Midweek Randoms

My sister's birthday was on September 10th, but we celebrated it a little earlier at my house.  It always seems to be a hectic time of year, with both school and dance classes starting.  It worked out so nicely ... a very relaxing day for us.  We had tacos and an oreo cake that Sophia helped me make from scratch.

Min and Louie:

The boys were "casual" in just their diapers because we stripped them down after eating lots of messy cake:

My kids each made Aunt Minnie homemade cards and they were so proud to have her read them out loud:

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It is a tradition that our neighborhood does an annual Glow Party down at the lake on the Sunday before Labor Day.  There is music, popcorn and LOTS of glowsticks for when the sun goes down.  Jack was able to hang out down there with me until 9 pm before we headed back home for a bath and bedtime (a full hour past his normal bedtime).  Steve stayed down at the park with the girls until almost 10:30 pm and they came home exhausted but excited to show off their glowsticks.

Necklaces, bracelets, hair accessories ... they used them in many different ways.

And the best part?  While the girls were in the shower, Steve took all of the glowsticks and made a path (in the dark) all the way up the stairs, through the hallway and into their bedroom.  They squealed when they saw it!

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Watermelon.  We ate our fair share of it this summer for sure.  My kids LOVE watermelon!

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Playing in the puddles:

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Aunt Minnie had some boring felt owls that she picked up at the dollar store, hoping to use them as decorations in her classroom.  She left them at our house one day and I decided to let the girls decorate them for her.  We used paint, feathers, jewels (Sophia can never do a project without a little bling added in) and some googly eyes.  They turned out so beautiful and Aunt Minnie loved them!

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I had a loaf of bread that got old before we could use it (I'm not even sure how that is possible -- we go through a lot of bread in this household), and I didn't want to simply throw it away.  So, I rounded up the kids, split up the loaf and let them feed it to the birds near the outskirts of our woods.

I'm pretty sure that the birds (and the squirrels) were appreciative.

And when you are in the throes of potty-training, it's nice to just hang out in your "big boy underwear."

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One Saturday morning when Steve was out of town, I surprised the kids and had them jump in the van as soon as they got up (in their pajamas, bathrobes and slippers) and took them to get donuts.  We never do this, so it was a COMPLETE surprise to them.  They got to go in the store, pick them out and then come home to eat them.

They picked out the messiest ones possible!

And then there was a small toddler meltdown because Momma wasn't moving fast enough for him.  What can I say?  We love donuts here.

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A quick game of tetherball before school?  Sure.

A quick ride around the driveway while Momma is loading the van with the girls for school?  Yup, every single morning.

And, posing for Momma right after school because she loves pink and purple so much ... especially her new outfit!

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Pumpkins Galore

On Saturday, while Steve was working, I planned a little "pumpkin project" for the kids.  A very simple one, using things that I already had in my craft kit.  I saw a similar idea online and knew that it would be perfect for the age group that I was working with ...

We have no less than 2000 popsicle sticks just waiting to be used for craft projects.  So, I had the girls count out exactly 14 each (thus, making nary a dent in our supply) and I hot-glued them together using two of the sticks as support on the back.  In no time at all, they were dry and the kids set about painting them orange to resemble a pumpkin.

Such intense concentration:

Jack was enjoying his complete freedom with the paintbrush:

Getting every last piece of bare wood covered with paint:

After lunch, the paint was dry and the girls set to work using a Sharpie marker to make their own pumpkin faces.  Then, we glued a green pipe cleaner for a stem and attached magnets to the back.  The final product: pumpkin magnets for the fridge!

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On Sunday morning, we made our weekly trip out to the orchard so that I could work for a couple of hours.  The kids LOVE going with me!  And what's not to love?  They get to have donuts, slushes, apples, play, see their Grammy, Papa and Uncle Z and run wild ...

It was a great year for pumpkins (the last couple of years have been disappointing), so we took the kids down into the orchard before we left so that they could choose some pumpkins to have for the front of our house. 

The pumpkins have all been picked since the last time we were down there -- two weeks ago -- but that didn't bother the kids one bit.  They took off running immediately, scouting out the best pumpkins that they could get their hands on!

Jack was getting a little warm, so I put his shorts on right before we headed down to the field.  Quite the fashion statement -- rubber boots and shorts.

Steve was in charge of carrying all of the selected pumpkins back to the truck

Samantha was instructed how to "properly" carry a pumpkin; it's alright to hold it by the stem, as long as she balanced it with her hand underneath.

No pumpkin was too heavy for this little girl:

Even Momma chose a pumpkin:

A momentary pause in the action to empty the dirt out of his boots -- an occupational hazard with wearing boots with your shorts:

Taking a little rest.  It's hard work waling through a big field filled with bumps and vines.

Getting ready to go ...

... but not before driving the truck to pick up the girls who found their pumpkins at the very end of the field!

Yes, we ended up with quite the collection of pumpkins!

Sophia's First Day of School

Sophia attends preschool four mornings a week (8 am to noon) and absolutely loves it.  This is her second year of preschool, but she is at a different location than last year ... simply to provide her with a different curriculum.  It is safe to say that she LOVES it already.

 

As is our tradition, Steve left for work a little later that morning so that he could be there to see the girls off.

 

 

Daddy's girls:

And Momma's girls, too:

So excited about going to school:

Showing off her snack bag:

Sophia chose her own book bag -- a light-up Sofia the First one:

A quick picture outside of her school, before we went in:

Posing with her teacher, Mrs. Dickinson and the teacher helper, Miss Hope:

Sophia has a locker to keep her book bag/coat/boots.  Needless to say, she really thinks that he is "big stuff."  After all, even Samantha doesn't have a locker at her school!

Samantha's First Day of School

Samantha is in 2nd grade this year.  She is a "young" second grader because she will only be turning seven years old in November (most of the other students will be turning 8 this year).  We are happy with the choice that we made to push her ahead to kindergarten and not have her attend a second year of pre-school.  She was more than ready for the environment (both academically and socially) and we feared that she might become bored with the learning materials if she attended a second year of pre-school.

She was SO excited to wake up for her first day of school.  She received the teacher that she 'wanted,' and already knew that several of her friends would be in the same classroom as her.  Steve took her to the Meet the Teacher Night the week before (I was teaching) and she became familiar with the classroom, her coat hook and anything else that was of interest.

Looking so grown up:

Posing in front of the sunflowers that Samantha started FROM SEED!  (We did lose one after a wicked windstorm, but the others managed to survive).

Samantha insisted on a picture with her momma and "baby brother:"

Posing with Mr. Henning, her teacher:

Samantha only had a half-day of school for her first day and her younger siblings were anxious for her to come home and eat lunch with them.  The bus was running a little behind that day (understandably), so after a long, 20-minutes of standing in the driveway, Samantha finally arrived home and we were able to take a quick picture.

Sophia's first day of school was the next day and I was pretty happy about the way that that worked out.  It gave me time to focus on each of my girls independently and their first days of school ... And Jack?  Well, he seems to miss having Sophia around already.  (He was used to Sam being gone regularly last year).

Slime!

As our next door neighbor was packing up his house and preparing to move, he offered us a few "goodies" that he didn't really need anymore.  Nothing too exciting, really.  Some baking supplies some yard items, but he also gave us a box of borax.  I questioned why we needed a box of borax and what we were possibly going to use it for ... and Steve simply said that he had a few ideas for the kids.

Yes, I am the scientist in his family; but it was Steve that set to work captivating the kids' attention with his ideas.  First, they made some pretty interesting crystals dangling from pipe cleaners in mason jars (even though the only way to get them out would be to break the jars -- a simple "rookie mistake"). 

And then they made the ever-popular SLIME.  This was a great project, as we have saved the slime in ziploc bags for two weeks and the kids continue to use it regularly.

Each of the kids got to have their slime tinted with a different color -- a great idea so that we would be sure which bag of goo belonged to which child.

Samantha's slime was blue:

And she played stretched it out over and over again, and then rolled it back into a ball ... only to begin the whole process over.

Sophia's slime was yellow, the perfect choice to match her shirt.

 

Beginning to get the hang of the gooey mess:

And Jack's slime was green.  That kid just dove right in -- with a smile on his face, squeezing with all of his might.

Absolutely fascinated:

 

 

Of course, I couldn't resist sending a few pictures to our neighbor, now residing in Minnesota.  After all, I don't think that he had the slightest notion at the time just how much use we would find for that partial box of borax!