Puffy Paint Pumpkins

While looking for preschool lesson ideas I found a blog that has fun ideas to use for our own little preschool stuff. The idea I'm borrowing is to paint a moon shape with puffy paint (the links to both website are at the bottom)







I thought it would be really cute to do pumpkins that way so with half an hour before having to leave I decided we were going to make some puffy paint pumpkins. The girls thought it was really cool that it bubbled up.



Mommy and Me Book Club
Microwave Puffy Paint-Play at Home Mom

34 mins and 59 secs

That was time for my first 5K! I did it I ran the whole thing. Our ward has an annual Chicks on the Run 5K or 1 mile walk promoting healthy living. So about 7 weeks ago I started running with a couple ladies at 5:30am 3 times a week. We're home before dawn. We've been averaging closer to 40 mins and our best I think had been 37 mins but not today.

Mike woke the girls up and brought them over to the church. He got to the finish line just as I was. It was nice to have his support. He did take a picture of me cooling down so none of the pictures were blog-worthy but it's there anyway because for me this is a momentous occasion. We celebrated with donuts!

I would never have pictured myself doing this; I had no desire. But it did feel good to have accomplished something.

I've been trying to decide if I'll keep running. The thought of running makes me want to say no, but when I'm up and start doing it I'm okay with it, half way through our run I never want to do it again, but then I finish and feel good. By no means do I feel the need to run further, I do not have ambitions of a 10K, 1/2 or full marathon. But our stake does have a turkey trot on Thanksgiving so I think I'll keep going and run that. We'll see if I can at least keep that same time, but it's getting colder we may discover I'm a fair weather fan of this exercise- but that's nothing new just ask my taebo and other fitness things collecting dust in my house.

Falling into Autumn

Yes this picture was actually taken in Vegas...

... well sorta-it was up on Mt. Charleston.

We went up there on Thursday to have preschool. We were learning about fall and the changing of the leaves so I felt it would be fun to let them see what it looks like. The only colors we saw were brown and yellow though- I miss real fall. But the kids thought it was great. We found a spot with good sitting rocks and read our stories and a learning worksheet.

They ran around trying to catch the leaves, they never did catch one. They tried to put the leaves back on the tree, but they wouldn't stick (I know you're shocked :) ). There was a nice breeze that blew the leaves every few minutes so the girls started yelling at the wind telling it stop. The girls had fun scooping up handfuls of leaves and threw them on me.

We then took a walk and didn't get very far, but the had fun climbing on rocks and adding leaves and pinecones to their fall bags. Rachel really wanted to find an acorn but had no luck. The only animal we saw was a lizard (we really are in a desert). I thought about taking them up higher but the peaks have snow on them already and we weren't learning about winter. After our walk we went back to our rocks for a picnic lunch. After chasing 3-4 bees out of our car we were on our way home.

Trunk or Treating

The candy has begun! Last week we had a Halloween Party that the girls got to dress up at and then we went to the annual classic car show and trunk or treat.

It's a great idea! The dads don't grumble because they get to go look at cool cars, the Moms want to take the kids to a fun Halloween Activity, and the kids love it because they get to dress up and get candy. The genius who came up with this idea must have a family.

Grandma Wendy was able to join us this year at the car show and they girls were super excited. Rachel chose to be Belle and Ashley is a flower fairy but calls herself Tinkerbell. Most of the cars get decorated as well. Their favorite was the head in the crystal ball that moves when you rub it. Rachel's braver this year with all the "scary" stuff and Ashley isn't phased by it.

fire safety week

Did you know that this week is fire safety week? Well we do, and today was our fire day. It started with our smoke detectors not liking the smell of bacon cooking on the griddle, so they let us know. Then the organized day began with a tour of our local fire station, with MOMS Club. Ashley finally decided at the very end that the fire station wasn't scary. Rachel loved every second of it. She would climb in one side of the fire engine (I learned the difference btwn fire engine and fire truck) out the other door around the back of the fire engine and back in. She didn't need me or a friend. She used their outdoor pull up bars and smelled the herbs growing in their garden.

After a quick stop to the grocery store for jello (the girls wore their fire hats in) and lunch we started our weekly preschool hour and the theme was... drum roll please... Fire Safety! I know you were completely surprised. We read Fireman Small and Curious George and the firefighters, practiced crawling under smoke, stop drop and rolling, went on a smoke detector hunt, sponge painted dalmatians and counted all the dots they put on them. Ashley 7, Rachel 80! For our snack we orange and red jello (fire) and let the girls use whip cream to extinguish it. Oh and the girls were fascinated with our science experiment. We lit a candle and talked about how a fire needs air just like us and then used a baby jar to suffocate it and watched it go out. They each needed to take turns putting the candle out.
The best part in my opinion was after nap. We filled up spray bottles with water and put out chalk fires. Daddy got home from work just in time to help Ashley and start the water war. Rachel's aim is getting a lot better.

Seeding the Lawn

Rachel was helping daddy reseed the lawn and then Ashley joined in, so Rachel was showing Ashley how it's done. "If you spill a big pile just use your hands and spread it around like this"

Stories before bed and anytime

My girls LOVE books! They love to "read" them and to listen to them, even non fiction. Mike captured one of the many times both girls are in my lap and the dog at my feet listening to a library book. Tonight's book of choice was "Watching the Sun". Mike laughs because we usually have 30-40 books out at a time. What can I say we created little book worms.