Evan’s desk
We recently rearranged our living room (again!) and Evan has a small desk space in a corner beside a shelf. He moved right in setting things up. Afterward, he was inspired to study things that have been on his mind. First, he began catching lady bugs that were trying to hibernate in our house. He has measured them, looked at them through a magnifying glass and done some general observations.
Later, we got out a very neat microscope that Evan’s aunt Cathy gave him last year with a built in light and a space to look at very small things and Evan studied an apple seed. It was actually pretty neat. 
Also on Evan’s desk, you will see a goldfinch feather, notes on frogs, a small book he was writing about ladybugs and parts of a sand dollar.
Halloween Fun
This year, we were so happy to have Grandma Nancy with us for Halloween! She brought us two fabulous pumpkins to carve all the way from her house! The boys used vis-a-vis pens on the outside and erased and tried again until they got the faces just like they wanted and then Daddy helped to carve them.
Grayson dressed up in his black cape and a bat hat and waved his arms up and down to be a bat. Evan just couldn’t quite decide. He had on a cape and a hat to be a wizard, but had to throw in some vampire teeth and a mask to cover his eyes. We all trooped around the block and went up to 6-7 homes–I think we were the only trick-or-treaters on our block! It was lots of fun.
After we were done, we finished watching a very old version of Doctor Dolittle and ate quite a bit of popcorn.
See, yard work can be fun! :)
With the cool weather this past Saturday, we were all inspired to get outside and get some things done outside. Grayson and I were working away in one garden pulling weeds like crazy. When we were almost finished, Grayson got all excited yelling that he saw a turtle. When I looked, there was a tiny, baby turtle moving around! It was about an inch across.
I was afraid to do much more weeding in case eggs were buried, so I started cleaning up. Ben was over by then and he spotted a second baby turtle! What an exciting time! Evan ended up naming the turtles Rock and Shell. We went out several times over the course of the day to check on where they had buried themselves to stay cool and protected.
Just before leaving this garden, at the base of the rosemary plant, Evan spotted a toad hiding. My goodness! I guess it pays to weed your flower beds.
Applesauce–Yum!
We recently traveled to Levering Orchard near Pilot Mountain and purchased enough bushels of apples for our family and for two friends. We had to take the back seat out of the van to fit in this many bushels! Evan and Grayson have always been very helpful in making our applesauce, but this year they were in the kitchen helping with pretty much every batch. Wow! Thanks, guys!
After making it through the 3 1/2 bushels that were made into sauce, we started using our peeler to get the slices ready to dry and freeze. The boys kept close by and would take the long long peelings and eat them together. There was a lot of giggling going on.
Enjoy!
Bendy Grayson
We were practicing some yoga positions in the floor yesterday. Grayson is much more bendy than I am. 
Trains!
When Evan was four, it was trains trains trains–every day! That finally ran its course and the trains took some time in the closet, hoping to reemerge some day. Since Grayson so looks up to his brother and wants whatever his brother wants, I thought that our fun train set wouldn’t get much attention again. Well…since Evan has been back in school, Grayson has asked for the trains–every day! We have had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to set things up, without a helpful older brother to tell us a better way to do it.
First Grade
Evan started first grade this past Monday. He was both excited and a bit nervous. I guess we all were. We’re so hoping for a great school year. So far, his teacher has done some typical beginning of the year stuff, but I think Evan is ready to get down to learning new things. After school on Monday, he started drawing all sorts of imaginary monsters and dinosaurs. For one with who knows how many teeth, he said, “Your wouldn’t want your teacher to look like that!” I asked him if he thought his teacher was a monster and was quite relieved when he laughed and said no.
Evan came home pretty exhausted after the second day of school and I started reading The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle to him and Grayson. They both enjoyed just relaxing and listening. In fact, they wanted me to read long after it was time to stop so that we could get supper ready.
The Last Lecture
Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1)
ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine: A Food Lover’s Road Map to Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Getting Really Healthy
Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)
Doctor Dolittle’s Circus
The Dalemark Quartet (4-IN-1)
Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age
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