Beautiful Day!

We went to the Dinosaur Park today and the kids loved it! They all played so nicely at the park, no problems throwing sand or not sharing. I was in shock! Of course, I forgot the camera so there is no proof of this. I did remember the sand pails, shovels, snack, Holly & Nicole's blankets, first aid kit, extra diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer, cell phone and all the kids. The girls were all playing nicely- digging in the sand and making sand castles. I think Myles & Mason were trying to dig a hole to china but that's typical for boys. But they were working together, so that is all that matters. Even the little ones were carrying pails around full of sand. If everyone is a little gritty tonight, you will know why!

Warm Fall Weather and Party

We enjoyed the warm weather and played outside most of the morning and went to the park for an hour. The older kids rode the big wheels to the park and enjoyed riding them down the hill by the park equipment. They love going fast down the hill and riding into the grass to slow down. It was fantastic to go outside in the afternoon with no jacket on.

We had our party today. Everyone enjoyed getting dressed up in their costumes and playing games. We played pass the pumpkin, pin the nose on the pumpkin and taking "pumpkin pictures." We had a wonderful zoo and action figure collection with a couple princesses mixed in.

Pumpkins... Done!

The kids had a blast carving their pumpkins!

The pumpkins (and kids) are adorable!

Pumpkin Exploration

Holly kept asking for a pumpkin while we were carving them. She is a bit too little to carve one herself but we had an extra one with a cracked bottom and so I gave it to her to "explore." It was amazing and funny to watch. She spent 10 minutes taking to top off and putting it back on. Big brother was a little worried when she decided to taste the pumpkin but I explained to everyone that pumpkins can be eaten, raw is not that tasty but pumpkin pie is delicious.

I just had to share the photos, I thought she was adorable.

Pumpkins- making progress!

All the pumpkins are gutted! The kids are really excited, we will be able to carve them tomorrow! It is quite a process when there are eight pumpkins to do! We tasted roasted pumpkin seeds today and the kids loved them!

"Chicken Little" is going home today. Have the kids "read" it to you!

guts, guts & more guts... Pumpkin Guts!

We started carving pumpkins today with the big kids. There was no school today, so they started during nap time and the early risers joined us. The kids were making up songs about guts and making silly noises the whole time. They thought pumpkin guts were disgusting but they love to play with worms. I don't understand why worms are not disgusting. Kids are funny that way!

We really like using the "Pumpkin Masters" carving kits, they have nice safety blades so the kids can't cut themselves and the patterns are really cool. You can find the kits anywhere, if you want to try them at home. Target has them for under $5. Sorry, didn't mean to be an advertisement but I do get excited about "kid safe knives." We will work on the rest of the pumpkins this week. I would like to have a picture of them all together and then I will send them home at the end of the week. I am storing the carved ones in the cool garage so hopefully they will still look nice on Halloween. Lots of work but the kids are so excited!

New Music Teacher!

We have added a new music teacher to our curriculum. Kristin will be joining us every other Thursday at 10:30 for a daycare music program. She came today for the first time and the kids really enjoyed having class with her. I really liked that structure she provides and the high expectations for their behavior. She expects them to follow directions very carefully and listen attentively but they still have a lot of fun. She has a Master's degree in music and has wonderful group activities for the kids. We are really excited to add her to our program!