Check

Well, at least it's off the list. And if I don't blog this in a hurry, it won't get done at all. So....I give you:


Pumpkin Pictures!

They're not great, they're barely good. They're full of squinty eyes and forced smiles. But they're here. :)


Some faves:





And some runner-ups:

She just couldn't resist...



And, after 15 minutes straight of me barking "look this way!, look at the camera, MY camera, look here, look at me!", this is one of my faves. :)

You Know it's Bad When....

your six yr. old tells you....

"Mom, I don't think I need to have any candy at all today."

Aww! Poor Miss E is all messed up with "the allergies", as she calls it. Or, "the algees" as little sis says.
The poor girl has circles under her eyes, a stuffy/runny/sneezy nose, and is just not her normal spunky self. What a bummer way to spend a three day weekend.
Please let this pass quickly!

B is for Blog

Okay, okay! Since I have now seen several posts on friend's blogs about things I have planned...I guess I should get my rear in gear and blog myself!

Where to begin??

We had lots of fun with our letter B events the last few weeks.
I think it all started with our Bubbles! Bubbles! playdate at a really cool park. We used traditional and non-traditional bubble tools, with traditional and non-traditional bubble solutions. We had the usual bubble wands, etc. but we also had fly swatters and colanders! We tried some colored bubble mix (didn't work so well!) and some other home-made mixes. We had tons of fun with the bubbles, but the most fun was had in the drained out creek bed! Poor Miss A-slid down one side like a champ, but had THE hardest time climbing up the other side! I had to slide down in my flip flops and practically shove her from behind! She finally made it and joined the band of pirates (I think it was pirates-these kiddos had lots of pretend plays going on) at the top.





Oh-this may be my favorite shot. Our friendly neighborhood "Momarazzi"!


And did I mention there were donkeys?? Such a fun place!




I put together a neat park playdate where we made binoculars with TP holders. The kiddos painted them their color of choice, then played while they dried. During this time I hid all sorts of things from home I had hauled over that start with the letter B! I had a baby in a tree...a bear in a bush...a balloon tied to a sign...a bow on a branch, and much more! The kids were SO cute running from place to place, searching then finding 'B' items with their precious binoculars! It was so much fun to watch. Here are a few pics I got.






Miss A seriously passed out like this. I unwound the binoculars from her neck, but she held on to that balloon for her entire nap. Crazy!


Miss A played host to her cooking group a few weeks ago. And keeping with the letter B theme, we made Bran muffins!
Oh, I'm sorry-I cannot blog this without stressing how annoying I was about the letter B. Any word that started with the letter B, I preceded with the buh-buh sound. And I promise you, you have NO IDEA how many words you might say in a one hour stretch that start with the letter B!
Let's see....while we were mixing the ingredients for our buh-buh-bran muffins, we could already smell the buh-buh-bread from the buh-buh-bread machine. We passed around the buh-buh-bowl so each child could participate as much as possible. We took turns, letting the first kiddo add the buh-buh-buttermilk, and the next measure the buh-buh-brown sugar. Then came the buh-buh-buh-bran flakes and the buh-buh-buh-baking powder.
Oh, did I mention this event was on my buh-buh-buh-birthday?
Annoyed yet?? :)
The moms were quick to join in, and I think (hope?) that we all had fun with our letter B day. I was so bu-buh---(sorry!) busy helping to mix and measure that this is the first picture I got!

Hey-I think they were a hit!

And finally...BONES!! Yes-Miss E hosted her age Science group last week and we brought bones! Well, they were covered in fur and feathers...
This is getting worse, right!?
We discussed nocturnal animals...animals of the night...and then dissected owl pellets! I had NO idea how much these girls would get into this! Literally! Miss E and a couple of the others were digging in with their hands! I was so excited to get these. I don't know when I did this for the first time, but I have never forgotten it. Such a super cool hands-on learning experience. I highly recommend it!





BTW, the aforementioned (and pictured) moms also have pics of these events on their blogs. And they're MUCH better than mine. Check 'em out!

M-T-M

Muffin Tin Mondays!

I saw this idea on a blog about a month ago, then again on a friend's blog. Very cute, and a great fun way to try new foods. I do mine as our after school snack to let Miss E get involved too.
This week I don't think there was an official theme. I saw this orange theme from a comment on the original blog, and decided to steal it!



From left; baby carrots, sweet potato veggie chips, veggie chips, baby carrots, orange sunkist jelly beans, tangelo, tangelo, jelly beans, orange bell pepper, cheddar cheese, bell pepper, cheese.

Both girls tried (at least licked) each item. Miss E liked the bell pepper, Miss A ate one thinking it was a carrot and was not pleasantly surprised...! Miss E ate most of her tangelo. She's always been sort of hot and cold on oranges and the like. Miss A licked it, made a sour pickle face, and didn't try it again. Baby steps...

Last week's theme was shapes, so we stuck with circles/spheres. A great opportunity to discuss three dimensional shapes, and why grapes are not circles, but spheres!
We had grapes, circle cookie cut cheese, circle cut apples, mini rice cakes, and melon balls (cantaloupe).

And...for some reason I can't load the photos, so I leave it at that.