Hay ride

The boys and I went to a Fall Festival this past Saturday.  It was the most gorgeous fall day ever!  Clear skies, bright sun, temps in the 60's, trees starting to change colors, it was amazing.  So this festival had a hay ride and we couldn't miss that.  Would you believe the ride lasted a good 10 minutes?!

Buddies

This was the only time Ash turned around lol.  

After that he was looking straight ahead making sure he didn't miss a thing!

These three chatted about the things they saw.

See that sun?  Perfect.

He held on like this with
both hands pretty much
the whole ride.

The grounds at this park
are so pretty!

Played a game of Labyrinth with the boys.  It's a fun maze game.  

Vann's making a move.

To get me!  He and
Chayce were teaming
up against me lol

I supervised the SAT's at a local college here a few weekends ago.  As I watched the students think and solve problems I looked at a few questions in an unused test book.  Then that next week Vann learned the equation to solve one of the questions!  Couldn't believe it.  We love Life of Fred, our math curriculum, and this is one small reason why.  We love it mostly because it makes math fun.  The boys look forward to it everyday.  It's never a chore for them.  And now I'm feeling pretty good that Vann will get at least one problem on his SATs correct!  

Another way to make school work fun...nerf gun bullets!  

We're headed to Texas tomorrow morning to visit my family down there.  Exciting!  Remember last year when we almost missed our plane...2 minutes to spare.  Phew it was so close.  Well that's not happening this year!  And I'm bringing a new book to read.  I haven't made time to read in months and I miss it.  So hopefully I'll be able to get a few pages in while we wait at the airport.  Today we'll all be busy packing and cleaning.  I love coming home from vacation to a mostly clean house.  Makes getting back into your regular routine a lil easier.  Okay I'm off to get busy for the day.  Have a beautiful Wednesday!

Fall Handprint Tree

One of my favorite things about fall is watching the leaves change colors.  The reds and oranges and yellows are so, so pretty!  Do you remember our Apple Handprint Tree we made last month?  Well it's time to change it to a Fall Handprint Tree!  The kids were excited to play in some paint :)

He started out using only one hand...

And then it was time for two hands!

Yep, the tops of his hands need paint too :)

They painted a lot of handprints!  Pages and pages of them.  Then we washed up, pulled out the paintbrushes and they painted whatever their hearts desired :)  Ash was so cute, he talked through his whole painting explaining to me what he was doing.  

First he was making a rainbow.

This part is Ninja Warrior.

All the way over here...

Making a circle.

Time for some orange.

And a little red...

And done!  Looks great Ash!!

After the handprints dried overnight, I cut them out and the kids hung them on the wall.  They made a beautiful tree and even had some leaves falling off the tree.  

One right here...

And one down here...

Harley's putting one over here.

Ta da!!  I love it!  

I love how it looks like leaves are falling off the tree.  Ash started putting them down there and I thought that was perfect!  I plan to have the kiddos paint some pumpkins this month and we'll add them to the bottom of our fall tree.  Mmm pumpkin.  I also have plans for some yummy pumpkin recipes.  I'll be sure to share the ones we love!

Watercolor Leaves

More fall art action over here today!  The older kiddos drew and painted some very pretty fall leaves. They used oil pastels, watercolors and salt...yes salt!  It did something super cool to their paintings.  We followed a lesson from my fav, Deep Space Sparkle...I just love her blog!  

Chaycers drawing his leaves.

Adding some color to a few.

Vann's leaves...

He did quite a few.

And Harley's leaves...

The one she drew the most
of was her fav!

Paint time!  If you tilt the paper the watercolors will flow down, but not pass over the oil pastels...super cool.

Hmm where to paint next?

Yellow for the little leaf.

Getting the red to flow down.

Finishing the red leaf up.

Chayce made his big leaf a pretty red.

Time to paint the background.  First they painted the whole background with just water...like Vann is doing.  

Then they added the paint.

And blended it a bit.

Adding some green...

Almost done!

Chayce's leaves...love them!

Vann's leaves...so pretty!

And Harley's leaves...beautiful! 

After they finished painting the background they sprinkled some salt all over the paper.  You can tell in their final pictures what that did...it made it look textured!  Can you see the little whiteish dots?  I tell ya I need to learn my way around a camera so you can really see how vibrant these leaves really are...but you get the idea.  It was a simple and fun project where they could let a little creativity out...this I love the most!