I wrote this last night on christmas evening. I have no idea what you did not send. Some of you may have seen it on facebook. Unfortunately the kitty did not decide to bunker down with abby this evening. The 2 girls and their brother tyler were all being crazy in the bed at grammy and grandan's. So we separated them and now rosie is running around like a nut!
And we think her name is Rosie. Word on the street is Mommy and Daddy are "amazing!" There were tears of joy! Now she is getting used to Her more expansive surroundings ... far larger than the closet she has lived in since yesterday ... and her new big kitty brother, Bailey!
The kids and I just finished caroling at the homes of two parishoners from our church. They can no longer make it to service so it made their day to have all of these families come to them! This is our second year participating in the caroling night ... we will look forward to doing it again next year. Maybe we can convince Dennis to join us then!
This years "Thankful Tree" sprouted late ... should have waited a couple more days and put our "thankful leaves" on the Christmas tree! Decided to just put pictures on the blog for those who follow our crafty craziness! Also we got a headstart on the dinner table ... the kids made Indian fringed placemats. So cute!
The question is. ... who is weirder? Tyler for getting under the cart or me for seemingly talking to myself the whole way out of the grocery store. People were giving me some seriously crazy looks!
This morning, we took a treat into preschool ... a "Blessings" snack mix that Tyler helped make yesterday. As you can see he was a pilgrim this morning, but at feast he transformed into an Indian.
In fact, I just got finished watching/helping with the feast - the last one of preschool. Ty, or should I say "Chief Shooting Turkey" (not very PC, but admittedly to the point) is growing up so quickly ... hope he lets me come spy on him next year in Kindergarten!
The kids took Jenn and I to a production at FSU on Sunday. We had a great time watching "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie." It is so fun seeing them laugh ... frankly it was pretty funny. Afterwards they got a picture with the main character and with his reflection. A fun afternoon!
Okay, I admit I may have enjoyed working on this diorama as much as Abby! I'm glad we had to turn it in this morning, because we were becoming a bit obsessed. I kept thinking of nature we should add ... and Abby went slightly overboard on her notes for her oral presentation portion (are index cards excessive for second grade? That was all Abby!) We made the people out of clay and we used just about every kind of plant in our yard to show the summer vs. winter scenes. Did you know Cherokee homes were called "asi" ... or wattle and daub houses? Did you also know that it takes forever to craft a waddle and daub house out of clay and pine needles? Also Abby was quite a stickler about the Indians' apparel. The breechcloths had to being redone because they were "not right." And for the record that was Abby saying that not me! Who am I kidding - the whole thing was fun to do! And it was great to be the able to teach Abby more about research and presentations. Check back with me in a few years and see if her projects are just fun to work on. For the time being, it is manageable, and we are so proud of how Abby is doing in school!
This picture is when Tyler totally fell asleep while Abby was reading aloud to Jenn. I think the busy day, coupled with all of the Auntie Jenn fun (they made cookies, painted Abby's FSU dress and more) did him in.
Speaking of the FSU dress. Didn't it turn out cute? Jenn and I got a few dresses at Coton Colors' tent sale last month ... for 99 cents (NO JOKE!) each. Jenn, our resident artist, made this one look just as professional as those we see in the store! And here are a few posts from Jenn:
"... hangin with my BFFs Abby and Tyler tonight. Tyler is humming the Sanford and Son song while Abby is reading a potential Sunshine State book to me out loud. Cookies baking in the oven."
"Tyler (5) just took a bite of his cookie and said: "this is the moment I've been waiting for." lol. Love this kid."
"Watching the beginning of the FSU game last night... Tyler (5): Look! There's Chief Osceola! Abby (7): There's Renegade! Yea Renegade!! Tyler: Abby, don't just cheer for Renegade, you have to cheer for Osceola, too. Abby: Well, if Osceola didn't have Renegade to ride in on, he would be nothing!"I posted these pictures on Sunday night (sent them to the blog from my phone) with the intention of coming back and writing an explanation later. But, you faithful blog followers got here first! :) Yes, you're right Mom, these are the makings of Abby's diorama for her Native American project.
Each fall, the second grade classes do this, and they have to prepare an accompanying information paragraph AND oral presentation! Knowing that Abby and I would gladly spend hours on the artsy part of this project, I had her do her research and knock out her paragraph last week. Then, we got busy with the clay, on what turned out to be the most gorgeous fall day! We played the part of the hunters and gatherers she studied, and found some "nature" to top her waddle and daub houses. Abby learned that the Cherokee had different houses for the winter and summer, so one will have a thatched roof and one will have an awning!
I was most impressed with the corn that Abby made ALL by herself. And, she collected lots of other interesting tidbits to complete her diorama. We'll post the finished product later this week. Oh - I had to take a wide shot of my "office" for the day. I figured it was so nice out, I would just do all of my work from the patio table. We have been eating lunch out there nearly every weekend, and this is the time of year that the kids play outside all day long. Why can't Florida weather ALWAYS be this nice?!?
And I do mean all of us ... Abby and Tyler too! They have a great kids voting program That makes the little ones feel like they are part of the action as well! While Abby had her choices ready for governor and senator ... she also knew what she wanted to choose should Florida adopt an official state cookie. We'll see if peanut butter wins when the ballots are all counted. I hope she doesn't mind that I shared her vote with you!
On Halloween Friday, we attended SouthWood's annual Fright Night with the Underhills. Tyler opted to go as a knight in shining armor (although much of his armor ended up in my possession ... so I made a mental note NOT to dress him as that for trick-or-treating!) while Abby tried out her "Asian Princess" costume. Thank goodness (!) we did a dry run on the makeup. Poor Abby looked more like a clown than I had intended. Good thing she had a sense of humor about it! On Sunday night, we ran out of time to do make up, but decided less was more.
We have such a fun time putting together these goodie bags. Tyler is actually a big help now ... and Abby helped with hers too when we took them into school the day before.
We'll do anything for chicken! "Except Abby," says Abby. She's currently going through another non-chicken eating phase! Anyway, tonight Chick-fil-A is giving free chicken to those in costume ... so instead of breaking out this year's costumes and messing them up, Abby is re-wearing her Raggedy Ann costume from last year. And Tyler raided the dress-up bin.
Thanks for the great birthday gift Martha and Bill. Can't wait to have a fire now! But, as you can see, the kids are enjoying my present today ... well, at least the packaging! Here's what they looked like before they were chosen to be on The Biggest Loser! Ahhh ... fun with inflatable plastic packing material.
When preschoolers are helping you decorate cookies ... they are quite likely to turn out groovy!
Thanks to some really creative moms who organized this little playdate for members of Tyler's preschool class ... we painted, glittered and glued until our pumpkins stood out from all the others in the patch!
Too bad only a few families could join us on Monday. We had a great time ... beginning with a picnic lunch. Gotta share the laugh we had when Gavin R's mom (Kari) pulled her lunch out of the Subway bag. The "sandwich artist" at the store told Kari she had labeled the sandwich topped with cucumbers, just so Kari wouldn't be confused. Well, I guess NOT all of us know how to correctly spell "cucumber!"
And THAT would be just one of the reasons we are getting our kids started in school early! :) I think it's safe to say this preschooler is a professional picture taker though ... check out that pose!
