A few random photos

Sometimes events happen and then we lose track of time...
It seems only yesterday that this workshop started...

 and now look how far it has come!  Jim and Clare have been working so hard!

And the children keep themselves busy while Jim and Clare are working...

With a little help from MD -- I mowed the lawn!

She has become quite the expert tree climber recently...

And swim lessons continue... the next session just started and everyone has been promoted - including this fella who has since stopped crying!

M&M are in there.. somewhere!  Sorry it's not a very good photo but it's hard to keep an eye on all 3!

We are busy... really busy these days!  Family portraits are turning out to be a blast!  The children spend the day outdoors while Daddy takes pictures of their friends and their families.  I am getting better at using MG's scooter now.  (haha!)  We've all learned the rules to Simon Says, Mother May I, Red Light Green Light, and a few other outdoor games.  Honestly, it's hard to play these games with only 4 participants, but we do our best!  Before they would play these games for the sake of playing and rules were disregarded - merely a basis for a sibling gathering/argument (however they saw fit!).  But now we are playing by the "rules" and learning not to cry when we are told to go back to the start!  Slowly...

More events are taking place -- Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Dragon Slayers' Academy

I remember mentioning that we are now reading a new chapter series.  This chapter book series is called Dragon Slayers' Academy by Kate McMullan.  Most chapter series books now a days do not require you to read in sequential order but we found book 1 and began with that.  When we finished, MD happened to pick up book #14 during our library visit (we go twice a week after he gets out of school to pass the time before we pick up MG).  They had a blast reading book #14 because it went in detail on how to speak Pig-Latin.!

You see, Wiglaf, the main character of the story in book #1 goes off to Dragon Slayers' Academy to become a somebody -- a hero.  His parents agree, hoping he will being gold to the family (because apparently, dragons have gold hidden in their caves and if you slaye one, you can keep the gold!). Wiglaf is a kind young boy, with 11 brothers who torment him, so he finds comfort in speaking to the family pig.  While heading to the school, Wiglaf and his pig, Daisy, run into a "not so wise" wizard, who puts a spell on Daisy and now she speaks Pig-Latin!

This is a great series!  We have decided to go back and read the books in order -- it's easier to keep track that way.  We've read 1-5 and looking for #6 still!  Just this weekend, we finished 7 and 8.  They are now interested in learning more about knights, castles, and dragons!  So Saturday morning, while daddy had to go into work (don't get me started!), we began building our castle... out of recycled materials!

More to come.....

Trick or Treat Smell Our Feet

well... we only said that to Pat (who lives across the street) because we knew she would get a kick out of it!:  (see her surprised face?!)

It was a very simple evening.  Since we were not hosting Halloween at our "former" home on Cabral,  I was tired, and E was not feeling his best, etc....  We decided to keep things simple and stayed at Jim and Clare's.  Although E was not feeling too well during the day he insisted on going too.  So Daddy, Corinna, and Jim accompanied the children:

Isn't this a cute photo?  MG wanted a warmer costume so she went as an alligator.  E also wanted a warmer outfit (and I thought it best for him to be warm) so he went as a turtle.  MD did not want to be anything other than Mario!  Surprisingly, the evening was quite nice!  MG would have been fine going as a fairy.  I worked so hard on that outfit and she only wore it once!  :(

Our next door neighbor John:

 A few houses down this family (who just moved into the neighborhood during the summer) were comfortably seated and waiting for everyone!  :)  Their wee one was sitting on the ground enjoying a small toy.

It was only a few houses -- like I said,we kept it simple!  But they were happy and I do not have to hide their candy stash this year.  Honestly, they have already forgotten about their stash!  They have been partaking in the treats little by little each night after dinner... until now they have not asked.  

He was bouncing off the walls from joy!  He definitely enjoyed himself this evening!

Hope your evening was as enjoyable as ours!

An experiment

MD picked up a crystal growing kit from Barnes and Nobles a few months ago. .. and he's been waiting for Vince to actually be home on a weekend to work with them....  Guess what finally happened?!

So they put on their goggles...

Grabbed their magnifying glasses...

And started discovering!

It was a great afternoon!!!!

Can you tell how much fun they were having with Daddy?!

Happy October!!!!

We found  a new park by MG's school.  The boys and I had fun swinging on these swings!

 E found this and was riding it like crazy -- don't know where his final destination was but he kept telling me he was riding a hippo and that I needed to get out of the water before the sharks came -- of course, I jumped out of the way quickly! ;)

 MD loved hanging upside down on this -- never mind me saying yelling, "stop that, you might fall backwards!"

 So he sat down and gave me a smile instead... okay, much better!

 After school we went to Jim and Clare's to check out the backyard progress:

 Jim and Clare looking on... nervously....

 But no one fell....

 They loved the new beam that was put up!

 Looked so much fun Auntie Clare had to join in!

 Ta da!!!!!!!

Hope your weekend is going well....

Bubbles, Babies, and gluten free...uh, cupcakes?!

He's doing better... This is mouse from today's project.

After we picked up MG from school we headed over to the Almaden Library to attend a bubble science class:

They all helped in one way or another:

He loved it!

And then they were off to  experiment!  Which container had the best combination to make the biggest bubble?

In the end, the dishwashing soap and corn syrup won!

We headed straight for Jen's house to have a small gathering with my former colleagues from Hellyer School. Kelly's daughter, Hannah, just had her baby.  This is Rosemary.  They call her Rose.  She's so adorable!!!!

Mommy and Rose.

Proud Grandma Kelly.  She's holding Owen, Jen's 8 month old.  He was adorable as well...  Surround me with babies and watch me drool.  They were so stinking cute!!!!  I can see why Kelly wanted to eat this one up!

The the best part... Danielle F. made gluten free cupcakes that were a HUGE hit with the children! 

And that was our day -- hope yours was great too!  And it looks like someone was actually listening to me... the weather was just right today!  Thank you fall... we anxiously await you!

Learning and grape "juice"

He's writing much better these days!  I am so proud of him.   He wrote:  "On Sunday we went to Half Moon Bay.  We went fishing."  He was able to sound out most of the words and I reminded him about special words and letters that he could not hear but were there or words that required certain letters to accompany each other.  For example, we have been working on ar and er sounds.  In general, he will only want to write cr for car, but I remind him that a and r need each other to make a word that  makes sense and that all words need to have a vowel to make sense.

And he's reading too! (and don't mind the fact that I myself, did not know the date... It was September 28th, NOT February 28th that he read this!)

(I had to delete this video to make more space for other photos, sorry Ma)

E is doing what he does best... playing while MD and I work... bless him for being more independent these days!  (Might be the biweekly classes he's attending.)

After school we swung by Matt's house for some water... he offered the children grapes from the back yard.  MD asked if he could make grape juice instead...  of course, Matt said yes.  Yikes, I say!  Have a lookie:

Look at the "glop!"  (MD's own word)

And in the end... all 3 approved of the new treat Uncle Matt invented for them.  Grape juice, squeezed by their own little hands, sugar, and crushed ice...

Yum!  He took his remainder on the road... home, so that's saying a lot!

Thank you Uncle Matt for a refreshing treat!  It was supposed to be cooler today... alas, I did not agree!  I was too dang hot to enjoy the afternoon... looking forward to fall! Fall, I know that you are technically here (because the children wrote that during their last art project).   But I want you here and feel like you are REALLY here!  I want to whip out my warm coat, snuggle with the children, sip hot chocolate, and read books under a soft warm blanket...  Away with you heat!!!!

A better day and escaping the heat

He was excited to go to school today -- sort of.  He loves doing projects so we kept discussing the fact that he would be doing a new project today...  which made him happy.  Happy, that is until he walked into the classroom.  Then he turned to me and said, "I'm going to miss you Momma."  And he began to cry.  I told him that I would miss him too but that I would be back after he finished his project.  He said okay and waved goodbye to me.  His teacher carried him to a table to do an activity and he cried... saying, "Bye Momma" as she walked away from me and the front door.  My heart... can it break that many times in a week???  Thank goodness we don't have to do this again until Thursday.  My poor broken heart will have a day of rest and to heal...
When I picked him up, he was not crying!  He came running to me and pulled me over to the table where his project was!  I am so proud that he can identify his own name and show me his work.  This is what I was greeted with after 3 hours -- check out the smile on his face!

He was very excited to show off his puppy that he cut and glued together.  AWESOME!!!!  Mrs. Gavin said he did much better today... okay, only 20 more days to go!  (yikes!)

Then we escaped the heat by going to the library once MD got out of his class.  There's a 30 minute difference so E ate his lunch while waiting.  Then this is what they chose to do while we waited to drive off to pick up MG:

After picking up MG, it was still HOT... so we escaped to Matt and Leo's so they could swim!  MG decided not to swim so we finished most of her homework.  E and MD splashed for a good hour before we went home.  It was nice in the shade for MG and I.  When we arrived at home the children ended up playing outside because it was just too darn hot inside the house.

The rest of the week promises to be cooler... yay!!!!