Creative spelling

Tonight at supper the children were discussing Daddy's new Transformer that arrived via our houseguests last week. The younger two could not agree on its name, and finally Michael spelled it out. "His name is Night Viper! D-E-W-I-A! Night Viper!"
He may have been reaching beyond his skill in spelling...

Here are some more pictures from our trip to the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, South Dakota. All the children enjoyed riding the horses appropriate to their size, and were surprised by how high and bouncy the seat was in the real covered wagon. Only David wanted to sit up there and be Pa! You can see how vast the prairie is out there--we only live a couple of hours southwest of the homestead, but even that distance makes a big difference in the wildness of the prairie.

Little Homestead on the Prairie

We spent a day at the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet last week! It was great fun!
Grandma works there, demonstrating spinning in the Little House, so we went up there to see her and enjoy the rest of the exhibits.
Everyone enjoyed learning at the little school, riding horses and ponies on the vast prairie, and even scrubbing towels with lye soap!

My Friend Flicker

An early morning rainstorm woke David and Sarah up early this morning. They came running into Mommy and Daddy’s room anxiously. David began to report what had happened:

“Mommy, Daddy! It was raining so hard that it woke us up, and we went downstairs and there was rain coming in the windows, so we went around and closed up every window in the house! Well, except for the one in the bathroom because we can’t reach that one. And we heard a flicker!”

“Really?” mumbled Mommy.

“Yes! We were both standing in the bathroom looking up at the high window and wishing we were tall enough to close it, when all of a sudden we heard a flicker outside. It sounded so happy, as if to say, ‘Don’t worry. That window is slanted and very high, so rain probably won’t come in it anyway. And if it does, the water would just go in the bathtub, so it wouldn’t matter.’ So we stopped worrying about the window.”

The Rooster

Yes, this is the infamous Rooster that lived in our garage for a couple of days in June. He also escaped twice and was eventually rescued by the efforts of neighbors, Facebook friends, the local nursing home, and the school custodian. Mr. Rooster finally has a happy home out in the country, and we have a Ziploc bag of the tail feathers he lost when we tried to grab him that way...

Chirpy

We have a little friend named Chirpy. He is a chicken whose mother was eaten by a raccoon, so he needs some extra love and care. We can't keep him in our house, but Grandma and Grandpa are raising him with their own baby chicks now so we'll get to see him again.
Chirpy figured out how to fly up to the edge of his box on Friday morning. David thought it was so cute and said, "Wait! I have to take a picture of this!" He then grabbed the MagnaDoodle and drew this picture to remember the moment.

Easter 2009

We're way behind on the blogging, so thought we'd better start where we left off with the pictures.
Easter 2009 was great. We all enjoyed egg hunts at two local nursing homes as well as in our own yard. The first picture is of our family after two early morning church services and two Easter breakfasts. Everybody is ready for a nap!