Crabapple Creek

Greetings!

Cold, blustery and even a bit snowy (at times) weather outside my window here, has me inside thinking a blog update might be nice. Contrary to the unpleasant weather out there, I wanted something warm and friendly to post about. When browsing through Stephen's recent pictures, I noticed the creek seemed to be his latest photography interest, (well, not counting his little chipmunk friend ), and how warm and inviting that little stream is! 

The other day Stephen came in with these two, very artistic pictures of leaves floating in the creek. Now, there's been some indecision in the household as to which one is better, especially since Stephen's been debating entering one in a contest. So, I thought I'd ask your opinions. Please cast your vote (in a comment) for either:

Leaf A...

...or Leaf B

My favorite is actually the one with the yellow flowers at the top of this post. I think that one is fantastic and I just love these little flowers that line the creeks.

Oh, and we finished those swim suits the other day. Annie made Lizzy's and did some work on mine (she can be very determined when she sets her mind to finish a project! )


You can buy similar suits online for around $100. We made ours out of second hand (mostly spandex) clothes from the thrift store by simply combining a shirt and skirt pattern. Our inspiration came from: Simply Modest

The kids like to swim in the creek this time of year, on those occasional blistering hot days (okay, so it was only 75, but that's kinda hot when you're working hard, some of us almost wilted! ) The creek is still flowing a little higher and the water is fresh out of the mountains, so there are deeper little pools that they enjoy playing in.


One of their favorite pools is just past the culvert. They like to run down the smooth-bottomed culvert and dive into the pool.


One split-second before, one split- second after. (Stephen did a cool split screen effect on these two pictures.)

I don't think the younger kids worked up a sweat enough to match the amount of time they spent down there.

(Too bad we didn't have her swim suit done yet! She can't wait to go again and try it out.)

Even Donna got to dip her toes in after watching the other kids swimming for awhile.
"I'm not sure I'm getting the enjoyment factor in this..."

"By the way, like my new sun hat? Now I can blend in with the yoopers!"

Our little princess is 5 months old today!! We have SO many adorable pictures (and videos!) of her that I could easily make a dozen posts on her, but I am actually hoping that a brother might compile them into another vid/slide for me to share instead. Perhaps if I ask really nice... or if that doesn't work I could always threaten to do it myself! haha!

Speaking of the boys, check out what they were caught doing today!

40 mile an hour wind gusts gave them the intensive to try to get air born with a tarp in the field. I kept picturing Andrew 'flying' Michael at the end of the tarp like Winnie the Pooh flying Piglet on the blustery day!
 
While it wasn't enough wind to fly with, it was enough to send over a good sized tree in the ravine. When the wind calms down, we're going to go hiking and see if we can spot any other newly fallen trees.

After the boys settled back down to earth, (heehe!) they started construction on a solar shower out by the garden. So exciting! I have to go check out their progress.

Anyway, nice visiting and happy winds-day!

Salutations of Spring!

Good morning family and friends!

 Wow, May already? The pounding rain on the roof outside makes me wonder if we are behind a month, as none of my flowers have bloomed yet. May showers bring June flowers??

Such fun times and wonderful weather we've been enjoying, where to begin? I warn you that this is a photo intensive post, as the boys have been actively pursuing their photography hobby of late.

To start we have some pony play that is starting to progress to progress! The kids daily playtime with their ponies is starting to pay off in the form of well behaving, happy ponies. Lately, they've been photographing (and video taping) their progress for advertising purposes. It's sad to think of selling these guys! Anyway, hence all the pictures.

Theresa and Muggur have been enjoying their rides in the pasture and are now starting to run in different gaits. He's such a calm and easy going guy!
With Lena being heavily pregnant, Theresa has been spending all of her time on the other boys and as a result, they're becoming as sweet and fun as Lena.
Stephen has been able to match Duke's rather high spirited personality with enough playfulness and interest to keep his attention perked, while still keeping his position of leadership in order. After finding out that Duke loves to jump, they have been having all kinds of fun wherever a creek or log is to be had.


The kids must have thought that the ponies made barrel jumping look like fun, as they all had to try it out themselves.


The other night I was playing in the front yard with the little kids when I was excitedly informed of the presence of a 'creature' in the back pasture. This is always cause for some fun, especially if the creature is unidentifiable. In this case there was disagreement as to whether or not this guy was/is a coyote or wolf pup. Whaddya think?

Stephen and Michael like to go hunting in the woods looking for stuff to shoot. Yesterday's hunt found a chipmunk.
Their sisters were all very grateful that they only "shot" it with a camera and then let it on its merry way.

They also had to shoot a little waterfall in the creek to see what that would look like frozen midstream.

On their way out to the woods they caught Lizzy taking a nap with the mule.

The kids have found that there are a lot of lazy animals around the barnyard that make good seats. (Ol' Buttercup's sheddin' out her winter coat again.)
(I have to add that this is Johnny's first picture that I've used on the blog. He was very excited to hear that I was going to share it!)

Some advice for parents--if you want a good back in your old age....
...don't let you children walk all over you...

Donnie has been working on developing her own sweet personality, of late.She's pure sweetness to the whole family.

Spring chores are still building up our winter-soft muscles. The other evening found the whole family out working in the back garden. Dad and the boys were working on digging out and building more beds, Mom was picking wild edibles, the little kids and I were weeding and Annie was walking about with Donnie, showing her all the progress. Sweet times. The evening still provides the most laughter though, with all the various entertainment activities we have to engage in... while the sun is slowly setting...