The Obligatory First Day of School Pictures

Don't they just look thrilled?

The Sprout Sleeps....

Sprout will turn three in just a few short weeks. He is funny, saucy, in command of dogs and cats, sweet, cute, a rough and tumble tagalong littlest sibling, and innocently naughty as all get out.

Teamed up with Little Bear, our food obsessed lab puppy, is like having twins. I have so much admiration for my friend the Tinwyfe who has twin boys! The two of them can wreak havoc in the blink of an eye. He knows how to let the puppy out of his crate too.

Today was running from one Sprout mess to another. The dog biscuit tin is empty, we're out of milk, and there are potato chips in the sugar bowl. I've done an extra load of laundry and mopped up more water than hurricane Earl dumped on us.

So I'm appreciating this nap. And this wild child. Just the way he is.

Freshly Laundered and Line Dried Hippies!

Why I'm the crazy hippie mom who doesn't give her kids "real" toys

This week I was called "a dirty hippie" disparagingly and "happy hippie" with much admiration.

My kids get dirty playing outside. Its true. Most of their clothes are stained with the good red earth that we have here. They spill out of the house often before breakfast and have to be herded like sheep back into the house. Particularly in bad weather. They love rain and wind and anything that makes a good muddy slop in the farmyard to play in. So I take the dirty hippie comment as a compliment.

The other shocker is that they have relatively few toys, atleast toys most families recognize.

But I do provide plenty of materials for making their own toys....see what kids do when they don't have action figures...

They spent all day yesterday making these and playing with them. The peg rail Wild Thing is holding? That's a clone ship. The other is an elaborate play scape modeled after the scene in Star Wars where Jabba the Hutt goes out to the desert to feed people to the monster in the pit.

Ummm....they apparently spent a lot of time watching Star Wars while in Ottawa!

From where I sit..

The paint on the bathroom floor needs a few days drying time before we can continue with it. Last night I stood by the barn under a ladder. A hose attached to the kitchen sink brought warm water to a much needed shower. I watched the evening's bonfire dying down as I washed four colours of paint from my hair.

So now I'm looking at a lull. I think its time to do the simplest project in the house - painting the diningroom.

These pictures are deceptive, the walls are actually a pale mint green, but my camera managed some trick of capturing the green I imagine on the walls. Magic!

Happy signs of a houseful of kids...

Sprout is so happy to have his big brother home to play with him...

The borrowers are back to their old tricks making flamboyant demands in itty bitty notes.

Wild Thing is back to writing fantabulous "music" for the piano.

The chaos of renovations is forgotten each morning as I watch my boys return to their morning ritual of drawing quietly after breakfast.

My house is so much more peaceful when it is full.

Introducing the newest member of our family - LITTLE BEAR!

Wild Thing wanted a puppy. A boy puppy like him. A dog who would fetch. Little Bear is a retriever/springer x and looks like a miniature flat coated retriever. We got him at the SPCA. We can't imagine why a sweet pup like this would ever end up in a shelter!

He's super curious.

He's full of puppy goofy energy.

And we're pretty sure he's going to be a very handsome boy when he grows up, just like Wild Thing.