turkeys

My two turkeys trying to skip out of bath time . . .

Turkey place mats and place cards made for our dinner tomorrow . . .

Happy Turkey Day to everyone!

art pen pal

The author of a blog I read regularly started 'art pen pals'. I sent in Ambrose's name and this week he received his art pen pal's information. Timothy lives in Brookhaven, PA and is 4 1/2 yrs. old. We were asked to send the first artwork with name, age, description of what Ambrose likes, etc. Ambrose decided for his first artwork to draw 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.

Ambrose and I went on a field trip with his preschool on Friday to Nazareth Performing Arts Center to see 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. A troupe from Nova Scotia performed a puppet show using black lights to illuminate the puppets on stage; what an incredible show it was!

I just read on her blog: 277 kids in 40 US States, 20 Countries, and 6 continents will be sending their artwork and letters through the mail and around the world to each other . . . how cool.

extra help

The mission: to make Christmas cookies

Tools: mixing bowl, mixer and 4 eager hands

Ingredients: sugar, peanut butter, etc. and lots of love

The result: 4 dozen peanut butter blossoms and a pan of lemon bars along with 3 (well I had to try too) satisfied tummys.

giggling

Going for a walk to the park,

giggling,

looking at the BIG pumpkins,

giggling,

pointing out colorful homes,

giggling,

running to see who could beat the other,

laughing so hard bodies were shaking,

swinging, see-sawing, sliding, running,

giggling,

running, jumping in the leaves . . .

WAIT MAX don't eat the leaves.

Giggling . . .

4 boys and 1 smiling from ear to ear momma (and aunt).

monkey see, monkey do

halloween costumes

One Dalmatian (at Strong Museum's Halloween party while brother was in preschool). Costume was free, Ambrose wore it 2 years ago (and when I bought it for him, it was $1 at a garage sale!)

One space shuttle (who didn't want to hold still for picture because neighbors were outside and he was afraid he was missing the trick-or-treating part). Costume of poster board, red crepe paper, a small piece of muslin and some ribbon. Note to self must take into consideration for next year's costume very tall steps on Victorian homes in the neighborhood. I ended up running back to the house and grabbing the stapler so that we stapled every so often to keep the back together. Doesn't the space shuttle sometimes not launch due to weather/faulty equipment/etc. - well, how realistic are we?

10 little trick-or-treaters (not all pictured) gathered on our stoop to convene the annual neighbors trick-or-treating together.

construction birthday party

Yesterday morning a construction crew moved into our church's basement (24 kids) in order to 'build a house'. They donned their construction hats and aprons and set to work. The site prep area was moving construction vehicles around to 'level the land' (moving packing peanuts around). Then onto the construction site where houses were built and knocked down frequently. Once they had built their house they painted it (or in our case colored a picture of a house). Finally, every good home needs landscaping so the kids painted rocks.

The whistle blew and it was time for cake! After filling up we sat down and read one of the boys' favorite books, Monster Trucks followed by a book exchange. Ambrose had a great time along with all of the other kids.