Who's that girl?

Halloween is just around the corner.  That hasn't really stopped Winnie and June from dressing up early.  In fact, it's rare to see these girls out of costume at our house.  We got a birthday invitation shaped like a flower in the mail today from our sweet little friend Ella.  June gave it a once-over and asked, "So, what does Ella want us to dress up as?"  

I can't even blame it on Halloween fever - the girls' room has been one giant staging area for make-believe for over a year now, and it seems we mysteriously acquire more garbs as time goes on.  Lately, June won't set foot outside the door unless she is in character  - princess, super hero, Indiana Jones in a flowery straw hat with a sash for a whip, it matters not.  Winnie is quickly catching on and has become a decked out side-kick to June's every alter-ego.  

Normally, I'd loose my cool over finding an entire roll of toilet paper unraveled and strewn about the house, but I just can't help but melt when I find my girls quietly giggling in their room, wrapping each other as mummies, June telling Winnie, "don't trip, walk carefully," and Winnie adding, "OOOO, Junie, you so pooky."  Oh, well, I guess love is messy.

Painting Pumpkins

Pumpkin painting with six kids under the age of four is more of a workout than you might imagine! It's a good thing we had four moms to keep things under control!  Here are some pictures of the kids working on their masterpieces. 

  

June started out with a mosaic of colors.  She liked it for a while, but a few days later, we created some truly spooky pumpkins.  You'll see . . .

Winnie had a great time painting her hands, arms and face.  She managed to get a couple of dabs on her baby pumpkin, as she called it.

Amos was all business with his painting.  He didn't even take a break to smile for the camera!

Ella, on the other hand, never passes up the chance for a pretty photo-op.

And young master Charlie must have been pretty worried about getting his clothes dirty!

We finished off the afternoon with a bit of dress-up - until everyone got over-tired, started to do battle, and began the bawl-fest!  You know, the usual.  I'm sure the kids got to go home and sleep it off after a big day of painting!  

Here's what we ended up with a few days later.  We found some fun patterns in our National Geographic for kids (thanks U.B.).  June did the pink cyclops all by herself!  Pretty spooky, ey?  Don't get scared now!  

Feels like Fall

We've had a year to acclimate to Oklahoma weather.  But it still doesn't feel right to be sitting in a wading pool under the hot sun in October like we did last week.  We've been craving a cool breeze for weeks now and it finally blew in today!  It felt so nice to pull on our cozy fall jackets and warm pants and head out to the pumpkin patch!  

   

We picked out some gorgeous gourds and have planned a pumpkin carving play-date for tomorrow.  We'll post some pictures of our spooky creations by the end of the week.   

Here's a cute shot of the girls in their stylish new sweat suits.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning for June when she saw her new warm clothes sitting out for her after her bath.  Poor thing, she shot up like a bean-pole this summer, so she outgrew all of her warm clothes from last year.  If only she would fill out a bit so I wouldn't have to pin her sweats to stay up over her lack of a bum.  And under June's tutelage, Winnie has started pulling silly faces instead of smiles at every Polaroid moment.  

I guess we're all feeling a bit more festive now that Fall is finally here.  June's raring to get the holidays started - on our way home from the pumpkin patch, she said, "Yay, it's almost Christmas!"      

2 Cool 4 School

I felt a little left out about a month ago when all of my fellow blogging buddies were posting pictures of their little dudes and dudettes sporting their shiny new duds and over sized backpacks, and heading out the door for the first day of pre-school.  I opted not to send June to pre-school this year, even though I know she would love the learning and the fun interaction.  I kept her mostly because I am selfish and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching her at home, and because I realize that next year keeping her home is not an option.  So to ease some of my guilt for smothering my firstborn, Tish, Amy, Stephanie and I started our own pre-school.   We had our first class last week and I think it was a success!  Tish did a great lesson on the letter A, Amy created a fun craft project involving Ants and Antennas, and we supplied the snack:  Ants on a log, Apple Juice, and Apricot Jell-o jigglers. 

       

We are still working on our curriculum and trying to come up with creative ways to teach seven kids of various ages the basics - colors, shapes, numbers, good behavior, and introduce them to letters and sounds as well.  

Amy, the woman with connections, got some carpet samples for the kids to sit on while they listen to the lesson.  We want to personalize the carpets for each kid but we're having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get anything to stick to carpet.  Any suggestions?

Here's a cute shot of Sofie and Stephanie listening intently.  I can't believe how well these little guys sat and paid attention.  I haven't had much experience with elementary education, but I think we must have been doing something right because Winnie still remembers what the letter A says!

Even Baby Lyra got in on the action!

I realize June is a bit more advanced than the younger kids, but Tish made her lesson a little more challenging.  June was such a nice big sister, she explained things to Winnie quietly as the lesson went along and even praised her little sister when she colored the right apples.  

Winnie promptly came home and hung her ant picture up on her cork-board in her room.  Every once in a while, she stops and admires her own good work!