Giving Thanks!

 

I'm going to start this post the day before Thanksgiving because that's when this little beauty was 8 months old!  It has been a busy month to say the least and perhaps Mama forgot to get some turkey fabric on one of her many Joann's trips so her she is on our Thanksgiving tablecloth!  It worked out well that it was the day before, not after, and I think she'd look good on anything anyways.

Learning to use a can opener is an important Thanksgiving skill!

 

 Teaching Hayden to make my Grandma Evelyn's Cherries Jubilee was one of my favorite parts of the holiday this year.  It brings back sweet memories, no pun intended. It is also now one of my husband's favorite parts of the meal, perhaps more for the cool whip and marshmallows than memories, but that's ok!

Hayden was so excited about having a special "kids table" this year (complete with a color on tablecloth) that he decided to have breakfast on it.  So here he is with Sister eating banana muffins.  I am amazed that he never tires of banana muffins.  He may truly be part monkey!

We had 10 for dinner this year.  Although 1 member of the family decided to sleep through dinner...no, it wasn't Best, or Papa, ha ha!  Baby sister needed her rest to be up to entertain during dessert time so we let her snooze while we feasted.  Here is Best's mom and my sweet niece Madison.

Best, Papa and Aunt Krissy

Peanut and his cousin Travis who is a real hockey player and quite cool to hang out with...

Sweet Makenna and Gammie

We got a new family game this year called "Headbandz" and it was a hit.  Kind of a version of 20 questions but wearing the cards makes it extra fun and silly!
Peanut giving clues. He did really well and was able to answer most of the questions.  He was even able to keep the secret of the person's object for the most part, but he did at one point blurt out "Mom, You're a monkey!"  I think the excitement of his Mom playing the role of his favorite animal was too much to contain!

Gammie and her youngest grandkids.

Papa in deep thought as to what he might be.  On this turn he was a castle which I thought would be difficult, but he got it!  He eliminated carrot immediately at the beginning of each of his turns.  I'm not sure if there is even a carrot card in the game...Papa has clever but unconventional methods for many things. Smile.

Makenna got popcorn and we really threw her off when we told her she was a vegetable...

My beautiful sister in law and Sister.  Sister is wearing a big brother hand me down and she filled it out quite well!

This was my other favorite part of Thanksgiving.  We were all just talking up a storm when Best nudged me and whispered "look over there".  Peanut was making sure he got every last bite of Gammie's homemade chocolate pie.  I don't blame him, it was delicious! 

 Here they are: my two little turkeys!  When I was getting ready to take her 8 month picture Peanut asked me, "Can I take a picture with Bree on her birthday?"  I am so thankful for his love for her.

And finally, to my Mom and Dad, Grandma Gene, and all of my family that I couldn't be with on this holiday: I love and miss you today and always.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Field Trip Fun!

Peanut is not in formal Preschool this year, but we are going to ECFE for a "Preschool Plus" class once a week and doing a lot of learning on our own at home.  He is so inquisitive and I love to help facilitate his learning.  A couple of days a week we work on our "Preschool Box" that includes activities such as writing his name, a drawing journal, time, money, and phonics, as well as various lessons on preschool age geography and science topics.  Here he is using his counting bears to work on some addition.

 

But the beauty of our little "homeschool" is the freedom to learn at our own pace, led by our interests, when we're in the mood, and the opportunity to play hooky for a field trip anytime we please. Smile.
Here are a two of our recent trips.  The first is a museum called "The Works".  We went with some friends from our Preschool Plus class and had a fabulous time!
 Sister is not just "along for the ride" any longer.  She is an active participant and it's so fun to watch.

 Learning about color

 This place had such a great variety of learning toys and activities.  I would love to have some of these at our house!  But then I would like the museum staff to come over at night to clean them up...

 The first thing Peanut did when he got to this table was pour out the container of silver balls.  On purpose.  They went everywhere.  I'm not sure why he did, but he was happy to help clean them up and then when our friend joined us the first thing he said to her was, "Don't spill those balls everywhere."  It was quite funny actually.

 One of the coolest exhibits was the huge two story contraption here.  It looked like it was made out of tinker toys and had about a billion moving parts.  Small plastic balls traveled up an elevator and through various tubes and spinners.  Very cool.  We watched it for a long time.

 The week before we headed down to the Science Museum for their special Preschool Day.  Peanut got in half price and Sister was free.  I love learning and a good deal! 

This was such a great model and it was much easier to explain here than trying to do so as I am holding our giant globe and trying not to trip over the cord of the lamp as I "orbit" in the living room, ha ha

 These fossils were really neat and we had fun speculating about the types of animals they might have been from.

 The play about the water cycle was informative and hilarious!  We caught a second show later on in the day about migration.  Just as good. 

 Our lunch selfie

 They did a good job sharing the dinosaurs... although Peanut controls who gets which dinosaur, car, person, toy of the moment, for now... smile.

 The museum has a riverboat attached right to it.  So fun for us to get to be in the captains seat!

 Look how little he looks in this exhibit! I learned as much as he did for sure.

 He really enjoyed these magnets and I thought they were kind of pretty and shiny.

 This was probably my favorite activity.  We made "airplanes" out of paper and pipe cleaners and flew them in this wind tunnel.  One of ours went so high it flew out of the top of the tube! 

 Besides these little Mommy and me field trips, Peanut has gone on a school field trip with his class. They took a tour of our local grocery store.  He got to take Daddy and that made it extra special. 

 

 

 Here is his class.  Best said they had a great time and they agreed that seeing the box-smasher was the highlight of the trip.

  Have a great week friends and family!

Thankful

 

 I am not much of a Halloween gal I'll just admit.  In fact, by the time Halloween rolls around I am planning my Thanksgiving menu and making Christmas lists.  Those are the holidays that really get me going.  Thanksgiving becomes more meaningful every year and my blessings just keep adding up.  I am so thankful for the man I married.  I can't imagine a more wonderful life than I have. 

 Our little family is now complete and it feels just right.  I am plenty busy with these two little ones but we still have plenty of one on one time and a good pace to our days.  My heart is full.

I have so much to be thankful for even in addition to my wonderful family.  The picture below is of our mantel.  It represents the home I'm so thankful for, and it's quickly filling up with crafts I have made.  Some are from my monthly craft night.  The friendship and fellowship we enjoy on those nights is good for my soul.  The little Thankful banner is something I made this week.  I wanted some way for our family to write little notes about what we are thankful for and then read them later.  I've snuck my first note to Best in already.  Smile.

Teaching Peanut to be thankful for our blessings is something that's very important to me too.  We talk about what we have and why, how we can show appreciation, and how we can share with others.  He is really in the spirit and looks forward to filling up his thankful tree. So far he has "friends", "Mommy", "Daddy", and "Bree". I am thankful the previous owner left us this chalkboard.  We have lots of fun with it!

This is just a funny side note: Daylight savings time was this past weekend and despite my efforts to explain it to Peanut he could not quite grasp it.  It did have an effect on him however.  At 5:35 tonight he looked out the window and said,"Ooooh! Thanks for letting me stay up extra late tonight Mom!"   UH....ok... So here he is at 6:20 pm with his jammies on and he was tucked in at 6:45. Just 15 minutes early but he was convinced it was very late. He makes me laugh everyday and I am thankful for that.  And you, friends and family.  I am thankful for you.  Have a great week and let someone know you are thankful for them.