I Heart Faces: Bust a Gut

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is Bust a Gut.

Frame-A-Day Week 47: 11/19-11/25

November 19--Merry Christmas Card--The kids made Santa with his sleigh at the Build and Grow workshop today. I decided it might be a good time to try to use the Lowe's greenery to get a potential Christmas card photo. This is probably the best candidate (so far).

November 20--Choo Choo--I took the boys to a train show today. They enjoyed watching the trains on the displays run, and even had a chance to be engineers at one table.

November 21--Pinch Pot Masterpiece--Three weeks ago, Earnest made a pinch pot in art class. Today he painted it and brought home the masterpiece. He plans to use it to "store money".

November 22--Gobble, Gobble--Look what landed, just in time for Thanksgiving. For the second year, I made these terrific turkeys. Everyone loves them. Who wouldn't? Oreos, candy corn, malted milk balls and Reese's peanut butter cups. Maybe better than the real thing??

November 23--Candy Land--Earnest and I caught a quick few rounds of Candy Land while it was quiet.  I beat him two games to one, but he was a gracious loser, which made me proud.

November 24--A Family Day--A nice day with my parents, my sister and her family. Happy Thanksgiving.

November 25--Obstacle Course--On this sunny Black Friday, the kids' thoughts were far away from shopping and sales.  Rather, they had fun in the backyard making an obstacle course.  Don't let their coats and hats fool you; it warmed up to 60 degrees today!

Project 64: Orange

The color this week at Project 64 is orange.

 I took my sons to a train show yesterday, and there was a lot of orange in one display in particular.

I think the best match is the water tower the ladder leaning on the water tower, and the cylindrical car that is whizzing by.

Frame-A-Day Week 46: 11/12-11/18

Zipping along through the year.  The end is in sight!

November 12--Hammering Out the Details--Today's "Build and Grow" workshop at Lowe's combined Chretien's love of building and my love of science--the kids built a "science lab" and took home cards with "experiments" to do at home; later we tried and failed to make Oobleck since we were a bit short on cornstarch.

November 13--Drive My Car--Imp found the remote controlled car today and took it out for a spin or two.

November 14--Swing Out, Sister--The tire swing is still getting use, despite the early nightfall these days.  The kids just love it.

November 15--Stuff the Turkey--Today the kids played "Stuff the Turkey" after school; this is based on a game by the same name which was played in school. They gathered various toys from one end of the yard to the other, where they then tried to assemble a structure using all the collected toys.

November 16--Turkey Time--We joke about how many turkeys live in our house. It looks like there are about four...the big one was made by Earnest, and the other three were made by each kid at the library.

November 17--We found a set of two puzzles/models from a Christmas that hadn't been opened yet; an elephant, which Earnest claimed, and this giraffe which Trust assembled.

November 18--Reading!...Earnest read a bunch of the Bob books this week.  It's so hard to believe he's starting to read.  He is so proud of himself, too.  It's fun to see his enthusiasm.  I hope he always enjoys reading.

Project 64: Purple Mountains' Majesty

The color this past week at Project 64 is purple mountains' majesty.

This color should not have been difficult, but it was for me.  I had things around the house (sippy cups, a few toys) that would have fit the bill, but I wasn't so excited about those.

So, I wound up using this photo instead:

The lower flower is the match, I think.

This hydrangea bush is special to me. Four and a half years ago, it was part of a floral arrangement at my grandmother's funeral. We brought it home after the funeral and planted it. It's grown quite a bit.

From this...

(All the flowers were from the funeral arrangement--you can see the hydrangeas in the front)...to this...

...in four years.

Anyway, I love how the hydrangeas are always in full bloom right around her birthday in August. 

Frame-A-Day Week 45: 11/5-11/11

November 5--Help a Brother Out--I took the kids to the Home Depot Kids' Workshop and we built Veterans' Day/Christmas picture frames.  Imp enlisted Earnest's help with the finishing sticker touches.

November 6--Mini-golf Madness--We had a coupon for a round of mini-golf which was slated to expire in a few days. The benefit of waiting until November to use it was that we had free reign of the course as we were the only ones there. The kids had a great time, and we capped it off with ice cream cones for lunch, which were also included in the deal.

November 7--Earnest Boy--Just love this photo of our Earnest boy.  The lighting was good, his expression is cute.  His hair needs a cut but that's to be expected more often than not with five year old boys, no?

November 8--Face Painting Fun--Trust's Brownie troop had fun with glittery face paints today...and then fun hamming it up with their leader.

November 9--Flying Horses--An early morning playtime with the Fisher Price zoo and ancillary pieces, including this horse who just wanted to break free and fly away, courtesy of Imp.

*November 10--Sounding It Out--Earnest took Trust's homework assignment and "read" all the "the's" and "a's".  It took me aback.  I keep forgetting that he's in kindergarten and growing up.  The real photo doesn't have his hand chopped off, but since Trust's name was prominent at the top of the paper, I cropped this photo to share here.

November 11--Happy Veterans' Day--The idea for this photo was entirely Trust's; I am so proud of her for thinking of this.  The kids have really gotten into Veterans' Day this year.  Imp kept saying that it was "Daddy's Special Day" or "Daddy's holiday" and wondered where the "nesents" were.


Only seven weeks left of the year!

I Heart Faces: Black

The theme at I Heart Faces this week is black.

This is my son, trying to activate the bones in his costume so they'd glow when he stepped away from the light.

Project 64: Dandelion

That is the color over at Project 64 this week.







My dining room is actually a very good match for this color, but I don't want to submit a photo of just the wall or something on the wall...

So, I will use this photo instead:

That lower fish is a great match, I think.

On a somewhat related note, I have mentioned that my daughter loves art, and has a knack for knowing the crayon colors just by sight   (Click here to read my cadet blue post for more information).  So, it was no surprise what she chose for her Halloween costume.

Even though her costume is salmon, I figure the readers of this post would appreciate it.

Frame-A-Day Week 44: 10/29-11/4

Every week when I type the subject line, I marvel that we're in the 40s for the weeks.  Honestly, how did we get to this point?  Definitely the homestretch now.

October 29--Soccer Season Finale--Trust had her last soccer game today, held indoors due to the rain and impending snow.  (Yes, more snow in October.)  The kids played the parents and received their trophies; Chretien played goalie while keeping an eye on the boys.

October 30--Old Friends--Yesterday I went to meet up with some college girlfriends for an overnight. I enjoyed a nice dinner and hours of catching up. This morning we had a leisurely morning and then a lunch at Chili's before heading back to our five respective states.

October 31--Trick or Treat--Despite the late start due to a figure skating lesson, the cold and even a little lingering snow from the weekend, we managed to go trick or treating and get our fill of candy.

November 1--A Golden Afternoon--Despite my school's urban location, there are some lovely parts of campus.  I have enjoyed seeing these pumpkin leaf bags dangling from the trees as the facilities staff have raked the fallen leaves.

November 2--Ingenuity--The boys were awake by 6 AM; I told them that they needed to stay in bed while I took a shower.  I was hoping they'd go back to sleep or, at the very least, look at books, but when I got out, I could hear them playing with Hot Wheels and figured they couldn't stay put.  This is what I found when I emerged from the shower...they had moved the entire board of track onto Imp's bed, so they were actually doing what she had asked.  This made me giggle.  Good boys for following directions; smart boys for outwitting me.  I'm not sure what delighted me more in this case.

November 3--"Look at How Big I am, Mommy!"--...Well, yes, he certainly is.  Too big, too quickly...

November 4--Chain Reaction--Trust, Imp and I went to the Children's Museum for another Friday night.  Imp had a lot of fun with a new friend.  I kept handing the friend the balls and she would pass them, one right after the other, to Imp, who would promptly send them on their way down the length of track.

Project 64: Turquoise

The color this past week at Project 64 is turquoise blue:

I found a few things in my kitchen that fit the bill.