Happy Halloween!!

What We're Reading...

As a family, we've been enamored with The Tale of Despereaux for several nights now. I can officially say that Kate DiCamillo is a fantastic author. The kids were entranced with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane back in the spring, so since then, I have been anxious to read this Newberry Award winner she wrote.

DiCamillo has a way of introducing words like perfidy, adieu, solace and chiaroscuro without sounding pretentious and a way of blending that rich vocabulary with captivating adventure while also tugging your heartstrings. She also speaks directly to the reader throughout the book, addressing them as "Reader" (which Elizabeth requested we change to "Elizabeth").

The timing of our adventures with Despereaux couldn't have been more perfect either, as I just found out last week that the movie version, which I wasn't even aware was in production, is coming to theaters in December. (Is it only me who has this thing about not wanting the kids to see movies based on books until they've read them?) I think the perfect way to start Christmas break from school will be to see the movie based on this book we're currently loving.

What Finn's Reading...

That just sounds funny -- What Finn's Reading... I mean, the kid can barely talk. But he does like to read. His favorites lately are Eric Carle's Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and A Magical Day with Matisse. I guess all those in utero gallery trips were worth my aching pregnant feet. I don't know another 22 month old that will spend literally a half-hour pouring over a Matisse book, but on occasion, when we wonder why everything's so quiet and assume that Finn must be throwing his cars in the toilet again, there's Finn -- laying on the floor thumbing through his Matisse book for the umpteenth time.

Nature Girl

Because sometimes it's not just enough to spend
a l l       d a y
out playing in the leaves...

sometimes you need to wear them.

Celebrating Philip!

The next birthday up -- Philip! He turned 6 last week, and to officially mark the occasion, we celebrated in style: bags full of birthday presents that would make any newly 6-year-old boy happy, including a board game named Camp, which we immediately played for an hour,

and a crazy stuffed robot

and seasonally appropriate pumpkin muffins
with cream cheese frosting.

Weekend with Finn

While the other kids were with their respective other parents this weekend, Finn and I had some quality time together. We spent most of the afternoon outside

in the fall sun,

playing with leaves,

climbing on the play structure,

lying in the grass,

and loving on one another.

Finn's Garage

Finn's obsession with cars
remains alive and well,
only slightly morphed by the need
to line them up in a neat row.

Love Huddle

One of Finn's favorite pastimes is for one of his siblings, or his dad, to crouch down on the floor and he climbs on top of them for a big bear hug. Last weekend, Paul and Philip wondered what would happen if they huddled together.



Predictably...

Pumpkin Farm

A family trip to the pumpkin farm

No nature-deficit disorder here!



One of my favorite pictures of me and Finn

Hooray for the perfect pumpkin!

Silly kids, proud of their pumpkin pickings.

Blast from the Bobbsey Past

You can ask my parents. As a child, I was obsessed with the Bobbsey Twins. I read every book the library had, then requested my own copies for every birthday and Christmas for years. I read each volume multiple times, always careful not to bend or smudge any pages. Bobbsey Twins books were treasured items of my childhood, indeed. Which is why, when I noticed that they had re-released the first 12 books of the series under new covers, I jumped at the chance to pass on the Bobbsey Twins love to my own kids. To my pleasant surprise, they ask to read a few more chapters every night and seem to be really enjoying the first book.

Are we growing another
Bobbsey Twins fan?

I guess time will tell...

Celebrating Paulie, part 2

I just wanted yesterday's post to be about Paulie, so today I'm including pictures of his siblings helping him celebrate. How did they help him celebrate?

The best way they knew how...

by leaving his presents alone

and eating his cupcakes.

Celebrating Paulie

Paulie is 9!

He was excited to receive the whole Spiderwick Chronicles set.
(We made a deal that if he reads the whole set,
I'll buy him the movie for Christmas.)

His favorite gift...Yankees Baseball-themed Pinball game!

Celebratory Snack?
Vegan Cupcakes Rule The World
Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

PS. I already bought him the movie; I just want him to read the books first. :)

Harvest

What a weekend!

So many apples and pumpkins to put away.

Many hours now spent cooking pumpkins, scooping pumpkin flesh, simmering pumpkin butter, peeling apples and slicing apples. Many hours this winter spent eating pumpkin butter on warm bread, inhaling cinnamon-y apple pies, lapping apple sauces, enjoying pumpkin pancakes in footie pajamas, nibbling pumpkin muffins around the fireplace.

Random Monster

Whoa! There's a...

Favorites of Fall

Some of my favorite fall things:

Irish boiled wool shoes

First oranges of the season

Fall Baking (including a smattering of choc chips
to please Elizabeth)

Funky pumpkins

Red leaves

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.
~ Carol Bishop Hipps

Sewing

Elizabeth decided to tackle her first solo sewing project yesterday. She did everything herself from the cutting, to the sewing and stuffing.

Then she named it Spongy,

and wherever she goes, it follows.

Baby skin

The phase, I-don't-want-my-diaper-changed-or-any-clothes-put-on-me, has hit Finn recently. If we don't really have anywhere to go and the weather is warm, I'll just let him hang out for a while in his diaper. I was struck the other day by the fact that he still has that yummy, warm, soft baby skin. I wonder how much longer we'll get to enjoy that?

His fat, little feet with their sweet, stinky, baby-foot smell deserved a special mention all their own. How sad will I be when they aren't soft and puffy anymore...