Friday was very quiet around here! We had four little ones and decided that we should escape to a farm market. We hopped over to Carleton Farm for the first time. We have been reading about farms lately, so our low numbers was the perfect excuse to go to one on a whim. We do still have a pumpkin patch field trip planned for next week. I liked Carleton farm market. The sunshine made it seem even more welcome. We are somewhere around 80 days of no measurable rain here in the greater Seattle area- this is unheard of! We are making a record!
We looked at all of the different sizes and shapes of the pumpkins. Here was a failed photo attempt- the sunshine was in their eyes.
We found this little photo spot much better! I'm sure they were done by this time- they probably get tired of me trying to get them to look at the camera and smile. Everyone brought home a tiny pumpkin and we had a great little escape.
Meanwhile, this little one learned that the way to Smudges heart is food. We got out his cat treats. Keep in mind that Smudge spends a considerable part of his day leading us to the game cabinet. He knows that the catnip and his cat treats are in there. Over the weekend he broke into it and ate a hole in his cat treat bag.
Cheers after feeding him a treat!
"Where are the rest?" Smudge gets bossy about treats.
I love the look on her face. She really likes Smudge. He is such a great cat. Happy Monday!♥♥♥
I'm laughing at myself because when I was writing my curriculum in August for the coming preschool year, I thought I'd mix up our letter Bb crafts, and instead of creating Bb is for Bat like usual, we created Bb is for Bumblebee. I have been mourning since then-- isn't that silly? I write the curriculum for goodness sake, lets make some bats! To begin, we collected some toilet paper tubes. I had saved some paper towel tubes a while back and cut them down to size. This project went smooth thanks to the paper plate. This gives the kids an idea about where the tubes should be as they painted them. A quick note- Crayola black paint is the best black paint. Others I have purchased looked more purple.
Before we even began, I traced each child's hand onto black paper. I then folded the paper in half and cut it out, creating two cutout hands for each child. I used pencil to write their names on each hand. Otherwise I might never keep them straight!
Time to paint our tubes.
They were pretty serious about it!
Next, I helped them apply some tacky glue. My love affair with tacky glue has not ended! It simply does not run. I will buy that glue forever.
The kids added eyes, mouth and ears.
The final step is to glue on their hand cutouts as wings. Isn't that adorable?
A rule we follow here at Henle House is that when we have completed our project, if we have paint hands then we must raise our hands up and walk to the bathroom with hands in the air. This keeps them from touching everything along the way. So far it has been a helpful rule!
What was I thinking? We love bats. We usually create some sort of bat once in October.
These were particularly cute. Happy Friday! We are whisking our kiddos off on a short adventure this morning because half of the kids are gone for today. ♥♥♥
Something else from 'Elmo Says Boo'- The Count sings 'The Batty Bat'. I can hear my Stephanie, age two, with her cute little squeaky voice singing along to this. I can't believe she is turning 14 in a couple of weeks.♫
We are learning and looking for the color orange. It's an easy one to find right now- we have been talking so much about the fall trees turning red, orange and yellow!
Instead of using the worksheet we had planned, we just cut the jack-o-lantern out and used it for something else. Once again- I FORGOT to allow the one who should be doing her own cutting to actually cut it out herself. I have got to remember that.
Here's where we went with the cut out jack-o-lantern.
They glued it into the night sky.
It's so awesome to have a bunch of preschoolers!! I love it. :)
They glued on a moon, some grass, and used white crayon to draw some stars.
Dot...dot...dot...
We saved the most important part for last- time to color our jack-o-lanterns ORANGE. They did a great job staying in the lines and trying to fill it in with as much color as possible.
Now we have a jack-p-lantern patch!
Smudge thought this was HIS bed. Happy Thursday! We lit our first fire this morning, it is nice and cozy in here as we watch the frosty outside thaw. ♥♥♥
'The Imperial March' by Epica. Love it- reminds me of the video below and makes me gut laugh.
You may not remember the time that I posted this photo. It's been a while. I was downtown Seattle at the end of Pike Place Market and these guys showed up with pots of homemade food to feed anyone who was hungry. It didn't matter how scary the homeless guy- they were feeding people. With their own personal plates and silverware. For free. Just because. This is a great example of Gods love. One of my favorite verses comes from 1 John and says this-
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
All we need in this world is Gods love and to share it. We also need to teach our children to love, by loving them and leading by example. Can you imagine what this world would be like if people would just allow themselves to be loved and to love in return?
She's got a good message- be careful what you are teaching your children at home. I just really felt I had to share that this morning. Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥
It's kind of a big deal around here when we begin to learn a new letter. This time, the kids caught on that we are following the order of the alphabet. Those smartie pants! We usually move onto the next letter after we have spent two weeks recognizing the letter and reciting the sound that it makes. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I feel like a broken record at times but it works.
The worksheet for the letter C was a good one. Although I use lots of worksheets from a Preschool book, these seem a bit advanced. We've got some very smart and able kids in the house!
Meanwhile, the kids have been noticing slight changes. A pumpkin patch appeared in their little loft.
Jack-o-lantern lights adorn the old window. Hints of Halloween. :)
A quick side note here- the kids don't usually eat the tomato soup when we have it. Solution = add goldfish crackers and tell them it's time to go fishing!
"I'm catching them all!"
The crackers soak up some soup- the kids eat them. Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥
'Don't Scream' from the album Halloween Howls by Andrew Gold. ♫
Can you believe it is October? We sure can't. I remember that by this time last year we were already burning fires in the fireplace. Not yet this year! It is still very beautiful outside- I am loving every minute of it. We created some baby food jar candle holders on Friday. Fall makes me want to burn candles. The one shown above was Aidens creation last fall. I wanted to show you that you can create any design that you wish to create!
To begin, clean out a baby food jar. Remove the label, wash and dry.
Mix a blob of Elmer's glue with just a little bit of water to create a milky looking substance. Paintbrushes work very well for mixing.
One at a time, place a tissue paper square onto the jar. Hold it in place with one hand, and paint the milky glue mixture over the top of the square to secure it to the jar. Repeat- adding different colors to create a mosaic effect.
You can switch it up by using different colors for different holidays or seasons. Red and green for Christmas, white and blue for winter, pink and red for Valentines Day, shades of green for St. Patrick's Day, on and on! We make this project every year around this time. I suppose I should try another holiday, right? I just love Autumn.
Leave the jar upside down on a paper plate to dry. I usually go over the entire thing with the glue mixture after the kids are done working on them.
When dry, add a tealight or votive. I like to tie twine around the top of mine. I was out of twine this year and used taffeta instead. Happy October! My favorite month of the year. Boo! ♥♥♥
'Spooky Scary Skeletons'- my favorite song from this Halloween children's CD. ♫
