A Fun Spelling Site

ht:Mary Ellen

Scenes from a September Day

Scenes from a September Day

Daddy and his littlest baby

Scenes from a September Day

My goalie, Dan

Scenes from a September Day

Soccer season has begun, along with fun on the sidelines.

Author Fiesta-Jim Arnosky for the littlest

While the older kids are enjoying the nature study that Jim Arnosky encourages, my littlest kids have been enjoying the many books written for our youngest students.Here is a list of Jim Arnosky's books that are suitable for the toddlers among us.

We have been enjoying Crinkleroot's Animals That Every Child Should Know books. Sadly, these books are out of print, but many library systems have them available.
To make this book a little more hands on for Luke and Kimberly, I searched through our animal bucket and found most of the animals featured in the book. We were missing a few of the animals, so I searched around the house and found pictures of the missing mammals.
We looked at the page and named the animal in the book and then looked for the matching animal among the pictures and toys I had set out. During this time we also made the animal's sound and crawled around and acted like the creature.
This also served as a good lesson in taking turns. Something that has to be learned, and learned, and learned. There is nothing worse than a 2 and 3 year old diving on top of each other as they moo like a cow!

Yummiest Chocolate Chip Bar Cookie Recipe Ever

Melanie shared a recipe she found for these chocolate chip bar cookies over at the 4Real forum. I am glad she shared, because these are going on my "things to bake frequently" list.

Hurricane Ike Damage, in Central New York

Yesterday was a sweltering, humid 90 degree day here in Central New York. Very unusual for this part of New York in September.

Well, last evening the weatherman said that the remnants of hurricane Ike would be blowing through to usher in a cold front in the middle of the night.

We were told that we could have wind gusts up to 60 mph.

That doesn't seem to bad. That is a lot less that hurricane winds. But when that wind began to whip, at 2:00 am, it woke me up, and I thought, "Boy, this is a little unsettling." At 2:30, when the wind blew our screen and window fan out of the window and into the front yard, I was beginning to freak out.

At 2:45 my husband and I watched this huge maple tree break in half. It took the wires to the house across the street that is being renovated-with a lot of noise and sparking.

I now have an idea of a storm that has 60 mph winds-I can't begin to imagine winds faster than this- and I know that I don't want to ever experience winds like this again.

Please keep this unborn baby

and her mom, my niece, in your prayers....

Our Elsie Rae of Sunshine

So, What Does Fog Taste Like?

The world may never know, because as soon as Grace walked up to it, the fog seemed to move farther away. She was very puzzled-we attempted to explain that she was standing in the fog, but she didn't get it. Mark, on the other hand, replied, "For heaven's sake, it is water vapor. It is like taking a big drink of water."

I guess we need to have a "redo" of last years weather unit.

I won an award!!

I want to thank Lisa for giving me the I Love Your Blog award!! Go check her out at Mommyof2g1b's Wonderful World

I will be back to send out awards to some of my blogging friends--we have a crazy busy day around here today, but I wanted to make sure and thank Lisa before things get too busy.

Scenes from a September Day

Polka dots and spinning....

Gracie's newest skirt was finished last night, so this morning I made her try it on and pose for the usual photos outdoors. It was quite chilly this morning, as you can see!!
The material is a very, very soft corduroy, brown with pink dots. I used McCall's pattern M4816. I will definitely use this pattern again. It was very simple and quick to make. (I probably could have finished it in an hour or two if it weren't for the other 11 people keeping me company last evening.) I made Gracie a size 6, but she is so skinny, and because this skirt has an elastic waist, I could have made her a size 4 and added length and it would have been fine.
It absolutely passed the Gracie spinning test!!

I have a feeling that there will be a demin skirt made using this pattern soon.

Author Fiesta-Crinkleroot

One of our favorite Jim Arnosky characters is his beloved Crinkleroot-Nature Guide. Mary had the great idea to have Crinkleroot serve as a guide for our very own nature exploration. She posted a link to a great printable Crinkleroot that I printed on cardstock, cut it out and taped to a popsicle stick.
Mark, being 8 years old, felt he was too old to carry around a puppet, so he decided he would make sticks marked "good" and "bad", and use them to label things we found outside.
He found garbage on the ground, documented it, and then he cleaned it up!
Crinkleroot found snails and pillbugs,
beautiful goldenrod,

and even took time out to play on the swingset.
Gracie felt that the birdfeeder most certainly should be labeled "good" even though it is out of seed.
A daddy longleg spider and
another spider friend-GOOD
old tin can-BAD

A yummy apple ready to pick
A BAD Dunkin Donut cup
lovely autumn leaves
Crinkleroot found a big turkey feather and shared it with Grace.
I believe that Kimberly is still holding Crinkleroot and looking for nature.

Picture of the Day

A Mystery of Life

What could possibly make a 3 year old, when handed a sip cup (that you CANNOT see through) say to his 2 year old sister, "HA! HA! I have more juice than you!"?--And then she, hysterically crying, falls to the floor and has a fit.

Is it our fallen nature?

Is it the influence of older siblings?

Is it for no other reason than to drive a mother insane?

Our Blessed Mother's Birthday-2008

Happy Birthday, Mary!!!

Monarch Photo Essay

On day 37 of Alex the Great's lifecycle, we knew that hatching time was drawing near,

his crysalis was beginning to become translucent,

as opposed to the nice rich green he was a few days ago.

This morning the crysalis was completely see through. It was time for the big event.

If you want to see the actual hatching, you can watch the video here.

He then hung upside down for quite a while, as the extra fluid from his body pumped into his wings.

We got him onto a stick as he filled his wings and began to dry. This took a couple hours.
It was also real neat to watch him stretch out his proboscus. This is his mouth part that sucks up flower nectar.
We had to leave for church, and I expected to find him flying around the house when we arrived home and an hour and a half later, but he was still drying on his stick.

I think he was waiting for Mark to show him the great big outside world.

Gracie's caterpillar, Anjolina, hatched yesterday morning. Anjolina was also raised at home from an egg. Gracie was very brave this year while she carried Anjolina outside.....


much braver than she was last year during hatching season.
You can tell that Anjolina is a girl
and Alex the Great is a boy because

of the two black wing spots on the underwings of a male monarch. (This was very lucky, since the kids named them from the time they hatched.)

Mark was very proud to take Alex the Great outside to be released. Alex the Great was very happy to pose for a few minutes so that everyone could say goodbye.

And then, up, up, up he flew. We spotted him for the last time at the tippy top of a tree in the field next to our yard.

Have a happy life Alex, we wish you good luck. We hope you will migrate to Mexico and then come back again next year.