Project 64: Black

The color at Project 64 this week is black.

I knew when I captured this photo back at Halloween that I would use it when black came up for our week's color.  My son just loves these pajamas and enjoys wearing them even as we approach Christmas.  Those glow in the dark bones are magical to five year old boys, aren't they?

Frame-A-Day Week 48: 11/26-12/2

November 26--Punkin' Chunkin'--The kids are enamored with the Discovery Channel show "Punkin Chunkin" which airs around Thanksgiving each year. Basically, pumpkins are hurled through a Delaware field with different types of mechanical devices that the participants rig and hone. We let the kids have a shot at chunkin' their own pumpkins on today before composting.

November 27--Illustory Books Creation--Both Trust and Earnest made Illustory books today. Earnest wrote the more traditional biography as Trust has done in past years, while Trust officially put one of her many fictitious "Kate" stories into print for the first time. She was so thrilled to write fiction this time around.

November 28--Poor Sick Boy--November has been a rough month in our house. All three kids have been sick at some point, with two of them missing some school. Earnest missed school the first day of November and seems to be bookending the close of the month with another illness. Boo!

November 29--Biker Boy--The kids wanted to take advantage of the almost 60 degree day and ride their bikes after school.  For the time being, Imp is stuck using Trust's faded, hand-me-down pink duck helmet.  He doesn't seem to mind, as long as he gets to ride, too.

 November 30--Eight is Great!--Much to Chretien's and my disbelief, Trust will turn eight years old tomorrow.  Peppermint, our Elf on the Shelf (or in this case, the curtain rod) will greet her tomorrow morning with a smile and a birthday candle.

December 1--Happy Birthday, Trust!!--Trust turned 8 years old today!  For the fourth year, we went to her favorite restaurant for her birthday dinner, although for the past two years we've had to drive a bit of a distance since the location in our town closed last year.  Before dinner, we visited with Santa--not a bad way to celebrate a birthday which fell on a school day.

December 2--N-Cubed Plus T--Trust had a "sleep over" birthday party with her three N friends.  The girls had pizza, went to the museum, came back for ice cream cake and typical girly things like nail painting and the like.  The next morning they scarfed down cinnamon rolls and went to the Home Depot workshop to make snowman napkin holders.  Note that both Chretien and I were corrected when we called this a "slumber party".  Despite an explanation from the birthday girl, we are still unsure what the difference is, since both are a misnomer for this particular party--very little sleeping was actually done.

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.