bits & pieces

 Here is my weekly random photo blog post.  My goal is to start getting better at blogging these things, having shorter blogs, and fewer that are super long with lots of pictures.

My little sweetie. This was my first photo on my new phone.

 School Daze....yep....this is what it comes down to sometimes.  Falling asleep at the table while I drone and on and on....ahem...I mean...while I read.

 However, sometimes school work looks more like this :)

And, hopefully there are some smiles to go around too.  

 The girls wanted to work on spending more time together doing fun things that they both enjoy.  One day, they decided to work on their cake decorating badge for AHG.  They had to make their own cupcakes, learn about different types of food coloring and tint their icing, then decorate their cupcakes.

 These are suppose to be little fish.  But, I made a turkey.

 The girls are enjoying their horsemanship lessons.  They learn basic stable manners, riding, and care of the horses.

 I love that she had to clean the horse's shoe.

 While the girls are at horse lessons, Nate and I get to go on a date.  Silly antics are a necessary.

 This particular day, he got to play in the Chick Fil A play area for a while.  He spent the whole time entertaining me and trying to make me smile.

 After a long day of cleaning in preparation for the selling of our house, we ended up at Chilis around 8:00pm.  Yep, Nate has on his jammies, Hannah got super dressed up (tights and all), and Nicole is wearing a simple dress.

 I have a whole rant in my head about children, chores, and how hard it is to let them help...but how great it is to teach them to help.  However, this is not the time.  Maybe tomorrow.

 The best part about selling a house is that I have great kids who want to help clean.  The worst part is that I have great kids who want to clean (but end up making a bigger mess....or work too slowly).  I'd rather go with the help and deal with the consequences of their childishness than be to picky over a perfect home.

 Nate's been on a roll lately! The girls are expected to do their laundry.  They have to bring their baskets down, and put it in the washer and dryer (they love that part).  Occasionally, I'll grab the clothes at night at fold, but usually it is their job to fold and put away.  They have been doing this for a while.  It's generally a slow process.

Anyway...I do not expect that of Nathan (yet).  However, yesterday the girls were putting their clothes away, and Nathan wanted to make sure his got put away.  I told him I would fold his clothes after my shower.  Apparently, he wasn't interested in waiting.  While I took a shower and put my own clothes away....HE sorted, folded, and put away his clothes all by himself!  The only thing I had to do was hang the shirts up in the closet because he can not reach!  I was super impressed.  Hopefully, he'll make a great husband one day!

Nathan is also a bit confused about the selling process of the house.  Before we can leave to go anywhere, we always make sure the rooms are basically cleaned up.  I asked him to check his, and this is what I found.  His suit case crammed full with his jammies, a pop gun, and all of his cars.  I asked him why he did this and he said, "Mommy, if someone comes to look at our house and buys it, I don't want them to have my things.  We have to take these with us".  He's still not convinced that the sale will take longer than buying groceries at the store.  He's worried someone will take his cars and jammies.  Cut boy!

Yep, it's that time of year....chocolate sales for AHG.  How can you resist these two little cuties, selling chocolate door to door!