on my days and I don't know what is going on half the time.  So forgive me and here we go.....

Happy 7th Birthday my beautiful first born.  From the moment I held you I knew you were a force to be reckoned with.  You amaze me with your energy and keep my laughing with your witty one liners.  You are passionate, inquisitive, and thoughtful.  You light up the whole room with your smile.  Everyone thinks you are the sweetest thing that's ever walked the face of this earth (and you use that to your advantage, LOL).  You are a great big sister and a wonderful daughter.  Even though it pains me to see you grow up so fast, I am thankful to God that you are becoming such a fine young lady.