Thanksgiving Weekend

We went to my parents' home this year. Thanksgiving is the only holiday we alternate -- spending every other one with my family, and the in-between years with Allen's family. This weekend was a busy one, yet I did get to sleep in for four days, so I felt rested ... until I had to get all the laundry caught up when we got home. This weekend, Maddie caught a fish -- not her first one, but the first time she didn't run screaming from the fish as it squirmed. This is the picture that made it to Gramma and Granddad's refrigerator with all the trophy pictures.

The day after Thanksgiving, Allen, mom, and I took the kids to Homestead Heritage. There was a craft fair, but the fun part was watching all the trades. Off the top of my head, I remember watching a couple of girls quilting and appliqueing (girls, as in ages 8-10). We watched one lady spin wool and another spun flax. We watched a man work on making a guitar, and another tooling leather. Allen and the kids watched a man do some woodworking, we all watched some boys press apples for cider, we watched a dog round up some sheep, and the kids got to hold or pet chicks, ducklings, rabbits, and goats. I'm sure there was more, but I was busy trying to stay warm. We did enjoy it, but the kids were cold and a bit fussy so we didn't stay too long.

Saturday the kids played outside all day. Ben was thrilled to get to play football -- THRILLED!!! He threw it, he ran, he caught it, he ran, he tackled it and fell in the leaf pile, he ran, he ran, he ran. This is the little boy who, when seeing some junior high boys practicing football at school, asked when we could do that. When I told him we would take him to a game sometime, he boasted, "No, Mama. YOU can watch the game. But you'll be watching ME play football!"

Saturday, the kids took turns fishing with Uncle Jason, Granddad, and Daddy. I got to hold my new nephew, Anson, and in the evening we celebrated my niece Julianne's third birthday. It was a busy day, but we had plenty to enjoy.

I somehow ended up with only one picture of Jon from the whole weekend. He came down with a fever Saturday, but this is from that morning before he started feeling sick. Luckily, I love this picture.

Weekend Events

We've had a couple of super-busy weekends, but I remembered to take a few pictures, so I could remember all the fun we had. Last weekend (10 days ago) we planned to stay home, but at the last minute, we decided to head to Grand Saline for the Great American Peanut Butter Festival. The small town was trying to get into Guiness Book of World Records with the biggest peanut butter and jelly sandwich and they created a festival around the big event. We got there in time for the parade, which was fun, but the morning was so cold, it was hard to enjoy it all. We left before lunchtime and missed the sandwich (which DID make the new world record weighing in at over 1300 pounds -- ugh, tummy ache). Just before we left that town, we stopped by the caboose in the park so the kids could climb. It was interesting to read the story of how the railroads were built to get to the salt factory and nearby oilfields.The afternoon was beautiful, so maybe we should've waited out the clouds, but we didn't dress for the low temps.

Last Thursday (5 days ago) Will's first grade class had a fall music recital at the school. Allen took the day off, we took the little ones to the show, then we took them to preschool. We had originally planned to do Christmas shopping on that day, but we were ALL DONE!! ...so we went out for a fabulous lunch date and ran a few small errands. Allen took Friday off, too, and it was wonderful having him home when he normally is at work. Friday afternoon we picked Will up from school and headed to Allen's parents'.

Saturday was a day full of family :). We went with Nana and Papa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Jenn, and Cousin Beckham to the Dallas Arboretum. It turned out to be a pretty day, and the kids enjoyed running through the park and gardens. The fall displays of pumpkins, mums, and gourds were still up, and the kids had fun running in and out of the pumpkin houses and hay mazes. Another part of the arboretum had bronze statues of local wildlife and we got a chuckle when Jon shouted enthusiastically, "Look!! Everyone look at the merdilas!!" He really meant armadillos.... I took pictures of lots of fall flowers, hoping to get some ideas for what to plant in the garden and pots next summer (in hopes of having color in fall). After a busy morning outside, we headed for lunch and the kids snoozed on the way back to the house.

Sunday was another full day. Allen had some tickets to a Cowboys football game. I was looking forward to enjoying it with a friend of mine and her husband who works with Allen, but she was sick and they didn't go. Even though we were meeting another couple there, Allen still had the two spare tickets -- so Randy and Will got to come with us. We had an awesome time (yes, I'm admitting I had fun at a football fame.) The new stadium was nice and comfortable ... okay, elaborate... and our seats were great!! (third row on the 20 yard line). The game was fun, especially since the home team was ahead most of the time. Allen watches football every Sunday afternoon, but I rarely do -- I either read, or craft, or cook, or nap. So, I can now say I watched an entire game with him :) The Cowboys DID win the game, Will finally loosened up enough to shout and cheer (after the Sprite and cotton candy sugar rush hit), and he and I had matches to see who could be louder.

This is a short week. We headed home Sunday night because Will had school Monday. Today is Tuesday and he gets out of school early for the holiday. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of our family over Thanksgiving and  I'm especially excited about meeting my nephew Anson for the first time. So... let's just wait and see just how long it takes me to blog again as we crest this roller-coaster of a month. Next is Thanksgiving, then Will's birthday, than a couple parties, then Christmas, then. . . .

Extra Credit

In preparing for Thanksgiving, Will's first grade teacher has been teaching the kids about different types of Indians, their homes, and their languages. He had an optional homework assignment to create a model of one of the homes they have discussed, and (being MY son) he chose to do the extra assignment. He decided he wanted to make a plankhouse, used my Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Since we didn't have a lot of time to work on it, we found an easy model to print, color, cut, and assemble. Will chose to color the totem pole in colors that would have actually been used, and he and I put this together. You should have seen the pride our son had when it was finished.

Not My Style

Generally, I have clothes chosen and ready for the kids to put on after breakfast on school days. Occasionally, they will change their own outfit in the hour and a half of playtime between breakfast-time and when we leave. Most of the time it just isn't worth the fight to put them in the clothes I chose... Today, I had to take a picture...just to remember...how much my opinion differs from theirs...as to what is really okay for school. Here are Jon, Ben, and Maddie. Ben is the one who completely changed his outfit, insisted on the tank top, insisted on the pants going inside the boots, insisted on going to school in the clothes HE wanted. Maddie chose the socks...stretched them as close to her knees as she could get them...and promised me they matched because they were purple and so was her dress. I think Jon is wearing what I put out, but he wanted boots to go with it. I DID make Ben change his shoes, though...he kept tripping over the boots because Will's boots are WAY too big for Ben's feet. He wasn't too upset since he got to wear his own boots instead.

Love Notes

Allen and I have been finding notes on our pillow lately (more often Allen). Will gets in the mood to write or draw, then he leaves them so we find them just before we go to bed. Here is the one that was on my pillow the other day.

And just in case you cannot read first-gradese, it says (spelling corrected):

One day when I was traveling down by the bay of South America I hit another car!!! And I was very angry!!! So I called my insurance company.

If you flip it over, this was on the other side:

What do you get when you cross two bees with a Gun? I love Dad! turn over

(on the bottom) a bee-bee-gun!

I am loving all these notes... I love that he is trying so hard to spell big words... I love that he is getting more creative with his stories... I love that he leaves notes to tell us he loves us... and, guiltily, I love that every minute he is writing or drawing is a minute that is relatively quiet and calm because he isn't cranky or irritating a sibling. I just hope there are many more like this on the way :)

Percentiles

The other day (or week?) when I posted about the little kids' pediatrician visits. I meant to add all the stats so someday I will be able to look back and remember that they were once small. Now, it has been nearly a month since Maddie's visit, so it really is "old" news. Nonetheless....

Just after they turned four,

• Maddie was 39-inches and 31.2 pounds.
• Jon was 37-inches and 30.8 pounds.
• Ben was 39.5-inches and 32 pounds.

You might be shaking your head in disbelief, but these three miracles started life nearly three months early. Ben was the biggest at three pounds. They are following the curves on the growth charts perfectly, but we are just now seeing their stats ON the charts. Maddie was in the 32nd-percentile for height, and 18th for weight. (That means that 32% of girls her age are smaller). Jon is at 3% for height, 8% for weight. Ben is at 30% and 15%, respectively. We had always been told that they would catch up to their peers by around age 2, but I guess they meant developmentally, rather than size. Developmentally, I can't tell a difference -- they seem like normal four-year olds.

All three are wearing clothes anywhere from 2T through 4. They are skinny enough to wear 18M in some of the shorts, but I put those away this weekend. They all wear the same shoe sizes -- 9 or 10 depending on the style.

Pirites of the Ciaradin!

This is the song Will wrote on the back of the "Drugs Give you the Blues". We could tell he was having fun and excited about the song because he wrote several of his letters backwards; he rarely makes that mistake anymore.

Pirites of the ciaradin are in trudel becuase we just don't know.
(Pirates of the Caribbean are in Trouble because... we just don't know.)

by Will, age 6

One-on-one Times

Maddie's day was two weeks ago. We planned our outings, but it seems there was quite a bit of driving. We bought her Christmas ornament for this year-- she picked a Barbie with a dark pink ballgown, we went to the pediatrician for a well-kid check up and shots, and we had lunch with Daddy. Since she insisted on mac & cheese pizza, we ate at Cici's. After lunch we went and got her some new shoes and went to the polls so I could vote early.

Jon's day was last Thursday and the plan was almost the same as Maddie's. We bought his Christmas ornament -- he chose Batman, we went to the pediatrician, and we had lunch with Daddy. Jon also wanted macaroni & cheese so we ate at Joe's Italian Cafe since he didn't specifically ask for it to be on pizza (thankfully.) Next, we went and got him some shoes, too. He chose some nice gray and red tennis shoes, and when he got to pick shoes for church, he picked black cowboy boots. We wrapped up our special day with a quick grocery store run.

Will wasn't supposed to have his special Mama-day quite yet, but Monday afternoon he came home from school with a fever that kept rising. By bedtime, I knew it was high enough that he would be home from school Tuesday. He had a cough through the previous weekend, but without a fever, I assumed it was seasonal allergies. Tuesday, he got to stay home from school, but it was sad that he missed his class field trip. He and I took the little ones to preschool and ran a few errands since he was feeling up to it and didn't have a fever. He got to pick an ornament and church shoes, too, so he was quite happy with the day even if he did feel crummy for a lot of it. Will chose an ornament of Santa Clause watching ESPN. It was a bit of an odd selection, from my perspective, especially since he seriously considered the Indiana Jones and Star Wars ornaments, too. Later, he told Allen he chose the sports-watching Santa because he likes to watch football with Daddy. He also chose boots that look just like Jon's but bigger. Both boys are quite happy with their boots right now. Will and I picked up lunch, then came home for a nap before we had to pick up the little people. At the end of Tuesday, I was happy that it seemed he was healthy enough for school again. Selfishly, I was glad I'd get to go to MOPS the next day.

Tuesday night was the second in a row that sick children came to my bedside to wake me up and hack on me. Somehow, I can stay patient (so far) and try to make them feel a little better even if its only with a hug. That night, Ben woke me and needed a breathing treatment. He had just a slight fever, but the cough was awful. Wednesday morning, I woke up very sleepy and the rainy, cold weather didn't help me any. I was a bit sad to miss MOPS, but I was glad to have gotten some friend-time Tuesday night with book club.

Yesterday was Ben's day. Like the previous Thursdays, we had a well-kid visit at the pediatrician's office, he picked an ornament (a guitar), and chose his tennis shoes and boots. Somehow, I did what I was trying to avoid -- I bought all the boys the same cowboy boots. When we got home I labeled them so they could find their own pair. Ben and I also had lunch with Allen. Guess what he wanted? . . . macaroni and cheese. The doctor's visit took way too long, so we ended up behind schedule and didn't get to go to the grocery store as we originally planned. Though Ben did still have his cough when we saw the doc, she said he seemed to be fine now (fine as in he didn't need medicine, wasn't running a fever, no swollen throat or ear problems.) He was pretty lazy the rest of the afternoon -- partly because he skipped his nap, partly because he still wasn't feeling well, partly because he got five shots and was pretty sore. :(

I chose an ornament, too. I really like having one each year and for it to be something that reminds me of that particular year. Last year, I had one made for Allen that was of a church-top in Greece. We have several ornaments from our eleven years of marriage that are just fun to pull out, hang on the tree, and think of fond memories. I chose a blue bird for this year. When we vacationed at Quiet Hill, the bird feeders and birdhouses attracted the Eastern Bluebirds. This summer, we had five baby bluebirds who enjoyed playing in our yard and garden. It has been fun to watch them grow up outside the kitchen window and I'm hopeful that some will move into the bluebird house that Ben, Jon, and my dad built.

Drugs give you the blues

Last week was "Just say No! to drugs" week at the local schools, and this is a song Will wrote down and illustrated one day after school. Allen and I enjoyed it so much we decided we should share it.

Part of what we liked about it was the bluesiness (I might have made that one up,) but we aren't sure if this is his original song or one they sang at school. The part we love? The perfect imperfections of our six-year old boy!

Translation:

Drugs are in your house
So what do you do?
You throw them out the dog door?
No. They might come back in.
Yah!
You put them in the trashcan
'Cause drugs give you the blues.
Uh-huh! Yah! Ooo-Yah!