Opening our Glowing Animals Kiwi Crate

 We received our "Glowing Animals" Kiwi Crate this past week, and the kids are eager to get busy.

It's always fun to open our crate and see the Kiwi bird saying "hello".

 When you open your crate the first thing you see is a cardstock picture of the crate's projects.

In this crate you made a glowworm friend and racing jellyfish.

 On the back of this paper are stickers to be added to you Kiwi Crate project poster.  I have two stickers because I subscribe using the sibling pack...We get enough supplies to make two of every craft.

 The next item in the crate is a flyer for all the holiday crates that are for sale.  These look great. (I have already ordered the Thanksgiving crate). There is also a $5.00 coupon code included in this flyer.

 The Explore magazine is full of fun....we get two copies because we subscribe with the sibling addition.

 There many cute activities included in this magazine.  One item is "my glowing firefly".  It even comes with glowsticks to make this "bonus" project.

 The very clear instructions state that the My Glowworm Friend has a low messiness level and little grown up participation.

 Every single item, from markers to rubber bands are included in the crate.

 My Racing Jellyfish is low on the messiness scale and needs medium parental help.

Everything is included in the crate....You even get a pair of scissors in your first crate to use with your projects.

I'll be back to show how these projects turn out!

Mt. Hope...I just couldn't make it!

 We are officially "past peak" here in central New York.  It is hard to find any red leaves, but I found this one.

 This is not the usual way to get to the trails...but I guess it is the fun way.

 Grace and Kim climbed right over....

 Luke, on the other hand, climbed up one side of the gate, and then sat at the top until Becky lifted him down.

 I think Kim hiked about 4 times as far as the rest of us by running ahead then running back to us...over and over again.

 We started at the bridge, taking the flat trail...I didn't think my knees were up to the hilly trail. (And I was correct)

 My five girls...we are only missing Alexis.

 Luke

 Mark out on a limb

 Kimberly Irene

This is the bridge that is exactly the halfway point of the walk...if you continue on the trail it gets very steep and hilly...this was the first time I knew I couldn't make it around the loop.

I headed back the was I came...on the flat trail.  I feel defeated!

Feeling pretty whiny...

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"How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?"-Fun with books

 We haven't enjoyed this book since 2009....you can check out those posts over  here.

I can't believe how little the kids look in the old posts.

Well, I got How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?.  Kim and Luke do not remember this book, so it was fun to have them guess at the outcome of the story. (They didn't guess correctly).

After reading the story we got busy counting our own pumpkin seeds...(and preparing to make a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin..not a can.

 The first step was to get the seeds out of the pumpkins.

 I eventually cut the pumpkins in half.  For ease of seed removal and also because we are going to cook the pumpkins in the oven to make pie.

 Looking back at the photos from 5 years ago...Luke wouldn't even touch the "pumpkin guts"

 This year he made a pumpkin pulp bomb....which he took outside and splattered against a tree.

 We kept each kids' pumpkin seeds separated.  Kim guessed her pumpkin would have 300 seeds.  Luke guessed 500 seeds.  After scooping our seeds we wanted to dry them out.  Amy looked up recipes for roasted pumpkin seeds....she found a good one.  Nothing goes to waste in this house.

 Kim and Luke both decided to put their seeds into groups of ten for ease of counting.

There were A LOT of seeds, but Luke was the winner with 412 seeds.  Kim had 375.  Both came close to their guesses...I was very impressed.

Melted Crayon on Canvas

 We have been wanting to do this art project for quite a while now.  It is the melted Crayola crayons on canvas project.

 The first step is to hot glue your crayons to the top of a canvas...make sure the Crayola logo is on top (I like the look of it). Grace did random colors.

 We used the blow dryer on high heat.  I put newspaper down on the floor to catch the drips.

 And the magic began to happen...aim the blow dryer with a downward slant.

 Laura made a rainbow of colors.

 I loved the look of the liquid crayon as it mixed on the newspaper.

 The final results.

Great job, Grace.

My Halloween Lights

 With the wedding behind us it was time to dig into our Halloween Kiwi Crate.

 Our first Halloween project was "My Halloween Lights".  As in all the Kiwi Crate boxes, absolutely everything is included--all the was down to a little paper paint dish and flickering lights for the project.

 This was labeled at very messy, but it wasn't as messy as I expected.

 I do have one child that doesn't want anything "sticky" on his fingers.  He used one of  the plastic bags in the crate to keep the Modge Podge off his fingers.

 Luke's completed bat.

 Kimmy's pumpkin.

 All our friends lined up on the book shelf.

Ohhhh....spooky!

Thanks Kiwi Crate for another great project.

Introducing Private and Mrs. Matthew Collins!

Matthew and Alexis Collins

October 12, 2013