I feel terrible about posting so infrequently lately. Munch has kept us on the move with her busy social calendar every weekend. It's been a lot of fun getting to meet her new friends and their families have been really nice. I was relieved to have a day off for the holiday, even though AudioDad had to work. Munch and I decided to get back to our letter activities, so we tackled M,m today. We started off making the letter M with wood pieces and Munch was delighted to discover she had made the word "moo". Of course, I got sound effects to accompany the word making:
Next, we moved on to her alphabet workbook. Munch found the stickers with M words and practiced writing the letter-
before beginning her letter collage onto which she glued some dry macaroni-
We had a puppet to assemble- and Munch loved making her monkey-
I was really excited about our super cute, super easy food project after getting the idea off the web. I melted some pink candy melts while Munch stuck marshmallows onto lollipop sticks.
The marshmallow pops got a dip in the pink candy then sprinkled with decorations
The only tricky thing was where to put them while they cooled and the coating dried- they were too top heavy to stand in a tumbler. In the end, I propped a cooling rack on a few cans which worked perfectly!
Munch got to enjoy one as part of, what else? A muffin tin meal! I filled it with bunny mac & cheese (Munch's favorite), meatballs, macadamia nuts, mandarin orange segments, and a marshmallow pop- all washed down with a glass of milk-
After naptime, which gave me a chance to clean up, Munch and I finished up her mermaid craft. Earlier in the day, she painted some tissue paper (a la Eric Carle) with green, teal, and blue dot markers
After it dried, she glued squares of her painted tissue paper onto a mermaid shape and decorated it with sequins
I cut it out for her and we glued it onto a water-scene background done in glitter glue-
Last activities for the day were a batch of "hide and seek" muffins to go with dinner (the cherries she pushed into the center of the batter sink into the center of the muffin during baking)
and some exploration with magnets.
In addition to a great meal, there were lots of family games. A serious round of chinese checkers-
Munch playing hide & seek with Uncle Brian-
In addition, we helped to celebrate "Ash-u-lee's" birthday-
Pinatas- a frequent occurrence (even though I have to admit to uneasiness in letting my kid hit ANYTHING with a big ol' stick)
Candy, candy, and more candy-
Munch loves wearing her "party dress", but getting all dressed up for a Halloween birthday party was the ultimate!
Cupcake cakes- a fairly new thing? So often they have the strangest amoeba-like shapes, but this one was just so cute-
Getting to explore her friends' cool backyard set ups is always a treat-
Then we started the rounds of the "craft parties"- at this one, Munch was given a lump of clay. The result was...interesting.
At the next, my sewing skills were put to the test at a "Build-A-Bear" party. Munch made a rabbit she named "Bunnyhop"- creative, I know...
One of my favorites? A first birthday party at our favorite neighborhood restaurant- nothing like a sweet little one who's tentatively looking at the mound of cake and frosting on her tray-
Next, we moved on to her alphabet workbook. Munch found the stickers with M words and practiced writing the letter-
before beginning her letter collage onto which she glued some dry macaroni-
We had a puppet to assemble- and Munch loved making her monkey-
The marshmallow pops got a dip in the pink candy then sprinkled with decorations 
The only tricky thing was where to put them while they cooled and the coating dried- they were too top heavy to stand in a tumbler. In the end, I propped a cooling rack on a few cans which worked perfectly!
Munch got to enjoy one as part of, what else? A muffin tin meal! I filled it with bunny mac & cheese (Munch's favorite), meatballs, macadamia nuts, mandarin orange segments, and a marshmallow pop- all washed down with a glass of milk-
After naptime, which gave me a chance to clean up, Munch and I finished up her mermaid craft. Earlier in the day, she painted some tissue paper (a la Eric Carle) with green, teal, and blue dot markers 
I cut it out for her and we glued it onto a water-scene background done in glitter glue-
Last activities for the day were a batch of "hide and seek" muffins to go with dinner (the cherries she pushed into the center of the batter sink into the center of the muffin during baking)
and some exploration with magnets. 
it's the same place we head to chop down a Christmas tree.
This year, we decided to stick a little closer to home and explore the farming valley in our own little town. Just east of the Napa Valley, there are vineyards, olive groves, and many farms in the Suisun Valley. One favorite produce stand is always crazy busy, with people loading up wheelbarrows full of fruits and veggies at incredible prices. At the pumpkin patch, we discovered a huge variety of pumpkins and squash- including these beautiful swan squash 
but first Munch had to climb the hay bale tower,
do a little pumpkin bowling, 
and do a run through the corn maze.
Finally, we headed into the fields 
to find just the right pumpkin. We also loaded up our wheelbarrow with a bunch of other squash 
before stopping for a delicious snack of pumpkin bread.
At home, Munch quickly went to work on painting her mini pumpkins 
and later that night, we carved our larger pumpkins-
They turned out really well and Munch enjoyed sitting in the dark with them 
as she ate a sweet treat- ghost cupcakes!
