Chloe's Open House

On Thursday (yeah, I know, it has just been that kind of week OK?) Chloe had her open house. She was more than willing to show me all kinds of things and asked that I take pictures of it.

Her personal narratives that she had written.

Her science notebook,

and what was in her reading bin.

So far so good on the fourth grade front!

Art Day

Alexa came home from her dad's house today and annouced, "I want to paint." And she did. After lunch she settled down at what I have decreed the "art table" and painted.

And painted,

and painted,

and painted.

Chloe got into the action a bit too

But mostly the office is covered in Alexa's work.

Alexa's Open House

This year the girl's school decided to have open house on different nights for different grades. While it is kind of a pain to go two weeks in a row, it was nice to just be able to concentrate on one kid tonight instead of splitting our time between two classrooms. Tonight was Alexa's open house. Next week we attend Chloe's. I wasn't allowed to photograph much... Alexa was pretty clear about that. I did get one shot of her table area...

I was also allowed to take picture on the walk home next to the school tomato plants.

Trust me, she was very excited to show us all around.

Apple Picking

It was time for our annual trek to the apple orchard today. The kids wanted to go to the place we usually do that has the tractor ride out to the orchard and the animals to feed when you get back.

Waiting for the tractor to start off.

Alexa was excited to note that she is short enough to tunnel under the trees.

After we picked 25 pounds of apples (some we donated to the food bank), it was back to the farmyard to feed some animals.

I should mention that this donkey could very easily walk out the back of this shed and greet people from the fence. Obviously he preferred the window.

Late Summer Gardening

Alexa and I picked tomatoes today and baked pumpkin bread made with our own pumpkins. The tomato haul was amazing.

Chloe is at a slumber party (apparently when each of her friends turns 10 they want slumber parties). At any rate that leaves Alexa and I with the ability to create a dinner that we want. Since Chloe is a MUCH pickier eater it often limits the dinner options. We decided to use some of our fresh picked tomatoes to make a fresh pasta sauce. We added olives and I introduced Lex to capers. She found these to be very yummy.

Of course while it was cooking she was sneaking more tomatoes from the basket.

Alexa has a tomato addiction.

More Knitting

More Grammy knitting arrived today! Alexa was really happy to get her package. With the left over yarn we gave her to knit Alexa's sweater, she made a hat, scarf, and a doll sweater for Ruby.

Thank You Grammy Eva! So all this got Chloe to thinking....

Student of the Day

When I arrived at school to pick Alexa up today, she came racing down the hall bounding up to me. She had on a sticker labeling her the "Student of the Day.' Alexa has dreamed of being student of the day for years. She has seen her sister come home with certificates almost every month. All last year she waited, hoping that her card would be drawn out of all the cards that were placed in the box when kids were caught being good. But never, not once, last year was her name ever drawn. She was devastated. Alexa follows every rule at school. She always got rave reviews of her kindness and excellent behavior at school on her report card. But no student of the day. Until today.

She is so excited. We are off to an excellent start!

Summer Draws to an End

Here we are on Labor Day the day that has become known as the end of summer. Although we have a few weeks yet before it official changes over to fall. It feels like it is over. School has started again, the nights are getting cooler, and we harvested our pumpkins.

They were little ones this year. We cooked them up yesterday and have enough to make about four loaves of pumpkin bread. We toasted the seeds too. Although those are mostly gone now. This summer has been the season of the morning glories. Check them out...

They are climbing the birch tree that was stupid enough to bend close to them. We joke that you can't sit for long on the deck or they may close in on you. Even the ones Marty has planted next door have hopped the fence and are circling my sunflowers and humming bird feeder.

The other highlight of our summer has been this little guy.

Cabbie is tormented by him, but the rest of us have enjoyed him. We have even spotted a second one which has Chloe dreaming of a yard full of baby chipmunks next year.

Grammy Sweater

The Grammy sweater arrived today!

She said she was giving you a hug Grammy Eva! She loves it!