Reese's Fall Walk

Reese and I have been having some fun in her class. I have been volunteering a few times a week in her class during centers. A few Friday's ago (I'm always behind), I was able to go with her on her Fall Walk where we observed the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of Fall. I love this time we have together while we are apart.

Bear's Volcano Party

Bear and Reese were going to have a combined birthday party at a local Bounce house place (Jumpin' Jacks) however, they decided to close and not inform those that had reserved (and paid) for birthday parties! NICE. So, we had to come up with something for Bear a little late. His birthday was the 7th of September.

Bear told us he wanted a VOLCANO birthday party. Yeah, that wasn't exactly an easy party theme but it ended up a BLAST. Above is the volcano pinata Christopher made for the party. He did a great job, as he always does with these at home parties!

The kids (14 of them!!!) created their own homemade volcanoes from small water bottles (empty), dirt, baking soda, a little red food coloring and some vinegar to set it off.

My brother took some great shots for me. I have absolutely no pictures...I was busy on crowd control! Love Bear's face watching the explosion with his cousin, Hudson.

Pizza was for lunch!

14 kids went through 4 boxes of pizza! I thought we'd have leftovers, but no.

It was THAT good!

Bear's volcano cake that was super awesome before it fell on the floor about 2 minutes before the party started. Christopher did a fabulous job and I wish we had gotten a picture just before it fell. Ironically, he was setting it up to take a picture when it fell.

It ended with the pinata blow out and passing around of the party prizes. It was a big hit and Bear had a great first friend b-day party! Happy 4th Birthday buddy!

Pumpkin Patch

I took the kids and their friends to a local pumpkin patch the other day. There was a little corn maze that the kids had fun in but complained "that was too easy, we want to go to a better one".

There were lots of antique tractors to sit on. The kids liked that.

And Bear helped me pick out 3 while pumpkin for some fall harvest decor. This weekend we plan on going to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point for some real pumpkin patch fun!

Halloween Sewing Project

I made these knot dresses and ruffle pants for Reese and my niece Finley this past week. It was so fun!

Investigator Deflector Fishing

We live close (within walking distance) from a lake and Gavin has been wanting someone to take him fishing since the lake melted its ice blanket this Spring. One day he made a fishing pole from a stick, some yellow twine and a sparkly pipe cleaner as bait. Yeah, he didn't catch anything that day.

In his next attempt, he got a wire coat hanger and attached a plastic bag with some more pipe cleaners and left for the dock once again. He called it his Investigator (b.c the fish did swim up to it to investigate) Deflector (b.c he couldn't catch anything). Note: his bait was celery this time around. Much to our surprise, fish actually ate the celery! No joke! Gaivn just needed a hook to actually catch something.

The kids were fascinated with watching the fish come and eat the celery but Gavin's bag just wasn't going to bring them up out of the water fast enough.

Bear's idea of a fishing pole. Nice.

Gavin worked really hard and got pretty creative hoping with all of his mite that he might catch his first fish...I just couldn't take the poor boys disappointment any longer. I bucked up and bought him a fishing pole, tackle box, the whole get up.

The next day, he and his bff Gabe went fishing...with celery. The fish were taking the bait right off the hook and they couldn't actually catch anything. But they had a lot of fun.

As we were walking back from the dock we noticed an older gentleman fishing and asked if he would give us novice some fishing help. Within 20 minutes Gavin had caught his first fish! Boy was he happy about that! The kid was on cloud nine!!

Christopher and Reese came to the lake a bit later and Christopher tried his hand at fishing and caught one too! Needless to say, Gavin is at the lake everyday fishing! He loves it!