Mushrooms and Grasshoppers

I am quite amazed at the plants still thriving here in the fall...they really seem like summer or early spring ones, but here they are blooming in October. Jeff, Svea and I took a short walk after lunch and came across these mushrooms in someone's yard next to the sidewalk:

I'm not sure if they are the inspiration for Super Mario Brothers, or if they house Smurfs...but either way they made us laugh and filled our heads with a tune. I should have taken a picture of the zoomed-out view too, it really looked like a whole Smurf village!

I finished Svea's little scarf today, my second completed knitting project here. It's quite narrow, but long enough that it wraps three times around with some to spare, so it will work nicely. She's not quite sure she likes it, however, when Torben tried to wear it instead, she insisted it was hers. So, she may come around by the time the weather gets colder. This morning it was 12 degrees on our walk to school. Still quite nice for fall. One day last week, Jeff said it was 4. That was pretty chilly! Svea is pretty confident that she wants her blanket on her lap now each day when we go out walking with the stroller. It's pretty cute.

We got to school to pick up the boys and Torben brought over a sand bucket with a sifter on top. I asked what was inside, and he showed us a small green grasshopper.

 He was actually able to hold it in his hands for quite a long time until we assured him that we were not bringing it home with us and he should let it go. I was surprised it didn't try to jump away.

The boys had a fun time in their Danish language class this week, though they claimed they didn't learn anything; instead they just drew pictures. I think these pictures are making the trip home and getting into their scrapbooks.

This first one is Torben's.

 This is Anders' picture.

I wonder whether they were learning names of parts of the body as they drew. I like how both pictures have a belly button on them, even though one is covered with a shirt. There is a definite difference in the drawing style the two boys have. It's nice to see their individuality in the things that they do.

It is already quite dark in the evenings and the mornings now, with more darkness to come. The kids did better today when I turned the lights on immediately after the alarm went off to get up, so maybe I will have to make a point to do that each day. Otherwise, it's going to be a long winter! Today they were already up, dressed, and eating breakfast at the same time as they got out of bed yesterday. And, they only had to be asked once to do each of those things. Tuesdays are almost always easier than Mondays.