Lions and Pippi's and Peters, Oh My!

A couple months ago I got a video I loved as a kid out of the library - "The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking."  Aubree enjoyed the movie as much as I remember enjoying it and decided that she wanted to be Pippi for Halloween.  Grateful for a reprieve from Princess-world, I heartily agreed!

Our inspiration:

 The final product:

Of course, the vast majority of kids had no idea who Aubree was supposed to be, but most of the adults got a kick out of the throw-back costume (though a few thought she was dressed as Wendy from the Wendy's sign).

Mark made an impressive hat for Mr. Nilsson.

Tonight was our ward Trunk or Treat, and this time all three kids got to dress up.  

 Bryce went as Peter Pan and enjoyed telling everyone, "I'm Peter Pan!"  I was surprised at how much he liked dressing up.  Yesterday, when I was doing Aubree's hair, he was quite concerned and said, "don't do that to me, Mommy."  When I put on Aubree's freckles, he reiterated, "don't do that to me!"  I think he was grateful for his simple costume.

 Thane wore the same costume Bryce wore around the same age.  It's fun to compare pictures (Thane is on the left, Bryce is on the right). 

Ghoul School

Today is Aubree's last day at preschool.  It also happens to be "Make-Believe Day."  Here's a sneak peak of an upcoming Halloween post (can you find Aubree and her awesome costume?):

Apart from the above picture, this post has nothing to do with Halloween (despite the misleading title- sometimes I just can't resist a good rhyme).  Instead, it's a quick picture update of our home-school adventures.  

We love Five in a Row!  To help keep track of the things we're learning and doing, we're using lapbooks.  Lapbooks are just a fun way to organize, display, and review the things we've learned.  We make a different lapbook for each book we read.

Our first week we read The Story About Ping, about a duck on the Yangtze River.  That was before we started lapbooking.  We did however, have fun examining what things sink vs. float.  This was also the book that inspired Aubree's "China Hunt."

Our second book was Lentil, a story about a harmonica-playing boy growing up in a small town in Ohio.  One day Aubree made a model of Lentil's town using her blocks (the "peek-a-blocks" on top of each "building" gave hints as to what each building represented.  For example, the bell was on top of the Methodist Church, the apple on top of the school, the book was on top of the library, etc). 

 Our third book was Madeline.  Learning about France was a lot of fun.  We did some impressionist paintings and learned about symmetry.  Aubree's favorite part of this was learning how to cut out symmetrical hearts by folding the paper in half.  Our home was filled with hearts!

Our fourth book was The Rag Coat, about a poor girl living in coal country.  Since I knew next to nothing about coal and coal production, it was a fascinating week.  We watched some great online videos of how coal is mined and I felt claustrophobic just watching the miners descend deep underground!  Aubree was more interested in the quilts.

 

Right now we're reading Who Owns the Sun?, which deals with issues of slavery.  Admittedly, as the move has gotten closer and things have gotten busier, we haven't been as consistent about doing home school.  I decided to stretch out each book to two weeks instead of one and that has helped a lot.  Once we get settled in Washington, however, (and get well-acquainted with the library) we'll get back to the original one-book-per-week plan.  Love it!

Birthday Blue

I told Aubree she could have a friend birthday party this year; a last hurrah with her good friends before we move.  "Or," I offered, "I can give you some other options."  "Yeah!" she enthused, "give me some options."  

I thought for a minute, "we could go to Disney."

- "Yes! Disney! Can I wear a button that says, 'Happy Birthday!?!'"

"Or we could go camping..."

- "Oh! Camping! Yes! I want to go camping!!"

That got the wheels in my brain turning.  Maybe, just maybe we could go camping AND to Disney.  By checking frequently, I was able to snag a campsite at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort.  Apparently that's Disney's most popular (and reasonably priced) resort, so it fills up quickly.

 Friday afternoon we met up with friends and set up camp.  

 For dinner, we experimented with our new camping toys - pie irons.  We made pizzas, grilled cheese sandwiches, and mini-pies.  The results were so-so. I think they'll work better over a wood fire rather than a charcoal grill, but they do provide a nice alternative to the standard camping hot-dogs.

It wouldn't count as camping without playing in the dirt

After dinner we cleaned up and set out for the next adventure - a Disney sing-a-long, campfire with Chip & Dale, and Disney movie (Aristocats) under the stars.  Getting to the campfire location required a short bus ride, which the kids all loved.

 Not surprisingly, Aubree was captivated by the movie (she'd never seen it before).  Bryce slept off and on (the movie didn't even begin until 8:40 pm, WAY after their typical bedtime) and Thane cried off and on.  By the time we all got back to the tent everyone was exhausted.  Ultimately, I think Aubree was the only one who slept well. 

The next morning we had a great breakfast thanks to the Dokos family and while the kids played, we spent hours cleaning up what we'd spent hours setting up the day before.  Still, the kids had a fabulous time and it was exactly what Aubree wanted.

*Note to self - camping for just one day just isn't quite worth all the work.  Two days is a requirement!

Once everything was finally packed in the car, we headed out to Magic Kingdom for Part 2 of the great birthday celebration.  Aubree got her precious "Happy Birthday" button and loved having all the Disney employees stop to tell her "Happy Birthday."  She also enjoyed getting to choose the itinerary for the day.  Since we'd been to Magic Kingdom numerous times previously, we didn't feel overly concerned about hitting everything and Aubree got to choose her favorites.  

By late afternoon, we were all dragging so we left Disney for our final birthday destination - Sweet Tomatoes restaurant.  If you ask Aubree, that was her favorite part of the whole day (go figure). 

Aubree's birthday gift - a long desired camera

And now, my Aubree is five.  FIVE!  Perhaps because "five" carries connotations of starting school, but it feels old to me and I can sense a change in Aubree.  She reacts to difficulties more calmly, is more aware of circumstances and individuals around her, is more sure of her own preferences and capacities, and is turning into a remarkable young lady.  I recognize I'm biased and I am certainly aware of Aubree's weaknesses and faults, but overall - WOW - what an amazing girl!  Aubree is truly a joy to be around, and she is helpful and kind and bright and funny and on and on.  It's humbling to admit, but she keeps me on track. 

* On Tuesday I got a phone call from a Realtor who wanted to show our home, "I'm sorry," she explained, "I didn't realize the home was occupied, can I come right now?"  Uhhhhhh.... "Can you give me ten minutes?" I begged.  
With 3 kids, getting a house in show-ready state in 10 minutes?  Definitely a stretch.  "Aubree!" I cried, "I need your help!"  She jumped into action and independently cleaned Bryce's room (she even made his bed) and the living room, which gave me just enough time to get the rest of the house organized.  I couldn't have done it without her.

* Last week I had a parent-teacher conference with Aubree's preschool teacher.  Her teacher's first words were, "I have ZERO concerns about Aubree.  She's way ahead of the pack."  Miss Robin especially praised Aubree's drawings.  "They're so detailed, you can clearly tell exactly what she's trying to draw."  Aubree didn't get her artistic abilities from me - I think they skipped a generation. 

* Want to know Aubree's current fascination?  Homophones.  For the last month or so, conversations like this are extremely common:

"Mom! 'do' is a homophone! You know, like 'the library books are due' and 'do you have a toy?'"

Yesterday morning she woke up and the first words out of her mouth were, "Cheap is a homophone! Like 'doesn't cost very much' and a bird says 'cheep, cheep'."

* Here's another recent fascination: One week in home-school we were learning about China.  Aubree happened to notice the tag of one of her toys said "made in China."  So she and Dad went on a "China hunt" all around the house to see what else they could find that was made in China.  As you might anticipate, it was a very fruitful hunt.  A month later, Aubree still checks the tags of everything to see where they're made and always gets the most excited when the item is made in China.  Occasionally when I'm in another room I'll hear a heart-stopping screech, and in the split second that it takes to catch my breath, I'll hear Aubree squeal, "My quilt is MADE IN CHINA!" (Even Bryce has gotten into this "game" and enthusiastically announces, "these crackers were made in CHINA!" or "Thane was made in CHINA!")

Fall Fun at the Farm

Grandma says she likes "picture posts," so Grandma - this post's for you!

 We got a group together and spent Monday at Green Meadows Farm in Kissimmee. Even though it doesn't feel like Fall in Florida, our annual visit to the Farm helps us get in the Autumn mood.  This year was extra fun because Mark came too!

Enjoying the hayride

Amazingly, this year Aubree and Bryce weren't terrified of the animals - which made for a much more pleasant day and much better pictures. ;)

Aubree & Ella feeding the goats

Holding the baby chicks and ducklings is always a highlight of our visit.

Aubree was extremely proud that she caught her own chicken

A Zorse! How cool is that?

Sittin' in the pumpkin patch pile

As we were driving home from the Farm we passed all the Disney World exits and I commented, "Man, we should have brought our Disney passes and we could have gone to Disney for the afternoon."  Mark responded that our passes were in the car, so we made the last-minute decision to swing by Animal Kingdom for a couple hours.  We were there just long enough to see the Finding Nemo and Lion King shows, both of which are phenomenal.  That was probably our last Disney excursion for a very long time. 

Joining the Club

If I wasn't an official, card-carrying member of the Mom Club before, I am now:

 

It's a forest green '04 Sienna.   I told Mark we'll blend right into the scenery in Washington. 

Let's Count

 One...

 Two...

 Three...

 Four...

 and FIVE!

 Happy, Happy Birthday Aubree!
(I'm a little behind, but I'll post more about our celebrations [last week] as soon as I can round up more pictures)

Feeding the Obsession

Today the fire department visited Aubree's preschool.  This was not an event I could in good conscience miss. 

We dropped Aubree off at school then ran a couple of errands.  As always, Bryce asked to drive by the fire station.  "Don't worry," I promised, "we'll go see a fire truck."  When we pulled back into the parking lot of Aubree's school, Bryce was not pleased.  "No!" he fussed, "I don't want to pick up Aubree, I want to see the fire station!" 

 When the ladder truck pulled up just a few moments later, his eyes got huge and I heard, "Mom! LOOK!" over and over.  Eventually I heard him quietly muttering, "that fire truck is so cool.  It's just so cool."

Aubree got a chance to shoot water from the hose.

They even put the ladder all the way up and one of the firefighters climbed to the top.  Just watching her climb left me feeling woozy and I'm not generally afraid of heights.  I asked Aubree and Bryce if they wanted to climb up and they both quickly and seriously answered, "no!"

The only down sides to this fabulous and timely event were the swarming love bugs (pesky creatures!) and the fact that we had to leave a little early due to a sick baby (Thane had shots yesterday and has been burning up since then).