Family Fun: Halloween

 

  Halloween 2017 Roster: 2 NASA Astronauts, 1 Fireman, and 1 "Alien". Miss L looks like a fairy princess, but calls herself an "alien". Here's why - The big kids wanted her to be an alien to go with their costumes, but she never liked any of the alien costumes that I showed her. Then one day she played dress up with big sister A and came up with this costume aka blue fairy "alien". Awesome.

 We kicked off the season of Halloween festivities with Trunk or Treat carnival at the church.

 Astronaut costumes are thrift store snow clothes spray painted white with patches sewn on.  I bought the white t-shirts, printed and ironed on the NASA logo.

Then our homeschool co-op party on Monday:

 Big sister A made these cupcakes for the cupcake walk.

 They did a great job of having activities for kids of all ages.

 Relay races:

 

 We went trick-or-treating in our old neighborhood.

 Miss L was so cute with her little "Thank-you" and then loudly saying, in her squeaky toddler voice, "Happy Halloween!"

The next day they organized their loot and traded in most of it for 10 cents a piece. We feel like this is a good deal -- much cheaper than fillings at the dentist. 

 

Family Fun: Girls' Night Campout

Activity girls' campout was this weekend.  It was cold that night (low of 46F), but we had a nice big bonfire that kept things pretty cozy. We roasted and ate hot dogs, s'mores, chips, salads and fruit for dinner. Then we told silly ghost stories, played funny circle games like "would you rather", and looked at the stars trying to see the meteor shower. 

  We doubled up our sleeping bags in the tent and that was cozy too (one sleeping bag inside the other.  The only problem was that L kept rolling out of hers and I spent most of the night trying to make sure that she did not get too cold.

Farm Fresh: Popcorn

 This week's harvest - popcorn! 

 We grew this from seeds we saved last year. Remember that corn that we picked up at the Pilgrim Festival?  It popped so nicely. I was not sure that the seeds from it would grow the same variety, but I figured it was worth a try. I left it hanging out on the stalks while I was waiting for it to dry. 

 It all popped and some kernels were a little golden.  They tasted sort of crunchy like Kix cereal -- possibly those kernels were a bit on the moist side?  I am not sure why that happened, but the results were delicious.

We harvested enough kernels from our little corn patch to fill my gallon jar. I will try to plant more of it next year.

While we were in Iceland

While we were having a relaxing vacation in Iceland my mom and Grandpa J took over at the farm. They had to do all the animal chores, keep the kids entertained, do all the cooking, teach for me at co-op school, and keep up with all the house chores.  They did an amazing job and the kids were so sad to see them go.  I am glad that the kids were able to make so many happy memories together with them.
 Before we left I gave mom a little coaching on the pottery class that she would be teaching for me at co-op school.

  The kiddos were spoiled with food treats while we were away- Lucky Charms, McDonalds, IHOP, store-bought bread... it was everything they were hoping for and more.

 

  Grandpa J and Grandmama put up the pool for the kids (a task we are often to lazy to do, and usually just tell them to play in the sprinkler instead):

 They went shopping and each of the kiddos got a new outfit:

They went to Storytime at the library:

Here they are all ready for church:

 They got a pro-pilot tour from Grandpa J of the Udvar-Hazy Museum near Dulles Airport. They were especially excited to see planes that Grandpa J flew in the Marines and could tell them all about. Grandpa J has lots of good stories.

 Grandpa J's plane:

 And of course, seeing the space shuttle up close is always so amazing.

 

 They went up to the sky tower and watched planes landing and taking off:

 They watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time.

They joined Uncle P and the cousins to do the annual "Buddy Walk":

 Grandmama successfully taught the kids in my co-op class to make coil pots: 

 

 And they had a big family party with Great Grandpa, Aunt C. and Uncle P:

I am so glad my Grandpa got to see the farm.  I knew that he would love it. 

 My Italian uncle making spaghetti and meatballs from scratch:

 My party planing daughter A set-up this rock painting activity for the cousins:

 I am told that they kept Great Grandpa busy reading for a long time that night:

 They had fun times with Aunt C. She is still waiting for grandchildren of her own!