A Step in the Right Direction

Baxter finally took a step today...ONE step!  It was so exhausting that he fell asleep eating his dinner...

Today on the Land

Following Allen down the driveway...he's on a tractor, the rest of us are in the Suburban.  He had to rent a tractor to fill in the trench for the water line and smooth out the driveway so all the subs can start coming down our driveway instead of through Ms Kathie's field!

Ford watches as Allen tries to lift a huge rock with the tractor!

Ruby LOVES playing in the mud!!!  Rachel was too busy weaving grass and leaves together to be in a picture.

We walked up to Ms Kathie's because she texted to say she has fresh banana bread for us :)...took this picture from her yard.  You can see our port-a-john and some of the block for our foundation in the distance.

10 months old

I love 10 month olds...I know Baxter has made school a challenge for us but when he is able to do what he wants to do, it is so fun to watch and giggle.  He is just about to cross the bridge over into Toddlerville where kids can walk but he's smart enough to know that right now crawling is faster!  I love watching his face when he figures out something new.  He giggles and squeals and is so doggone cute!!  He has figured out how to climb up onto Ruby's bed (the lower bunk) and loves to play there.  He has even come up with several ways to get back down including sliding through the space at the end between the footboard and mattress!!  This 10 month old is smart!  People love to say, "just wait until he's walking, then you'll have your hands full..."   Come on, people!  Are you kidding me?!?!  I may have mentioned this before but I can't wait for him to be up off the floor away from all the tempting things the other kids have dropped. Plus, do you know how much easier it is to hold a small child's hand and let them walk into a store, library, etc instead of carrying a baby, a diaper bag, and a pile of books or several bags of groceries!!!  Not to mention, it is so much  easier than keeping everyone in the car while I get out the stroller and/or put it back in!!  Baxter is amazing and is so fun right now.  I love this innocence before time outs start and taking things away is necessary or tantrums are thrown.  I can stop his crying with a pacifier still (usually) and don't have to exit stage left quickly because of bad behavior.  It won't be long before the "real" discipline starts and everything won't be so cute and sweet.  Believe me, I've had my hands FULL with Ruby, so I know what this guy will be capable of.  Just like Ruby, he's smart and fearless and that is asking for Toddler Trouble!  So, I want to soak up this sweet time with him because my goodness he is so sweet!!!!  Even when he jumps (!) from one of their little chairs to the other one!!  I really wonder some days if we shouldn't enroll all four of them in acrobat school and join the circus, but I digress...

The Wizard of Oz Part 2

Ruby thinks that every movie has a sequel.  She hasn't actually seen The Wizard of Oz, but she loves the pictures she's seen of Dorothy and Toto and I've told her what I can remember of the story.  Today, she found a green stone and I heard her saying something about the Emerald City.  When I asked her what she was doing, she went on to tell me her elaborate story of The Wizard of Oz Part 2.  Basically, the Wizard had given Dorothy this green stone and whenever she holds it up she is able to see a green door through it.  Then she can just walk through the door back to the Emerald City and get as many emeralds as she wants.  I don't think Ruby will have any trouble with creative writing!!

Turkey Time!

Ruby has been learning fun songs in her preschool book like "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly..." and "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush".  She is working on the letter L this week and circles and squares.  We read a different Thanksgiving book together every day, too.

Ford is learning to subtract!  He'll finally finish up the Primer math book in the next few days and start Alpha.  He is working his way through lower case letters and starting to write sentences.  He has read about one-fourth of the books in the last box of Bob books.  He has really gotten good at reading!!  He finished up Australia today and will travel to Antarctica tomorrow to finish up the continents.  He has started poetry with Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes which are just a review because he learned them all last year with Rachel.

Rachel starts learning about money tomorrow...she is so excited!  She has been working on punctuation, specifically quotation marks.  She learned about Passover yesterday and Hanukkah today...on to Jesus and Christianity tomorrow, then Islam next week.  She continues to read a million different books at one time...October Ogre...Thanksgiving on Thursday...Kit Saves the Day...poems by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She has also started a poetry unit but is looking more at what the poem is about, plus some figurative language.

We made a turkey poster and each day Rachel, Ford, and Ruby have been making a feather to add to the poster on which they write something they are thankful for. So far we've had Grandpa, food, the beach, ballet, our house, the library, Thanksgiving, and our family.  I'm sure we'll have a lot more turkey activities in the next couple of weeks and then we will enjoy our vacation!!

Today's Ingram Facts and Statistics

1.  Water is flowing at the new house (well, house site!)...now the mason can make mortar to build the foundation!
2.  I ran 10 miles today...first time I've done that since before I got pregnant with Bax!
3.  Three weeks till Thanksgiving, 53 days till Christmas, that means 42 days until Ruby turns 4!!!!
4.  Baxter is 10 months old today!!!  I can't believe he'll be a year old in two months and it will be 2015!
5.  Rachel has mastered 2 digit addition which involves carrying the one...good thing because she's getting closer and closer to 2 digits herself!  I can't believe she'll be seven in January!
6.  The number of the day for Ford is 5, but it could change at any minute.  Yea, he's five years old, but he's also got five different costumes that he rotates through every.single.day!

Baxter's First Halloween 🎃

Baxter started his Halloween tricks by climbing to the top of the basement stairs.  

Olivia let him borrow her Robin costume which worked perfectly with Ford and Ruby.  Rachel is Merida from Brave.

We went to the Hollifields for pizza and playtime then took the kids uptown to the "Boo Bash".  Lots of stores downtown had candy for them to trick or treat.  It was awesome to be able to walk around and not get in and out of the car or fight traffic.  Baxter loved the music and seeing all the costumes and especially holding his plastic Jack-O-Lantern to collect candy that he couldn't eat (I think that's he dropped it three times!).  

You'll notice he's missing from the final picture.  He fell asleep on our way back home. The big kids wanted to trick or treat in Mom's neighborhood but Bax didn't make it!