Fall pictures

Faith has been loving learning about the colors of Fall. As we drive to school she says, "Mommy, soon the leaves will change colors, right?" Yes, peanut, they will be beautiful. She loves art, especially painting. This weekend we found some acrylic paints left over from my Fall sign paintings and then she found a nice wall brush to paint with. We found some red, brown, orange and straw colors and mixed them up for three nice pictures. Using silk leaves we painted over them and was left with a white print of the leaf. Then she took her hands and placed them in her red mixture for some hand prints along with some star stamps and leaf prints. Last she took all her colors and made a beautiful picture by mixing them all together for a rust color. She painted for almost 30 minutes and still wasn't done. Had I had more paint she would have painted all afternoon.

Run... It's Abiyoyo

I read Abiyoyo at school this week for the letter A and Faith was reluctant to hear it until I started singing the song. So we decided to let Between the Lions on PBS do the reading. I skipped most of the book where you could see the giant's big teeth and scary eyes as she started to quiver on my lap. I jumped to the part of the story where the little boy plays his ukelele and sings. Abiyoyo falls to the ground from being so dizzy dancing and the father "Zoops" with his magic wand to makes him disappear. Little Faith was the magician last night and Bud was Abiyoyo. We ran through the house hiding from him and when Bud would start to attack she would sing, "Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo," etc. until Bud would fall to the ground. She took her magic wand and made him disappear. "Zoop, Zoop" she said. Then she took me by the hand and told me to come with her to hide from Abiyoyo. We ran to hide under our bed sheets and Bud made his way down the hall again. This must have went on for 20 minutes or so. It was so much fun. One time I looked down the hall and there was Abiyoyo riding the big wheel. He called it his fat hog. Faith then she decided she wanted to be Abiyoyo so she ran to her room and then came back with a sheet over her head pretending to be a big scary giant. She is so much fun.

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday dear Carl. Happy Birthday dear Carl. Happy Birthday dear Carl. Happy Birthday to you. Wishing the best year ever. We love you and miss you.

Oh the beauty

The sunrises and sunsets are stupendous here. I catch myself always watching them and just thinking about how beautiful they are. One minute the entire field across from us is filled with fog and then it slowly lifts to see the field. Then the night sky just lights up with the most beautiful shades of pink and purple over Bull Run as I head home from work. These are just a few pictures I captured the other day. You can see the trees in the distance of the field.

She's so funny

It's Tuesday and I was thinking about earlier this summer when I had funny saying Tuesday. Last night Faith was sitting on the toilet and she likes to talk on the toilet. I asked what she was doing and she continued on to tell me she was peeing however then she continued to tell me what other people do sometimes. "Mommy, sometimes people poop on the potty. Other times they fart. That is a funny sound mommy." How can someone keep a straight face with that little cute smile looking at you talking about farts? She has started excusing herself when she farts too. Good manners start at home right?

Our little cowgirl

These boots were made for walking and that just what they do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

And off they go

My parents are leaving today. What a great weekend to have them here. Faith really enjoyed being chased by Andma Crab at the park and feeding the horses with her last night. I know she enjoyed her famous story times that she is so good at. Faith sometimes just looks at her with wonder when she reads. It was nice for them to get away from IL for awhile and do some sight seeing. Yesterday Bud and dad visited Manassas Battlefield Park. Dad said it was wonderful. I'm glad he was able to see it however I don't think Bud took the camera. I am grateful for my parents and happy they came to see us. It is a long trip especially to drive in one day. Faith's other grandma won't be visiting until the spring, maybe. So it looks like the visitors are over for a while. Hope mom and dad have fun on their next stop; the Secret House.

The Air and Space Museum

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA. I loved it especially the space exhibits. We took my mom and dad. Dad loved it the most however everyone had a great time. My favorite and Faith's favorite was the Enterprise space shuttle. My next favorite was the space suit that still had moon dirt on it. Dad enjoyed all the airplanes. Of course he had lived through most of them and had seen them fly the skies. Mom, Bud and I went on the Discovery Channel Wing's simulator. It was awesome. It took us from the cocpit of the first airplane to one that went 1000+ mph. The observation deck was awesome. We were able to hear the radio conversations with the internation airport at Dulles. In addition the landing strip was visible just right up the street so the airplanes would come in low and then land right by the tower. There was a screen that flashed pictures of airplanes and you could try to find them in the sky. We could see our mountains from the tower. Watching Faith lean on the glass is about to give a mother a heart attack. I know the glass was perfectly safe however my heart about leapt out of my chest. Faith enjoyed running around the open area downstairs and sitting on the chairs. She ooed and ahhed at everything she saw and even tried to climb under the gate to get on the space shuttle. She has energy. All the other children were passed out on their daddy's shoulder or in his arms. Not Faith, one minute I turned my head and she was climbing over the gate to the rescue helicopter. She was so excited to be there. Although just like D.C. she didn't nap until she crashed into her carseat. We hadn't left the parking lot and her thumb was out of her mouth asleep.

Welcome back

To my camera that is. I was grateful to receive a new camera from Bud yesterday for my birthday. I enjoyed taking pictures of all of us including all the little animals around here. I never realized just how much I love taking pictures until my camera permantly stopped working a few months ago. I took it outside last night to photograph the yellow flowers and Queen Ann's lace across the lane. The we made our way up to the horses where they welcomed Faith with a neigh neigh. As I headed back to the house I grabbed some flowers to make our table pretty and out popped a praying mantis. I was lucky enough to find him hiding in the grass and he was nice enough to let me photograph him. Tropical Storm Hanna has put a damper on our Saturday. It is pouring down rain and very windy. We dropped some toys off to the fire station this morning for their community yard sale and then headed to the library where we found a few puzzles to buy and a few free magazines.

The Alphabet Queen

With the start of the school year it is less free play at school and more organized learning activities. I love that because she comes home with so much to tell me and ask me. As I walk in to get her she comes running across the room with arms wide open. "Mommy, I'm ready to go home. I missed you today." Then she gives me a big kiss on the lips. As we were getting into the car yesterday she noticed the capital and lowercase W on a sign. "Look mommy, a capital W...and a little W." Then as we were sitting at the table she saw Bud's army shirt. Although she considered the M a W she knew they looked similar. She pointed out the A also which is what they are working on this week. She is really getting into this. She will take all her letters out of her basket and we will play who can find the letter. I guess it is fun because then she pretends to spell words on her flannel board. It won't be long, she will be putting them together. She sees the yellow school buses now and asks if she can ride them. I told her mommy will always take her to school. Then she told me she can ride the bus one day when she gets bigger and bigger.