Smooth and Clean
Sometimes the baby gets the smoothie…
And sometimes the smoothie gets the baby:
Thank goodness for baths!
Today is…October 3-7 2011
The Gospel Message we studied this week was on serving others. We wrote ways in which we can help others and others help us. We reenacted the story of the Good Samaritan (Ettin was VERY disturbed to see mommy lying sick on the floor. “Mommy, you t’ant do dat! You t’ant be on da w’oad!”) And we talked about ways to serve in our family. (Giant has written: read books and wash dishes)
Giant had a blast doing math worksheets. Crazy kid:
(Ettin wrote lots of numbers too 😉 ):
They created some nifty looking patterns out of fun shapes:
…while I sewed a cover for our mini-tramp (which is making a much needed comeback in this colder weather):
We talked about the pilgrims and ate some popcorn in their honour:
And we made some turkey art for our wall:
With the weather holding out, we have been busy in the garden. The boys helped clean and organize our plethora pumpkins:
And we have enjoyed lots of snuggly time reading together:
On Friday, daddy had the boys help him sort lego while mommy processed grape juice. The house smelled like candy, and my hands itched like crazy!!! (a previously unknown side-effect of grape handling!):
I recently got the book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons,” from the library. I looked at this when I’d started teaching Giant to read, and found his (and my) attention span severely lacking. However, Ettin is the type of child who actually LIKES to sit and colour or focus on work. So I tried a couple of lessons with him and was delighted to discover that he also likes to sit and do these lessons! I think he is also tickled to be “reading.” He has come to me a couple of times lately with a book in hand and proudly “read” me the title, so I thought some official learning time was in order. We’ll see how this goes!
*Update* On the way home from a family gathering, Ettin was examining the wall where people’s names had been engraved (officially) into the log walls. “Mommy,” he exclaims, “I found a “M”! That’s me!” It’s so neat to see him recognizing letters!
Oh, and speaking of Ettin, we took his training wheels off his birthday bike! He is a little unsure of himself but can keep pedaling once he gets going. We are working on stop and go 😉 Yay Ettin!!!
Garden Salsa
It was getting too cold outside for my little tomatoes:
I brought them all inside. Galoot helped me sort:
So, what to do with a bunch of little green tomatoes? Green Tomato Salsa!
The super awesome thing about this salsa is that all the main ingredients came from MY garden! Green tomatoes, onions, sweet green peppers, jalapeno peppers, and parsley:
I threw it all in a great big pot (one of my best canning investments this year):
And now I have lots of lovely green salsa!
Birthday Boy!
Our Birthday celebrations for Ettin began the night before his birthday. Giant woke up for a potty break and noticed I was decorating. He HAD to help. So, red eyed and in a bit of a sleepy stupor, the boy helped me make green tissue butterflies (because I had green tissue and black pipe cleaners, that’s why) . He also helped me remember a stash of toys that I’d forgotten, and he picked out a couple to give to his brother (GREATLY increasing the excitement of the presents we’d had for him!)
Birthday fun ready and waiting for a 3 year old boy:
Giant made sure Ettin had a present to open as soon as he got up:
And Ettin was a very happy boy with truck puzzles, trucks, Thomas Train kinder eggs, and Diego shoes, with the best yet to come!
Breakfast was cupcakes in oatmeal:
Then for the best part, we went to the city and found Ettin a bike from Grandma and Grandpa! It was the exact same bike he’d tried out when we bought Giant’s bike a couple of weeks ago, and he was delighted that “his” bike was still there. So much fun! We also searched for a big boy mattress so that he could sleep on a bottom bunk under his brother, but we couldn’t find one (daddy got one a couple of days later). Then to finish up the fun, we went miniature golfing as a joint celebration of Ettin turning 3 and Hubby and I celebrating our 9th anniversary!
Ettin on his pedal bike:
(he had to be bribed to actually pedal, but he can do it!)
Home late, we couldn’t put the boys to bed without eating birthday cake!
What kind of cake did Ettin want for his birthday?— Candy.
I tried to oblige:
Happy Birthday Big Boy!
Fall Garden
My garden, in the fall:
Kale is making a comeback:
Cabbages are actually forming new, uneaten leaves:
Little brussel sprouts are growing”
Yum. ?