Halloween Preschool Style

Have I told you how amazing Abby's preschool class is? 

Have I?

Let me tell you. It's amazing.

Within 4 weeks she was really writing her letters well and enjoying it.

The day before Halloween her teachers planned a big Halloween party in the park. Games, treats, trunk or treat (I'd never heard of such a thing...)

She was pretty happy that morning in her Tink costume (a hand me down from cousin Katy!)...

With leg warmers from 2 years ago that Grandma made...

And the "other Abbey" in her class....

One of many games : pin the face on the pumpkin...

Abbs with her amazing teacher, Ms. Amy!

Fordy got to come and refused the Peter Pan costume at the last minute.

Tigger from last year is always a fav around the house. 

Another game : sweet the pumpkin into the square. (It's harder than it looks!)

The cake walk. She was thrilled to pick out cupcakes.

Fordy trying to get as many candy corn into the bucket as he can...(the perks of being a preschool younger sibling - you get to do the games, too!)

Hard at work with the awesome Tink shoes Grandma fixed up for her....

Rock decorating...

The trunk or treat!

 I was such a rookie. Here is the trick :

Everything looks more spooky with cobwebs.

Loot!

And the "parade" around the park. 

Classic.

Adorable.

Fabulous.

Until the boy in the other class with a super hero mask on somehow scared the wahoo out of her just by walking too closely behind her. 

A wonderful teacher grabbed her and off she went, smiling again.

Close one!

And did I mention that Papa was there to help wrangle Ford, take pictures and join in on the fun?

He was.

And it was grand.

1063. dropping them off so i can run

1064. an extra hour with cousin Sloan

1065. no itching complaints in that costume

1066. ford listening during the craziness

Thankful Round Up

Here are a few instagram moments of thankfulness since we moved...

I'm so thankful for a girl that wears (certain) pants without fussing,

(certain) socks without complaining

and (certain) shoes without grumbling.

I'm thankful for a family that can go to the Farmers Market and make it feel like a new event.

We didn't even lost track of the littlest one.

I'm thankful for the art of painting your back during watercolor time.

I'm thankful for a safely delivered letterpress...

I'm thankful for wide, open spaces...

for rainboots on sunny days and the ability to climb this thing...

for special gifts after special trips....

and for priceless new jewelry...

1059.  the clothes, shoes and long sleeves on her

1060.  new, free rainboots 

1061. the right sale on the right day with the right stuff

1062. fairy tree magic

Halloween Prep

Grandma and Papa had the kids during the day a few weeks before Halloween and I came home to photos of Spider Man and Ariel surrounded by festival activities.

Look at him, sitting so still, little hands on his legs, girly headband in the unruly hair...

Decorating his pumpkin with Grandma...

And Abbs getting Ariel on her face...

And we ushered in the (surely) annual Halloween school party. 

We were busy getting ready for the Trunk or Treat ("make it fun, but no candy!"), the Cake Walk ("enough for a whole family") and of course, Halloween Night ("I want to be Rosetta the Fairy, not Tinkerbell!" "I want to be Tigger, not Peter Pan!")

And so - Rosetta got to make the Cake Walk cupcakes as long as Tink showed up on the big night.

And we even got to see Papa during our hard work.

1055. a dishwasher that truly cleans

1056. praying from afar

1057. facetime with Belle & little brother

1058. dreamy, inexpensive calendars for 2014

Down By The River

When we'd been here a few weeks, we got together with one of the few families we know around here and walked across the street from their house to go to the river. 

It was a glorious day, the tide was low and there was plenty of imagination going on.

Sand toys for days. Ford was in heaven (I think we own one shovel).

These adorable triplets we were with are super duper ingenious kids. They build things left and right, "practice" fishing, catch skunks... they are a great imaginative influence.

And soon, a fort began to form...

Ford collected rocks to stabilize the bottom logs...

And added stick decor...

And "helped" Parker start to make the roof...

It was amazing watching them work -- which their mom is very used to.

Abbs got pretty soaked -- digging and searching herself.

It was so novel to us- this "river day" -- we loved it and the absolutely beautiful surroundings. I know that next spring we're gonna be floating down the river!

Thanks, Kapics, for an amazing afternoon!

1051. inspired imagination

1052. a decaf latte on the way to bible study from my dad

1053. the speakers working

1054. a run while they watch the kids

Thumbs Up!

On Abby's second week of school, there was a deer just feet from the front door of the school. Not sure if you can see it here.... but it was pretty cool.

This is before we realized that deer are in our yard every single day eating the olives from our olive trees. (But we still find it pretty amazing.)

As we got a bit more settled, we did some baking. It was October, after all and pumpkin infused something was in order. Here are my crazy bakers...

Ford fell and got a nasty scrape over his eye (which, weeks later is still red) and here he is "showing it to me" while walking home from the park. Recently, he's taken to saying, "One day, (and from here it always deviates) a serpent came along and ate my bar off the ground. And I told him it was mine but he ate it. The End!" This kid is already a writer. 

He's also big into making up words. "That's Li-Li-La-Loca!" 

"Who?"

"Li-Li-La-Loca!"

"Grandma?"

Yes! "Li-Li-La-Loca Grandma-Loo-Loo."

There you have it.

And since we seem to be off by about 2 months in our calendar (I swear it should be September with the weather we're having now), on October first, it was 80 and time for some splash pad fun. This is at a local park, just a few minutes away from our house. 

This rainbow gyzmo shoots water out...

And these bucks throw a ton of water down, one at a time...

And the kids absolutely loved it.

And they drove home naked seeing that we didn't have a towel and fresh clothes in the car. They thought this was particularly fun.

We seem to be finding new things every day and it's definitely making it more fun to come home and keep on unpacking. So far, EDH is a thumbs up!

1045. impromptu soaking

1046. getting along, them having one another

1047. a pile of boxes we've unpacked

1048. the list getting shorter

1049. the unexpected return and rebate

1050. honest soap at costco

CS Lewis Rides Again

After that last post, I realized that it's been so long since we moved (6 weeks!) that I'd forgotten how really tough those first few days were.

Little things like this made me crazy:

A tire on the stroller going flat, a 45 minute conversation getting disconnected just as we were fixing the problem, toys everywhere, everyone bored....

And as I tried to get just one thing done, I found my anxiety (actual anxiety!) mounting with boxes surrounding us. My voice was raised more times than I would like to admit. I'd never before realized how much i need things in their "place." Wow.  God started revealing some really sad and ugly things in my heart--selfish things that reveal how much I need God. Oh, how I do. But you all knew that, already.

And then I read this.... exactly on the day i needed it...

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time.” - CS Lewis

And that's it. 

The attitude adjustment that I needed.

And a few days later, it was Abby's first day of schoool.

.......

It truly was ... perfect.

She's just a tiny bit excited.

And here's Ford's "huh?!" face. I see this face a lot.

After we dropped her off to a room full of 11 other girls, Ford and I headed to the park.

Where he went to the tippy tippy top of the slide, just a few minute walk from our new house.

And when I picked her up, all smiles, she had 11 other friends. Just like that.

And so, we celebrated with ice cream.

And Ford wore his pajamas.

At this point, there were only so many battles I could wage in a day.

And I just want you all to notice the pants.

And the socks.

And the shoes.

And no complaining. 

It feels miraculous.

And also over the next week, she mastered this climbing thing.

Ford can also do it, but Miss. Reticent can now rock it out.

No problem.

1041. overcoming fear

1042. preschool being spectacular

1043. God leading us to the right place immediately

1044. a high washing machine