Our Fall....so far!

Let me be clear.....we have NOT had much fall weather so I am loosely calling this "Our Fall"! Still, I thought I would share some of what has been going on in our house!

First of all, I wanted to share about Amelia's progress in school! She is doing so well! In her Kindergarten, they have what is called the "Lollipop Club". Each month, they must meet a certain goal. When they meet that goal...they get a lollipop! The first month was color words, the second was number words (1-10) and for this month, it's the first set of 16 Dolch words. Today is November 3rd and Amelia has already made her goal for this month! I keep the words on flash cards and I try to display them somewhere so she can see them often! I am so proud of my little girl!!

I did my November saint/special day calendar (you can find the post about last months calendar here). It turned out ok. There were lots of great Saints to choose from for this month, but I tried to stick to one or two per week. Because tonight was a soccer practice night...and the fact that Dan has class....we didn't do much for St. Martin de Porres. This month, we will focus on praying for all of our deceased relatives and for all of the souls in Purgatory.

Last month, the goal for the kids was to learn the St. Michael the Archangel prayer, by heart! Since we still haven't exactly mastered this yet...I will keep the prayer posted so we can read it daily.

This is our 2009 Thanksgiving Tree (the 2008 tree can be found here). I decided to buy our tree this year, courtesy of Oriental Trading Company (and for only $8.99). I know that this took half of the fun out of it for the kids....but I just didn't feel like cleaning up little pieces of cut construction paper off of the floor for the next 2 months. Besides, now we can really concentrate on our gratitude! (Like craft time with the kids......)!

One other great part of this Thanksgiving Tree kit is that it came with pre-made leaves! Boy am I lazy this year!

This was my first try at carving a pumpkin with a stencil. This was great fun, but I ended up with a blister on my finger!

This one was a lot easier....and a lot more traditional!

Here was our crew of pumpkins (and kids)!

Amelia was Belle!

Olivia was a fairy princess......of some kind!

And Nathan was dear old Harry Potter!

Dan decided it was time to get rid of the little kiddy swings and build a real swing set in the back yard. He did a really good job. I don't have pictures of the finished project as of yet, but here's a shot of Nathan helping his dad. Like father, like son.

Here is the newest member of our family (no, not Olivia). Our Dodge Caravan is pretty much at the end of the road. It has become unreliable...especially driving the kids around. Dan has been looking around for a truck for awhile now and although it doesn't do really great on gas....it will be a big help when Dan does the roof this winter (once the weather actually cools down).

Olivia seemed particularly fond of the new truck. By the way, it has a back seat that fits the three kids (and car seats) really well!

We also celebrated Olivia's 4th birthday! I can't believe she is 4 years old! I've said this before, but I think God should fashion children with "Pause" buttons....so you could slow them down just a bit every now and then to enjoy a particular stage a little longer!

Coming home from running errands one day, Dan and I found this little guy trying to cross the street. We stopped and helped him along....although I can tell you that this Snapping Turtle did NOT want any help!

Doesn't he look prehistoric?

This little critter also decided to pay us a visit recently! What you can't see is the HUGE lizard that was waiting for him. I don't really know who won this battle....but about an hour later, there was no sign of the praying mantis.....but the lizard was licking his lips!

And lastly...Nathan has really been into creating Star Wars vehicles with his Legos. The other night....he fell asleep (in his clothes) with his latest creation in his hand. Isn't he cute?

So, that's what has been going on at my house...what about yours?