Fall (and Spring!) Window Cleaning

This is the time of year I like to get the outside of our windows cleaned ~ not too hot and not too cold. I missed all last year due to pregnancy and new baby. We don't really have many trees around our house, but we do get a ton of pollen, and the windows get filmy and cloudy on the outside. My method is simple and quick: newspapers and a water/vinegar mix.

One gallon of warm water plus 1/2 cup of white vinegar is a solution I've used. The newspapers work well with leaving no streaks. Stay away from colored ink, such as the comics section, and note that your hands may get black on them. I also use them for all my glass inside the house. This is the best cleaner I've found.

Don't forget to take the screens off and brush them with a broom or, if you're feeling ambitious, use a rag with soapy water and wash. One more tip: avoid washing windows when the sun is hot and shining. The window cleaner will dry too fast and you will end up with streaking.

Our Garden Spider

Not a spider fan here, but we have enjoyed watching this beautiful one for the last eight or nine weeks on our backyard patio.

She decided to build her web attached to the house and connecting to some bushes close by. Every morning she rebuilds her house. She has been through the heat, a few stormy nights, and now the freeze. We read they usually make it through a couple of frosts, and then they're gone. 

There are two eggs sacks that she has tucked into the bushes and are well protected. They each can have up to 1,000 babies inside. As a girl growing up in the 80s use to say, gross me out! The sacks will weather through winter and come spring should hatch. We'll see. Neat for the kids to watch the process.

Halloween ~ 2013 Edition

Carving pumpkins. We had five total.

First time to carve! Another holiday pic where daddy is in scrubs. I think this happens every year.

Oh yes, so cute 11 months!

Turkey, Dragon, Police Officer

Bee (ignore the teenage attitude!) & Minnie Mouse

Made it home in time to hand out candy

Oldest daughter made this at grandma's

6-year-old's newest best friend at papa's house

Fall Leaves Fall

Here where we live, the seasons of spring and fall seem short-lived. We get extremes of summer and winter, and the two in between just don't last long enough for most of us. I am enjoying the sharp evening air, changing colors of the leaves, and the beautiful sunrises. Ready for the time change so it seems a little bit more like morning than night at 6am.

We decided to visit a new pumpkin patch this year. Shepherd's Cross was very nice and very non-commercial which I appreciated. It was a miserable day - cold and drizzly. We rushed through though enough for the kids to have a fun time with games and pumpkin choosing.

Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse

We had a fun time at Leonardo's. It's such a bright, happy place for the children to find all sorts of things to do.

They have a really cool giant Light Bright board with large colored pegs that they spent a long time creating shapes and words.

Jet pilot simulator

Dress up time

Mechanical engineering/animation creating

Building with dad

In the castle

Making a molecule

There is also a three-story tree house with a splash pad in the back. You could get lost in there!

                                     

Back Into a Routine

Summer has ended and we've completed week 4 of our homeschool year. My absence of posts meant we were very busy doing some cool, fun things together. Here are picture highlights from July and August!

This poor baby was released at the nature preserve down the road.

Fire pit evenings

                                                       

Shooting the fire hose

Blurred pic, but check out this enormous bag from Mardel's!

Easy Way to Organize Their 'Sweet Streets'

Our family started collecting the Fisher Price line of Sweet Streets homes and shops way back in 2003. It started as a trip to K-Mart after my oldest had gone to have immunizations and was in need of something cheery to think about. The beach house led to the town house which led to the hotel and so on...ending up with the entire set of 15+ building and vehicles. The older girls have now since outgrown playing with them, but they still reside in their room on a bookcase. The furniture and people are stored in a plastic container. Through the years and one house move there have been a few pieces lost. I was able to find and replace those on ebay. I decided it would make it much easier to photograph each house with the items that belong to it as a reference in finding which goes with what.

Then I laminated each picture, cut out & punched a hole in the corner, and put them on a ring clip.