All Sorts of Creative

For our home evening activity this week, we made crayon rubbings of autumn leaves I collected.

It was interesting to see how different family members approached the project.  I made dark smudges, Phillip and Joy used a lighter hand, and Daniel just wanted to draw his own balloon-shaped leaves.

The kids had distinctive ways of signing their artwork, too.  Daniel did a Picasso-ish montage of the letters in his name . . .

. . . and Joy signed three times--first lower case, then upper case, then doodle case.

I hung all four pictures on our door afterward (along with a couple of Daniel's preschool art projects). 

Speaking of creativity, today Joy used an app to make digital drawing of apple trees and blueberry bushes under a starry sky.

And hey, why wait until Halloween to wear costumes when you can dress up your little sister any time you want to?

Pumpkiny Goodness

It's the first official day of autumn, and you know what that means.

It's time to make the year's first batch of pumpkin cookies!

The big kids helped me measure some of the ingredients . . .

. . . then we all enjoyed the fruits of our labor.  Yum!

Baby Pictures

A woman at church is training to be an ultrasound technician, and this week she offered to perform some free ultrasounds on me so she could get some practice.

In addition to the usual 2-D images . . .

. . . she also performed some 3-D ultrasounds of our little guy.

He has a nice smile, don't you think?

And speaking of babies, my friend Siobhan was in town last week, and I learned that she's expecting a baby boy, too. :)

Follow the Leader

Daniel got to be the class leader at school today.  He wore a nifty badge, led the class to and from the play yards, and sat in front at Circle Time to show everyone how to listen quietly to their teacher.

Here he is with the leader badge and a calendar he made today.

While Daniel was leading his class, I followed Anna around a nearby park.

I'm sure it was a fun novelty for her to go anywhere she wanted, without siblings around to influence her choices.

"This way, Mom!"

This afternoon was pretty hot, so the kids all decided to cool off out at the pool.

Ahhhhhh.

Daniel's First Day of School

A couple days ago, we toured Daniel's preschool classroom.

Mrs. Chavez, the teaching assistant, helped Daniel make some sparkly seaweed to decorate the room (they're doing an ocean theme for the first few weeks) . . .

. . . then Daniel got to check out one of the playgrounds out back.

Today was his first day of school.

He met his classmates . . .

. . . and his teacher, Mrs. Main (who was also Joy's teacher two years ago), . . .

. . . then settled in at one of the activity centers.  He was so engaged that he barely looked up when I hugged him and said I'd see him when school was over.  I'm excited for him to start school in an environment that is so dynamic and fun, with new things to learn and do each day.

Leisure Time

It's no secret that our kids like computer games.  They like playing them, . . .

. . . watching other people play them, . . .

. . . and even taking a nap with them, on occasion.

As captivating as video games are, though, I'm glad my kids like other activities, too.  Joy has learned several little songs since she started taking piano lessons this summer, and she occasionally sits down to play what she's learned, just for fun.  She especially likes to play familiar tunes in different keys to make them sound "spooky."

A Picnic and a Search

This evening we attended the annual back-to-school picnic at Joy's school.

Here's Joy with her sweet teacher, Mrs. Steben (her name kinda rhymes with "heaven," in case you're wondering how to say it).

Not pictured is our search for Daniel, who disappeared shortly after dinner.  We and some neighbors searched all over the school grounds, brows deeply furrowed, only to find Daniel behind the stage, cheerfully circling a big pole in a hallway.  All's well that ends well.