A Little Deja Vu

Alright these pictures have been waiting to be posted for a little while now!  A couple of weeks ago for Family Home Evening the kids finally earned the privilege of painting their pumpkin cans.  You may or may not remember THIS post from a few years with the same activity being pictured:

Back then it was just Ethan and Grace doing the painting.  This time around I was brave enough to let Sophie AND Jane join in the fun.  After collecting tin cans out of our recycling bin for a few weeks, I spray-painted them all white a few days before the painting started.  I bought 4 different shades of orange for the kids to sponge on and after a brief tutorial they went right to work.  Although, apparently I caused frustration on Ethan's part because my sample pumpkin looked "amazing" and he couldn't get his to quite measure up.  Hahaha.  

The pumpkins really only needed to dry overnight, but due to various issues the children were having and consequences that were meted out, it took about a week before they were finally able to paint  the faces on.  They all attempted to copy my original pumpkins to a certain extent, but they also went outside the box on some of their other ones.

Look at that concentration.

For the record -- the "Sharpie" brand paint markers were not the greatest.  

Cute little Jane's masterpiece.

The finished works.

Grace made a dog.  Very creative.

She also made a "mom" and "daughter" -- it's supposed to be me and her she says.  Hahahaha.  Although I did hear her name the little one "Betsy."  It's her new favorite name that she wants to use for one of her kids.  It's also a code word the kids have come up with to refer to people's bums.  As in "You've got a cute Betsy!"  Hahahaha.  Where do they come up with this stuff???

Sophie's work.

And Ethan's.  My favorite parts are the squiggly drawn on  eyebrows.

It's been a while since I've posted anything, yet I can't really think of anything major that has happened.  Mostly just minor stuff like how Sophie's card is flipped to yellow almost every day these days.  And how Ethan has evaded getting a haircut for a good two weeks now.  And how Jane REALLY needs to get potty-trained.  And how Alex is officially a toddler!  And how Grace has been hijacking bedtime by throwing massive fits about wanting to move into the basement.  You know stuff like that.  Hahahaha.

I did start a new segment in the Story of our Life comprised of the "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise" initiative.  It's going much better than I expected.  {Which is always a nice surprise.}  I woke up last Monday morning with that primary song stuck in my head -- you know, the one that goes:  "Early to bed and early to rise. Makes a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise."  It struck me that THAT was the answer to a lot of what I've been praying for lately.  We (more specifically ME and Scott) all need to go to bed earlier.  And we also need to get up earlier so that we can get a better start to our day.  It really is ridiculous to be late to school when it starts at 9:05 in the morning.  Day One of our new lifestyle change officially blew my mind when Ethan not only stayed on his own schedule but also made the girls' lunches and did part of Grace's chore -- which was the KITCHEN.  He unloaded the dishwasher for her and then LOADED it, too.  What???  Unheard of.  It was bananas.  Things have not been quite as perfect since then, but they have definitely been a lot better.  And we haven't been late to school once!  Hahahaha.  I'll take it.  We are a work in progress my friends!  

{Stayed tuned for pictures from "60's, 70's, and 80's Day" tomorrow...}