There are More!

Oh yes...more squirrels are living in the attic. This is a picture of our 3rd catch...who then Brett brought to the park to release and when he did, he watched it climb the tree, get in a fight with a grey squirrel and then "fly away". At the same time he was doing that, I was showing the gals at work the squirrel when one of the docs looked over my shoulder and said "you have flying squirrels". The day before Cate and even mentioned to Brent after looking at the blog that she though we had flying squirrels. They were all right...Brett saw it fly.

Since then we have learned

1. They are very social creatures

2. They live in colonies of 15-30

3. They love to invite others to live with them

4. They are the only nocturnal squirrel (that explained a lot!)

5. They remember where they live and it is recommended that you take them 10miles away to release them and preferably over a body of open water

Brett has declared a full fledged war on these guys...we trapped the 4th one this morning and he was released far far away.

Shadows

Isn't is so cute when a little one discovers shadows? Brenna and I had just finished dropping the boys off at school and on the way back to the car the sun was just right in the sky for some pretty impressive shadow making.
She had so much fun watching her shadow - jump up and down...
.....and follow her from behind.
She also loves Diego and Dora right now - so here is Diego who she loves to bring everywhere we go.

Christmas Tree Time

Oh how fun this time of year is. Even with no snow - hope it comes for Christmas- we are still enjoying getting ready!

First on the list we had to get the tree. We took off with Grandpa and Nanna this year to our new favorite tree farm - I think it is the large deer, huge elk and zebra that make the experience a bit unique!

Here is Matthew's pick...
...and here is Joshua's.
Bren and Nanna with so many trees to choose from...ummmm can you say that they eventually just all look the same!
Grandpa with his "BIG" tree.

Finally there is ours getting its wrap for the trip home.Then we were off to see the deer and in case you were not sure what you were looking at there was this handy guide.
I think this falls under the Father-Buck category.
Then there was this sign...

....but I was not sure Brenna could read it...she tried over and over to feed the deer.Matthew posing for a great face picture.
Daddy set it up as soon as we got home....thanks to the new miracle tree stand that the man at the tree farm talked us into..... it went up like a breeze and the boys got right to decorating. I think Brett is talking about how great this thing is.
Finally when Brenna got up from her nap and with her crazy bed head hair she got to put the final touches on the tree! Now we are all set!

Sleepless Nights and Furry Creatures

Oh yes, that is our newest catch. A baby grey squirrel and quite a cute one at that. Wait...what am I even saying. This little guy has been the source of sleepless nights for the past week. About 2 am Brett and I have been woken up to the sounds of scampering feet, rolling acorns above in the ceiling of our bedroom, and lots of ruckus!!! We caught his brother/sister the other day in a trap and were hoping that was the end of all the commotion but nope...no such luck. That night all the noise started up again and Brett got to researching on how to get them out! So live traps we bought- now PLEASE PLEASE be the last one so we can sleep soundly tonight!

Josh Getting Ready for Christmas

Joshua's class made gingerbread houses this year in celebration of Christmas. He did a pretty good job I think and enjoyed picking off every last piece of candy and popping it in his mouth!

Generous or Expensive?

This was the conversation at dinner while we were talking about the boys getting ready for Awana tonight.

Mom "Do you guys know that tonight you are going to get jugs and we are going to try to collect money to fill them up for the next few weeks then bring them back to church"

Josh "Oh, (with his mouth full of chicken) let me go grab some." He then ran upstairs grabbed a bag full of pennies that he has been collecting and brought them down to bring to church.

Matthew then says to Me "I don't want to waste all my money on church mom"

Mom "Why don't you want to waste your money Matthew?"

Matthew "I want to use all my money to buy Joshua a really nice Christmas present"

Dad "Matthew, remember that the Bible tells us that we are to give our money first to what God wants us to give it to - and that means to our church and we will always have enough to use for things we want or need."

Mom "Matthew what kind of heart does God want us to have about our money?

***Now the word that I was looking for here was GENEROUS***

Matthew's answer..."Expensive"

We all laughed hard!! And yes - he gladly with a cheerful heart brought some money to church tonight also!

Our Pilgrim

Matthew's Kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving feast at school and all the parents were invited. We watched them sing the songs that they had been practicing in music and then they had all their treats. Mac picked to be a Pilgrim. The next day he wore the Indian costume he had made to Grandpa and Nanna's for Thanksgiving at their house.

Hunters

This year Joshua was finally ready to spend a few days at the hunting deer camp with Brett. He had a great time being with his daddy, grandpa, uncle and cousins. It was fun seeing them get so excited to go...packing all the gear and food. Joshua got to use his new birthday presents which were a really nice hunting outfit and a safety harness. Josh was able to keep really still and watch some deer go by and when he was just waiting he read an entire book!

Star Gazing

The other night as we were pulling into the driveway Matthew got a glimpse of a planet in the sky along with lots of stars. He ran into the house, grabbed his binoculars, a sheet of paper and some crayons and came back outside to "draw" the sky. It was so cute how excited he got over the amazing way that God has created our world! What a wonderful teachable moment it was for us as a family to just get excited about the greatness of our God!

Another Play Museum Outing

Once again we went to our favorite play place. Here are some pictures of the kids. They really are growing up.

Joshua - age 8

Matthew - age 5 1/2

Brenna - age 2 1/2

Finally a Dinner with No Complaints

This past weekend I took the kids out for dinner after running some errands around town and it was a blast. If anyone knows our boys - especially Joshua-they would understand the pure joy on his face of being able to just eat seafood for dinner. I tell you this boy has pretty fancy taste in food and much to his dismay does not get it too often at home. He had a blast pulling out crab meat from 3 large crabs and devoured 2 servings of coconut shrimp! Matthew gobbled up all his fish and dug into the crabs also. Brenna and I ate the leftovers and thank goodness I ordered her some chicken and applesauce or she would have left hungry.

Happy 8th Birthday Joshua

In October we celebrated Joshua's 8th Birthday with a Narnia Party. We invited guests with tickets inviting them to help Aslan defeat the Evil White Witch. Everyone was encouraged to come in costume as one of the characters in Narnia. Here we have Peter, Edmund and a princess.

Others came as knights, warriors and some animals.
I used Joshua and Matthews own Narnian characters for cake decoration.
We had a feast, including a full turkey served with fruits and veggies. One very creative mom even wrapped Joshua's present up as a turkey - how cleaver!
The upstairs was turned into a snowy Narnian winter........
...and the basement was a castle. The favorite game of the day was using a real bow and arrow to slay the dragon pinata. The kids got lots of turns each and some even had excellent shots. The final blows however were dealt with Joshua's sword.

First Field Trip

To the Apple Farm we went.
Matthew's class went on their first trip to Tom Towers Farm and her is Farmer Tom himself showing the kids his special apples that have a star inside them.
Brenna and I were able to meet the bus up at the farm and help out. Bren enjoyed the picking and eating!
Inside the market Farmer Tom brought in a brussel sprout bush to show the kids how they grow. They all got a laugh out of it. It was a fun fall morning!

Maid of the Mist

Oh Beautiful Niagara Falls

I cannot believe that I have not blogged about this before - but we really don't go often. Two weeks ago we had a great October weekend and after church the Burrs talked us into an adventure on the Maid of the Mist. I was not sure how Brenna would handle it but true to her adventurous nature she just loved it. This was the boys first time on the boat and they really were impressed with the massiveness of the falls.
Brenna and Kaylee all bundled up in their kid size blue rain coats!
Matthew flashing a smile before we got all wet.

Mommy and Brenna all set to go.
Joshua with his hood on but he soon thought he would see how wet he could get and took it off.

Daddy and Brenna All good and soaked!
Brenna gives the camera a wave hello!
Joshua and Daddy as we pulled back into the dock.

Mr. Burr and Madison after the ride.
What a great beautiful day and a good view from the observation tower.
The Burr Family - thanks for going with us guys!