Two Little Pumpkins

Painting Autumn

To celebrate the beginning of autumn, Grace and Jack painted their very own autumn tree. I drew an outline of a tree on a long piece of paper and taped it onto a tree in our yard. Grace and Jack used brown, orange, red and yellow paint to add autumn leaves.
Here is Grace and Jack's finished autumn tree!!! We later moved their tree to a different tree trunk at the bottom of our driveway to surprise all of our neighbors who drive by our home. At the end of the day we moved the tree again near our front door. Grace and Jack wanted to surprise Daddy with their painting when he arrived home yesterday from his week long business trip to Chicago. Grace and Jack wanted their autumn tree to be the first thing Daddy saw when he returned home!

Goodbye summer....hello autumn!

We have had quite a busy week. We have been out and about every day this week and we are gladly welcoming a little bit of at home time tomorrow to officially celebrate the beginning of autumn. I hope to post pictures of our autumn celebration tomorrow!

Grace Joins the Teensy Weensy Theater!

Grace joined the Teensy Weensy Theater this September. This theater class is part of the Children's Theater of Maine. The rehearsals take place at the Children's Museum each week and the classes are designed for children between the ages of 3-5. Grace absolutely LOVES her theater class! She has been practicing all month for a production of Jack and the Beanstalk, which will be performed next week. I can hardly wait to watch Grace in her very first play!!!!

This picture of Grace was taken just prior to her first theater class. Grace wanted to arrive very early that day because she was so excited to start her class! Grace stood outside the door and watched in complete amazement as her teacher set up the theater room.

While Grace attends her theater class, Jack and I play together in the museum. Although Jack loves playing in the museum while Grace is practicing for her play he definitely misses his big sister. I often hear him saying, "Gracie, Gracie where are you?" What a sweet boy!

Enjoying the Final Few Days of Summer!

Happy Trails

Early Signs of Autumn...

We went on a long nature walk today to observe the early signs nature is presenting to indicate that autumn is very near. We brought a bin with us in order to collect a variety of these early autumn items. Here are some of the items we put into our autumn box: leaves that have changed color, acorns, fallen pine cones, bittersweet berries that have begun to turn a subtle shade of orange and dried leaves, ferns & flowers.

Here is our autumn in a box - a great learning tool and sensory activity!

Making Blueberry Crisp!

Many of our materials for projects and learning activities have been packed away in storage until we move to our new house next month. In the meantime we will be focusing on nature activities, science activities and cooking/baking with materials we still have available!! Today, Grace and Jack made blueberry crisp with the blueberries that we picked together on Sunday at Libby's Orchard. Here is the recipe that Grace and Jack used (I especially like this recipe because of the low sugar content and it uses whole grain flour and whole grain oatmeal for an extra nutritional boost):

• 6 cups blueberries, rinsed and lightly dried
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Topping Mixture:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking whole grain oatmeal
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 stick room temperature unsalted butter, cubed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss blueberries and cornstarch together in a bowl.

Combine flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Add butter and pinch into chunks. Mix until it looks crumbly.

Add the blueberries into a 2-quart baking dish. Top evenly with the crumb mixture. Bake for 40 minutes.

Picking Apples & Blueberries at Libby's Orchard

Happy Grandparent's Day!

This special message was hand written by Grace and the heart was colored by Jack especially for Maddy & Poppy and Memere & Pepere to honor them on Grandparent's Day today. Grace and Jack have such a special relationship with their grandparents. We love them so very much and feel exceptionally blessed to have them as our children's grandparents. Thank you, Maddy & Poppy and Memere & Pepere, for all that you do for our family!

The first Grandparent's Day was proclaimed in 1973 in West Virginia by Governor Arch Moore. In 1978, five years after its West Virginia inception, the United States Congress passed legislation proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparent's Day. The proclamation was signed by President Jimmy Carter.

Eat Your Vegetables!

A friend of ours stopped by our home this past weekend to drop off some vegetables from his organic garden. Hooray! We were very excited to have so many fresh vegetables on hand. We had an abundance of green beans so we decided to make a raw green bean dip with them this week. Here is the recipe:

- Fresh Green Beans
- Approximately 1 tablespoon of Olive oil
- A pinch of Kosher Salt
- A pinch of Pepper
- Fresh Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Grace and Jack placed all of the above ingredients into a food processor and mixed until the green beans were chopped into fine pieces. The best part about this recipe is that it is so nutritious (and really tasty!), simple to make and no cooking is involved!

We enjoyed our delicious raw green bean dip with some whole wheat crackers. Jack-a-roo was so anxious to try the dip, however, that he bypassed the crackers and used his finger instead!

Grace and Jack have become expert corn huskers this summer! This is a treat they have been enjoying for the past several weeks and we will be sad to see the corn season come to an end -- but we are looking forward to pumpkins and squash next!

Mmmmmmmm!

Apple Picking Season

Apple Picking

We went apple picking today.
Many more pictures tomorrow!

Jack-a-roo in a Pink Tutu!!!

Yes, that is Jack-a-roo wearing a pink tutu!

Our Jack is very much all boy. He loves cars, trucks, tractors, climbing, digging in dirt, tools, sticks, rocks, and rough play. However, a little bit of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker music brings out a whole new side of our Jack! After watching Grace dancing in tutus since he was a teeny tiny baby, Jack decided earlier this summer that he would try one out too. The moment Jack hears Tchaikovsky he always says, "Tutu, tutu!" and runs to find this pink tutu to put on while he dances to the ballet music -- just like his big sister!!! After putting on the tutu Jack's next mission is to locate the cymbals from our musical instrument basket. He loves to play the cymbals and make big, loud crashes during the Forest of Fir Trees in Winter movement. :)

Even a little pink tutu can't stop the boy in Jack from climbing up the OUTSIDE landing of the stairs to reach our iPod player that is playing that beautiful ballet music. Oh my!

A Perfect Duet

Grace and Jack LOVE, LOVE, LOVE music! Every day they have music time together. They look so cute sitting side-by-side on my piano bench while they play and sing lots of songs together. I love how they always get one of my piano books to put on the stand so they can "read"the music as they play the piano. Jack's favorite song to sing and play on the piano is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Grace enjoys making up her own songs ("in French," as Grace says!) and singing and playing songs from music group.

Cloud Paint!

Jack and Grace filled their little pool this morning with "cloud paint" (shaving cream) and had the absolute best time. Grace pretended she was ice skating in the slippery pool and Jack loved spraying lots of the paint onto his hands and spreading it around the pool! Cleaning up with a hose and sprinkler was just as much fun for us too on this very, very hot first day of September.