Why Nathan Hates Sheep, ect....

Last week, Trever's school had their "Fall Break," so I had both boys at home--full time! We spent a lot of days at the park, enjoying the last of fall's warmer days. One especially pleasant day, we went on a tour through "The Farm" in Fort Collins. For $2.50 per person, we got to walk through a quaint little farm, enjoying the animals at our own leisure. It was a simple thing, but very enjoyable. However, it ended on an unexpected note that resulted in Nathan's decision that he hates sheep now......

 It all began with so much excitement....

 The boys explored the hands-on farm.....

 chasing the many squirrels....

 playing "bull riders" on the little farm playground....

 pretending to be tractor-driving farmers....

 taunting the tired goats....

 then feeding them some grain.....

 and more grain....

 quacking at the ducks and geese....

 piling into the pumpkin patch....

 and then.....the sheep, the innocent-looking woolly sleepers. Well, the boys wanted one more round of feeding the goats and sheep before we left the farm. After feeding the goats for a while, we baited the sheep until they got up on their feet and started eating some grain. But they must have been extra hungry from their long nap, because they were gobbling up the grain as fast as we could feed it to them. Then one gray-colored sheep grabbed the paper bag of grain right out of Nathan's hands and started eating it! Nathans screamed and I reached into the fence as far as I could to try and pry the paper bag out of the sheep's mouth. But he was just out of reach, and he just kept munching away at the bag! I was so worried for the sheep and Nathan was screaming "No, No!" and crying and crying. I thought he was as worried about the sheep as I was, but then he screamed "I HATE YOU SHEEP!" And as the sheep swallowed the last bit of brown bag, Nathan looked at me and cried "The sheep took my bag!" So, picking him up, I carried my screaming little boy out of the farm, while he continued anguishing "I hate you sheep!" all the way out of the farm, with quiet little Trever following behind.  hahaha. I didn't see that coming! And in case Nathan's day wasn't bad enough, he got stung by a bee on the playground that I brought them to afterwards--hoping to cheer up Nathan. He screamed and cried, of course, and then Trever was terrified of staying--for fear that he'd get stung, too. Again, I didn't see that coming! Life with little guys is so unexpected!
~
And full of surprises, too! One afternoon, Trever said "Mom, take a picture of me!" And I turned around to find him carrying a large load of their stuff to their room. I love it when they surprise me by cleaning up--without being asked!

 The silly surprises are pretty great too. I had sent Nathan to "time out" and Trever ran up to me, saying "Mom, look at Nathan!" So I turned the corner to find Nathan standing on his head in time out! hahaha. How could I stay mad at such a silly clown?!

 Although we didn't do anything amazingly exciting over Trever's break from school, I found myself enjoying so many wonderfully simple moments with them.

 Every now and then, I'll have them pose for a quick picture or two when they're all dressed up in their Sunday Best.

 Nathan is always begging to bring a couple toys with him to church. Sometimes, I just can't resist that sweet smile---and this was one of those times.

 Trever pulled one silly face after another, but I finally got this cute kid to smile nicely. I love his new jack-lantern-grin!
~
One rainy day, we found ourselves inside for most of the day, so the boys informed me that it was actually their Teddy Bears' birthdays! Trever wanted to bake a cake, but we were out of butter. So, instead, we baked a tasty Zucchini Bread---which I interpreted to Nathan as "Bear Cake!"  ~wink, wink~

 They also colored birthday cards for their "Teddy's" and picked out "presents" from their toy box, wrapping them in our new traditional wrapping of brown paper bags. haha. It was a fun day.

 With all the leaves falling from the trees, we took a walk another day, collecting leaves along the way. While I selectively browsed the grounds, looking for unique and pretty leaves, the boys raced across the lawns, just scooping up arm-fulls of leaves and shoving them into their bags. haha. I had thought they'd be a little more observant, but they were having fun, so I decided that was good enough.

 Then, we brought home our leaf bounty and spent the afternoon gluing them on cardstock and making leaf impressions with crayons. They actually were a lot more observant and selective when we did this part and they turned out to make some really pretty pictures.

 Well, school started up again this Monday, and we went back to our usual routine. Until this morning's sudden change of plans: IT SNOWED!!! A LOT!!! So school was canceled and the boys were elated!

 Trever was the first to see the snow outside, exclaiming, "Mom, it snowed! It snowed!" Then, sleepy Nathan walked in the room. So, Trever quickly warned me "Don't tell Nathan, I want to surprise him!" So we called Nathan to the window, and he sleepily crawled onto the couch and looked out side. Then, instantly he was wide awake! Nathan gasped, "Snow! We did it! It snowed! Now we can play in the snow!" hahaha. We did it? I didn't know he was planning this...

 We all looked out the window at the freshly fallen snow. The first snow fall is always so magical! The boys couldn't wait to get out in it, but I asked them to wait until it was a little brighter outside. (6:40 am is still a little dusk, not to mention early--haha) So they waited, keeping their eyes outside.

 Trever and Nathan continued praising the day: (So I got out my pen and paper to take notes):
Trever: Look at all that snow!
Nathan: It's the North Pole!
Trever: You gotta see the trees, Nathan, they're all white!
Nathan: It's Christmas!
Trever: I think there's 5 inches of snow out there!
Nathan: Now we get presents!
Trever: Look at the roofs and trees. It look like they painted them white, but it's just snow!
Nathan: I didn't know it was Christmas!
Me: It's not, honey, it's winter.
Trever: Winter?! I didn't know it was winter!
Nathan: We love you Christmas!

 All at once, Halloween was forgotten and Christmas was in the air...and that's all the boys could speak or sing about. Trever said, "Mom, can we play Christmas? We'll get presents from our room and pretend it's Christmas. But I need you to build us a Christmas tree..." Nathan said, "I'll be Santa! I can be Santa!" Then, Trever said, "Mom, can I call Santa? What's his phone number?" Then Nathan said, "You can call me, I'll be Santa!" They were BUZZING with excitement and BOUNCING off the walls!

So, by 7:30 am, I had them bundled up from head to toe and out the door to embrace the white weather. They rolled and rolled in the snow, experiencing it all with as much passion as possible.

~

Watching them play was as magical as the snow falling itself.