Fun with Friends

 My friend, Carole, planned another "art in the park" activity for her son (Carson), Caleb, and Ian. After some fun play time on the playground, the boys were very attentive as Carole told them about pumpkins and showed them in a book how pumpkins have vines and get bigger and bigger until we use them to make jack o' lanterns. She even gave them each a mini-pumpkin to hold and explore during her lesson.

 Then the boys got to practice dipping vegetables into water and "printing" onto paper.

 They thought this was a LOT of fun!

 Then, it was time to make pumpkin shapes.

 The boys used orange paint on potatoes for the pumpkin part and then green paint on celery stalks for the stems.

 The pictures turned out so cute! Thanks for the great ideas, Carole, and for organizing everything! After the project, we had a picnic lunch together at the park. One of Ian's highlights of being at the park was using the bathroom since the toilet made a funny creaking noise while flushing. He kept giggling and giggling while flushing the toilet multiple times. Then, he raced out of the bathroom to tell Ms. Aliceson, "When I flushed my pee pee, the toilet went ERRRT!" So funny!

 On Monday, we got to spend time with Melissa, our precious 6-year-old friend! Melissa and Ian dyed pasta by squishing together rubbing alcohol, food coloring, and dry noodles in a bag.

 Then, they spread out the noodles to dry.

 While we were waiting for them to dry, we played hide-and-seek

 and made a house for an earthworm we found outside.

 Then, we got to string the noodles! Melissa was a pro!

 Ian concentrated very hard

 and even got the hang of doing it himself (mostly!). Here's a video of him concentrating ..

 Here's Melissa showing off her finished product. She even added a hand decorated with fun foam Halloween stickers to one of her two necklaces.

 Then, Melissa showed Ian and Kim how she can READ! She read the rhymes on each page and gave Ian clues for finding the hidden pictures.

 What a fun time we had! Thanks for being a good "big sister" to Ian, Melissa!

 Today, we went to Toddler Time at the library. It was extra special because the librarian asked the kids to wear their costumes! Here are Ian (the fireman) and Caleb (Cat in the Hat) in the parking lot on the way in.

 We saw our friend, Charlie (the astronaut), at the library,

 and the Three Amigos (Caleb, Ian, and Caleb - a pizza slice!) paused for a picture, too. Aren't their costumes clever?!?

 Before story time was done, we went on a costume parade. Every child grabbed a musical instrument (Ian's choice was a bell),

 and they paraded around the main lobby of the library before going back to the story time room.

What a fun day! :)