it works

Yeah, she's way too old for baby food but I still have a few jars in the cupboard and when I run out of fruits and vegetables that she can eat I give her a jar. Well, this day it was a vegetable day for lunch and I didn't have anything that she can chew very well so I gave her a jar and a spoon. Then, I started the dishes because she had already eaten her sandwich and can feed herself. After about 30 seconds I looked at her and she had found an easier way!

apple cupcakes

Sunday was Johnny Appleseed's birthday. We enjoyed learning about him and doing some fun things to celebrate his day.
These turned out cute. I got the idea from a Family Fun magazine. The girls were in awe when they woke up. Everything is edible except the leaves. I forgot to get green candy. The stems and seeds are tootsie rolls.
Mommy had a bite!

Russell is 14!!!

We enjoyed a nice taco party for Russell's birthday yesterday at Mom's.
The 14 year old!

Ava, Josie and Georgia seem to be inseparable.

Emeline and Brendan are the same. Elsie was with them but she was on a potty break at this particular moment.

Russell reading the many homemade cards from all of his nieces and nephews. Wow there are a lot of them!! Hmmm can you spy Margie dipping into the leftover cake!

Sorting through the coupons. What did I say coupons?

Yeah you heard (or should I say read) me right. Josie had the plan to collect coupons that she thought Russell would enjoy. She (and Georgia) have been collecting for weeks!

Elsie throwing coffetti from her card.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A VERY SWEET LITTLE BROTHER!

LOVE YOU RUSSELL!!

ps - It's by BFF's birthday today!

happy birthday jenny - i love you

Ut Oh - Look what happened!

I got this idea from my friend Jenny P. Georgia was pretty embarrassed and surprised that I had this for her!
Can you read it. Yep she took a spill. I guess a bee was after Bubbie and literally it wouldn't leave him alone even after I got there. It hung around his hind legs for a good 15 minutes while I retrieved him and tried to smack it. Georgia was riding him and then this bee came, and he started kicking at it and scooting around. She couldn't hold on and fell. She didn't have far to fall believe me. She was aok and got back on eyes full of tears. "How could my pony do this to me?"

PE soccer with dad

We went to dad's school for P.E. and he taught the girls a little of everything. Tennis, basketball, and soccer were on the agenda. Here they are getting ready to play red light green light.
Listening to the directions...

"Go" toe taps! Aren't these last two cute pictures?

Fall fingerprint trees

Emeline is working with the letter T now. We made similar trees in the past but used real leaves instead of finger print leaves. I'm not sure why the girls love this so much but they do. They painted their backgrounds first. Then I painted their hands and forearms to about halfway with the dark brown paint for the trunk and limbs. Finally, we mixed up some fall colors and they fingerprinted away. The one above is Josie's.
Georgia's

Emeline's hurricane!!

An Insect Zoo

We had a zoo at our house! (mom is thinking right now, what's new) An insect zoo! Yuck!!
The girls really despised this assignment. Partly because I chose a bad day to find insects and partly because it is really really yucky (according to them) to find insects and somehow have to find a way to get them into a little glass jar. AND, it is really Really REALLY yucky when you have to release them! Georgia has a fly.

Emeline has an ant.

Josie has a beetle.

Now I know this is NOT an insect but it provided a good specimen to compare to. I found this guy on some hostas. What a creepy looking thing. He, even though not an insect, was the hit of the zoo.

Our Lady of Sorrows craft

We tackled an "Our Lady of Sorrows" craft. I dug through our scrap fabric and found some nice leftover red and brainstormed an idea about making a heart pillow. So we did!! Georgia and Josie stitched around the edge for us. I didn't get a picture of Josie. I needed all my hands to help her out. Geesh, those Ingall's girls are stitching and sewing things all the time. My girls need to hit the thimbles and needles!
Emmy asked a hundred times if it was "time to fuzz it". I had told her stuffing it was her job. Another funny thing she said about 10 minutes later was, (totally not on subject here I know but it's cute).... Well I"ll set the stage. We were supposed to have company over for a Spanish lesson. (A friend of mine from high school and her three children whom are homeschooled) Well, they called and said that they weren't going to be able to make it because they were sick with colds. I was telling the kids this to their despair and a little later Emmy said "My Spanish friends can't come over because they have snot." Yep that is exactly why Emeline!

Ok back to the subject. Here is our "Our Lady of Sorrows" pillow. I had some sparkly sticker paper that I made 7 swords out of to represent Mary's seven sorrows. (yes I know the swords look sort of like fish ??) I dug up as many rosettes to sew on to wrap our heart pillow with roses. Mary's heart is often depicted as being wrapped with roses. All in all I think it is beautiful and will be a visual reminder of our Blessed Mother.

somewhere over the rainbow

While at work last night, Brad took this photo of a rainbow. Geesh they never ran out to get the pot of gold! If you look close, it looks like the end of it is right next to our driveway. Dang!

Family Gathering

We took a trip down to Verona Beach this weekend for a family gathering. What a miserable day. It rained and was windy for most of it. Eventually it ceased but it still was VERY wet. The kids spotted a playground nearby and inbetween rain showers went to check it out.

Margie riding "bubbie" really fast!!

Sam on the dinosaur.

Hiking to the water.

There it is. Beautiful Oneida Lake.

Brad's girls!

It was well worth the drive to Margie. She was handed a plate full of cake and frosting. Oh boy. That made her VERY happy!!

Grandpa S with us. Darn Emmy couldn't sit still.

Great to see you all and love you so much.

letter T tractor

I threw these shapes on the floor the other day and told the girls to figure out what they made for part of Emeline's school time. She has moved from L to T. (you can see the pink capital T on the floor)
I told them it was something that started with T but I was getting guesses such as ice cream cone, and snowman. Guess they just couldn't get past the circles. ?

Finally it was figured out. It's a tractor!

Here is the back of the tractor with the letter T showing.

emerging monarch

Boy, raising monarchs will teach you patience! Finally after over a month our baby monarch has emerged. We got to catch "the moment" this time around. Every other time we have done this the butterfly surprised us, so this time was extra special.
Funny how nature takes its course. It knew it wanted to get down to that sunshine on the floor and it kept crawling that way and I would move it back on the counter a little farther. It eventually got over there without my interference and managed to float down to the floor. Duh, it was telling me all along it wanted to get down there.

It liked Georgia's sleeve.

Proud Georgia. She screamed every other year and wouldn't touch any of the previous butterflies we've raised. Making steps Georgia.

Now I think it's telling us it wants to get outside. We waited for dad to come home from school to release him. Brad wanted to get a picture so I said ok Georgia get it on your sleeve again and Brad you had better get outside in front of her because it will happen fast. As the words were coming out of my mouth it was gone. In a flash Brad was out, Georgia was walking out, Brad was lifting the camera, the butterfly was off and flying away. Needless to say we have no "release" pictures! What FUN!!

Emmy's soccer

Now it's Emmy's turn to play some soccer. After seeing her sisters play all summer she wanted her own team. Here she is reaching for her mommy's hand! "Don't go mommy"!!
Stretching. Oops you need to put your hands up now!!

Mommy had to go back out because she got a little nervous. The hipe that led to this day was intense and it finally got here and she worked herself up so much she was nervous. She kept saying things about being aggressive. She was going to make her mom and dad happy by being aggressive. This is VERY funny to Brad and I because she got this aggressive thing from us talking to Georgia during her soccer season. Emmy was going to be aggressive right up until the time the coaches called the kids in.

No hands silly goose. We discovered she is a cheater. She likes to go a little further when the coach yells red light and, when it is green she kicks it REALLY far. Oh yeah she also stops it with her hands to get a little advantage!

All done and cooling down. I'll snap some more pictures because Georgia took these for me and I'd like to get some more of her smiling face! She loves her "team" though and has scored many goals (according her her!!!).