The "Lake"

Okay, It's more of a little lagoon but it was all ours for a day and we took full advantage of it. It was splendid. It was just before this third wave of mosquitoes hit. The ones that have once again made it hard to spend even a few minutes outside without some insanity taking over the brain of one who is scratching every square inch and crying out "Itchy, ItchY, IIiiiTCHY!!!!" Yes they really do call that while we are all just as itchy and really we all know how bad it is. We don't really need the description but at the same time I get it. I feel like calling it out loud for all the neighbors to hear as well.

Anyhow, that was a bit of a digression. You see this which I am about to show you was before that so we didn't know it was coming. In fact at this time we were blissfully unaware that there was a third batch coming. We thought fall was around the corner and there are never Migs in the fall. See I can't help but digress into the state of Mosquitoes in this part of the world because....well.... "Itchy, ItchY, IIiiiTCHY!!"

So now you know how our summer went too. Most of it was spent fighting off the offending little creatures that cause more discomfort than many a larger one. There was a garden though. I know it is out there. I didn't see much of it this year. Too many minutes spent swatting and scratching. Okay I admit this year we used plenty of bug spray. It was either that or live in the house. In the summer. Couldn't be. Had to go out. Had to spray.

Okay. Here is the video. I will stop talking now cause it seems I have one thing on my mind. And I have to go. I have five gallon buckets 3/4s full of pears and I want pear jam.



A Day at the Beach from Angie Kroeker on Vimeo.


Happy End of summer and into the Fall. Enjoy what you can of the last warm days as we head into the cooler months of this life. 

Running in for a little post

The girls ask me daily for a little jaunt to the flower garden. It is rough these days as I am so busy trying to do all that is required of me in the months that are here. This time is too short and sweet to pass up and yet there is much to do.

There is a garden and yard to tend to and then the house is just keeping up. Laundry piles? yes we dress straight from them. Then when I am not filling my time here at home we are off for a couple of hours during the day to work on the project and again in the evening. This building is a two story hundred year old building and we are working on turning it into two apartments. The upper floor started out as one but had been torn apart for the water damage that had actually put it up for sale. The thought is to get it rented out and then head downstairs to start that one on the road from office space to living space. For now it is the upper floor that we are focusing hard on as we believe we can have it ready to be rented out by the time Paul goes back to session two of his electricians courses.

All that to say that we are busy, like crazy, but for a season. Once the upper floor is rented out we are going to take it a bit easier at least for a while. Re-coupe from the crazy that has been our days and take a little rest. But as for this summer? It will pas by to quickly and so we take the moments when we can. I'll drop in at the flower garden on the way home from our mid day session at the project or we'll stop in at the cousins.

As it is I feel we often appear as such.

Dashing into the frame of focus for but a moment and then rushing past and on to the next thing.


And so we took a moment.


To slow down and look closely at the hostas.






Lovely greens these leaves are made of.






Girls off to explore the outer edges of the garden.


Seriously, brush strokes? These look to be painted.




We were joined by an older cousin. My girl adores these girls even if she still (what more than half a year now) can't tell them apart and often will call a single one by the names of all three.


A bee


In take off mode.








"What's that mommy?" "pider? pider?" Yup and so it is.


And just as suddenly as you enter the frame you pass by and off to the next thing. Take a moment to focus in on the greens of those lovely hostas before you rush on to the next picture.

Fire explorations

Okay fine, we didn't actually see any fires but we did watch a Timon and Pumbaa Video on fire safety. And my girls showed me what was the most interesting thing to them. Funny how you have can have in mind what you think will intrigue a kid and then the go ahead and prove you totally wrong.


Jade found the crowd of kids to be a bit much at first. Also it seems that as a general rule her mornings are pretty dopey and by 11:00 AM (which is when this started) she is nearly ready for her nap. Needless to say this is how she looked most of the morning.


Ah yes and that which really had them glued. The thing which my girls went for at any given moment. When Mom was not trying to get them to show interest in the fire engine.


The ground. I mean seriously these Two love to explore that which is under them. And really who can blame them.


I remember the little ant hills from my childhood. messing with them, flattening them, watching the ants scatter. These little tiny hills of wonder with the tiny hole in the middle leading to a tiny little insect home. How can you not explore this?


They gave me moments here and there for picture taking. To at least make it look like they were paying attention.


But really.


Here Suzie is actually doing what all the other kids are doing. Looking at something the fire man is telling them about. I am sure it was more out of curiosity as to what had all those kids attention. What could be better than an ant hill? These kids must see something that I do not.


It is just as I have thought with my little lady. She might follow the crowd for a bit but only to see what is up. Then when she has seen what has all there attention she will move on to what really catches her little mind.


And Jade? Well she is young and trucks are not her thing like most little boys. In fact she is more of a doll house type. Sand boxes and ant hills, rocks and pebbles. But she'll look into a thing.





She'll stare off in a direction with this studying eye that looks so serious and concerned.



You would think, by looking at her that she had a miserable time. But she didn't. She had a blast. A quiet, sleepy blast.



And the siren? It was loud, they plugged their ears.



And then. And then the true fun came.

Suzie loved this part. In fact she wouldn't stop finding a way to take part. The kids had been separated into two groups. While one group watched the video the other explored the truck. Well when we got out of the video trailer the first group was doing this. I never thought that my little Suzie would just wander over there and take the initiative. She just walked on over to the group and got right in front of some kids and went for it. It was then I started to realize that she doesn't know how to take turns. To wait in a line is a foreign thing to my oldest girl. It was here that I learned somethings about my girl.


And so we all learned from this experience. The girls, well I don't know what they learned, Suzie learned how to turn on a fire hose. Jade? Hmm. And me. Well I learned how my kids act in a crowd where they don't know everyone. Jade gets a bit shy and clingy and Suzie just does what she wants. We'll see what this means for future outings as a homeschooling family.

Till next time have fun exploring the big things in life and the little. And remember, ant hills are fun little treasures that scatter the summer roads.

Friday Fun #49 A good book to read.

I know that I have said this before But I think this might actually be for real. I am back and I hope to post more. I my photo hosting site changed and with it's major change over a task that used to be a short process turned into a time consumer that I had no desire to put up with. I have since changed a setting and it is back to a shorter process that I will not feel is sucking the life out of me. So here's hoping I am back to more regular posting. Now on to the post at hand.


Suzie and I have finished reading her first chapter book. Or maybe what I should say is I finished reading it to her. I have tried a few times to read a larger book to her to no avail. Every time we'd get to a page that had a picture on it she could not "hear" what I was reading if it did not immediately pertain to what was visually in front of her.


But this time I took a few precautions through out the weeks of reading it to her. In the past I would have read her the first chapter and then she would have taken the book to her quiet time and spent the hours to come mulling over the visuals.


She would have the entire book memorized in little snippets of drawings. We would get to the page with any given drawing and she would already have a list as long as my arm of questions as to what was happening.


She could not focus on what I was reading because it was not answer her questions instantaneously. So this time I took out Charlotte's Web and would not allow her to study the book. 


Each time we turned the page and a scene appeared in ink she would ask "What's happening there?" and I would tell her to listen. "You will find out if you listen to the words that I read".

And she would sit with a studying look. Kind of like this one. I knew that she was paying attention when the Goose and all the other barn animals start to call out directions to Wilbur after his escape. Mr. Zuckerman and Lurvy are chasing him around the apple trees and the goose is really excited about the chase. I could tell by her reaction that she was seeing it in her minds eye.



And this was kind of her reaction.

I look forward to sharing many more books with this dear little one who is growing up so fast.

And to see her imagination opening up. It often seems to me that she is much more analytical than a lot of kids I know. That she has only learned in the last half year or so how to make believe. And even when she does she is certain to inform you that it is "Just for pretend".


She has no trouble dancing about and singing her head off with strange words that she is making up on the fly though. So I guess the imagination is just not what I expected.


It is safe to say that she knows how to play. And she can talk for all the day straight till she sleeps. In fact I think even before her eyes are fully open in the morning the words start to flow.


And so I want to encourage her vocabulary. And what better way at this time in her life than to read. To open her world up and to show her there is so much to explore. And so we have started into the world of chapter books. And so now to purchase the next book on the list. The problem is that I do not know what is next on the list.


Till then we will head into the world of Beatrix Potter. First little friend we met today was Peter Rabbit in his little blue jacket and tiny black shoes.


This past weekend we spent some time out with Paul's parents. (In fact that is where all the pictures from this post were taken). For the first time I attempted to take pictures of all the birds and I found that my telephoto lens is better than I had known.

I capture moments that I had never thought possible for me. Little Chickadees in their home.


And these two feeding in peace.


Till they are interrupted by the black and white wonder, The chickadee.


Off they go and leave him to is stolen goods.



And here are a few more pics of farm exploration.



"Moo, Moo!!"








And there you have a bit of life this past weekend.
I really hope to stick to a few more posts than have been taking place. As I said in the start I know I have said this before but I do so hope with this simple change that will change a frustrating task to a more simple one that I might be more inclined to be here more often.

Here's to you on this next weekend to come. Enjoy the days, enjoy the hours. The minutes of simple pleasures and also of hard work. There are great things to observe and take part in all around us.