Happy Thanksgiving!

All week I've been wanting to say "I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving!", but I suppose that now I can just say "I hope that you enjoy what remains of your Thanksgiving weekend." We certainly are!

The boys have had a short week at school -- I took signed them out of their classes early on Tuesday after Andrew's class performed an adorable (but very politically incorrect) Thanksgiving play. I'll upload the video at some point, but for now, here's a few shots of his class:













We left school and drove into Austin to do our last bit of food shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. We weren't the only ones with the same idea; the parking lot at Central Market actually had parking attendants. Thankfully, it wasn't too crazy inside the store, and the children (with the promise of Gelato at the end) were complete angels. It was miraculous.

There wasn't any school on Wednesday, although Greg still had to work, so the children and I had an unusual, long day all together.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, Jillian and Aaron drove up from San Antonio (where they live) to spend the holiday with us. It was so nice to have them, and fun to collaborate our dinner menu. And quite a menu it was:





To see details, click through to the Flickr set.









What a crew. Thank you Jillian and Aaron for helping to make our Thanksgiving special! We love you guys!

A tiny bit of knitting in a big way

I would be blogging...

But I've got socks in my eyes.





Lots of socks.





I mean seriously, I'm not kidding, AHELLOFALOTOFSOCKS.





And mittens.





I got this idea for a knitted advent clothesline a few years ago and have always wanted to do it, but suddenly about a week ago, I felt like I COULD NOT GO ON if I did not knit it RIGHT NOW.

I've just finished up two more pairs of mittens, so I've got 21 items down. Excuse me now while I go knit 4 tiny hats... (and maybe a few little sweaters just for good measure...)

Child's play

The creativity of a child is a precious thing.





Built into a child is the natural ability to play in a way that is free from the worries of messes they might make, or the end result of their actions. This ability can be infuriating and seen as destructive by the Grown Up among us, but it is amazing how freeing it can be to just let go from time to time and create with a toddler.

In the mornings while the boys are in school and Jonah is napping, Lavella and I are able to spend time together, just the two of us, and I've had the opportunity to look at the world through her eyes, enjoying things from her perspective.





There is a quietness and a joy to chalk stained knees; the sensation of fingers, slick with fingerpaint, slipping over giant sheets of paper; the warmth of freshly made playdough, and the taste of the salt and the flour; coloring with crayons without a design in mind, just to see the colors next to each other on a page; going on a treasure hunt through the neighborhood for twigs and leaves and pebbles to build fairy houses for the bugs.









If you can allow yourself to let go, the world can be a magical place through the eyes of a child.

October 31st fun

On October 31st, our family dressed up as a Family Of Fire Ants (according to Andrew and Elijah), and went out to a pumpkin farm for the day.

















It was a gorgeous, sunny but nearly cool day; there were so many fun things to do at the farm, and, most importantly, lots of space to run.




Corn maze.







Running through hay tunnels.




Sand Art Jack-o-lanterns.




The children begged us to go on a pony ride (they were actually horses), so we finally relented, although it ended just as we assumed it would.

Lavella went with great hesitation:




Andrew refused altogether, and Elijah refused a moment too late:








There were goats to pet:




Trees to climb:






(Greg is seen here wearing a hat that I knit for him a few years ago.)


Overall, we had a great time together as a family.




It's fun to make our own family traditions.


(For even more photos of the day, click here for the Flickr set.)

Catching my breath...

I've been busy working on some projects lately, so I either haven't been in the mood to write, or alternately haven't had any time. Usually both. Thus, the need for some catch up, because life doesn't pause when I take a blogging break. Plus, I've got some pretty cute pictures for you, and I hate to keep those to myself. Half the fun of taking pictures is in the sharing. In the interest of not drowning you in photos, however, I've broken it down into some galleries on Flickr, so I'll give you some highlights here, and then if you're interested (i.e., related and feel the need to See Every Photo), click on over.

In the past few weeks, Greg and I have gone out to a few shows in Austin. First, to a Del Castillo show:








(More pics here)

And then to a Wolfmother show:









(More pics here)

On Thursday, Andrew received an award at school for perfect attendance. I thought this was rather funny that he was even a candidate, since he started the school year so late, but Jonah, Lavella and I attended the ceremony anyway.









We checked in on Elijah's class, and followed them to lunch, so that we could hang out with our favorite preschooler. Here we are, eating at the far end of the lunch table where the "lunchbox kids" sit (there is a child in their grade with peanut allergies, so this way they can ensure that he remains separate from anything harmful to him that may have come in the lunchboxes).





Last week was "Red Ribbon Drug Free Week", so each day they did something as a school to emphasize this (team shirts for "Team Up Against Drugs Day", crazy socks for "Kick Away Drugs Day"). I asked the little girl sitting across from Elijah at lunch (pictured above in the pink shirt) what she'd learned about drugs. She looked at me very seriously, pointed her finger sternly and said, "Drugs aren't free. Also, this is what they do to little kids: they TAKE THEM AND MAKE THEM SCREAM!" (Demonstrating with her cup how someone might be kidnapped by "Drugs")

On the way home, I asked Andrew and Elijah what they'd been learning about drugs.

Andrew: "Well, it's just stuff little kids aren't supposed to do...like smoking cigarettes and drinking beer..." (brief pause, in which Elijah looked thoughtful...)

Elijah: "Yeah, and putting jelly on sandwiches."

Andrew: "Um, Elijah, I don't think that's drugs..."

Elijah: "YEAH, YEAH, because that can get really messy."

On Friday morning they had the "Scare Away Drugs/Halloween Parade". Andrew and Elijah dressed up as robots. Since Lavella and Jonah and I were there to cheer them on, Lavella arrived as a Princess/Butterfly/Fairy.









I'm not sure what Jonah was, as he refused to talk. :)





Elijah and some of his class, waiting for the parade to start.





Elijah's teacher:





Andrew and class:









Elijah tried really hard to show me that he wasn't having a killer time:





Although, of course, he was.





It was so adorable; the parade was just through the school halls, but all of the children took themselves so seriously, and were each so proud of themselves for their "official" role as Parade Marchers.

Lavella and I hung out with Elijah's class afterwords:





Lavella is so jealous of the boys that they get to go to school. She fits right into their preschool -- sitting down in the group and participating as though she belongs. She can't wait until she's old enough to go herself for real!

Next, we joined up with Andrew's class for their Run For Life out on the track.









I loved watching how Lavella immediately made some friends, and she and these girls walked along talking during their last lap:





She's got incredible stamina -- I think she made it around the track 6 full times!

For more on these two days of school activities, click over to the Flickr set here.

Enough pictures for today -- next post, I'll tell you all about what we did as a family on Octobor 31st.

Greg is safe

Some (all?) of you have probably seen reports of the shooting at Ft Hood today. Greg was there at work, although, thank God, was safely in lockdown, and not near the action.

My heart breaks and goes out to the families of those who lost loved ones today.