Blogging Break

Wow, I was on a roll there for a while with this blog posting almost almost every day. I am slowing down...
I have really had to be disciplined and stay away from the computer for long periods of time in order to get all of this work here done before we leave for our wonderful family vacation that I am SOOOO looking forward too!!!

Here is what our weekend consisted of:
1. Sleepover for Colin
2. Girls night out, went to the movies and saw Where the Wild Things Are (it was OK, just OK)
3. Board meeting bright and early at Panera
4. Pick Colin up at sleepover (and put him right to bed for a SIX hour nap) (Angi, your house is the new "fun house!!! Thanks again for having him.)
5. Try and get some vacation errands, birthday, and Christmas shopping done
6. Get ready to host a neighborhood Wii/pizza party at our house
7. Church/Sunday School/CCD
8. Flag Football
9. Walk for 30 min (I had to do something just for me!)
10. Put together class list for co-op next session
11. Work on Daisy meeting for next weekend
12. Work on class I will be teaching next session at co-op
13. Buy new luggage for trip
14. Watch Extreme Makeover as a family

Wow, it really didn't seem like that busy of a weekend but when it's all written out it sure looks like it!!!
But...I can handle some seriously busy days ahead because soon, very soon, I will be HERE floating the days away...and most importantly I don't have to cook or clean for 8 days. Heavenly...

Boy Fun

It really stinks that it gets dark SO early but Colin and his friends were working on their giant leaf fort right until the sun went down. I think they miss the lazy, (light) days of summer where they would make forts in the woods for hours and hours.

Decision, Decisions...Hmmm

After four kids we have about every bath towel animal there is to own.
Guess who loves to pretend to be a different animal every darn time he gets out of the bath. It's not just grab a towel, dry off, and get into pj's anymore.
Oh no! William wants to transform himself into whatever he feels like being that night. And I must admit this is not always an easy decision and sometimes he changes his mind several times. Tonight he chose the frog. And when choosing the frog he was no longer William. He is so into imaginary play right now, and it is just so ADORABLE. I am so thankful that I kept all of these animal towels over the years because we are all getting so many laughs (at his expense).

Here he is last week as a seal. See the candy bar he stole out of the Halloween candy. Apparently it was "seal food". Who knew??

A Beautiful Sunrise

Happy Wednesday morning!!!

Toddler Art

I found a plastic tray at Michael's that is perfect to put Williams little Montessori and art activities on. The idea behind the tray is that the it is their work space and that the mess stays on the tray. We'll see???
I introduced William to these awesome do-a-dot paint pens and he loved them. I also got a paint book with animals for him to work with as he is over the top obsessed with anything with four legs.
These pens are very age appropriate with very little mess. If you know me you know I am not afraid of a LITTLE mess but every once in a while I try to go with a low maintenance activity!
FYI- Emma had a ball with this too!! Isn't her snake superb?!
(Angi, if you don't have these... Cruex and Greer would love them for Christmas!)

Crafty Friends

One of Adrienne's best friends spent the night Friday night. These girls were on a mission to go to Michael's, get some supplies that they needed and craft, craft, craft. But...after going and getting everything they needed they only got to one of their fun little projects. (the clothes pin dolls pictured below). Why??? Because they were just having so much fun enjoying each others company. These two get along so well, have so much in common, and love to laugh! I remember going to sleepovers with good friends and laughing so much that my stomach literally hurt the next day. That is the kind of friendship these two have!

What to do with all the leftover candy???

We made these candy cardboard houses last year (pre-blog) and the kids were begging to make them again.
What a great way to not only get rid of all this junk, but to reuse all of the cardboard boxes that we received our school curriculum in.
Since Monday is piano lesson day we invited our usual Monday crowd (minus Cruex, who got sick on the way here. Hope your feeling better buddy!) to join in our messy fun.
We have our own candy factory going on here.

Colin and Rhyse had tons of fun together.

The big kids took over the sun room.

Emma wanted to stay in her p.j.'s all day today. A perk of homeschooling.

Look how focused these two are. They are normally never still this long.

Sorry this is blurry Sarah, but here is the photo of your pumpkin patch I promised to post.

Love this picture of Liz.

Kevin just got done gluing all of William's train tracks down so that he can actually play with his trains and not destroy the tracks. All of the kids were having fun setting up his trains for him.

Great work guys! Sorry, I have no pictures of the final products because my camera ran out of batteries. Figures!!