October rhymes with... boctober!

This is Lily enjoying her first bowl of juicy pomegranate seeds. Caedmon wasn't a fan.
One day the week, rhyming FINALLY clicked for Lily, after months and months of self imposed practice. It was so cool. All week she's been rhyming everything she sees!

Hadassah excited about getting those bangs out of her eyes, or should I say out of the air -:o)

We enjoyed some sweet family time together this month before Josh left on two separate trips.
This was up in the mountains at a family's beautiful "farm." The Little Lambs families from church were invited.

Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire- a treat since you won't find this activity in the city!

Gotta have one of these seasonal shots.

concluding with campfire songs!!! (well, not songs about campfires...)

This is what we do at "Cade School." Build, then destroy.

Then make a sandwich.

Caedmon and Hadassah have been bonding while Lily has been attending Chinese preschool 3 mornings a week. What a great opportunity for one-on-one time. Actually one-on-two time, but who's counting?

Cade School part 2: Academics.

And rewards! "Ok, nice job coloring your "E" and sitting still. You get a jump off the couch!"

Outing to the Zoo
After going to the zoo off and on for almost two years, one would think it obvious to journey left passed the gate instead of taking a plain right. I always wondered what the big deal was even going to the zoo, all we ever saw was tired foxes and about 50 different bird species.
This time was different. We followed a mom and child taking a LEFT! And we were glad we did!
We saw giraffes, monkeys, dogs, cats... there was even a petting zoo.

The only attendant we saw the whole time was the one who handed us these veggies. Hmm. Now what? Who do we feed these to? The barking dogs? Do cats like greens? We ended up finding some ponys who enjoyed them very much...

after stepping INSIDE this peacock cage. I was literally this close without a fence inbetween and I hesitated to lift the camera! We had quite an adventure.

Speaking of adventures, this is Dassah's first airplane ride!

Cade buddy

Josh's good friend is on the right next to his mom and auntie (who is the first deaf chinese person we've met, what a sweetie).

More family fun time before Josh left again. I was just telling Lily that we might have to wait for a trip back to America to climb some trees. Then we found these "worker trees" Lily called them (they look like army outfits the workers wear), perfect for climbing!

Hadassah agreed.

Next at Cade School: How to change a diaper

Instead of hearing "Are they twins?!" everywhere I go, I hear "One person watches three kids!"
(In China the custom is one nanny or more per kid.)

Caedmon loves "TRACTORs!"

Bubble Blowin

Making Pretzels
The best part (besides eating them): greasing the pan!

The Note Taker/ Observer

The Results!

Xihongshi Jidan
I finally figured out the correct measure of salt and sugar. This dish is a delight to the tastebuds.

Lily & Abby at English Preschool (once a week at home)
Lil finished all of her boats and then proceded to eat Abby's!

Moms, this is a super fun activity I found online. For science class we poured water into diapers to see what happens. Then I cut them open and let the girls play with the mush. They loved it!

"Super Dassah" here to say "That's all for now!"

(She holds this pose often for at least 5 seconds at a time!)