School Work

I want to take pictures of some of the kids' work from school this year in order to document their progress. Here are a few recent samples of what they have been working on.
Gabriel's class just finished learning all of their letters. They have been talking about the letter S, and on this paper, he had to draw something that begins with the letter S. I was so impressed with his picture because I was able to recognize that he drew a SLIDE!

This is Grace's drawing from school. I have been reading about how the development of children's drawings shows their cognitive development and often gives insight to their affect. I haven't had a chance to talk to Grace about this drawing, but I'm very curious to know what she was thinking when she drew this. I read today that when children draw themselves with a straight mouth, it can mean that they feel insecure or unsure of themselves. She's been crying occasionally about anxiety over friendships at school. I wonder if this drawing and her anxiety about friends at school are related. Then again I could be reading WAY too much into it. Ha!

Sneak Preview

We received something fun in the mail today!
The kids' Halloween costumes came! You know they couldn't wait to put them on!
When I told Grace I was going to take her picture, she started posing. She comes up with the craziest poses!
Then she checked herself out in the mirror. More poses happened here too!
When Bat Girl and I returned to the kitchen, we found Heat Blast from Ben 10 there! It's going to be a pretty SUPER Halloween, I think.

Happy Birthday, Abby!

Yesterday we celebrated Abby's 4th birthday with a dress-up princess party.
Grace chose the Dorothy costume from the Wizard of Oz. She wore this dress for most of the party.
There were only 3 boys at the party. To keep the boys entertained there were toy guns. The funniest thing was watching a few of the little girls dressed as princesses toting the toy guns around.
The kids lined up to play pin the tail on the donkey.
Then it was time for the pinata.
The candy fell from the pinata and the kids dove in.
The Ellnor kids are not shy when it comes to grabbing up the pinata loot. Grace was right in the middle of the group, and Gabriel ended up with one of the most full bags of loot.
It was time for cake and ice cream after everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl.
Presents! All of the little girl guests were so "helpful" when it came to Abby opening her gifts. It was a little chaotic to say the least.
As soon as Grace saw Abby open this Rapunzel doll from Tangled, she said, "Mommy, I want THAT for my birthday." Abby or Grace carried the doll around for the rest of the party.
The boys got harmonicas inside their treat bags. Gabriel and Nick played their harmonicas on the fireplace hearth and pretended that was their stage.

Happy Birthday, Abby! We hope it was a wonderful day for you!

Charlestown Park

Last weekend we camped at Charlestown State Park with the Lewis family.
As soon as we parked the camper, the kids were ready to get out their bikes and ride.
The kids chowed down on some pizza from Charlestown Pizza Company after it got dark out. They were way to busy before dark to worry about eating.
Saturday morning, Jackson and Gabriel we up and at'em early and playing with cars.
Later in the morning, the 4 of the 5 McAfee's arrived. I was trying to get a picture of the big kids together and this is what I ended up with.
Mazden was being a doll baby Saturday afternoon.
Nora was all smiles most of the time too.
My favorite part of camping has got to be the campfire and making s'mores.
Apparently there were some photo bombers near Dan while he toasted marshmallows.
Grace is not usually a fan of s'mores but she ate one this time.
Here are the big boys: Jackson, Sam, and Gabriel.
Oh yeah, Baby! I can't tell you how much I looked forward to this! A Reese Cup s'more is the best thing EVER!
I brought some poppers for the kids to play with after dark. It was funny to hear cars driving by and running over the pops that had not yet gone off. I'm sure the drivers were wondering, "What the heck?!"
Sunday morning it was rainy. We decided to take a little hike on Trail 5 anyway.
Dan, Grace, Gabriel, Jackson, and Damon at the river overlook
There was a really cool little bench made from a log along the trail. Gabriel sat down and said, "Mom, take our picture on this!" How funny! I was happy to oblige.

We had such a relaxing time camping. I love that the kids are being active and away from the t.v. I love spending time with family and friends and NOT focusing on getting "chores" done. Only one more camping trip left for the season . . . sad, sad.

Randoms

Grace tried on hats at an antique shop in Scottsburg.
We went to Grace's preschool open house and saw some of her art work in the hallway. Nice job, Baby Girl!
She decided to wear at hat a few weeks ago. She has the funniest ways of posing for pictures sometimes.
We are at Steve's Pizza King one evening after work. The kids LOVE sitting where they can watch the train.
This is Gabriel's clown drawing from his art class at school. He was so excited to show us his artwork in the hallway.

Adventures with Daddy

Tonight after dinner we walked down to Silver Creek and took a walk IN the creek. The kids had a blast, and it was pretty cool seeing all of the wildlife in the creek.
Daddy was giving us the rules of our adventure. We had to hold hands and stay close to each other.
This was our trip through our property to the creek.
Dan caught a crayfish to show the kids.
We stopped in the middle of the creek and showed the kids how to skip rocks in the creek.
Grace kept saying, "I skipped it three times! I skipped it five times!" Really, her rocks her thudding straight to the bottom of the creek.
After splashing Mommy a little too much, Grace walked back with Daddy.
On the way back to the house, the boys were playing tricks on us. They raced ahead of us and hid behind a tree so they could jump out and scare us.

Lapping Park

Sunday's weather was beautiful, so despite having a list of things to do at home, we decided to take a time-out of some bike riding at Lapping Park.
Grace was saying, "I don't need to wear this stinkin' helmet!"
Here are my Speed Racers.
Daddy was giving Gabriel a lesson in getting himself started on his bike now that he is not using training wheels. He got it too! He is officially riding without training wheels and getting himself stopped and started without help. Go, Gabriel!!
Before leaving the park, Grace wanted to stop and swing for a bit. Gabriel was kind enough to push for a few minutes.

Labor Day Weekend Camping

Let me just say that WE LOVE FALL CAMPING! Labor Day weekend is the official kick-off to the Fall camping season, and it was a fabulous weekend!
Janelle brought manicure supplies and painted Grace's nails. She chose yellow for one hand and pink for the other.
She convinced Daniel to take her for a ride on the scooter several times throughout the weekend.
The girls love playing Skip-bo.
There is never a shortage of junk food at camp. Gabriel enjoyed some Twizzlers.
Ninny and Pap supplied all of the kids with root beers. Yes, even one of the big kids, Daniel, enjoyed one.
The boys shared Pap's cell phone to play video games.
Saturday is was HOT! To get some relief from the heat, we headed to the pool.
Grace enjoyed the sprinklers.
Daniel hung out with the bathing beauties, Grace, Nora, and Darbi.
Gabriel had a ball playing guns with the water sprinklers. It seemed every boy in the pool was in on this game.
Back at camp, Gabriel had found a stick that made a perfect walking stick. He protected this stick most of the weekend. I truly thought that we'd end up bringing it home, but we didn't thankfully.
Grace relaxed Sunday morning by the fire.
Before lunch we took a little walk around the campgrounds to see the horse camping area.
Sunday night was my favorite activity of all --- S'MORES around the campfire!
Grace doesn't care for s'mores, but she enjoys a toasted marshmallow.
Gabriel takes after his mama and enjoys a good s'more.
He toasted some of his own marshmallows, but most of them ended up being flaming marshmallow balls.
Hershey was one of four camp mascots. Poor dirty little dog!
Sunday night before bed time, the kids made bug jars. It was a fun craft for the kids to do, and then they could collect bugs Monday morning as we packed to leave.
Memorial Weekend Pap took the kids "deep down in the jungle," and it must have been fun. These kiddos would not leave him alone about going "deep down in the jungle." Finally Sunday night, they made their trek "deep down in the jungle." I think he's started something that he won't be able to get out of. Ha!