Rocktoberfest

Although we held out hope to the very end that the Rockies would at least force the Red Sox to a game 5, we still enjoyed our World Series experience. Here's some pics of my boys yesterday before Game 4 started. (Now, don't let that Red Sox hat fool you. Luke just likes the hat.)

Picture Book Art

Here's what Luke and I did during our daily art time today. We recently read The Lighthouse Cat by Sue Stainton. I read this book to Luke when he was a little younger. So, when I saw this book displayed at the library recently, I knew I had to check it out again. This book has gorgeous illustrations. So, Luke and I decided to draw lighthouses from this book. I've recently discovered the pleasure of trying to recreate an illustration from a picture book from Sweetness and Light. I'm finding more and more uses for picture books in our daily learning! I just wanted to share our lighthouse drawings. Luke gets pretty excited when I post his work to my blog.

Apples and Geography

Lately, I've been enjoying the most delicious and coziest drink ever: the Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks. It is quite literally the taste of Autumn! Well, we've been focusing on all things Autumn around here (You know, pumpkins, fall leaves, harvest time and scarecrows). I want to thank Mary for sharing this truly delightful book. Well, we read this book before bedtime tonight and I had Luke get out his atlas so we could follow the journey of Delicious and her family as they journey west to Oregon with a wagon full of apple trees and other fruit trees.

Last year, I ordered a book that I thought would be perfect for Luke to learn the geography of the United States. It seemed so easy, but even I couldn't make it through the introduction and I ended up selling the book. Why? Well, at the time I couldn't put my finger on why I didn't like it, but now I know. It was just plain old boring! I'm usually reluctant to call anything boring, but this book was dry. I didn't even know it until I'd become inspired to make geography come alive through the use of picture books. So, tonight we had a mini-lesson. We were able to locate both the Platte River and the Columbia. He didn't even know he was having a geography lesson! Isn't that great? It's sneaky geography. I don't really like to be sneaky, but I don't need to tell him that we're having a geography lesson, do I? I think if I mentioned the word "lesson" it would have just sucked the joy out of the whole thing. Luke seemed so excited about locating places and rivers in his atlas. Why tell him? Next up: Tulip Sees America.

Fairy Houses aren't just for girls

We have the perfect back yard in which to build fairy houses. I wasn't sure Luke would go for this because it can be considered "girl-y", but we watched this DVD and it sparked his imagination. I really want him to enjoy the great outdoors and to see the great things God has provided for him. So far, this week, he has built three fairy houses. Yesterday, I helped Luke gather twigs and pinecones for one. The one he built today has a rock table and two small sticks that are supposed to be a fork and knife. Too bad that the aspens have lost most of their leaves because they would look lovely on the houses, but I guess we can wait until Spring.

Friends

Here's Sammy and Ella riding on Sammy's ultra-cool retro rocket. Aren't they just adorable?

A perfect Fall day

Here are the boys enjoying a nice Autumn day at the Littleton Historical Museum On October 13th. Even though we got there early for the Harvest Festival, there weren't many pumpkins left, but we still found a nice one for carving. I bought four jars of homemade jam made at the museum from their bounty. There's nothing like a warm crisp Fall day!! I just love soaking up all the beauty of this season.

The feast of St. Luke

Luke and his namesake

I meant to post this a month ago...

Well, a month and two days...
My little boy Luke turned 8 on September 6th and I know I'm a little late, but I still wanted to mention it. Here's Luke at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on his birthday and also a picture of his safari birthday cake. Why do they get so big so fast?

I guess we weren't completely unsuccessful...

While I was hoping that my flowers would grow, somehow we managed to get 5 tomatoes on our little tomato plant. My mom had bought Luke a tomato plant from a farmer's market this summer and well, I have to admit that we didn't care for it as we should have, but I was impressed with our small plant. When we finally picked them, I was fascinated as I watched them ripen in our living room window. They were decidedly green and slowly they transformed to red!

I'm grateful for this

Today, Luke and I cleaned out our garden barrels. We started out with such high hopes in May as we planted several varieties of sunflowers, pumpkins, daisies and marigolds. I was really disappointed that not one of our sunflowers bloomed until Paul discovered this tiny flower in one of the barrels. We had planted kid-sized sunflowers in this barrel and I found that I was completely grateful for this tiny humble bloom. The marigolds got close to blooming, but never quite opened and then we got our first snow of the season yesterday. It was just the tiniest of snows, but it was cold enough for the marigolds to completely shrivel. I should have brought them inside, but I knew that they were way past the blooming stage. We will definitely have to learn how to grow things at our elevation of 8600 feet. I have hope for next season though.

I'm reluctant to give this book back to the library!

Here's a picture from Elsa Beskow's lovely Christopher's Harvest Time and here is a sampling of my own drawings from this book. You'll notice that I didn't attempt to draw all of the flower girls! I'm going to have to just go ahead and buy this book for our children's library!

More enchanted reading

For years, I have received this catalog and for a long time, I've had my eye on the collection of lovely picture books by Elsa Beskow. It's always funny to me that when I'm thinking about something, somebody else is too at the same time. Anyway, we just read Christopher's Harvest Time out loud this week and Luke just loved this story. What I have been trying to do is sit down with my two boys and read a little to them each day. Usually, I read to Luke separately at night and then to Sammy and of course, I'll keep that up, but I wanted reading time during the day as a little break from the regular school work. Since there is such an age gap with them, I've tried to find something that they can both enjoy. Sammy sat quietly and sucked his thumb while Luke was just excited by each page. He said, "Mommy! We have got to own this book!" (I had checked out this copy from the library). Of course, I can't deny my children books and I'm sure this one and more by Elsa Beskow will arrive in time for Christmas!

With inspiration from Meredith over at Sweetness and Light, I decided to try drawing some of the pictures from Christopher's Harvest Time. Meredith, what a great idea! I love the idea of using children's picture books as inspiration for our own drawings! Luke and I are enjoying spending time together drawing in the afternoons while Sammy naps. I was so taken by these beautiful illustrations that I wanted to draw them too. Perhaps I will scan those in later, but for now, I'll just share the images of the book. I actually drew the little redcurrant girl above. This book is irresistible!

St. Therese

Today is the feast of St. Therese. She has become a favorite saint of mine especially this year and I hope to keep learning from her each day.