Indoor Riding

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a delightful day with family and friends. I even managed a 5k Turkey Trot that made me feel really good and guilt-free throughout the rest of the food-rich day.

I didn't manage to get any photos of Thanksgiving as in the recent cleaning frenzy I misplaced both my cameras. I have since happily relocated them and downloaded photos from them. This set brought a smile to my face, hope it brightens your day, too!

We brought the riding horse into the living room, and the kids had so much fun bouncing on it one night. I'm not sure what caused their halos in the photo above, but I loved their expressions so much I decided to use the photo anyway.

This one's a winner. You can see how many teeth Desert Girl has now. In July she only had four, but they started popping out quickly after that. This was definitely a wild hair day for both of them. Desert Girl was wearing a shirt with a cowgirl and horse, so I think she was ready for a ride.

Part of the fun was that the horse kept bucking them off. Riding double made it happen even more frequently.

Oops! Off again.

I like Desert Boy's hair!

We might be getting a little out of control.

Off again! It's nice that on the cold days and evenings they can burn a little energy this way!

Hello, Cows

 Desert Girl and I went for a little walk this afternoon. She soon found a very long stick and just had to drag it along. We went over to the little creek by our house and she busied herself throwing sticks in. She wasn't too thrilled that Henry thought it was a game and jumped in to retrieve the sticks. She wanted them to float down the stream.

 Meanwhile I was keeping an eye on the cows. They're in the meadow right by our house now (with only a stray cow or two adding some extra fertilizer to our yard). The cows are really curious and decided we were worth investigating.

 What's up?

 The cows came a little closer. Desert Girl was definitely paying attention now.

 She decided to go say hi.

Although the cows are many times her size, I knew they wouldn't let her get too close. She actually stopped at a reasonable distance, waved hi to them, then came back to me.

The cows shuffled down the road a bit and turned and looked at us again. We looked at them. It was an exciting scene.

Then they turned and walked away. And we did the same.
The end.

Leaf Jumping

A couple weeks ago--or was it longer?--it seems to be getting harder and harder to keep track of time--we decided it was time to go play in the leaves. We raked up the leaves under our catalpa trees and Desert Girl thought it was absolutely funtastic to fall into the leaves. She did it over and over again.

Desert Boy was also eager to partake in the fun. He helped Desert Girl dust the leaves off her clothes. It was precious to watch them play together.

The catalpa leaves were big and dry, so they didn't last too long. It's not so much fun to jump into shredded, crumpled leaves, so we decided to move to another part of the yard, under the apricot tree. The leaves at the top of the tree had turned a golden yellow and fallen off the day before, so they were still moist and perfect for jumping.

Takeoff!

Takeoff again!

If you're wondering about the helmet, we were about to go on a bike ride and Desert Boy decided he just had to jump in the leaves.

 

The kids convinced me I had to jump in the leaves, too, but I found my favorite activity was burying them in the leaves.

Now we have lots more leaves on the ground, but they aren't as pretty as the first ones. They're mostly green and brown. Fortunately the kids don't mind at all.  If we somehow miss the snow and rain that's supposed to come this weekend, I have a feeling we'll be raking up more piles of leaves and jumping in them!

Horse Canyon Hike

 We bumped our way up a really rocky road recently to go for a little hike. We were wishing that the new addition to our family was up to speed so we could get there in a little more comfort! Finally we arrived at the trailhead for Horse Canyon. I had been there before but had not hiked past the trailhead, and I really wanted to this day, despite the snow.

 So we trekked up the trail, which I found extremely beautiful. There were all sorts of things to look at, like this hornet's nest. I was glad it was winter and I didn't have to worry about them.

 Desert Boy thought it was fun to run. He had a lot of energy.

 He slowed down to get a stick. Why is it that every kid needs a stick to hike?

 We eventually got to the sign marking the Mount Moriah Wilderness. The kids thought that was far enough to hike, so they snacked with Dad while I went up the trail a little farther. I didn't want to turn around, it was so pretty. I will have to go back another day!

 They were still snacking when I got back. Snack breaks are very important.

 I couldn't resist a few candids of the kids.

 My, what big blue eyes you have, Desert Girl!

 On the way down Desert Boy wanted to run some more, so I went with him. (We teach the kids they have to stay in sight of us when hiking because we don't want them to become a mountain lion snack.) Desert Boy slid along just fine. When we got to this little branch across the trail, he decided he wanted to go under it. That required him laying in the snow, but he didn't seem to care.

When we got back to the two-track road that led to the trailhead, Desert Boy had so much energy that we kept hiking down the road, past the big, beautiful ponderosa pines. It was a really fun hike, more than any of us expected. It turned out that a little snow and cold didn't put a damper on the day.

Desert Girl and a Puppy

 When I went to pick Desert Girl (and Desert Boy) up from the babysitter's, Desert Girl couldn't resist picking a pretty yellow flower.

 Then she got distracted by one of the Chihuahua puppies. There's one of the litter of five that lets her pick it up and carry him all around.

 Desert Girl is really possessive of the puppy. In case you're wondering, no, we're not bringing it home. No dogs in our house, plus Henry would fell left out! We really enjoy having a dog, but we also like it a lot that we have a low maintenance dog. It is particularly handy that Henry has even trained himself not to poo on the grass. My last dog never pooed on the grass either, and I never thought I would be so lucky to have two dogs like that. It certainly helps that we have lots of brush around.

So we are grateful that Emma can get her puppy fix. Like how she's still holding the flower?

Kid Stories

 Desert Girl's babysitters do amazing things with her hair. She got her first braids and first French braids last week. How cute! She doesn't sit still quite so well for me. I figure a clippie barrette is a good effort on my part.

So why is Desert Girl so upset? And what is she holding in her hands? And why is her mouth smeared with chocolate?

Ah, well we were trying to find fun zucchini recipes, and I found a zucchini-chocolate chip muffin recipe. The kids helped me make them, and I put the pans on the counter to cool off. We got busy doing other things, and the next thing I know, Desert Girl is walking into the living room with muffins clutched in her hands, leaving a trail of crumbs.

I wasn't so upset that she was eating them, it was the trail of crumbs I didn't like! So I promptly set her outside and started cleaning up the kitchen, where I found that she had pulled the entire muffin tray onto the floor and most of the muffins were lying upside down.

The next thing I hear is Desert Girl bawling outside. I go and look and find that she is extremely distraught that Henry has been helping her eat the muffins. She doesn't want to share!

One more quick story, before I forget it:

One evening we were driving home and saw a beautiful  rainbow, ending in one of our fields. Desert Boy noted it.

He said, "Mom, see that rainbow?"

I answered yes.

He said, "Do you know"

And before he finished, I was already grinning, expecting him to say, "where it ends?"

I should know better than to try and outguess a 4-year old.


Instead he finished with, "how to climb up the rainbow?"

Help, please!

Mud and Dancing in the Backyard

We had a wonderful weekend getaway, off to the Midwest for my youngest brother's wedding. Now we're back, enjoying the end of our desert summer. That means lots of outside time.

And playing in mud.

Desert Boy asked me so politely, "Mom, may I play in the mud, please?"

Of course I had to say yes.

Then he went on to other activities, and Desert Girl took her turn in the mud.

Here's a little video of some of the backyard fun:

Tree House Expansion

 The tree house is looking splendid now that the leaves have sprouted, and Desert Boy spends more and more time there. He takes his honored guests to the tree house to hang out, and some of those honored guests have left their mark.

 Ernesto was one of the recent visitors, and I snuck in through the back to see what the boys were doing.

 You see, not only is there a back fire escape (which requires crawling), but there's also the new tire room, complete with balancing boards.

 It provides lots of fun, plus it's nice and shady.

 Desert Girl isn't about to be left out! She can climb into the tree house all by herself. She still has to learn to get down, but that doesn't seem to bother her much.

 Ernesto coming in from the back fire escape.

 Ernesto wanted to work on the tree house, too, so we found a hammer and nails and he started hammering away.

 He might need a little more practice. But at least no one went home with bruised fingers!

 Construction activities were monitored by Desert Girl.

And sometimes she stole the nails.

 Desert Boy decided to hang a horseshoe on the nail. When I told him that he should hang it the other direction for good luck, he told me,


"No, this is the way I want it."

He can be opinionated like that. After all, we should keep in mind what else he has said:

"I'm four, and I know everything."


Sometimes I find that it's very hard to keep from laughing.

Meanwhile, Desert Girl is getting on the talking wagon. Her favorite words are apple, cow, moo, cat, meow, dog, agua, uh-oh, oops, and mama. She's getting better at imitating words and phrases, so we have to be more careful about what we say. Or maybe we'll just send her out to the tree house to play!

Water Troughs and Hay Bales

 My friend Andrea and her family are visiting, and they had a special request to go down and see the equipment yard. The kids were in heaven as soon as they got there, quickly scampering over old equipment to test it out and drive to exotic locales. Then they found the old water troughs and started bouncing around.

 The sound was fun, as well as jumping from one to the next.

 Then it was into the back of an old truck for an impromptu dance. Desert Boy and Desert Girl were having a delightful time with their new friends.

 Desert Girl took time out to drive an old bathtub.

 Meanwhile, the older kids were looking for the next fun piece of equipment.

 Before long, they spotted some freshly stacked hay and couldn't resist scampering to the top of it.

 We made it!

 Even Desert Girl had to give it a try.

 Then back to a tractor.

The light was getting dim and it was time to head back. But before we made it to the vehicle, one more challenge remained:

 The stair step pile of hay. Who could resist?
(Okay, I could, but that's because I was wearing shorts and flip flops and knew the scratchy hay would make me itch!)

 Desert Boy saw his friends up on the hay and immediately thought that would be fun to do. The only problem was that he was a little too small to climb up by himself.

 So he enlisted some help. What great teamwork!

 Time to pose for a photo at the top.

 Then time to give a shout and head on down.

Ah, the simple pleasures of life!