Party Animals!

So we had a crazy weekend with a birthday and wedding back to back...
First Sugar Bug turned 12...

Yes my daughter picked a X-box game theme for her cake. She had a rather quiet birthday as everyone was preparing for the wedding the next day.  But we still had some fun and checked out the river, which is way up with all the rain we've had lately.

And of course you have to have balloons! 



Sugar bug was excited to get an easel from her aunt for all her artistic flares...

My two girlies checking out the Nintendo DS Sassafras got her sister.

Next we have wedding!! Super D's little sis got married beside the river in a beautiful service.  Hot but pretty...

Congratulations you two!

My pretty girls.  They were both bridesmaids..

The Cake... All the kids thought it was super cool that the butterflies were edible.  I guess there was something fun about eating a butterfly. 

It was a fun and busy weekend! I'm glad everything went smoothly and no rain this weekend.  We are all recuperating this week! 

16!

Sassafras had a good but somewhat quiet birthday.  On her special day we started out getting up at the crack of dawn (which is quite a feat for my girls) to go to town and meet Super D for breakfast.

See the sun isn't even fully up! But we had a good breakfast before Super D came home to sleep.

Then we made cake and had a family dinner with one of her friends over.
 She requested a Panda cake...




 We played games and watched a little TV.  But the big event was on the weekend we drove to
Springfield to go ice skating.

We got to eat pizza with Aunt M who hung around to take pictures for us.  Being due with a nephew for us in December she wasn't skating.

 Sugar Bug claimed ice skating is not her thing! She did really well though. 

 Here's the four of us on the ice. We had a great time and finished our day with ice cream at the mall. 
Happy Birthday Sassafras.  I am so proud of the woman you have become.  You are an amazing gal who shines bright everyday! Keep standing tall like the sunflower.
(enjoy the pictures but this techy challenged mama could not figure out why it is putting my typing on the side of the pictures!  Just as when I want to do that I can't do it! Go figure.. Sorry)

NOOOOOO! Come Back Please!!

I am not ready for August!! Can someone tell me what happened to June and July??  We've had a busy summer working hard and trying to take advantage of all the moments we can to play.  So here is a recap of the fun stuff...
June means a Birthday for Sugar Bug and as usual she wanted to spend it at the river.

This year we did go to a new location.  Sugar bug wanted a bridge to jump off of.  As seen above. 
We had a blast and just as we all were about ready to leave it started to storm which cooled it off perfectly for hotdogs and cake at home.  We were all excited to have Grammy be able to visit us twice this summer.  The first time being for Sugar bug's birthday.

We managed to get this family picture while out showing Grammy the Ozarks.

Then in July my sister and baby niece got to visit.  We had fun showing off the area and playing.

 Which means a trip to Dawt mill for ice cream and to play in the water a little...

In July we put on out own fireworks show and had a blast.  But I was so busy enjoying it all I didn't get any good pictures. We managed to go on several float trips too.  As August is here we are in the mist of planning school for the next year and will be starting to harvest and put up stuff from the garden.  Despite my failures I haven't given up on canning yet.  I'll try to get an update on all the garden goods soon..  Hope you all had a good summer!

10 Years Old!

Sugar Bug, 10 years went by way too fast!  I still see you as my little 3 year old quite often and have to remind myself you are growing up!  At her request we went to her favorite spot to have a birthday party. 

Blue springs..

 
This was taken about a month before our party.  In the summer it's hard to get a picture with out people in it as it is a popular site.  The water is so clear and cold!

     It was a beautiful day for a picnic. Super D spiked his hair for the occasion.

         Sugar Bug wanted a dirt cake complete with pigs and worms.
We had blast swimming in the springs and challenging each other to jump in. 
We got a pretty good group jump here. 

       Except the guy in the white hat on the rocks everyone else was with us.  From the left we have Super D, Sweet Ma (me), Sassafras, Mr. R, Aunt M, and Uncle W.  

   Super D of course found a snake to play with.  This is a water snake they are pretty common here.

  Happy Birthday Sugar Bug! (a little late)

Canyon Hike

My sister-in-law had a birthday and wanted an adventure to take the family on. Well, we got it.  We went hiking up and down a canyon and it was the perfect way to kick off spring!  Enjoy the view...

The Beginning.  There was a small trail along this creek but it quickly turned to more climbing than walking.  A true hike in my opinion. :)

    
    Cousin C and Sassafras were not amused.  Waiting for the stragglers was no fun.

      
     View from the top. 

  Good thing she wore orange and I have good zoom on the camera as this is zoomed in all the way otherwise they looked like ants at the bottom from where I took the last picture!

  Grandma S where we stopped for a break before heading back.

   The water was rushing everywhere and we had lots of little waterfalls to look at.  I loved it!

  Looks almost alien huh? These's are frog eggs sitting in a puddle.

 
Here my sister-in-law picks up a cluster.  You can see the tadpoles forming.  So neat. Now this is hands on school!

This fence lizard trying to stay warm is the only other life we saw this day.  I'm sure we were loud enough to scare anything else off.

End of the line for us.  There was to no way to get to this spot with out getting very wet. :) 

As incredible as it sounds this is a cave entrance.  Were glad no one fell in but of course that didn't stop us from climbing down to check it out.

Sassafras climbing out and yelling at me to put the camera down and help her. 

Super D took this one from inside the cave looking up at Sugar Bug.

 

    Also taken from inside the cave it had a second entrance from the water.

 

 

This picture taken from the other side. 

 

 

Passing little ones down. We have to get down through the hole under the rock.

 

 

Here's me landing. We all ended up with wet feet at some point in this journey.  I'll be sweet and not post all the others coming through this space.  I want my family to keep talking to me at least ;)

 

 

Our little neices were such awesome troopers.  We had to pass them over several spots as we criss crossed the creek on our way down.

 

 

Aunt M looking back while catching her breath. Yes we came through all that!

 

 

We made it! (actually this spot is a drive away from where we hiked)  Our Family photo. 

Happy Birthday Aunt S.  Hope you had a great day.

Fall! Whoo Hooo!

 Fall has arrived to our neck of the woods. I love fall!  This is what it is supposed to look like in October.

Not snow on the ground which was quite likely when we lived in Colorado. :)  October here also means a birthday.  Sassafras turned 14 this week!  We got to have a great party outside in the beautiful weather with a great game of kickball in the field and of course cake. I think she had fun!

   The cake says "Sing your heart out"  My girl loves to sing! 

Mr. R gave Sassafras a bar of soap. He said he liked to give kids something they can use.  But give him credit there was $ hidden inside :)

Sweet ma and her girls!  They are growing way too fast!

We partied late into the night.  My poor little niece just couldn't stay awake any longer.  Sassafras enjoyed her party with new friends and family!
  Along with fall means we spend more time outside in the woods.  Well hiking through the woods means poison ivy we've learned.  Poor Sugarbug got a really bad case a week ago.

My girl was miserable!  This was just her face and arm but she had a rash over her belly and legs too.  We're not sure how she got it so bad.  We've been careful to watch for it and when we've had to walk through it we wash quickly but it is really a silent attacker.  You can't see the oil or smell it if you get it on you it is easy to spread all over and the rash doesn't show up for almost two days.  Nasty stuff that we are learning to deal with.  So far we've all had a spot or two of it.  Sugarbug had the worst case so far though.
The pay off to walks in the woods- Mushrooms! 

Yes that is a massive mushroom!  We believe it is a Hen of the Woods.  And it is edible and good.  I made mushroom soup with that and still had a gallon bag full to freeze and some for our lunch meal the next day! We have gotten good a identifying several edible mushrooms that a good eating to add to our meals.
Soon we'll have chickens to add to our homestead.  Enjoy your fall weather!