Spooky Art

We've spent the last couple of weeks doing many Halloween art projects . . . too many to post here. These two turned out nice though, and I thought I'd display them. I got the idea for the above one here. It was a nice way to introduce the technique of wet wash to the kids. The next day, when the watercolor was dry, we cut out the houses and bats and other spooky additions.

With the spider webs, we got to use pastels and learn the technique of rubbing and smoothing out the pastels. It was another two-day project since we had to wait for the glue spider webs to dry. This idea came from one of my new favorite blogs for children's art projects. Can you tell which one is Phx's?

Halloween Preview

Getting ready for our ward's Trunk or Treat, Phx dons his frog costume, which consists of, well, a frog hat and a green shirt. That's it. Let's face it, 1) Phx does not like to dress up for Halloween (to get him to put his costume on last year, we had to tell him that no one would give him candy unless he had on a costume); 2) I get so burned out every year that invariably some part of the costume does not get made (this year it was Phx's frog feet); and 3) I could not, for the life of me, find green pants anywhere. So there you have it.

Lu wanted to be a wolf. Please don't say she looks like a donkey or a rabbit or even a dog. JUST DON'T.

Getting ready to go.

There's the snout. That went on for the picture, but off for the rest of the night. Which was fine with me. In theory she loved it, but not in practice. "It bakes be sound funny, Bob." I understand.

And the tail. Every year Lu wants to be something scary. Last year it was a witch. The year before, a bat (notice we got a second use out of that costume last year with a certain little boy). This year it was a wolf. She's already told me that next year she wants to be either a monster or Laura Ingalls. We'll see which one wins out. But since we started (quite accidentally) reading The Hobbit, maybe she'll want to be a hobbit or a dwarf.

My little frog. Why do my kids always choose to be animals?? We need to work on that.

The Big Journey, by Lutece

Once upon a time, there was a big brother and his little brother.

One day they were playing outside in the rain. They were playing hide and seek.

The little brother decided to hide in the grass. Instead, he went far away, and his big brother couldn't find him.

He called and called for his big brother, but his big brother didn't hear him. He started to run farther and farther away from his big brother.

He ran farther and farther and farther away from his big brother. [I asked Lu if the green thing was a dog, but no, it's only a bush. Just in case you were wondering too.]

It was raining hard. He was walking through the rain. Suddenly he heard a voice. "Where are you?!" the voice yelled.

"I am lost," said the little brother.

Suddenly, the little brother started to run the other way. Then they found each other.

The big brother started to lead him the same way he had gone. They had gone so far, they were in the desert.

Suddenly, they came across a lake. The big brother and the little brother started to swim across the lake. They found grass on the other side.

The little brother started to think about home. The big brother kept leading him closer and closer to home.

[A close-up of the little brother "thinking about home." She said she painted hair in this picture because Phx asked her to.]

Then the brothers found home.

And it was almost time for bed.

The End.

[Lu painted the "illustrations" to this book a couple of nights ago while I was making dinner. The last illustrations were a little hurried since we were saying to her, "Lu, it's time to finish up now; we need to set the table." The next day, we sat down together, put the paintings into book form, and she dictated the entire story to me. Word for word. Oh, yeah, and she and Phx acted out the story while she dictated it. My favorite is her constant use of "suddenly," and when she dictated "They came across a lake . . ." she paused and said to me, "What does it mean to 'come across' something?" After I explained it, she seemed satisfied that she had, indeed, used the right phrase.]

Owls and Beavers and Deer. Oh My.

I've been really laaaazzzzzyyyy about blogging lately. Lazy. And busy. Really busy with other things. Not the least among them, Halloween costumes. Which have turned out pretty lame. That's a story for another post. These pictures are actually from three weeks ago when we went to the Arboretum's Fall Festival.

The kids painted pumpkins, tasted local fall fruits, observed bugs, could have gotten their faces painted (but didn't . . . Whew), and enjoyed both a scarecrow tour AND a local wildlife tour. The next few pictures are from the latter.

Volunteers dressed up as local wildlife gave fun, fact-filled spiels about each animal. Phoenix would plop himself down right in front of the person and stare, fascinated. (Miss Owl)

Mr. Beaver.

Lu was a little less impressed. So after the first couple of animals, we hit the trail and did an "abbreviated" version of the tour: "Um, what are you supposed to be?" And then maybe one or two other questions before we moved on.

But even on the abbreviated tour, Phx could not get enough of the animals. He even gave a hug to Mr. Deer. (Goaded on by Mr. Skunk. I think the two were high-school pals, trying to make fools of each other.)

A great time was had by all.

I have nothing more to say. Here are some more pictures.

This is why we love the Arboretum.

The Witchy Season

I've already mentioned how much Lu loves wearing her witch costume from last year. The weather has been gorgeous lately. Ghee-or-geous. Last week Stayc got some shots of the kids playing outside. This was his favorite of Lu.

This was my favorite . . .

. . . or this.

Lest you think we don't take pictures of Phx, that is simply untrue. It's just that they never turn out quite as good.

Case in point. We try. We really do.

Boys Can Be Fairies Too

But not princesses. Lu and I had to explain that one to Phx recently. I don't know if he really grasps the concept yet, but he does make quite a masculine fairy.

Here's skirt number two. Not as cute as the first one. Lu picked out the fabric from my scrap pile. It's a little longer and less full than it should be. Oh well. However, the next part makes up for that . . .

Lu wanted to make a matching skirt for Dolly and insisted on sewing it herself. She sewed the side seam. I was so proud of her. I suppose I could have put the seam on the inside when I sewed the rest of the skirt, but I thought it should be on the outside where all could see it. Here's a close-up. (Remember, I figured out how to take close-up shots. You're going to be seeing more of them.)

And a shot of the two of them together with their matching skirts on. When I asked her about the choice of the purple shirt, she responded "Well, it just looked good upstairs." Yep.

Her Lucky Day!

Our library system recently put together a list of 50 Books Kindergarteners Should Read, and to kick off the new program, they brought one of the 50 authors to our fair city, wherein she hosted a story time for a small group of children. Lu and I got to attend Denise Fleming's storytime and she was wildly entertaining. We had a blast. (Lu even got her picture in the local newspaper . . . ok, so it was a tiny picture, in which she was barely discernable . . . but still!) As part of the kick-off, they also had a week-long drawing to win 5 of the 50 books. Guess who won the last book on the last day??? And the book just happened to be the one by Denise Fleming. What luck!!

Although we've read most of the books already, we put the 50 books poster in Lu's room and have been marking with stickers every time she/we read one of the books. So far, I've only read one of them and Lu's read the other 5-6. She's doing really well with reading . . . plugging away at it. Today she read the first chapter of Little Bear all by herself. Yeah Lu!

General Conference Dolls

I know, I know. If I were a better LDS mom, I would have had gospel-centric activities lined up for the little ones to do during Conference. But I'm just not there yet. However, I DID have a quiet craft lined up for both mornings while we sat around the computer. Clothespin dolls was the craft for Sunday. These were Lu's.

The more exciting news is the fact that I *finally* figured out how to take up-close pictures on this hateful camera of ours . . . which is not AS hateful anymore now that I've figured this out. I'm embarrassed it's taken me so long. Embarrassed that I didn't just look it up in the manual, and embarrassed that my pictures have been so blurry and unfocused. In the end, I got so fed up that I just started pressing random buttons on the camera (something I've done before, but with no success). And then, voila!

These "men" are Phx's. He chose the colors (hair, clothes, everything). When he chose the pink flowered fabric for one man's "pants," Lu looked over and said, "He's a very girly man." She and Arnold.

Bread Happy

Phoenix and I made bread a couple of days ago. He's getting better at helping. At least he doesn't destroy whatever he's helping me with any more.

The bread making got him very excited. Of course, it was just the prospect of eating the dough.

And when it took longer than expected, he got a little less happy.

Whatever. He just grabbed some dough anyway. Mommy's little helper.

Halloween Skirt

I found this great little pattern for a "lazy days skirt." The fabric wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was Lu's. (Actually, it wasn't her *first* choice. I gently dissuaded her from her first choice. Yikes!)

Now I've got two more in the works (along with matching ones for Dolly and Rosie). I'll post pictures one of these days. It only takes about 40 minutes start to finish. So easy. So cute. Indulge me.

Dorothy the Little Witch

I found this witchy ensemble while pulling out the kids' fall clothes. I must have packed it away with last year's digs. Lu has worn it too many times to count since then. At first we couldn't remember the name of the little witch after whom the costume was fashioned. Then Lu said, "Dorothy! It was Dorothy, Mom." Ummmm, that doesn't sound *quite* right. I finally realized that it was "Dorrie." When I told her, she refused to believe it. "No, Mom, it's Dorothy." Since then, we've checked out a couple of the Dorrie books from the library. The other day she said, "Didn't you used to think it was Dorothy, Mom?" Yeah. Yeah. That must have been me.

Mmmm, Basil

The summer is at a close and the weather is getting cooler. Now the kids are in shorts and sweatshirts. This week may be the end of shorts until next year. The garden is petering out too. All that's left is basil, chives and a couple of tomatoes.

Yesterday I cleaned out most of the basil and made a large batch of pesto to freeze. The harvest (small though it was) is over.

Summer is gone. Fall is here.