Halloween 2017

 Alyssa's School Halloween Field Trip

 After reading a library book that had a character dressed as a Hershey's Kiss, Alyssa determined that was the perfect costume for her this year and she was proud to be unique.  Joshua spotted the Spiderman costume at the D.I. and begged to get it, but was instead surprised by his early Christmas present on Halloween that Alyssa had bought without him knowing.  It's weird to have our trick-or-treating pool shrink down to just three kids! Now that the older kids are heavily involved in sports they are trying to watch what they eat a lot more, although Daniel did still make the rounds with his friends this year.

Makeshift Horse and Carriage

I peeked out my piano room window one day and spotted Alyssa and Joshua playing "horse and carriage" with their friend Lizzie.  This dolly has gotten a lot more use than many of their regular toys lately!  I love to see their creative play... especially when it doesn't make a mess.😊

Total Eclipse

The trees cast eerie looking half shadows on the house.

Dinner Play "Date"

Bee Sting, Batman and Bubble Hand

Joshua ran in the house one day this fall after getting stung by a bee.  It looked pretty awful and got even worse looking after a few days, but fortunately, the pain didn't last very long for him... he just got a lot of attention from school classmates and was worried about looking freaky at school.

Alyssa's Fruity Feast

Alyssa was proud to show me this healthy breakfast platter that she created one morning.  I think I've unconsciously fostered some self-reliance skills in my children as far as food prep goes, because I really don't like to get up and make breakfast for the family. They've gotten good at helping themselves to toast, cereal or sometimes other messy concoctions that I wish I had intervened on sooner.  I remember one of my aunts sharing memories of how my amazing Grandma Knight would get up and prepare a feast for breakfast almost every morning for her 10 children including pancakes, bacon, eggs etc.  I've definitely drifted far from that tradition, and sometimes they are barely lucky enough on school days to run out to the bus with just a slice of bread and jam because they dawdled too long to make time for toasting.

Our new lawnmower

Joshua recently begged to mow the lawn and since Jared finally gave in to his pleas, it's a weekly task he looks forward to.  At first, he just "mowed" the lawn that had already been mowed by Jacob, but Jared took the time to show him how to follow the lines and his skills are much improved.  Yesterday he was celebrating the fact that it is Harvest Break with no school this week.  When I asked him what his plans were, mowing the lawn was first on the list!  But it has been raining so this working boy is going to have to wait a few more days to make his dreams come true.