The Lollipop Gang

You wouldn't want to run into these kids on a dark suburban sidewalk on Halloween eve..

Creatures of Light

Due to the weather, our plans for today had to be changed. My original plan was to go hiking with my big kids at the Hagerman Wildlife Refuge, but then the rain came again and washed all hopes away. So I quickly decided to go to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. They had a preview for members of their new special exhibit about all kinds of creatures that light up.


























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Party Girls

Keira got her first solo birthday party over the weekend, and invited a few friends over for dancing, tea, cupcakes, dress-up, and games.

Iria organized while I was out with the older siblings to a movie. 

It looks like they had a lot of fun!

Junior Designers

I recently brought a whiteboard home from work, and it has been put to use in a number of fun ways.

I particularly like the monster designs:

And the game designs:

But pencil and paper is still fun as well :)

Lap Cat

Pepper has gotten a lot more vocal and cuddly since we moved into the new house. 

Our theory is that Marmalade was a dominant cat, and had staked her claim on the main living area in the old house.

Pepper might still miss Marmalade a little bit, but I think that he is a lot happier with all of the new attention that he is getting :)

Doll Couture

Katharine designed and sewed this dress for her doll today.

So awesome!

Rain Dance

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Morning Lessons

Iria and the kids were hard at work when I left the house this morning.

The boys do a lot better with school when they are outside, so with the weather cooling off Iria moved their lessons to the back porch. Katharine had the upstairs school room all to herself :)

Pleasant Dreams

Stuart Little

The boys and I have been reading Stuart Little by E.B. White. Yesterday they each had to paint a scene from the book. I let them use acrylics instead of water colors for a change. They loved it so much that they spent all afternoon today painting. Keira and Kassidy joined, too.

Here is the artocopia:







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Pre-Concussion Arboretum Visit

Last Tuesday was the perfect day to take the three big kids to the arboretum to study pumpkins a bit more, watch birds and simply have fun, which we did. Until later that day....












This little guy was pretty busy hiding his pecans and so much fun to watch.





We found a quiet dot to draw.











Monarchs and bees galore.


Katharine's pumpkin drawing:



After all the fun and school, I found out that Lukas fell off his bike early in the morning and ended up having to take him to the ER with a mild concussion. Pretty good record, kids for over 12 years and only one ER visit. Knock on wood.
He is recovering well.

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Pre-Soccer-Practice

We had time between dropping Katharine off at dance and soccer practice, so I took the fantastic four to Watterscreek in Allen for some playtime.



Two handed water drinking.





Rabbit sculptures


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Pumpkin Pics

Tis' the season for pumpkin pics.

Iria took these at the Arboretum over the past two weekends.