Happy Boo Day

The girls had "trunk or treat" at my parents church last night where they attend Awana's. So they got to dress up in their costumes. I thought it would also be fun to take a stroll down memory lane and look at their costumes over the last few years.

Last night as "Pumpkin Fairies" & Yes, their hair is GREEN! They loved it!

Here they are with Bandi in her own Pumpkin costume...she was not too happy about it.

Last year age 4 as "2 Chefs & A Princess"

Age 3 as "Clowns from the 3 Ring Circus"

Look we won 1st prize in the costume contest!!!
Age 2 as "Scarecrows"

Age 1 as "Giraffes"

I have to say that my favorites are the clowns and scarecrows. Just too cute!

Triplet Bunk Bed

I ran across this old photo and had to post it! The girls were 3 yrs. old and decided they wanted bunk beds. All I can say is team work!

Books

I hit the mother load in FREE books!!!!! Our church closed their preschool and offered up all their books and supplies to families in the church. So, during the 11 am service last week I went and picked through the books. I could not believe my good fortune. :) Myself and a fellow homeschool mom sat there looking through several hundred books passing them back and forth! I came home with 50 books!!!!! All of them really good books. So I hope to share them with you over the next few weeks. Here are our first three that we have used this week.

My 50 books from church!!!!

Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann is a super funny and cute book! The girls and I loved it!

Down by the Station by Will Hillenbrand is a book you can sing! The girls love any book that you can sing the words. It is a favorite with all of us! Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall. We did a unit study on leaves this past week using this book! It's full of craft ideas and lots of info on changing of seasons. Great for unit study on fall.
This craft idea was taken from the book Fall Leaves Fall. Yes, that is a Palin bumper sticker covering my child's name. :) Go Palin!!!! :) The girls made objects from the different fall leaves we collected on a nature walk. They made birds, princesses, fish and spiders! :)

Pigs from 1 to 10 by Arthur Geisert. We are going to use this book this week to do a unit study on the numbers 1-10. I love the illustrations in the book they are beautiful!

First Field Trip

We took our first field trip as a homeschool family to the Zoo. We had a blast. The weather was perfect! The zoo was not crowded and we got to see all the animals. When we have gone before the animals are often in a part of the zoo that you can't see but we got to see them all. Here are a few pictures....

The stroller...They all packed into a double. :)


Sleeping with the polar bear...
Family with the black bear...he is sitting on the log in the back ground.

J was a little afraid...
R was not afraid!
In the playground at the zoo...it was a veggie patch.



Daddy helping R see the elephant.

Mom's Weekend Away

This weekend I attended E Women Conference at my old university were I spent 2.5 years before coming home to get married. ;)

Liberty University has changed so much since my years there! Can I just say I had a reality check to how I old I am getting while there. We had to park about a mile and half from the Vines Center where the conference was held. So while waiting for the shuttle to pick us up a cute little LU senior was waiting at the shuttle pick up to offer any needed assistants us old women might need. LOL My mom, sister and I along with the other ladies with us were all talking about how much the university has changed since I was last there. My brother and sister both graduated from LU but since I am the baby of the family I was there last. :) Then the young LU guy asks me how long since I came to LU. I replied I came in 1995! He says, "Wow that was a long time ago!!!!!! I guess the school has changed a lot!" Can I just say that 31 is not that old but boy did I feel like an old fart after that conversation. I mean really it feels like yesterday that I was there. Cottage Girl I know you can understand what I'm talking about. Then LU guy says, "I've heard that the rules were like really strict when you were here and they had a dress code." Yes, LU guy they were. It's crazy how much time changes things. I mean when I attended there were like 5,000 students on campus now they have I think 12,000! However, I am not getting OLD!

Now, back to E Women! If you have never gone to an E Women or Women of Faith Conference...GO! It's a great girl, mommy, wife get away! We have a blast each year. This year we got to see Richie McDonald the former lead singer of Lonestar, Mandisa (she gives a rocking concert), Chonda Pierce, Angela Thomas, Carol Kent and Karen Kingsbury! The speakers were great. Angela Thomas has an amazing story as well as Carol Kent!

I always come home refreshed and ready to be a better wife and mom.

Now, It's Sunday the kids are sick and I'm coming down with what they have but thankfully I know we will survive! I hope you all had just as great a weekend!

Library Finds

Here are a few great finds we are reading now from our local library...

The Favorite Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris~ The girls love these stories! If you have never read them they are a must read! Don't be afraid of the dialect. If you are not sure you can read it Google Uncle Remus stories and you will find audio files you can listen to to get and ear for the dialect!

Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose and The Baby's Lap Book by Kay Chorao ~ These two books have beautiful illustrations in them. You don't want your little ones to miss out on these classic treats. I do have to add that while reading Mother Goose a while back I would leave out a line and allow the girls to fill in the blank. I said, "Little Bo Peep ___?___" N said, "Sat on A Sheep!" Well I just about died laughing. So tonight while reading Mother Goose I said, "Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of __?___ "and N said "water". I read, "Jack fell down and broke his___?___ " N said, "LEG"! R said "that does not rhyme!" I just laughed! Who knew how funny Mother Goose could be!



The Golden Treasury of Fairy Tales with pictures by J. P Miller, Richard Scarry, Gustaf Tenggren, and other favorite artists ~ I love this book because the stories are not Disney but they are not the long drawn out Grimm's brothers fairy tales. The illustrations are wonderful! A great bedtime story book.

Sunday Afternoon

Cow Racing on the Wii.

R's Favorite...

Father and Daughter Time