Sunday Mini-Road Trip

Sunday we went on a mini road trip to the original Freedom Rock in Adair County (just 40 minutes west of Des Moines on I-80). We've had this on our 'must see' list since last Memorial Day. With Veterans Day coming up, we felt it was the perfect time to take the minis to view it. We explained to them about Veterans Day, honoring soldiers, and named a few people we know who are in the military (or were in the military). It was a quick visit as the only thing to see is the painted rock, but the kids enjoyed seeing the paintings and asked some excellent questions.

This pole had numerous badges from people who have served in the military nailed into this pole next to the Freedom Rock.

There was a small shelter that had information about the Freedom Rock. The kids enjoyed reading some of the facts and looking at the photos.

After Freedom Rock, we went to Panther Creek in Adel, IA. Matt wanted to show the boys where his grandparents were buried and family members who had served in the World Wars.

Since the morning had a serious tone to it, we took the kids to their favorite park and a long walk on the Greenbelt bike trails in the afternoon.

The city had been repaving the bike path the last couple of months. Harrison somehow managed to pull a tree root up out of the loose dirt.....and he brought it home with us to show to the daycare kids.

Holding up their goodies they got along the trail: a tree root, sticks, leaves, a tumble weed type thing, and a thorn.

With winter and the holiday season approaching, I have a feeling this may be the end of our road trips for a few months. We've been busy thinking of new cold weather activities we can do on the weekends. The first thing on my list: spend quality time with each of my minis individually. I realized the other night that I've never had an outing just me and my youngest mini Elizabeth. I always have two or more kids with me. This prompted me to create "mommy and (insert child's name here)" time over the next couple of months. Other things on our weekend cold weather list: bowling, indoor mini golf, and going to a movie.

I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to all of our outdoor fun we've had the last several months, but a little bit of hibernating this winter seems to be sounding pretty good!

Wall of Thanks

A fun filled 2014 is nearing the end. Our little family of five has a lot to be thankful for. We had an excellent year filled with fun, vacations, road trips, friends, and lots of laughs. As all kids do, my minis tend to get wrapped up in the whole Christmas commercialization. Halloween is over and instantly it's Christmas. They're young kids so it's completely understandable why they get so wrapped up in 'what's Santa bringing for Christmas???!!??"

As a mom who's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, I try and try with all my might to get them to focus on the importance of Thanksgiving. This year we made a Wall of Thanks.

I went over with the minis what Thanksgiving was all about, some things I was thankful for, and why I was thankful for them. I then asked them to list out things they were thankful for. Some of them were beyond hilarious.

I don't expect my kids to jump for joy at the Thanksgiving season just yet. I love to see how excited they get for seeing Santa at the mall, singing Christmas carols, Christmas lights hanging from houses, and everything else that comes with the Christmas season. I do, however, expect as they get older they see the importance of being thankful for what they have and even for what they don't have. The Wall of Thanks was the best visual representation I could think of for my young minis to actually see all there is to be thankful for in their lives. So far, this has worked out great. The minis will walk by and read (or look at) the leaves on our Wall of Thanks and quickly think of more to be thankful for. My hope is that this wall will be full of leaves by the time Thanksgiving arrives!

Just when I think they are embracing Thanksgiving and everything we have to be thankful for, I hear "I'm thankful for Christmas and all of the presents Santa's going to bring me....right after we eat lots of turkey on Thanksgiving."

Want to create your own Wall of Thanks? Do an image search on Google of the image you'd like to use (we used leaf cut outs, but also considered using pumpkins or turkeys) and print it out. Have the kids color them. Write what each person is thankful for in the middle. We taped our's directly to the wall so they can be easily removed after the holiday (although I do plan on keeping these gems for the memory books). A Tree of Thanks is equally as easy to do: head to Michael's craft store for a small fake tree (these range in price from lower than $10 to over $50, depending upon size) and use string to tie your leaves.