Skeleton Treats

I am starting to paint the kitchen. I thought I could get this done while M was at speech and D was at kindergarten. I thought I'd be done by now. I thought wrong. It is taking a lot longer. An hour and a half isn't really that much time. And because our kitchen walls really extend partially to the living room, it's kind of a big task. I have started by just trimming everything out. It will be the same color as our living room. I love this color and would paint every room in the house this color if I could!



This will be tricky--painting down the stairway.



You can see the color better here. Goodbye stark whiteness. Hello warmth and color.



We went to the cabin over the weekend and the kids and I made skeleton snacks that I found on Pinterest (which is addicting--don't follow the link if you don't already know what it is. Trust me.). I made an example one and D wanted to mimic it almost exactly.



M made his own Picasso-like version.



We made them again on Sunday and this time M made a 3D version. So creative!



Again, D's looks spot on.



D has been playing school a lot with M (as her student). He loves it and is a willing student. She likes school, even though every day (almost) she says she wants to stay home with me instead, which makes me a little bit happy, but mostly sad. Hopefully just a kindergarten thing!



Pretty good small e, huh?

Grandparents' Day

The kids went to another birthday party at Pump It Up. The theme was a pajama party, so the kids loved that they could wear pajamas when it was daytime.





They even got to have a pillow fight with balloon-filled pillowcases.



The traditional picture at the bottom of one of the slides.



They got to sit on the throne with the guest of honor while he opened their gift.



Steve bought me an apple peeler/corer/slicer to help me turn all the apples from our apple tree into applesauce. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but that thing is awesome! And the kids think it is so much fun to turn the crank and make the apples into curly cue slices.





My mom and dad came to D's school for Grandparents' Day last Wednesday. We had a potluck dinner and cake (which apparantly is part of their tradition for Grandparents' Day).



The kids also got to make cards for ye-ye (grandpa) and nai-nai (grandma).





Steve's last day with the tractor. So sad. He sold it last Friday. He put it on Craigslist to see if anyone would buy it, and they did! Quite quickly, too, I might add. Good bye tractor! Thanks for all of your hard work!



We went to the cabin last weekend and the kids each made their own mini fire pits to emulate the one Jennifer and I made. Cute!



Presenting...the letter D.

Hearing Kids Day at MOA

M showing off his letter B skills.



We finally pulled out the ugly bushes in front of our house. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. They were not attractive looking and were so overgrown it was difficult to walk on the sidewalk leading up to our front door.





The kids loved "helping" Steve on the tractor.





I think the front looks better bare than with the bushes, but we will of course plant something new and more attractive looking there.



D's audiologist sponsored a Hearing Kids Day at the Mall of America. We were treated to lunch, time to schmooze with Sponge Bob Square Pants and Patrick, and free five hour passes to the rides.





The kids loved going on the rides.









M didn't like the car D picked out, even though they are all exactly the same, and was pouting, wanting to chose his own. This little girl seized the opportunity to hop in with D. D was happy to have another little girl sit by her and she followed D on the next couple of rides we went on. When we left that section of rides to move on, we realized she had followed us without letting her grandma know. When we told her she needed to go back to her grandma, who we could see in the distance and still thought she was in line for a different ride, she said "I'm ok. I want to go with you guys." Oops. I guess that's how some kids get lost! We quickly walked her back to grandma, who had just realized she actually wasn't in line for the ride she was watching.





More rides.









We had our friends that helped Steve cut wood up at the cabin over for dinner on Thursday. The kids all had a "picnic" on the play room floor because of our limited living space. They seemed to like it!



C is for cookie, that's good enough for me...(great, now I have that song stuck in my head!)

First Day of Speech Preschool

M's all set for his first day of speech preschool and is waiting for the bus...which sadly never came to pick him up. Somehow they missed him and Steve had to drive him to school.



Here he is outside his school, ready for his first day.



M and I will work on preschool stuff at home, too. Here he is showing off his letter A writing skills.



D and her friends at choir and Adventure Club on Wednesday night.



M is giving a preview of his Halloween costume this year. Had to make sure it fit! He's so excited to be Elmo.



M started gymnastics class last Monday and just loved it. He was so excited to go back for his second class. He got to demonstrate how to jump on the trampoline.



Walking the balance beam. He is so particular about making sure he doesn't lose his balance and fall off.





After dismounting any kind of apparatus, they are required to "stick" their landing on a piece of felt and wave to the crowd. He loves that part.