Trick or Treating!

This year we had Hermione, a Fairy, Alice in Wonderland, and Winnie the Pooh.  We went out in the neighborhood as usual but we also attended the mall one night.  It was crazy busy!  I had no idea.  They had a place with face painting, free popcorn, hot chocolate, and games in this church in the mall.  Ashley got her face painted and everyone got some hot chocolate.  It was fun, but we probably won't try mall trick or treating again.  We prefer the old fashioned neighborhood trick or treating.  

Family Halloween Party 2014

We had our family Halloween party tonight for Family Home Evening. It's always such a fun evening we look forward to every year. We carved jack-o-lanterns first. The girls each designed their own and I helped carve Emily and Ashley's while Alexis carved her own. Daddy carved Adam's pumpkin and he got creative and made a thought cloud that said "a donkey", since that is the phrase we hear from Adam most lately. He always says that when he wants us to sing "Winnie the Pooh" to him. After we were finished carving pumpkins we played some games. We played feed the monster, broomstick races, donuts on a string, wrap the mummy, and the kid;s favorite - find Daddy monster. Daddy went off to hide, lights were turned off, and flashlights were handed out. The kids looked and looked with no luck. I helped them look, as well. We were stumped. We had looked everywhere and could not find him. Then we heard growls coming from the girl's room. So we went in there to look for a second time and still nothing. I was so confused as to why I couldn't see him. Someone said, "Where is Daddy?" and we were answered with a loud growl of "I'm right here!" We ALL screamed at the top of our lungs and he just laughed and laughed. But we still didn't see him! That's when one of the kids said, "Hey! He's on the roof!" Yep. He had climbed out of the girl's window and was on the roof. I am grateful my kids have such a fun Daddy, even if he is a little crazy sometimes. After our games we went trick or treating in the house. As usual, Daddy and I grabbed various costume props and pretended to be various characters as the kids trick or treated and laughed at our silliness. It was such a fun evening and I'm so thankful we are able to celebrate this fun night together every year.

One Homeschool Day October

Today I awoke to a beautiful, chilly, autumn morning.  We did our typical morning routines of  breakfast, chores, and getting ourselves ready for the day.  Amidst all of this Ashley began cutting out paper to make a book and Adam found a green marker and drew on himself, his book, and the carpet.  I stopped him and then read to him for a little while.  He loves listening to stories and especially loves Winnie the Pooh books.  

After everyone was ready, we gathered for morning prayer.  We read a poem from our poetry book of seasons about autumn and compared it with one we had read last week and talked about the different emotions poetry can convey.  We then discussed a bit more of our Constitution.  We are in the middle of a US government study and currently we are reading the whole document slowly, discussing each part as we go.  We are also watching a great series of videos called "Constitutional Literacy" by Apologia.  It's really interesting and does a great job of explaining the Constitution step by step with examples and real cases that have been played out in our courts.  It is above most of my kids heads, though.  Alexis is the only one old enough to really understand it, but I paraphrase for Emily (who plays quietly as she listens/watches) and Ashley and Adam are really too young period, so they just play.  :)  After that we did our State study for the day.  Today we just finished up the Midwestern states, so we played a USA board game for fun, rather than move onto a new section.  

A tickle fight ensued after the game ended.

After that the children expected me to have them go start on individual studies/projects, but instead I surprised them with a trip to the park.  It was such a beautiful day, which I know are limited, so I thought we should enjoy it.  So we headed out and spent some fun outside.  The kids ran around playing and having leaf fights.  We all played on the ground under one of the trees with leaves all around talking and playing a make believe game together.  Alexis even got in a little time to read "Little Women."  She just started it yesterday and she says she loves it already.  She said she wants to reread "Little Men" when she's done since it's been a couple of years since we read it as a family.

When we got home it was past Adam's nap time.  So I put him down and the kids scattered to do their own things.  Emily and Ashley played some Othello.  They also spent a good deal of time reading out of library books they had picked out yesterday on our trip to the library.

Alexis went up to her room to read some more and work on writing.  It's a big passion of hers right now and she's always writing stories and poems and is working on a book.

Emily decided she wanted to browse through one of our sewing books for kids with Ashley and she picked out a doll skirt she wanted to as a project.  Ashley asked when she would big enough for her own sewing basket like the girls have and I told her soon she would.  She said in the meantime she would make her own sewing basket.  She emptied the doctor's bag in the playroom and spent the rest of the afternoon cutting, gluing, and fashioning felt pieces into items from a sewing basket.  

After a quiet afternoon of playing and projects, the girls helped me peel potatoes for dinner.

I was in the middle of working on my latest project - making my 6 year old a modest Alice in Wonderland for Halloween.  I had ordered her an Alice in Wonderland dress on clearance that is absolutely adorable.  It's supposed to for sizes 4-6 or for little girls 40-48 inches tall.  Ashley is 6 years old and 46 inches tall.  When she tried on the dress it came to her mid thigh!  When she bent over you could see her underwear.  So I headed to the fabric store to get some matching blue material and have spent some time this afternoon lengthening that little dress so she is modestly covered.

I took a break in sewing to finish dinner and after we ate and did evening chores we talked to Daddy on the phone and did our evening scripture study, hymn, and prayer.  After that we had a family movie night.  Adam cuddled up with Alexis and fell asleep while watching.  

After the movie everyone headed to bed.  I did a bit of reading and browsing online before turning off the lights. 

Pigeon Roost Farm

Our family trip to Pigeon Roost Farm was so much, as usual!  It's one of our favorite traditions every Autumn playing together for hours at this picturesque autumn spot.