Butterflies

Brooklyn got a Butterfly Pavilion from a friend for her Birthday. We sent away for the caterpillars, and a few weeks later they arrived. The kids were so excited! The caterpillars we so tiny! We left them in the jars for about 2 weeks, until they each formed their chrysalis. It was crazy how big and fuzzy they became! Once they formed their chrysalis's, we moved them to the Pavilion. It took about a week, but last night and today, they've started to emerge! We have 8 butterflies out of 10 so far. I bet the other two will come out pretty soon. We're supposed to feed them sugar water with a little dropper for a couple days, and then we'll let them go. The kids LOVE them! I tried to take pictures, but it was pretty difficult to get really great ones. Here are the ones I managed to get, though.

Riley, Miles and Brooklyn with the Butterfly Pavilion
Brooklyn getting a closer look. The two hanging things toward the top right are the two that haven't emerged yet.

Gingerbread!

A friend of ours gave us a Gingerbread House Kit yesterday, and the kids have been so excited to make it. So, we decided to do it tonight for Family Home Evening. They had a blast putting all the candies on. Brooklyn got really excited about making patterns and just making it cute. Riley had fun putting the candies on too, but I had to tell her about ten times to not eat the icing. Every time I turned around she tried to sneak a spoonful. She thought she was pretty funny. Miles had a hard time getting the candies to stick, so he just decided to eat them instead. It was just really fun and it turned out cuter than I thought it would. My children are artists and designers in the making! :)

Brooklyn's Birthday

Brooklyn had her 6th Birthday on Sunday, Nov. 8th. I can't believe she's 6 already! She was celebrating all weekend! A few friends came over on Saturday, and then we had a little Family party on Sunday, and then she took cupcakes in to school on Monday to share with her class. She feels very grown-up now.
Brooklyn got lots of art supplies for her birthday, which is perfect because that's what she wants to do all day, everyday... arts and crafts! She loves to color, draw, paint, cut and paste... all of it! She also got clothes, which she loves. She wants to be very fashionable. And books! Well, now that she's learning how to read, she likes books even more. She feels very grown-up since she can read many of the words. :)
All of us had fun celebrating. Brooklyn makes everything so much fun!


"Friends Party" ...Miles, Berlynn, Makayla, Brooklyn, Riley, Taylor


Sunday... Presents!


What could it be???


Brooklyn and Isaac...Ready for Cake!


Brooklyn and Riley put together this puzzle that Brooklyn got for her Birthday (100 pieces! Movin' Up!)



I only managed to get the end of the song, and Miles is blocking most of the view, but you get the idea.

Costumes... Finally!

I had to bribe Miles with candy to get his costume on. He loved it once it was on, though!
Poor Brooklyn coughed right as I snapped the picture, but I had to post it because Miles looked so darn cute!
Brooklyn... Snow Queen
Riley... Princess
Miles...Dragon

Pumpkin Carving

The kids picked out a LARGE pumpkin
Brooklyn got this small sugar pumpkin at a pumpkin patch during a field trip for school. Miles thought it was perfect...Just his size!
Checkin' out those pumpkin guts... Gross!
Closing it up... the carving had to wait another day due to bedtime.
Hooray!! Carving Time!!
The Final Product
Happy Halloween

Halloween

Today is Halloween! I can't believe it. The kids are so excited. Justin's mom, Mary, made their costumes again this year, which turned out perfectly! Brooklyn is a Snow Queen, Riley is a Princess, and Miles is a Dragon. I have yet to get a good picture of him. He likes the costume... just not on him. Tonight we're going to the Trunk-or-Treat at church. The kids have candy on the brain! Fortunately it's daylight savings, so if the kids stay up late because they're so full of sugar, at least they'll get an extra hour of sleep! And so will we. :) Justin and I aren't really costume people. Maybe next year. Besides the candy, the kids loved carving pumkins. We did it in two nights. The first night, we just cut the tops off and let them take a look inside. The next night, we actually pulled all the pumpkin guts out and carved the faces. Surprisingly, Miles thought it was disgusting and didn't want to touch the pumpkin guts. He touched it once and refused after that to help clean them out. Brooklyn couldn't get enough of it! Riley could take it or leave it. They all loved the end product though!