Thanksgiving Break-Day 2

We are very happy that Uncle Kyle arrived today!  He got in mid-afternoon and had fun joining in an activity with the kids.  Today we made turkey cookies using ginger snaps and mini M&Ms and the kids finished their scarecrow craft from Sunday School. I'm keeping it short because I still need to bake the pies.

Decorating the turkey cookies.

Lore's turkey.  I think she was saying "Turkey".

Izzy said his was really a moose.

I thought mine started out well, but in the end looked like a Rastafarian. 

Nice job Uncle Kyle.

Uncle Kyle being fitted for his Turkey hat.  Lore measured to get it just the right size.

Lore mad a cookie for Bryan and it looked really good but I didn't get a picture until after it had been bitten.

Lorelai wanted to make a face that would actually scare crows.  :)

 

 

 

Bedtime stories with Kyle.  They were so happy to have him read to them.

Thanksgiving Break!

Thanksgiving break has officially started in our house!  Lorelai is off from school, Bryan from work, and Uncle Kyle arrives tomorrow!  Since Lorelai is now used to keeping busy all day, I have a few activities for the kids to do over the holiday weekend.  Our first project was to make a Thanksgiving/ thankful runner for our table.  We used stamps, fingerprints, markers, and crayons to decorate our runner with pictures of what we're thankful for and what we think of at Thanksgiving. 

Lore is thankful for "Pangwins", her school mascot and pilgrims.

Isaac is thankful for his thumb and crescent rolls.

Happy Birthday Gerald (again) !

Gerald is the giraffe that Lorelai and I picked out for Isaac when he was born.  And today is Gerald's birthday!  He has one about every week or so.  Isaac gathered some pals for a sushi party and gifts.  Isaac gave him some craft supplies, stamps and crayons, and he received a Transformer from me.  Isaac, Gerald, Travis the Frog, and I all enjoyed a couple games of Go Fish!  It was a nice little party. 

Gerald coloring with his new crayons. 

Gerald and his boy, Isaac.

The pooped party guests.

A few Isaac quotes from today:

"Mom, sometime we need to make cottage cheese.  We need the cheese and the 'cotta' and we wait and wait and wait a long time until its squishy and mushy."

Lorelai and Isaac were showing us some Yoga poses and when Isaac finished, he said "And that's how you do Yogos."  -Yogos are a yogurt coated fruit snack.

Bryan was trying to show the kids something and he told them to stand up tall.  Isaac replied "But I'm not tall."

"Can you stand on your head?"

Streeeeetch.

I've Got Some Catching Up To Do

Well, once again, I'm behind.  I am going to attempt catching up this week on my blog as well as the other ones that I follow.  I guess I will go back to last Friday, Veteran's Day.

Lorelai had been learning about the holiday in school all that week and had brought home this wonderful booklet of Veteran's Day activities and trivia. Her school also collected info on veterans in the children's families and dedicated a wall in the hallway to their honor. Since I grew up a Marine Brat and we have a few veteran's in our family, I thought it would be nice start a few traditions for celebrating the day and teaching the kids more about it.

First tradition, the meal.  I was going to serve MRE's for dinner, but was unsure if the kids would actually eat them.  I then read that ravioli is the traditional Veteran's Day meal.  It dates back to Woodrow Wilson and the ending of World War I.  He knew that returning troops would be hungry for a good, home-cooked meal and so invited 2,000 soldiers to the White House for a ravioli dinner.  Ravioli had become popular in American households due to commercial canning.  Interesting, huh?  Well, I actually used tortellini (that's close enough, right?).  The kids ate it, but I think they're  still unsure if they like it.

Secondly, I wanted to go through some of Lorelai's book.  And thirdly, I wanted us to talk about the veteran's in our family and pray for all our servicemen past and present.  However, the kids' attitudes last Friday left a lot to be desired and we had an early bedtime instead.  We might try again over the Thanksgiving break.  I at least have some of the ground work for next year.

Here are some photos from the Veteran's Hallway.

So proud of my Daddy!

Yesterday was a busy day.  Isaac and I met friends at the library for a playdate.  We had a lot of fun with their huge selection of puppets!  And then in the afternoon, the kids had their annual check-up.    Lorelai is 46 inches tall! I can't believe it!  She is above average in height and below average in weight-normal for her.  Isaac was average in both-normal for him.  They both cooperated fairly well and were relieved that they did not need shots!  We were lucky  that the office still had some of the Flu-mist vaccine.  Both kids checked out OK.  The Dr. still thinks that Lorelai's heart murmur is nothing serious but did recommend having it checked further as her next visit could be a year away.  She has an appointment with a cardiologist in a couple of weeks.  To end the day, the kids attended their last swim lesson of the session.  Isaac is glad to be done and Lorelai can't wait for classes to start up again.  She progressed quite a bit this Fall and will be ready for the next level in the Spring.  Isaac is too young to move up and still needs to work on a few things.  I think we'll give him some time off though.

 Puppets at the library.

Lore's hearing test.

Izzy's hearing test.

 And tonight, Family Game Night!  We played some more games on the Xbox.  Bryan had downloaded some demos for us to play.  One was Michael Phelps Swimming and the other Happy Feet 2.  The swimming game was fun.  We "dove" into the water and swam two laps in a race.  The kids had to practice those strokes they had just learned.  In Happy Feet, we were penguins and did some dancing and "sledding" races.  We also played charades again.  Fun night!

Charades:  Isaac was a banana.  :)

Hey Turkey! (2)

Lorelai came home from school with a little Thanksgiving project.  She was given a turkey and told to disguise him as he really doesn't want to be the holiday meal!  Lore chose to dress him up as a Police Officer named David.  Isaac decorated one too. 

The starting point.

Lorelai thinking about details and Isaac already into the foam stickers.

Lorelai working on the Officer's uniform.

Izzy digging for "feathers".

Isaac's finished Sheriff Turkey.

Lore's Officer David.  The first part of his disguise was to get a "hair cut" to rid himself of those obvious feathers.  Lorelai turned his wattle into a mustache and added some sunglasses and a hat  He is carrying a flashlight, police bag, and hand-cuffs.

In other news:  Bryan took Lorelai to a ballet this Sunday.  His boss' daughter was the star of the production, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain.  Afterwards they went to Wegman's for a treat.  They had a very nice Father-Daughter date. 

Ready to leave for their date.

My sweet Isaac

I spent 4 hours running around on errands today!  Poor Isaac had to come along.  He fell asleep en route to our last stop and when I woke him up I told him that he had earned a reward for being so patient and behaving so well throughout the day.  I told him he could pick anything and he said he would like "Loveness".  I gave him a lot of hugs and kisses and then some mini M&M's. 

This is Isaac the Gnome.  He was wearing part of Aunt Shannon's costume this past June.

Hey Turkey!

Today, Isaac wanted to do a Thanksgiving craft.  So we went out and collected a few pine cones.  Here's what we made. 

We traced Isaac's hands for the feathers and then he decorated them.

* Lorelai's turkey isn't finished yet.

An Evening With the Kiddos!

Today was a long, somewhat stressful end to a long, somewhat stressful week.  So, since Bryan was working late, the kids and I had pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner and picnicked while we watched A Town Called Panic.  It is a very entertaining stop-animation movie that we found on Netflix.  It's in French, but the kids don't seem to mind.  It's fun to hear them repeating the lines even if they don't know what they mean (*none of them are bad -I read the subtitles).  We then played Charades for the first time.  Lore calls it "Chaterades", I guess because Bryan will sometimes drink Gatorade.  Anyway-It was a lot of fun!  The kids did a great job acting out animals.  Lorelai did a great rattlesnake and Isaac was a convincing turtle.  I did a wonderful impression of a Weeble, Isaac guessed it right away.  We ended the night by reading several books including Curious George Goes to the Beach and I'm a Manatee.   Hooray for tomorrow being Saturday! 

Oh-We did get Lorelai's school pictures back this week and Isaac's 4 year pictures taken today.  They all turned out great!  I'll post them as soon as Isaac's are available on the website.

The Artist, Lorelai

  Lorelai has really been enjoying art class at school.  Here is just a sampling of Miss Lorelai's creative works.

Ready for school this morning.  She and a friend both wear very colorful and creative outfits.  It's fun to see them together.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Watercolor on crayon

My Name

Ms. Roe Reading About Gingerbread Men

Pumpkin Patch Collage

Family Game Night- Xbox Kinect

First, a quick catch up from yesterday.  Our computer was doing something weird so I didn't get to post.  Isaac had a check-up with the eye doctor and it went well.  His right eye is improving!  Isaac has been doing a great job with his glasses and patching time.  The doctor recommended keeping the same patching schedule for now (4 hours a day, 3 days on/1 day off).  Isaac is still expected to have to patch until around 7-8 years old.  It's a great thing that he doesn't mind!  (*He has accomodative esotropia.)

Also yesterday,  Isaac and I made stamps from foam stickers and bottle caps.  It was a super easy craft!  I got the idea from my new, favorite website, Pinterest.com. 

Now, tonight.  This evening was our weekly Family Game Night and we all enjoyed games on Xbox Kinect.  Bryan introduced us all to Raving Rabbids, (so named for the giggling rabbits I guess) in which there were three short games to be played.  The first was sort of like Whack-a-Mole.  The rabbits would pop up and you needed to jump on them.  Second, was Guitar Zero, a much simpler version of Guitar Hero.   The third game was one in which you needed to bend your body to match different shapes, like a teapot or crocodile.  Lorelai really enjoyed all of these!  Isaac, however decided that Fruit Ninja would be more fun.  In this game, all kinds of fruit go flying through the air and you have to karate chop them for points.  Isaac is great at this!  He has quite a chop!  It's especially fun to watch him do this rapid, continual chop to explode a pomegranate!  High Ya!

Lorelai stomping the bunnies!

Bryan rocking out on "Guitar Zero" with support from Lore and Iz.

Isaac decided to add a little percussion.

Fruit Ninja!

Chop!  Chop!

High Ya!