Leaf owls, fall creatures, and a mailing frenzy

We collected some leaves on a short walk yesterday and made leaf owls. They were really cute!

 We often set dvd's on the mantle and it is always nice to be surprised with a rainbow.

 Here are some of the little fall creatures the kids made.

 This morning we sent a package off to our cousin Abby.

While everyone was upstairs Mirek decided to stay down. TROUBLE. Here is the picture I took of him from the balcony. He was pouring sugar and coffee into a measuring cup.

Back at it

Here are Naia and Eaden last Saturday before softball and gymnastics. Eaden was supposed to dress up as a superhero.

 My grandpa died last week and Lynni had a death in her family as well. She had to drive to Mexico and I was driving back and forth to New Braunfels. We took the week off of homeschool.

But back to normal this week!

 We have been sending and receiving lots of mail.

Taven was very excited to get a postcard from his buddy Aidan.

 Naia received mail from her cousin Abby.

 We finally finished our Aztec lapbooks. I am thinking we will start using Story of the World again for history. It makes things a lot easier for me and if the kids are not interested in something we will just skip it.

 Working around Mirek can be a challenge!

 And of course no one saw him turn into a smurf.

 

This week's poem.

Mail, acorns, mummies, concerts, and gymnastics

I am sticking to my resolution to keep in touch with friends and family through mail.

Acorns! One of nature's greatest toys.

Dumping a bowl of acorns on his head.

Acorn math.

When the kids are testing my patience we play "mummies." It gives me a break for a bit.

Little boy princess with a light saber.

My own personal concert.

Excuse Mirek's crying. He wanted his light saber back.

Eaden made some necklaces for her cousins.

And then wanted to make some for her gymnastics teammates. One necklace led to many bracelets and other hand made gifts for the coach and team.

Eaden's first meet was on Saturday. She did really well and will be competing placement in the next meet. Unfortunately, she is the only one on her team that will be competing placement. That means it is just her and the coach during her session. She does not want to do this. She does not want to do private lessons either because she only wants to do gymnastics as a team. I think this is a good thing.

 However, she will need to get used to not always competing with her team. Once a gymnast does placement they are divided by age and everyone does not always compete at the same time.

Here is her floor routine from Saturday.

Daddy's birthday and more planning

 We celebrated my husband's birthday at my parents' house on Saturday. Food and football.

Hands full of watermelon.

 Taven testing out his new (hand me down) bike that his buddy Aidan gave him.

 We know fall is near when we can start a cicada "skin" collection.

To thank Aidan for the bike we made him a friendship bracelet.

 Taven wrote a little note.

 And we stuck it in the mail!

We have also been busy making Rainbow Warrior badges for our friends.

 My husband's actual birthday was Monday. I really love the picture Naia drew for him of our family.

Here they are waiting for Daddy to get home from work. Eaden has been working on crossing her eyes.

 Mirek had a hard time patiently waiting for the cake.

 Here is a video of the surprise!

 I found some colored sand while cleaning on top of the book case and we decided to use it up.

 I am still working on our schedule and rhythm, revising and editing as needed.