We had fun this week, I attempted to make this things called "smash balls".  It's cotton balls dipped in a flour/water mixture (I divided and colored it).  BUT they didn't work too well, they were rubbery not able to crush like it said.  But they had fun with them and still are.  I may try them again another day.

 Emily reading away!  She's doing very well with her 1st grade curriculum. 

 Joseph being entertained while sister works...NOT AN EASY TASK!!!!!!!  VERY difficult!!!!!  BUT we had fun...or he did knocking them down.

 AND Emily lost her 2nd tooth Thursday night.  It just fell out while I was brushing them before bed!!!  YAY...if they all fall out that easy we'll be in business!!! Hope you have a great weekend.

Wednesday at the Walker's

 Well not much has been going on this week, but what you see above.  I do not have any pictures of Joseph as he moves ALOT, so it's just Emily today.  We went to Chick Fil A yesterday with our little homeschool group and while there and talking with a friend, who is an occupational therapist was telling us how posture in homeschoolers is very important.  Something you don't think of.  We did school at the kitchen table, and went about our business.  I have noticed that it's been alot harder to get Emily to focus, as her feet don't touch the floor and the table isn't at the right height....SOOOOO today I pulled back out her table, the one I made her when she was 2 but we switched out the short legs for the taller ones, and it's made a WORLD of difference.

She flew through her work, and hardly ever complained...A MIRACLE!!!!  My friend was just telling me that they cannot "perform" to their best abilities with poor posture, this was all new for her as this is her first year homeschooling too.  But when she changed her own son's table he too has improved!  YAY!!!!  The picture above is her practicing counting by 2's with her dot to dot marker...our FAVORITE Dollar Tree find!!!

First week of Fall

 Well, I just had to post this picture on the blog for all those who might not have seen it on facebook.  BUT I just love it!  The kids ready for church yesterday, in front of our pumpkin on the door, which I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  I've got 3 orders for these this week!!!!  This is my favorite time of year so I really want to spread that love to everyone else.  Emily read one of our favorite Autumn books this morning all by herself.  She was so excited because it's a "real" book...not a reader or special book for learning, a "real" book, as she said.

 We have been learning about Holland for over 3 weeks now, and today we looked at a video on how they turn sheep's wool into cloth.  I couldn't find it on Netflix, "How it's Made", which usually has EVERYTHING, but we found one.  We are learning how the pilgrims in Holland are working in the factories where they take the wool, and dye it and turn it into fabric.  We also enjoyed the cooler weather outside, and I got a few photos of some of the first colors of fall!  I guess all the cooler weather had Joseph excited because it took him 2 HOURS to finally fall asleep in his bed.  BUT we will keep on enjoying these cool days!!!!!!!

Fall is HERE!!!!

 Well technically fall isn't here until Saturday, but a cool front came through this weekend and we've been enjoying some much needed cooler temperatures.  So we've been in to the fall crafts!  Today we did a fall leave relief with oil pastels!  I think I had more fun with this than Emily did.  One thing this year we've not planned as much for is art, and I am seeing after today that I HAVE to incorporate more art with this little girl, because she LOVES it!!!  We do little things here and there but I'm about to really pull out some of my old Art Ed. stuff. 

 Yesterday we headed across the street to Lake Tobosofkee, and had a blast!!!  It was cool, and no one was there, so we had the WHOLE park to ourselves.  They have a new butterfly garden so we explored there first then headed to the beach and playground.  We will definitely be coming back SOON, with a picnic next time!  OH because I either just look pitiful pushing a 2 year old in a stroller with a 6 year old, and they felt sorry for me or what we didn't have to pay to get in.  Hoping it stays that way each time!!

Finally Monika gave Emily her birthday present a little late...more caterpillars. They have tripled in size since I took this picture the other day.  They will be forming their cacoons soon.  Can't wait! 

Cakes & Crafts

 Well I had 2 cakes this week the one above, and one I've not gotten pictures of completed yet, but it's a Hello Kitty cake.  I was very pleased with how this one turned out above.  It was for friends we knew at Mabel White.  Also this week I held a give-away with Painting 5.16 for this pumpkin below.  My friend and neighbor Donna won it!  Her last name is Hamrick so I personalized it just for her.  Now I've got to get mine hung on our door to welcome in fall. 

My Zinnias!!!

 I didn't have much luck this year with my zinnias, but I did have a few that were worth photographing!  The sky this week has been absolutely beautiful with the cooler fall weather that's been rolling in.  SO I took the opportunity to get some good photos one afternoon.

 The sun was shining behind this one, and I thought I would try to get a good picture, and I did!!!

Fun Week with Mamaw & Papaw

 Well after all our partying last week and having Emily's birthday on Sunday we had a fun week relaxing, if you call it that.  Since Emily's birthday was on Sunday, and we went out to eat after church for her, we had to do our traditional yard picnic this week!  Every year that I can remember on both kids birthday's we always have a picnic in the yard for lunch!  It's a fun thing we've been doing and we just did it on a different day but still enjoyed it! 

 I think Joseph enjoyed it the most!  Silly boy!!!  He's got this fascination with hats lately, but we don't have any boy hats...so you can probably guess what we'll be looking for this weekend.

 We had fun outside ALL week, and since the cool front came through we really enjoyed the cooler temperatures!

 We also harvest our sweet potato plants this week.  I planted one small sweet potato in the flower garden you see behind Emily and Joseph.  It was growing in a pot and had gotten out of hand and was covering up all my flowers, SO I just moved it into the flower bed in between the periwinkles you see there.

 The vine was HUGE and so were the potatoes we found growing underneath.  You see them beside Emily's foot (which is a size 13 kids size) so they were pretty big!!!

 The small ones were all the ones we got from our garden in the back, the soil wasn't as soft...the big ones were from the flower bed.  Now mind you the flower bed probably received more water too, but next year I'll be getting more fresh soft dirt for my garden, and we'll be in sweet potato business!

 We hated to see Mamaw & Papaw go, but we are just glad they got to stay the full week!!!!

Emily's Zebra Party

 We celebrated Emily's birthday 2 days early yesterday with a zebra party.  She'll be 6 tomorrow, and I can't believe she's already 6!!!  She'll be 16 if I blink I guess!!!  Since I've kind of gotten myself into the cake and party business this one was a piece of cake, literally!!!!!  It might look like I went to alot of effort but please don't be fooled.  God has definitely given me a gift and we're using it!!!  The thing that took the most effort for the party was probably the little key chain I made with shrinkable plastic.  I hand cut and drew a cute zebra for each guest (10) and we shrunk them and put a chain through it!  I had to have Glenn's help with the chains because they were hard to hook!

 The cake turned out WAY better than I'd expected, and it's my favorite zebra cake I've done so far!!!!  AND the easiest too!!!

 We also had zebra sticks, and fruit kabobs along with our Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets.

 Getting ready for the guest to paint!!  I then painted finger nails while we waited on everyone to get started with the painting.

 This was my first child's party, and I'm afraid that there will be many more to come!  I've already gotten 2 who are lining me up to do their child's birthday parties.  It was interesting but they all did very good.  With 6 year olds you can't really do too much detail, but I did have their monogram in the middle and it helped having it ready....then I had contact paper over it so they could have a clean circle when they finished.

 Since it was Brayden's actual birthday, her party isn't until next Saturday, we had to sing Happy Birthday twice.

 Aline gave Emily the book 14 Cows for America, which is based on a true story, and since she is from Guinea West Africa she was so excited to give it to Emily.  Two of our girls had to leave early and missed the picture.  The paint wasn't dried in time and I did NOT want wet paint on their clothes.  They all did a great job.  I just have to write a portion of Psalm 139 around their monogram and I'll deliver them tomorrow to them at church!!!!  We had a blast!