"I Love Ya Like a Love Song BABY!" by Callie and Sam

Who needs a TV when you have kids? DANGIT, they are entertaining! And I certainly don't pay for cable when I have this MTV-quality duo's video right here on my own blog and in my own foyer (that's a teeny tiny entryway for those of you who don't speak French). Enjoy Spring Break!

When Stuffed Animals Travel, Part Two

Dear Sam, Eva, Callie, Michael and Joel,

We had so much fun the other day we begged your dad to take us to work again with him.  So yesterday we went on another adventure, and once again we had so much fun, we wish you all could be here with us.

So here’s some pictures of yesterdays adventures.  Your dad sure knows how to start a day because he took us to sit down breakfast and we had ham and French toast with lots of butter and syrup .

So next we started up the mountain, it’s funny when he says that because we’re not actually driving straight up the side of a mountain, it’s more like we’re winding up between the mountains.  Anyway he said we gain about 2000 feet of elevation, which is almost half a mile up.  So here’s a picture of the valley where town is and we are just starting to go up.  Notice the mountains in the background with snow on them.

So about half way up Spike had to get out and tinkle.  So once he finished your dad let us climb in some sage brush.  I was kind of prickly and we got stuck, so your dad had to get us out.  We think we’ll go tree climbing with Joel some time so we can learn how to not get stuck.

We saw some funny signs on the way up.  We thought this sign was funny.  They put this up because there are deer all over the place up here.  Your dad almost hit one coming down the mountain last night.  He was probably going too fast and had to slam on the brakes pretty hard.  I’m glad he didn’t hit the deer.

This is a sign we don’t like.  H2S is Hydrogen Sulfide, which can be present if gas leaks from the pipeline or the well sites.

Anyway we got to work right away.  Your dad didn’t drink coffee because of lent.  So here’s the show where we talk shop.  Actually here’s where your dad complains about being away from home.

And two hours later when that got old we went outside for awhile and stepped on frozen puddle ice crunchies.

After awhile of that we decided to go north and get some work done.  So we got out the laptop, opened up the project and typed  for about an hour.

Next we inspected the cabinet for the 34^th time for about an hour.  There are 6 cabinets out here so that took the rest of the day.

Well that was our day.  I told your dad to put this picture in of his Jeep.  He likes driving in the mud.  He actually had to clean the side windows off so it was safe to drive.

Your dad says we’re coming home today - yeaahhhh.  It sure will be nice.  We had fun up here but we miss you and can’t wait to get home to someone who doesn’t snore through the night.

Love you, XOXOXO, see you soon

Spots, Lucky and Spike

When Stuffed Animals Travel to Evanston, Wyoming

Now for the exciting part of our day ... part one of two parts of emails from Daddy from Wyoming. I think you'll agree that he's a rockin' dad for sending these emails from the stuffed animals the kids send along with him and for also sending postcards to all 6 of us! Here's the first one:

Dear Sam, Eva, Callie, Michael and Joel,

We are having a blast out here, we wish you were here.  Here’s some pictures to show you what we have been doing.

We changed hotels yesterday, because the other place was a dump, and here at the Hampton Inn we get points for free hotel rooms on our next vacation.  Anyway the maid was really nice and snuggled us up together.  Callie you would like the bed it is nice and cushy, warm and soft.  We think Sam and Eva would have a blast bouncing on it. 

Your dad is taking good care of us and sleeps with us every night.  But we told him that we wanted to get out of the room and go to work with him and see what he did.  He said okay and we got to go the very next day.    He had to make sure we were safe on site because they have rules to keep us safe.  Here we are with our protective boots, hard hat and reflective vest on.

We had a good breakfast and he loaded us in the car for the ride ‘up the mountain’.  Here is a picture of us riding to work with him.  There is snow all over the place, and it sure is pretty.  The gravel road is pretty rough and bumpy.

He said that if he had a pick-up he would let us ride in the back, like he lets Joe and Michael do, but since he didn’t he let us hang our heads out the window instead.  Notice that your dad’s Jeep is muddy.  It’s warming up into the mid 30’s so the snow is melting and making a huge mud hole here.  He likes to go through the mud real fast.

He even let us drive even though we didn’t have drives licenses.  He said that we drove pretty good, but not as good as Joel.

Here’s what it looked like going ‘up the mountain’.

And here’s a picture of what it looked like up on top of the mountain.  Way in the background you can see another mountain range.

The first thing we did when we got to the top was to play in the snow.  We didn’t have Michael here to make us a snow fort so we just had a snowball fight and made snow angels.

The next thing we got to do was really cool.  We got to ride on some construction equipment.  The first thing we got to ride on was a gigantic front-end loader. Your dad had to put us up here cuz it was way too high for us to climb. It was greasy and dirty, but it was a blast seeing them move mountains of dirt.  Sam you have to try this you would love it.

The next thing was even awesomer.  It was an excavator.  When you grow up and run one of these Sam you have to take us along.  It was even greaser and dirtier, but boy can you dig a hole fast with one of these. 

Anyway gotta go now.  We love you all and you dad says hi and that he loves you all and misses you very much.

XOXOXO,

Spike, Spots and Lucky

And because I'm all proud to be an Amazon Associate these days, I like to tie in a book or other rec for you on some of the blogs because I love books and I like being educated about stuff. So here is a book for those who are travel widows with kids like me:

"Lessons from the Hen House" Ebooklet Review

Carol J. Alexander has put together a great little resource with her "Lessons from the Hen House" ebooklet lesson plan (like a mini unit study). It's perfect for homeschoolers and kids in traditional schools alike. It's great for any kid who likes farm animals, in fact. And what kid doesn't like farm animals? I can't wait to start this with my kids!

At a sweet little price of $3.99, you'll want to own the whole series, called "Lessons from the Homestead." According to Carol, "Each one covers a different area of the farm. I launched Lessons from the Seed Catalog last spring. Lessons from the Tree House is almost complete and then I have Dairy Barn, Pig Sty, Bee Hive, Garden, and Kitchen yet to write. (And who knows what else I'll come up with!) Each booklet has over 50 lessons for teaching your children math, language, science, art, home economics, and more."

You can get more information from her new website http://LessonsFromTheHomestead.com. She also has a free monthly newsletter by this title that offers additional lesson ideas, interviews, and encouragement for those who are trying to homeschool and homestead at the same time.

Carol is giving away a free copy of "Lessons from the Hen House" to one lucky reader of The (Mommy)Kerrie Show. Just leave me a comment here with your email address so I can contact you if you win! Good luck! I'll be drawing a name on Friday.

Award-Winning McLoughlin Boys

What good is a blog if you can't post pictures of your kids doing cool things? So here are my sweet oldest boys with their dad's their prize-winning Pinewood Derby cars from Scouts from January. The secret is to put weights on the butt of the car so it will go faster. If you get a chance, check out the movie Down and Derby. It totally captures the essence of a dad's a kid's Pinewood Derby and is freaking funny.





I know who looks most proud in this picture!