No vacancy in the back seat of our car.
Joy and Daddy proud of the winding paths they created in their game of dominoes.
Daniel loves to name colors, and his current favorite book is Mouse Paint. After you read the text on each page, he names every color on it. In this case it was, "lellow, bwoo, bwoo, lellow!"
Anna received her baby blessing from Daddy at church this morning. The blessing was beautiful, and it was wonderful to see so many family members there to share the joy.
In the evening we went to my parents' home for dinner and a rousing game of Duck Duck Goose.
Daniel's still a little confused about how the game works.
Fortunately he has Daddy to help him out.
. . . by baking pumpkin cookies!
Joy made sure the butterscotch chips were of acceptable quality . . .
. . . then dumped the rest into the mixing bowl. Joy excels at dumping.
We also collected some fall leaves and made leaf rubbings to tape on our door.
Apparently, like most art projects, leaf rubbings are a very subjective thing - there's no single right way to do them.
She read to the big kids (I like the picture of of Joy on our monitor, looking over their shoulders) . . .
. . . and cuddled Anna a while.
Of course, no one cuddles Anna more than her big sister.
First I heated two cups of 2% milk in the microwave until it was 180 degrees (it took about 4 minutes), . . .
. . . then I let it cool to 110 degrees (that took about 45 minutes).
I stirred in a couple tablespoons of yogurt (I've heard Stoneyfield is good because it has six different bacteria cultures), . . .
. . . then poured everything into a big thermos (which I previously rinsed with boiling water to heat and sterilize it). The milk has to stay around 110 degrees for over six hours or so for the yogurt culture to do its thing, and I figured an insulated thermos was the easiest way to achieve that.
Sure enough--six hours later the concoction in my thermos was thick and still 106 degrees (sorry you can't see the thermometer--you'll just have to trust me). I poured it into a clean container, then put it in the fridge to chill and thicken up some more overnight. I bet it will taste great with some honey stirred in tomorrow.
Of course, she chose to wear her signature rainbow pants.
Her teacher welcomed us to class . . .
. . . and the kids got to choose whether to start the day playing Sea Creature Bingo (the class is doing an ocean theme for the first few weeks) . . .
. . . or paint bubble wrap to stamp bubbles on paper (while the parents all snapped lots of photos).
At the end of the day, Joy was excited to show me a sticker picture she made, and to tell me about all the fun things she did. We're both eager to see what the rest of the school year holds for her.
Sometimes they just run around the courtyard.
Other times they go for a ride . . .
. . . or out on a limb.
She's getting cuddles . . .
. . . and kisses.
Lots and lots of kisses.
