Girls' Day Out & Other Adventures

"What is your letter?" We overheard Sapphire asking another little three year old girl this question in the kids' section of Kohls. She seems to think it is a great ice-breaker. The correct answer, she said, is "3". Now she understands that she should answer "M" if anyone happens to ask her.

Our own princesses--enjoying Spiced Wafers, an Autumn treat

Last week we enjoyed our annual Girls' Day Out--Christmas Shopping Day with Nana and Aunt R. We always look forward to this. It is very doable, shopping with this ratio of 3:3. The girls looked forward to the mall playground, and they were very pleasant.

After lunch, I took the two oldest to Disney on Ice in Hershey. I didn't take the camera, but I'll just say it was a princess wonderland. We walked in and saw dozens of little girls dressed in princess dresses and grown up men wearing tiaras as they tried to sell us light up spinners and snow cones.

Once it started, the girls were pretty mesmerized. Pearl said, "I almost fell asleep. My whole body was so still except for my eyes." She was riveted. Sapphire was interested too, except she got antsy during the last half hour. Seeing Micky and Minnie in sparkly silver costumes introducing the four princess acts really made her day.

Fortunately our library gave us the coupons so the girls could fill out books they've read to earn the tickets.
 

 This is Pearl showing off a plate she made at a local pottery shop. It is perfect for cookies.

Of course, Ruby likes Spiced Wafers too. She's into anything that dips. 

The two little girls joined the Youth Group for the Progressive Dinner. We moved around the neighborhood of the church, eating a course at each house: appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert. Ruby loved the food, though she was just a little confused when we left without being completely full from the first house. She looked longingly at the food, but was happy to find more everywhere we went.

In our homeschooling world, this week we tried the Homeschool Swim at the YMCA. It worked well, and was such a deal. We all left a little tired after swimming for 1.5 hours.

We try to do a nature walk each week, inspired by suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study blog and newsletter. Today we just walked around our yard, spied a dead mole, and planted the six bulbs from Holland (bought while we were studying the Pilgrims' sojourn in Leiden, Holland). We realized how chilly nature study is about to get!

I brought the hats and mittens down from the attic, so we are ready for the possible snow  (if Sapphire gets her way!). I've revamped our mitten station, hoping desperately that I won't have to match six mittens each time we go out