The Things We Do

I have been concerned with what I fear will be our reality in the coming years regarding school options. I think most likely, for the best "education" venue, we will be choosing home. Also fearful of my ability to gauge how much "learning" is taking place, I decided to try to capture some of the moments when I thought something bigger than usual Moon spaciness was happening. I missed so many, but looking through these pictures I can see that we will be just fine.
*note, most of these activities were initiated by Moon, not Mama constructed "lessons". I think that the leaf lesson was the only one I brought up.

Straw sorting. I like to try to take note of more than the obvious things being done here. For example, she was not only practicing sorting by color, but was also learning about space in a slightly more abstract way and shapes and capacity. Maybe over reaching, but I want to know more about how Moon learns, so here I am.

We took a field trip and learned a few things about trains. And about how to relax watching a video ;-)

And keep a baby occupied and smiling

Acorns! We discovered this big pile under leaves we were raking. Moon noticed that they weren't the same size as our wooden acorns inside.

About the season of autumn and changing leaves

Dress up with friends

Making train tracks

Helping mama make stew. Moon was in charge of "putting things in".

Doing puzzles with mama and making paper airplanes.

I caught this one left on her floor after bedtime.

I thought that she may enjoy Lincoln Logs after seeing that. She did. This is the Papa Mike house we built according to the box directions.

Making carrot cupcakes. I forgot to take pictures of the stirring etc, but I bet you can imagine them well enough.
Imaginary play.
This was such a magical moment that I happened to sneak up on. Moon was setting up a beauty shop like on Max and Ruby and was deep in her world, talking to Max because she, of course, is Ruby. The lunchbox is her "delux beauty kit" with all of her accessories needed for playing beauty shop in. She also brought her tea in with her for added sweetness.

Later that day, Owen came over and Moon convinced him to participate in the beauty shop. Lucky guy ;-)
A close up of the beauty kit.

Lanny doing all of his cute things on one video

Thankful

So thankful tonight, with my two tired kids and wiped out husband. I am thankful for a small chance at a big change. I am filled with gratitude that so many Americans looked at reality, looked at the lives of those much less fortunate than themselves, denounced greed and personal gain, denounced violence in the name of peacekeeping and destruction of our planet for dubious causes, looked at all of this and decided that forward progress must include the health and safety of every human being.
I am not a socialist.
I am, however, a mother. I am a deeply appreciative participant in my life here on earth. I am someone who will pick apart an inch of every cause to find what is FAIR. And I feel that more Americans than ever are finding themselves concerned with what is fair. So I am thankful.
I am thankful that my children will hear from me that while I knew things were on a fast downward spiral, we were able to jump in and make a small change that hopefully will impact them in an amazing way. A change that does not support greed or harm or sadness. At the very least, we have a system that will start to model what we want to model in our family.
So thank-you, everyone who supports that dream. I am eternally grateful.

Hermann Gmeiner: "On the day when we treat all the children of the world as our own, peace shall descend on the Earth."

Election Day

Oh, my anxiety is thick my friends. The last two elections are still vibrating inside of me. We have to turn things around this time. Please make time to vote today.

Also, you can go to Starbucks and tell them that you voted and get a free cup of joe. Small bonus for the corporate coffee addicts. Like me ;-)

Zoo Trip!
I thought we were possibly done with the zoo for the season, save for Zoo Lights, but this amazing fall weather has taken us for a couple of bonus trips.

Last week we went to the zoo with this character

This usual suspect was in the game as well

The train = WILD FUN!!!
The people in front of us were polite enough to not roll their eyes or cover their ears.

But then there was lots of this, which is really why we agree to pay $3 for them to ride the zoo train anyhow.

Oh, and this sweet guy made it along as well. Like his fancy hat? Thanks for the great hand-me-downs Owie!

Later we saw 2 monkeys

We spent a lot of time observing them

It seems like we did eventually get to leave...

A Visit From Gram and Papa Mike

Lanny was sleeping here, as he did most of the visit

The leaves were gorgeous and so much fun for the kids.
We are having a perfect autumn.

After our visitors left, Moon and I carved a pumpkin. She chose the design off of my iPod Pumpkin app.
Later that night, the pumpkin filled with ants.

Pumpkin Patch Part 2, plus Some Fall Art

My chunky little pumpkin

Climbing was much more entertaining for a baby who spent most of his first pumpkin patch trip on mama's back.

Tasty little pumpkins get eaten by Mama!!!

Big Sissy doing some potato stamping and leaf gluing. Hours of entertainment.

Random Pictures

A sweet bath picture

Our first "double yolk" egg from the girls!

A shot of Moon in her ballet suit. Blogger and iPhoto won't let me rotate it for some reason. Probably because it's a crappy picture, but it's all I got!

And a sneaky picture of the class. It's very serious and Mama's and Papa's aren't allowed in to watch. Moon is "Miss Moon" in class and we had a special talk with the instructor the other day about staying focused! Luckily at least half of the other girls did too, but still, Moon is not the most focused of children, for sure ;-)

Auntie Joe
I am asking all of my blog followers to send some loving, calm and SAFE energy to my dearest friend Joe (aka Alyson). Hurricane Omar is heading toward her today on St. Thomas, picking up strength. She is holed up at the aquarium where she works with her sea lions. Not the best of circumstances at all. She is on the north side of the island, so things could be much worse for her. Still. I am terribly worried about her. When this is all over, maybe we can convince her to move back stateside!!!

Pumpkin Patch, Part 1

Adrienne and I took the kids to Lee Farms last week. After a rough start involving Moon locking my keys in the car and Dan coming to the rescue, we had an awesome time. 2 preschoolers + big outdoor space + animals, pumpkins, carnival toys and a hay maze = 3 hours of great fun. And we left without buying a pumpkin LOL.

In the hay maze

Out of the hay maze

Wild jumpers in the jumping house. I think they were trying to pull each other up here.

Pony rider 1

And pony rider 2

Just because I haven't uploaded in awhile...
I give you a very cute Moon and Papou photo!

Fall Photo's from Amy at Funky Wonder
Such a great set of pics! I am not going to share most of them though, since they are going on the X-mas card ;)

Moon doing "first position". She had her first ballet class last Saturday. A real hit.

Here we go...

Moon Gets a Haircut and ColorBribed with a lollipop to sit still
Yes, I know that she can't eat the middle ;)

A visit with Gram and Papa. VERY Very sweet.

Tough guy Lan

Sink Bath! This baby loves the water. Loves it!