Thankful!

Don't you just love Thanksgiving traditions?!?

The (almost) annual roll bake-off
Jen vs. Shannon
We each make a batch of Grandma's delicious rolls and the family gets to decide who came closest to the way Grandma actually makes them. We didn't get a picture of Jen's but these are Shannon's:In case you were wondering, these don't look a thing like Grandma's! Someone may have dropped the baking dish upon removal from the oven and may (or may not) have sent them falling onto the burner below. :-) Jen's looked like Grandma's but Mike says Shannon's tasted better. Drat! (We still swear that Grandma has left out a key ingredient as we can't seem to get them as light and fluffy as hers!)

After completing the rolls we need butter to top them. It has been a fun tradition to make our own butter each Thanksgiving! All the kids get really into it...

But none are as...um...zealous at it as Mike!

Once all the preparations are done it is time to EAT!!
And a wonderful feast was had by all!!

But as much as we look forward to the meal, we also love the proverbial turkey coma that follows:
(Sweet dreams!)

Just the girls...and other kids

I had the wonderful privilege of accompanying my sweet daughter on not just one, but TWO field trips a couple of weeks ago!

The first trip was with 6 classes of 4th graders and we all headed to Old Salem, NC (just a mere 2 hour bus trip on school activity buses...containing 40+ 9 year olds...). I was given charge over 6 kids and they really were a great group. We got to wander around the beautiful and quaint town and learn about the history of Old Salem. I didn't take many pictures, but here are the few I snapped:

Not sure why, but many of the porches were raised with these little cut-outs below. Had to get a picture with all the kids jammed into one.

One of the favorite stops in the town - the water pump! All the kids got to pump the handle to make the water flow and lots of them took drinks as well.

One really cool part of the day was learning how to play games that kids used to play way back in the day (like in the very late 1700's-early 1800's??) Above is Katey mastering one of them and below are many of the kids trying out different things. These were all harder than they look!

While I didn't get any pictures of the buildings, they were beautiful! And, we got to go into the tavern. For me it was the most fascinating stop on the tour. The tavern used to be run by the Moravian Church (who, incidentally, ran the entire town!) and it was the local bar as well as hotel. George Washington stayed there for 2 nights when he was president. Pretty cool! Katey says her favorite part was the BAKERY! She is officially in love with the chocolate pound cake that they sell. :-)

So, the very next day Katey and I headed to Peachland, NC with her Sunday School class. We got to see all sorts of cool things like:

An amazon parrot

A miniature horse that liked to buck and kick

A cute little ferret

A python and other snakes which make my skin crawl. Katey refuse to touch them. That's my girl!! (In case you were wondering, I did touch the python. And my skin crawled the entire time.)

Jacob's sheep (the kids were chasing them, trying to catch one. Did you know that sheep run really fast? Faster than kids.)

How to spin the wool of the Jacob's sheep. Very cool.

The chicken house. One barn contained around 20,000 chickens. Did you know that chickens stink? Really, really stink.

Katey's favorite part of the trip to the farm was climbing on a tree house ladder that was there as well as riding on the miniature horse. My favorite part was watching all the faces of the kids as they experienced so many cool things. That and passing out the hand sanitizer. :-)

Thus ended the weekend of field trips but we had such a wonderful time on both adventures and enjoyed spending time with Katey's friends!

Snapshots of Fall

Our Sweet Katey

A conversation that took place a few weeks ago between Seth, Katey and Jen:

S: Katey, would you rather have a Peek-a-Poo or a pencil? (A peek-a-poo is a breed of dog that our kids are in love with at the moment)
K: A PEEK-A-POO. No, wait a minute. A pencil. Mommy, didn't you tell me that Aunt Shannon is allergic to cats and dogs?
J: No, Aunt Shannon is allergic to cats, not dogs.
K: But you told me it was cats AND dogs.
J: No, she is only allergic to cats.
K: But you told me...
J: I don't think I told you that, but I AM telling you now that it is only cats, NOT DOGS.
K: Okay Seth, then I would want a peek-a-poo. If Aunt Shannon was allergic to dogs then I would have chosen a pencil so she could still come to our house!
J: (Heart melting and so very proud of our daughter for loving others so well)

In the last couple of weeks Katey has been diagnosed with ADHD (primarily inattentive). This was not a big shock to us but we are still trying to get our heads around how best to help her. After the doctor's appointment where this was discussed and diagnosed, Mike was talking with Katey about ADHD - what it is, who else we know that may have it, and what it means that she has it. Mike asked Katey if she had any questions about their conversation. Her question? "Daddy, is it contagious?"

That is sweet in and of itself, but was made so much more sweet and amusing when I stopped into the school the next day to say hello to the kids during lunch. I was talking with Katey's teacher who wanted me to know that Katey's first words to her that morning were, "I have ADHD but don't worry, it's not contagious!"

I love this child so much!!

Trick-Or-Treat

Trick-or-Treat

Smell my feet!

Gimme something good to eat!!

Terrific!

While I would swear that I JUST posted about the first day of school, we have amazingly already completed the first 6 week grading period! And, that means it is teacher conference time. I always go into conferences with a mixture of excitement and hesitation. It really is a great time to see how the kids have been doing, but the pattern seems, in Katey's case, that is when we also find out what...um...less than productive habits have been displayed in the classroom.

We began with Katey's teachers (she has 2 this year - one for AIG Reading and Math classes and one for the rest of the subjects). As in years past, we got rave reviews on Katey's grades - all A's, even in the AIG classes!! And, just as in years past, we got less than stellar reports on attentiveness, focus and writing. None of that was a surprise, but we continue to struggle in knowing how best to motivate Katey to do things she doesn't like doing, like writing about small moments during Writer's Workshop. Sigh. So, while we work on motivation we also give high praise for a wonderful grade card!!

I have to admit that I was nervous about Seth starting school and what life would be like helping him learn. Educational things come very easy for Katey - the girl taught herself how to read at age 4 and figured out multiplication and FRACTIONS on her own in 1st grade! Seth has never seemed to have the love of learning that Katey does and I figured there would be a lot more work on our end to keep him on grade level.

Boy was I wrong.

We had a wonderful, praise-filled conference with Seth's teacher! He got all high marks on his report card (no letter grades until 3rd grade around here, so he got all 3's and S's)! And his teacher went on a on about Seth's reading skills and that his reading level increased over the summer. The biggest critique that she had was that Seth needs to talk MORE in class!!! And, to add icing to the cake, Seth received the Principal's Award for October for staying on task in class! He got a little goodie bag and certificate for that.

We are so very proud of our little learners!!

Healthy Motives

Seth has been on a health kick lately. He has frequently requested "only healthy food" for lunch or dinner (though pancakes for breakfast is perfectly acceptable to him!) and even passed over dessert after some meals. He wants to get lots of exercise and has shown us how to do all kinds of new stretches that our adult bodies would NEVER be able to conform to!! Seth has seemed to be fixated on getting stronger and often shows off his ever-increasing muscles.

Just this morning, as I was packing his lunch for the day, Seth decided that he would eat a healthy banana for breakfast and it was okay if I also packed one in his lunch. He asked that all the food in his lunch be healthy and even decided to replace the lemonade Capri-Sun with a bottle of water! I don't know how long this phase will last, but I am liking it!

What is the reason for this new-found desire for health and strength? In his own words and a twinkle in his eye, "Mommy, I want to get strong enough to throw DADDY in the river!!!!"