Who is that tiger?

Since this is the last costume they all wore at the same age, (by three they were more opinionated) I thought I would put up side by sides of all of them in it.

All Hallows Eve!

This year we had Batman and Robin and then our Nicholas in our standard two year old costume, the tiger. We started celebrating the weekend before when our neighborhood had a Halloween Parade. They marched, followed by pumpkin decorating, games and snacks. The funniest part was when Francis met his alter ego- another Robin! The two Robins were mesmerized by each other and stuck together most of the afternoon.

On Halloween night, we had some friends over for Chili and then took to the streets. I have done my best to get rid of all the candy, but we still have a few pieces left.

Fall Fun

A couple of weeks ago Jackson had a Friday off, we had Grandparents in town and a beautiful, sunny October day. All the ingrediants for some fall fun. So we headed off to a local farm that hosts a fall festival complete with hayrides, pumpkins, cider, baby animals, a corn maze and tons and tons of SLIDES! We had a great day there and thanks to my Mom, got some great pictures.

School Days

With Jackson at school most of the day, Francis and Nicholas and I have been staying busy, exploring some of their interests. Both of the younger boys attend a Cathechism class once a week focused on coming to know Jesus as The Good Shepherd. I attend Nicholas's class with him and it is fun to watch him explore the material. One of his favorite activities is setting up the prayer table. He gets out the Bible, the Good Shepherd statue, a little Chalice and Paten and some candles and has his own little "Mass". He goes from item to item picking it up and ringing the bell and then returning it to the table. (Just so no one gets the wrong idea, he also spends a fair amount of time pushing the objects off the table onto the floor for no apparent reason) but when he is at his best, it is really sweet to watch.

We have also continued with the Classical Conversations, the homeschool co-op we did last year, this time for Francis. It is amazing to see how much Francis has grown up in the last year. He went from doing whatever he wanted in the three year old class, to being a star pupil in the four/ five year old year old class. Things are a little different this year, his class is all boys with a male tutor, (not that our family lacks for all male activities...) but he is attentive and well behaved and he has an amazing capacity to remember the material. One of his favorite parts of CC is that he has to give a bi-weekly presentation. He has earned quite a reputation spending the whole week before compiling and making his presentation materials. So far his topics have included: tropical rainforests, Richard the Lionhearted, The Ten Commandments and the Alps. This week he plans to dress up a Saint Francis of Assisi and talk about his life. Here are a couple of pictures of him and his handiwork.

Bikes!

Our new house is at the end of a cul-de-sac full of kids (yet another reason why we love it...) So when the weather cooperates, we usually spend an hour or so riding bikes before dinner. Jackson's bike has lived through several moves and two years or being houses outside which has left it a little rusty. So when repairs needed to be made to his bike he would ride Francis's. This lead to the eventual destruction of Francis's training wheels and their removal. So for the next two weeks Francis sat out our bike riding sessions. Finally, one day after watching every kid in the neighborhood pedal by him, he got on the bike got it going with his feet, put his feet on the pedals and voila, he was riding a two wheeler! He mastered it in all of five minutes and the best part was because he did it without me, I never needed to steady the bike for him or push him to get going. Now he is out there riding like a pro and I fear Nicholas may not be far behind....