Feeling fallish

Maybe I'm just being impatient, but it seems it is taking the leaves longer than usual to change colors this year!

That is part of the beauty of this project, though - fresh green leaves work just as well, maybe even better!

The whole fam gathered around Saturday afternoon after a leaf-gathering walk to see what we could make.

Our supplies were simple:

leaves of varying shapes and sizes

broken crayons, ready to be peeled

old newspapers

Place leaves on the table, vein side up, cover with a sheet of newspaper, and start rubbing!

Try not to be distracted by reading the papers.
Cut out your rubbed leaf creations, and hang them up on a wall or window!

You could also add twine and pretty fall beads, as seen at this site, where we got our original inspiration to use newspaper.

Or, you may find a practical use for your leaf rubbings, like the Smockity bunch did!

All I know is, I smile a little bit every time I see the fun, colorful arrangement of fall leaves cascading down my wall!

The Nature of Things

I have two (soon to be three) boys.

When one boy outgrows an article of clothing, we fold it up and store it away for the next little boy. When little boy reaches a larger size, we open up our box and pull out a little wardrobe, all ready to go.

In theory.

In real life, boys play in dirt piles and mud holes. And fall off bicycles. And ask for tree-climbing lessons. And who knows what else.

And after all that, their clothes end up looking like this:
The britches in that picture? They used to be what we would call BLUE JEANS. And yes, they were BLUE. All over. (and if you need proof these weren't 'staged', take a closer look at the tree-climbing boy above wearing these very same jeans earlier in the very same day)

This explains why there aren't ever quite as many clothes in those hand-me-down boxes as there seems there should be.

This would also be a very good hint that this 3rd boy? He can pretty much forget hand-me-downs!

Apple Puzzle

We've been doing a few apple activities and reading apple books for early fall. One of our favorites - and by far the easiest! - has been the apple puzzle.

Simply take a whole apple and push a paring knife into the core at alternating angles, all the way around the apple. It should come apart easily once you get back to your first cut.

You now have an apple puzzle! Dale had fun putting it together a couple of different times.
After everyone has had a turn, you now have a snack!

Alan was more interested in the eating than the puzzling. :)
Happy Appling!

The man to which I am married...

... took two hours out of his Sunday afternoon,

his day of rest,

and helped me transform a hodge-podge mountain of little boys clothes

- summer and winter, sizes 12month, 18month, 24month, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T, and 5/6 -

into 7 sorted and labeled boxes to go into the attic,

and a dresser full of folded things for little boys to pull out and wear,

and a closet with neatly hanging clothes for mama and daddy to choose for going out.

I don't know when I've been a happier woman!

I'm sure he meant well. Really.

All the fam was excited this weekend to get a surprise visit from my sister.

The boys are crazy about her and were thrilled to get to spend all day Saturday and even Saturday night with Mimi & Gramps and Kristin. And maybe I was happy about it, too. ;)

Because of all this togetherness, Dale was with Kristin when she bought a new pair of shoes on Saturday.

As we were saying our goodbyes today, Dale looked around and noticed Kristin's new shoes in a stack of things to be taken back home with her.

Wanting to say nice things in addition to all the "I had funs" and the "can't wait to see you agains", Dale pointed to the shoes and said....

"I like your new shoes Kristin. They're going to make you.....

(here he searched for juuuust the right compliment)

... they're going to make you look like a sissy!!"

And out the door he went, leaving Kristin behind in his wake of good cheer.

She was flattered.

I think.

What's on my mind?

- It's hot. And humid. And it's going to rain. Bucket loads. My backyard is already squishy.

- I wish I had already ordered that kids exercise dvd I thought about several weeks ago. Because my boys have a need to burn off energy. Daily. And, well, it's going to be raining, in case you haven't heard.

- My problem is, I couldn't decide on the *perfect* one. Even after reading the reviews. So, all discussions about perfectionism aside, do you own any kid exercise dvds? What do you like?

- I have noticed I don't blog much (hardly any!) about pregnancy. What is there to say really? I have a baby bump. It is on the smallish side of average size. I like carrying it around. Some things hurt. Sleep isn't what it used to be. I have 3 months to go. I have a person that lives and moves inside me. I don't care what the 'official' definition of miracle is: I am growing one daily!

- Facebook: I don't do it, and I don't get it. Twitter: I do it, and I still don't get it. Do you do either?

- School. We have completed (almost) ten weeks! And we only have two more weeks of studying insects - hallelujah! Then it is on to hibernation and birds. Twelve weeks is a lot of time to be reading about bugs.

- My kids. I'm in one of those crazy-about-them-even-when-they-drive-me-crazy phases. I hope it lasts longer than a phase, really. Being a mom is fun these days. :)

When all else fails...

I am an avid weather watcher.

I check the weather online several times a day. Forecast, current temperature... all that stuff.

I have the radar as a shortcut across the top of my web browser.

But something has gone awry and I can no longer depend on my trusty weather sources.

For one thing, it rained all weekend. And all day yesterday. And all night last night.

But every time I checked the radar? It looked clear!

(Ok, so maybe the clouds were low, and maybe we do live far from the center of the radar, and maybe it was a light drizzly misty rain at times, but still.)

To not be able to trust the radar is a major upset in our household!

And then... as if that weren't enough....

I checked the temperature this morning to see if the boys needed long sleeves or short sleeves and found this:

110? Really? So, uh... I guess that'd be short sleeves?

But it's that heat index of 259 that really concerns me!

Therefore, since all I know of weather predicting has gone completely wrong, I am switching to a new source.

One of these:
It's a weather rock. You hang a rock, any size, in a prominent place outside, with this information posted nearby:

If the rock casts a shadow, it is sunny.

If the rock is warm to the touch, it is hot.

If the rock is wet, it is raining.

If you can't see it, it's foggy.

If the rock is white, it is snowing.

If the rock is moving, it is windy.

If it's gone, there's a tornado.

I figure this ought to be more reliable than the information I've been getting!