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.

Happenings

Baby girl baptism

Not enjoying the bonnet!

                                    

10th birthday celebration

After 4th fun

So many sparklers left over

Ray Harral Nature Park

A beautiful day in April, we told the children we were going to the park. Their reactions as we drove up were a little disappointment as they discovered no playground equipment. Not too excited as we unloaded everyone.

After walking through the many trails and seeing the spring wildlife, they decided this was a better time than a boring playground park. Fun day!