Halloween Swap

What do I see?

What could that be?

Ghostly traces?

Black cat faces?

It must be Halloween!

 

Enjoy these little wood-burned figures (with watercolors) sealed with beeswax.

 

Happy Halloween!!!

 

(Dropped in the mail on Friday!!!)

New state, new home, new viruses

We've gotten our first round of family head colds.  Saff had it the worst.  We're on the mend, but all still "off".

While on "lock down" I made some fabulous "turkey meatloaf balls".  I know, not very vegan.  I'm off the wagon. 

We tried some finger painting, but it was sad, at best.

We've found a homeschool curriculum that fit my criteria (Waldorfy, free or inexpensive, easy, etc).  It's the Harvest Time curriculum from Wee Folk Art and so far the kid loves it!

We've read several books from the list (most are at our library) and added a few suggested by our local librarian. 

Should I list our favorite books?

Most of our days are spent figuring out where things should go (still more boxes?), job hunting (N's current work), all the paperwork associated with moving to a different state and exploring local parks. 

Preschool and boxes

The boxes appear to be decreasing in number.  Spaces are being filled and we've done what currently feels to be a good job separating spaces.  Our living room has four distinct spaces (all in a relatively small space)... a living/TV space, a dressing room, an office and a kids' reading nook. 

Office

S hiding under the desk

R reading in the living room (which was my inspiration for the reading nook)

Kitchen

Kids' table

As for preschool...*huge sigh*  It did not work out.  It's a bit of a sad story, but to make it short R just needs a little longer to transition to Kansas.  I'm mostly planning to just let him be a kid for a while longer.  I intend to spice that up with some Waldorf inspired educational bits.  But no real curriculum or anything.  For social interaction, I signed both kids up for a tumbling class that starts in a couple weeks. 

First day of Autumn!!!

Happy Fall Ya'll!  We celebrated with a morning trip to the farmer's market.  We bought squash (picture below), eggs and R picked out a wonderful cantaloupe.  At lunch he declared cantaloupe his new favorite fruit.  It really was good. 

Often times during S's nap I get ready for the second half of the day.  Snacks, activities for the kids, dinner prep, laundry and sometimes blogging are what I do during these blissful two hours. 

Here's what today's nap-work produced...

Some pages to color and banana oatmeal muffins for snack... then the rest of the afternoon will be spent in the backyard.

Brownie batter...

Who doesn't love it?

Sensory bins

I realized I now have to equipt two sensory bins... especially since my little one thinks the cat box (once hidden in the basement is now in plain/play zone) is a sort of sensory bin.  So to distract her from the fun-box-with-the-sand-in-the-laundry-room, she gets her own bin each time. 

Not my best, but "farm" will have to do until I unearth the fall stuff.

R's bin

S's baby-bin

Back in Kansas

Sunday we introduced a dinner bell and at night I reapplied to Graduate School.  So many things happening.  A collective sigh as we begin to settle in.  In the next few weeks I hope to chronicle our simplification process and our acclimation to living in a small town with small children.  Until then, you can enjoy a few shots of our rental. And the chaos of moving...

Empty cabinets...

are the best places to play!

These were some of the last photos taken at the old house.  A bit of a sad moment for me.

Birthday Party

Before we left Michigan, we attended one last b-day party for R's friend O.  She turned four and my little people had a blast at her party.

I had to get a shot of that beard.  It's gone now, but it was strange while it lasted.

House for sale!

Well sorta.  It's already under contract!!!

Here's the link.