Thanksgiving Highlights

Here are some of the things we did this week:

1.  Slept in… and then napped.

2.  Brined a turkey for the first time.

3.  Shared a thanksgiving meal with my parents.

4.  Had a silly string fight.

5.  Played Uno, Apples to Apples, and Little, Big Planet.

6.  Got to see my dear friend Alyssa and her family.

7.  Read for pleasure.

8.  Bought our Christmas tree and decorated the house.

9.  Had a candlelight dinner of pigs in blankets and sausage balls.

10.  Celebrated the first Sunday in Advent.

Tomorrow we jump back into the busyness that is the end of the semester, rehearsals for the girls’ upcoming Christmas dance show, preparing for Christmas and Christmas travels, and the regular hustle and bustle of our week.  The past five days, though, have been lovely, cherished family time and we face the new week renewed (if not completely ready).

Kindergarten Feast

Molly’s Kindergarten class had their feast on Friday.  They ate food that the Indians and Pilgrims might have eaten — cornbread, pumpkin bread, apples, popcorn, raisins, and cranberry juice.  The sung a sweet thankfulness song and one of her classmates said a sweet prayer.  Molly chose to go as a pilgrim.

One of the two cutest pilgrims, I’ve ever seen.

Here she is with her fabulous teacher, Mrs. Arnold.

And modeling her Indian garb, too.

Safety City

In Abilene, Safety City is quite a big deal for 3rd graders.  It’s their one chance to go to this little miniature city where they’ll learn pedestrian and bike safety, fire safety, and get to drive cars!!  I was fortunate to be able to join Jane Anne’s class last week while they were there.

 

For Narnia! And for Aslan!

While in Oxford, I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the girls.  It was also the first time for me, and reading the book in Oxford, in the Spring, during Lent, was a sacred experience for me.

The girls fell in love with the books — and JA has completed the series (and reads some books over and over and over again).

For Halloween, I had planned on letting them cull together something out of their already expansive dress-up closet, but when they wanted to be Susan (Molly) and Lucy (JA) for Halloween, I couldn’t resist.  I found their lovely costumes on Etsy, and the seller customized them for the girls.

They spend much of their play time imagining that they are in Narnia, so the dresses have gotten plenty of play.    Recently a cardboard box was converted into the Dawn Treader and they set sail towards the ends of the earth.

Dallas Arboretum

The last day of our fall break (yes, that one I wrote about weeks ago), was spent at the Dallas Arboretum.  Though it was quite crowded, it was a lovely day and we all enjoyed wandering around.

Fall Break — Dallas Zoo

After a busy semester and homecoming weekend, we were anxious to get out of town for our one-day fall break.  Bill and I picked up the girls early from school on Thursday and headed to Dallas.  We had a few free hotel nights, so we stayed at a fancy hotel in a fun little area of North Dallas.

Friday (after a leisurely morning and brunch) we headed out to explore the Dallas Zoo.

The girls had a great time hopping around the rocks at the children’s zoo and petting the farm animals.  We enjoyed a relatively quiet day at the zoo as well as seeing the zoo’s baby giraffe.

Book Club

Jane Anne decided to form a book club with some of her friends from school — she and I planned that they would meet once a month after school for snacks, books discussion, and fun.

She held an informational meeting to get things started.

The selection for November is The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, a quite delightful read, and in Jane Anne’s words “hilarious!”  I can’t wait to hear them discuss the book, and JA lead the discussion.  Such a sweet time with her bibliophilic friends!