Oct 23: Decorating Pumpkins

With little kids, I thought the idea of coloring pumpkins sounded much better than carving pumpkins. But precautions still needed to be taken as these were permant markers we were talking about. I put a protective layer over the table, and craft shirts on the girls. I tried to explain orange marker on orange pumpkin wouldn't show - to no avail. (Calli still thinks white crayons are "broken" because they won't color on white paper.)

I drew a face on Mari's - so she would have something to start with. By the time she finished, it was almost completely covered over.

About halfway through the art project, Mari decided it was more fun to cap and uncap the markers than to color. But her aim isn't so great and she ended up with colorful hands. (She also drew two large lines on her face, but I didn't waste time taking pictures and immediately tried to get those off as best as I could with a baby wipe.)



Mari's finished pumpkin



Calli's finished pumpkin

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Sorry to go so video crazy - but for those of you who wish you could have been there in person - this is for you:

Oct 21: Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

A great video to see my silly girls in action!

A shot of the three of us!

Oct 16: Oh, my Butterfly

At Gymboree, the girls were butterflies. Mari was doing it too, but stopped - of course- once I got the camera.

The video finally uploaded correctly! Yay!

Sept 26: Into the "Wild"

With Calli sick, and unable to go to school, I needed a new plan for our afternoon. I wanted to get out of the house, drive a bit (Calli usually fall asleep in the car, even though she can lay awake in her bed for hours instead of napping), and end up somewhere where we could walk around without exposing other kids to our germs. We ended up checking out two parts of the Cook County Forest Preserve. It was beautiful! These were taken in the Big Bend Lake area. (Near 294 and Golf Road) We walked a little and had a picnic snack.
Then we went to another trail system and did some hiking. With Mari in a backpack carrier, Calli and I took off. See the video below:

Sept 25: Bubbles!!

Despite feeling slightly guilty that it is way tooo expensive, I signed the girls up for Gymboree. We have great library programs (that are FREE) but Mari especially likes to move around, dance, and climb. I think the bubbles are both girls' favorite activity at Gymboree. I even bought the bubble wand for us to use at home because it blows so many bubbles so quickly, and is so easy that even Calli can do it!!

The above is supposed to be a video - let me know if it works for you or not. I'll include a few pictures just in case.

Mari popping bubbles.

Calli, pretending she is a cookie - about to jump into a glass of milk.

Splash!!

Parachute time - with lots of kids under the parachute.