"Mermaid Adventures"--a story by Angel Girl--age 5

There is a mermaid who collects seashells. Her name is Aleena. She also collects starfish. Aleena collects seashell purses on the ground, with pearls on the handles. She lives in a house made of rock and decorates with starfish and seashells. She uses the pearl purses to pack stuff when she goes camping. She collects little pieces of wood to make little houses for the animals that live in the ocean. She makes lanterns.

Aleena swims to an island and crawls to get on it because she can't walk--because she has a fin. Aleena goes to sleep at night and collects things all day. She finds books. Aleena turns into a human from the sea witch. She sits in the water and puts her new legs up. She looks on her new legs and sees a foot and knows she can walk.

Aleena sits on a rock and waves goodbye to her mermaid friends.

THE END

Dells Camping Trip--Birthday Party #2:) and train ride!

Dining Room Project---Complete!

Boerner Trial Gardens

We had a nice "orange"-filled day:) I applied my third and final coat of harvest orange paint to the dining walls (the final reveal will be posted after tomorrow when I can hang the artwork back up:) J and I are thrilled with the results! (It only took 8 years to make our home ours:) We did our reading lesson and our math lesson (worked on pictoral graphs today). I was then able to book the girls for two field trips and an artclass through the local homeschooling association. The first field trip will be outside of the Discovery Museum--it'll be conducted by a naturalist talking about the ecology of Lake Michigan--this is geared towards young children; and it's free! Another trip will be around Thanksgiving at the Milwaukee Zoo---(this one is a whopping $2.50 per child:)---it'll teach about small animal habitats for the winter season. And finally, the girls will attend four separate art lessons, two hours at a time at Mt. Mary College. It is offered to homeschoolers and taught by an art major at the college. They combine K-12, but separate the older kids to get into more detail--I think my little artist Angel Girl will especially love this.

After lunch we thought it was too nice of a day to stay inside, since those days are numbered, so we decided to head over to Whitnall Park and the Boerner Trial Gardens (a different part of the Gardens than our Mother's Day adventure, much smaller, but still quite beautiful). And we ended our little outing at the park so the kids and I could socialize with real live people; at the park we already found our first pile of leaves and the girls had some fun with that.

Happy Fourth Birthday Sweet Fairy Girl!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

Brightonwoods Apple Orchard and Winery

We had a wonderful day yesterday visiting an apple orchard. I chose this particular one because they have a neat looking tree house; and boy was it nice! You climb up very safe steps to get to the tree house--it can house adults and children alike. It's equipped with a child table and chairs, a little kitchenette, some pots, pans, spoons and bowls (just old kitchen stuff!), dress up hats, etc. What a dream for a child (and adult:). And then, if that's not enough, there's another set of steps and you can climb into the attic of the tree house! The orchard was also quite beautiful. We saw the apple press and had a presentation at the winery. We had a bit of lunch outside, as the weather was perfect (fall) temperatures, though yesterday was technically summer:). We then headed back to the tree house and hit the Piper Farm stand (good name, eh:). We talked to the farmer for over an HOUR! His 100 acre farm, run completely by him and his dad is now mostly sold off (sadly a lot of subdivisions, etc)--and down to 12 acres. But what he's been able to do with a much smaller farm is spectacular--he's changed it into a completely organic farm. He showed us wonderful pictures of his farm and explained a lot to us. He's technically not certified organic yet, but is a 3 year very long and detailed process---but his practices are 100% organic! It was a wonderful education; it's very clear how much he cares! All and all we had a wonderful, easy-going getaway--and of course we bought some apples and apple goodies too:)

Proof that I'm relaxing my "no face" Policy!

My pretty 3 year old Fairy Girl--because she looked cute.

J's birthday.

Labor Day weekend, heading to a friend's house for a bark yard party--a wonderful time!

Our 9 Year Anniversary.

Ok, so I've finally after a year of blogging decided to bite the bullet, turn us around and show our faces to the world of bloggers--ok, I'm quite certain, the whole world isn't actually viewing my blog, therefore, I feel pretty secure about taking this leap. Furthermore, I've been getting pretty bored with having to take extra pictures to leave our faces out, and feeling like we're all missing some things by not showing the real photos. So, to prove I'm good on my word, I've posted some pictures from recent events. Get Ready---you're going to be seeing a lot of us now!

Fun in the Backyard

We had a very nice day today (this entry was drafted on Tuesday)--got to visit my favorite doc in the whole world. After my followup appointment, I took the girls to a nice park and then out to lunch at Culvers. We then stopped at Steins and picked up a couple of Halloween decorations for our backyard (not pictured) along with these cute Halloween charm bracelets which we are sporting. We came home and decided to take a day off from "academics" in honor of what may be the last 80 degree day in the season. We spread a blanket in the backyard and did Halloween crafts and read stories. Nice day together!

Sleeping Beauty

Mini Makeovers

Yes, I do own hair scissors (they're pretty old now, time to invest in a decent pair:), and I'm NOT afraid to use them! (you better watch yourself when you sleep, I'm armed and dangerous:)

My five year old Angel has been asking for "Dora" hair for months now--well, she finally got her Dora hair (5 shades lighter) minus the blunt bangs. I still don't know if her curls will come back--my guess is once we move and hopefully don't have iron-laden water, all of our hair will greatly improve! (yes we have a water softener, yes we have an iron curtain--it is THAT bad!)


My 3 year old fairy girl gave herself a self haircut with her child-safe scissors.


And now she has a rather sophisticated pixie girl cut:) Everyone's happy (and most especially me, with less tangles to deal with!); it's good to cut off a few inches of your hair every once in awhile to give it some life and health--and it really does grow back--(ok, maybe not on Grandpa P and Grandpa R:) BTW---Happy Birthday Grandpa P!

Our Pizzaria!