Spider Making

Annie had a Halloween party. We popped popcorn and made low-sugar cupcakes, and the kids helped me whip cream to plop on the tops. We played a game of Eat-the-Bat without the use of hands. Then the kids disappeared into the backyard and played fill the cooler up with weeds and add water to it a made a huge gunky mess. Whoopee! Oh yes, and we made spiders.

Matlan's

Annie loves to buy Madeline cookies at the cafe nearby. She did this drawing (top photo) and wrote out the name M-A-T-L-A-N and asked if we could make them. Took me a minute to figure out what she wanted. We hadn't made them in a while so we had a go at it. She helped me prep, measure, use the electric mixer, plus she expertly cracked each of the eggs, and licked the spoon a lot. We thought they could have baked longer since they were moist, not that dry, dunkable quality. Next time, longer. Not that that stopped any of us eating them!

On the Bay

Annie had her first sailing trip on the Monterey Bay recently. We saw 18 Moon Jellyfish, many pelicans, and learned how to walk around on a moving craft. The captain explained how the ship has a very long rudder that goes deep into the sea, and the sails catch the wind and push it along instead of a motor. She loved it!

Trylobite

Annie and Pop have been collecting rocks, fossils and anything petrified since, well, she was born. She really loves them and knows a lot about them. Here she's done a drawing of a trilobite. She saw a photo of one like she has in a dinosaur book, found hers and drew it.

Counting

Some interest in money, including coins and paper money. She's trying to understand different values. Lesser versus greater. The blocks helped.