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.  :)