Happy Halloween {CTMH Style}

My October workshop was full of Halloween fun. Most of these items were cut out using the Artiste Cricut cartridge. Making them super easy to put together.

Here are the projects we made.

 Jack o' Lantern treat bags.

 Bat card with treat cup holder.

 Halloween cards with treat cup holders.

 Coffins, full of candy. These may be may favorite.

 An "Eek!" banner. Simple and cute!

I showed Shane all of these little goodies and had him pick which on goes to which teacher. We have 6 wonderful teachers in Shane's life right now. These will all be going to good homes.

Fall/Halloween Sensory Table

It was time to bring the water table inside and turn it into a sensory table for the cold upcoming months.

I had some straw I had tucked away, Kenny had kindly saved me some pumpkin seeds when he hollowed out our pumpkins plus some creepy black plastic spiders and voila....a fall/Halloween sensory table. I have some cute little pumpkins too, but they are currently hanging out at toddler group. But they would make a perfect addition as well.

I encourage them to keep the stuff inside the table, knowing that there will be a mess no matter what. I do ban complete on purpose pouring of the items out onto the floor though.

I also toss in some cups and things that encourage pouring and exploring with their imagine.

This specific sensory table won't probably make it past today. To much will be lost and the hay just may be giving me an allergy attack. Sometimes the sensory table items are good for a few days or couple weeks.

Shane (5 years old) actually has spent more time with it then my toddler, Adalyn (23 months old). Though he needs to work on sharing it more then anything.

Toddler Group 2012-2013

Adalyn is 4 weeks into toddler group this year. Every Wednesday morning when I ask her if she wants to go to toddler group today, she gets so excited and says "uhuh, uhuh, uhuh" while shaking her head yes, yes, yes.

She has tended to stick to the art area, the rice table and the play dough. She spends a lot of her time sitting at a table watching every thing going on around her. Now and then she'll venture to a new area or hang out with a "friend". She loves both circle times and singing and snack is a big hit, too.

 We generally start off with the art area and do her art projects. She will not let me help or make any suggestions at all. She also does not like to share any materials with any other little people. If any one comes close she'll yell "NO". I think that may have some thing to do with having an older brother at home.

This was her spider craft.

Then she made a "spider web" with a golf ball, but she DID NOT want to do it the way I recommend. She made it all her way.

Then to the easel's for a little painting. She'll make a few strokes and then head off to some where else.

As she was wondering around she found this jack-in-the-box. We spent a long time with this toy. Long enough that I suggested we move on. Though I do try to let our time at toddler group be driven by Adalyn, I really can only do some tasks for so long.

Rice table time. Though really it is just a good place to watch every one. She also kept eating it this class time, which she hadn't done before. I did have to remove her from the rice table a few times, but she would head back as soon as she could.

The play dough table is lots of fun. Miss Adalyn likes to keep a little piece in her hand and let it hang out right by her mouth....not in her mouth, just right next to it. If I ask her if she is eating it she'll shake her hand and sniff. Meaning she is just smelling it. But after doing this for awhile she sneaks it into her mouth. The past couple classes it has been the same little game she plays. Shane would just gobble it up, no "hiding" it. She is a bit more sneaky in her ways.

This was the first time she checked out the doll house. Funny enough, she is getting a doll house mansion for her birthday next month.

Snack time is always a hit with her. She sits and waits so nicely while I get her snack and water for her. She also is such a big girl drinking the water out of a big girl cup.

Here she is headed to put her musical sticks back in the bin. She does a great job following directions from Teacher Susy.

Class ends with a stamp from Teacher Susy. She often is the first one waiting for it and she does a great job being patient with all the chaos around her.

I love taking her to toddler group every week. This year has been so interesting in many ways: experiencing it with her compared to Shane and because this is my first year teaching a toddler group as well. I hope that the parents in my class enjoy bringing their kiddos as much as I like taking Adalyn (and Shane back in the day).

We are lucky to have so many great toddler groups in our area (Kirkland, Redmond, Woodinville, Edmonds, Bellevue). If you are interested in finding one near you check out your local community colleges. They often run these programs.

Reno Air Races {Guest Post}

My first ever guest post! Welcome, Kenny....

Shane and I took a trip to Reno back in September to visit Grandma and Grandpa Booth and to see the great Reno Air Races. Grandma and Grandpa live just a mile from the airport where the air races are held and there's non-stop action for 4 days.  For two of the days we headed into the airport to watch the races up close.  The races themselves consist of multiple 'classes' of planes that race around a course next to the main runway.  The classes include jets, AT-6's, and unlimited's (mostly P-51 Mustang's).  In addition to the races, there are jet teams, stunt performances, and lots of planes to look at and walk inside of. 

Shane absolutely loved the air races and couldn't get enough of all the planes. After our two days at the races, we watched the activities from Grandma and Grandpa's house and got a chance to see the jet shows from a distance.

Grandpa, Shane and Kenny.

Shane and I in front of the 'helicopter with teeth!'

Shane inside the C-130.

In the grandstands watching a race.

Stunt plane coming in for a landing.

Stunt plane land on a truck.  

Watching the F-22's get ready to take off.  

Shane's favorite planes were the F-22's!

 Shane inside the cockpit of the C-17. 

 Shane scanning the skies for jets.

 Race planes speeding around the course.

The Patriot Jet Team.

Shane watching the races. 

Shane at the Sierra Safari Animal Zoo. 

Shane loved the deer (and this deer really liked him). 

Shane feeding the deer.

 

Shane checking out the camel. 

A big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for having Shane and I to the air races. We had a great time and maybe some year we'll make it back again.

The Spit

Back in September, Kenny and Shane flew to Reno to watch the air races and visit with Kenny's parents. While the boys were off playing Adalyn and I took a trip to Sequim. We took a little trip to "the spit". I had taken Shane there when he was around the same age, so I thought it would be fun to take the girl there, too.

The weather was beautiful and actually warm even on the spit. 

Which is pretty darn amazing.

Building rock towers.

Here is a picture of Shane at the spit, back in August of 2009.

I have another picture of him standing their signing "boat". 

It is one of my favorite pictures of him. 

I love pictures of him when he is signing in them.

Pumpkin Patch -- 2012

The weather has turned here in the Pacific Northwest. We went from sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine. To gray skies and rain. I knew it was eventually going to happen and it did. The change came just in time for muddy pumpkin patches. I wish I could say that I was all on top of it and we took a visit to the pumpkin patch before the rain came, but I wasn't.

So we hit the pumpkin patch today in the rain. At first I thought it was just going to drizzle on us, but no, the rain joined us full on. The kids were troopers and didn't really mind stomping around in the mud in their boots. I do think though we were all happy to get into the car an hour later and warm up.

 Hey...look we found pumpkins!!

My little ham.

It was pretty wet out. 

She wasn't sure about the hay ride at first, but the kettle corn took her mind off of her fears.

They had white pumpkins randomly in the field. 

Of course I had to be different and pick one of those.