Pumpkin Patch

 Every year we take the girls someplace to pick out their pumpkins.  We try to buy local at a farm because it's more fun that way.  I love watching them examine each pumpkin and decide which one is the best.  New Fish had a hard time deciding between a little tiny pumpkin and a big one.  She ended up with the big one.  I just a have a few more things on my list of things I wanted to do in October.  I'm hoping to take a drive to see the leaves before they are all gone.

Pirate Handprints

New Fish/Red Fish

Cub Scout Monsters

New Fish/Red Fish

 For cub scouts this week, we made Frankenstein's monster posters for our ward party coming up.  The kids brought magazines and cut them up to make new creations.  Red Fish and New Fish had fun trying their hand at some monsters as well.

Soccer Star

 This Fall, several of Red Fish's friends were on a soccer team together.  Red Fish was too young to play by a few months.  She was pretty bummed.  Some of her friends couldn't make the season's last game and they didn't want to forfeit so they asked Red Fish to play for them.  She did great, especially considering she has never watched or played soccer before.  She ran her little heart out and she even scored a goal (for the other team.)  It was so funny to watch all of the kids. It is a circus out there.  The goalie laid down when he got tired, the kids are kicking the ball the wrong way, and tripping over eachother.  Hysterical.  Red Fish had a blast!  We will have to sign her up for soccer next year.

Spider Webs

 

We did the marbles in a try again today.  This time we tried squirting the paint on the sides of the paper and then putting the marbles in.  It was less messy but not quite as much fun as last time.  We used metallic black paint to make it look like a spider web and then the girls painted a big spider on theirs.  Red Fish helped New Fish count her spider legs

Some of Red Fish's Recent Projects

 Red Fish draws pretty much everyday now, a habbit I need to work on for myself.  The other day she drew a monster to add to our "spooooooky" decor.

We also did some leaf prints with tempera paint.  It worked better for us than using watercolor stamp pads has in the past.

Pumpkin Spice Playdough

 Another cold and wet day (this time with slushy snow) called for something fun indoors.  We made pumpkin spice playdough.  The girls love to help mix all of the ingredients.  We used pumpkin spice and gold glitter in ours this time to make it festive.  We also tried a slightly different recipe.  I think I like this one better.
2 c. flour
1 cup salt
2 T. cooking oil
2 T. cream of tartar
2 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)
Stir ingredients together well.  Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan.  Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.  Knead the dough thoroughly.

Indoor Camping

 The afternoon was rainy and yucky and the girls got tired of playing with their regular toys.  I think they had totally forgotten we have little tents because I don't set them up very often.   They said they wanted to go camping and they were ecstatic when I said they could. I obliged them by setting up their little tents and they happily camped and barbequed the afternoon away.

I love the picnic blanket (their tablecloth off their little table.)  They even set up little beds inside of the tents with blankets and pillows.

Pumpkin Painting

 

More color mixing but this time I let the girls pick two colors.  They chose pink and blue and were excited to find that it made their favorite color- purple.  We painted on some pumpkins from our co-op and then they finished off on some paper. I love that Red Fish has to cover every last inch of her paper with paint. We are on a good roll the last couple of weeks with art projects that are making everyone happy and not stressing me out too much.  Halloween decor makes things pretty easy that way.  We got out all of the Halloween decorations today and the girls keep going around the house giggling about how "spooooooky" our house is now. 

Princess Bub- The Two Year Old

Dressed for bed in turtle footie jammies covered in socks, mismatched shoes, a tutu and crown

Well this post is very overdue but I didn't want to forget about it.  My little New Fish is so adorable and I need to record some things about what she is like at two years old.  She is so cute that sometimes I frequently have to pick her up and kiss her because that is the only possible reaction.  She can smile at you and make your heart sing. 
• She is LOUD.  She talks loud, screams loud, cries loud, laughs loud etc.  She may be training to be an opera star because this kid has a serious set of lungs.
• She is very imaginative and is always talking about a "mean mouse" and "nice bear" who are always running around our house and up to something.  She blames everything on a dinosaur who also freely roams our house.
• She is crazy stubborn.  I didn't know this level of stubbornness existed and I come from a long line of stubborn people.
• She loves to boss people around.
• Wild woman- she runs around like a maniac and has plenty of energy
• She adores all things princess. She calls all of the princes "Daddy."  She LOVES her Daddy.
• She refers to herself as either Bub or Princess Bubby.  She knows her name but prefers Bub.
• She likes to held a lot still and she always promises to stay my baby.
• She pretends to be a frog frequently.  She hops around the house ribbeting.
• She loves books and music.  She can't hear music without dancing.  Her favorite songs are: Row row row your boat, itsy bitsy spider, I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home and I'm A Child Of God.
• She has a very large vocabulary and she talks nonstop all day long.  She pops out of doors and says "HELLO!" all the time and scares people.  She popped out of a locker after swimming and nearly gave some poor woman a hear attack the other day.
• She asks to "Hello" (call on the phone) people all day long.  She loves to talk to her grandparents.
• She gives wonderful hugs and squeezes your neck extra tight.
• She calls Ariel, the little mermaid "Princess Sharky."
• She loves her best friend "Little Buddy" and all of Red Fish's friends.
• Her favorite art projects include glue.  She spends hours drawing with markers and has a knack for coloring her whole face when I look away for thirty seconds.  Her face is usually dirty from one escapade or another.
• She says "wub you" (love you) in a really sweet soft voice. 
• She loves her swimming lessons and runs to the side of the pool to jump in when it is her turn.
• She is all of her nursery leaders favorite because she is apparently extra sweet in church.
• She is always concerned about where her sister is and if she is alright.  She wants to do everything Red Fish does.
• She thinks it's funny to call me by my first name.
• She loves all things sugary and sweet but doesn't like to eat real food.  She pretty much survives off of whole wheat waffles, chicken nuggets and "Daddy cereal"- Quaker oatmeal squares.
• When she eats something she likes she says: "oooooooh I YIKE it."
• She knows all of her colors, animals, most of her shapes and a lot of letters.  She is starting to count.  Most of these tricks are picked up from listening to Red Fish.

Corny

 Another attempt at making color mixing more interesting.  We rolled corn on the cob to make prints with yellow and blue paint.  The girls thought it was pretty cool when it started turning green.  The corn leaves a fun texture.

When Red Fish got in the car after preschool today the first thing she said was: "I got two pieces of candy today at school so I can give one of them to [New Fishy]! "  She was so excited to share with her sister, I thought it was incredibly sweet.  I love watching them become better friends all of the time.  They still have their scuffles but for the most part they spend their time playing together and chatting.  It's really cute.

Collage Jack-o-lanterns

Red Fish

New Fish

 Now that the Holidays are coming (and by Holidays I mean Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines & Easter- they all seem to be coming already) we have started our monthly collection of foam shapes covered in STUFF. It fills up a lot of time through the month and makes everyone happy My girls seem to get great satisfaction out of the process of gluing stuff and making decorations out of foam and craft supplies.  We started with Jack-o-lanterns for October.

We got the usual jumble of stuff out to use: markers, glitter glue, foam shapes, sequins, feathers, pom poms and stickers.  New Fish is old enough to squeeze and use the glitter glue by herself now and I think she might be in love.

It has been a long day.  I decided to try having swimming lessons and speech together on Mondays so we can have a day with no appointments on Wednesdays.  It makes for a hectic day because I still have to try and squeeze in some work between running everyone around, keep everyone fed and attired for their next activity and the girls are desperate to play by the time we get done with everything.  We went out to ride bikes with friends and then I tried to settle them down with a project while dinner was cooking.  Then it is family home evening time and bath & bedtime.