Thanksgiving history lesson

I've had the darnedest time getting this video to upload.  Here is a link to the video of Amelia's version of the first Thanksgiving:

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a51774f5451774e6a673d0d0a&blogview=true

(There is not a direct link, you will have to cut and paste it to your browser.  And there is a brief intro with leaves on it.  Be patient.  Amelia will appear in a few seconds.)

2nd grade Thanksgiving play

Last Friday, Seth's class did a play about the first Thanksgiving.  By mid-week Seth had his part memorized, even though he didn't have to, but Thursday night he was so nervous about it that he couldn't fall asleep.  I didn't know if he'd conquer his fears enough to read without the script, but he killed it!  So proud of you, Seth!

lil miss patriotic

Our kids love their country, and they were way more in tune to this year's election than I was at their ages.  They both not only knew both candidates' names, but they both voted at school, and wanted to stay up to see the results.  We told them even we weren't staying up.  Amelia has memorized the Pledge of Allegiance.  Seth also learned the pledge in preschool.

I didn't wait until she could say the whole thing perfectly.  She has such a large vocabulary, it's cute when she does mispronounce a word.

speaking of bobcats...

Last Tuesday Seth earned his Bobcat badge and received in at the pack meeting.  Amelia and I joined the boys for the meeting.  Well, I sat with Nathan, Seth sat with his den, and Amelia sat with one of her preschool friends and spent half time time drawing on paper and the other half sticking her tongue out at her dad from across the room.  

Nathan and I sat together without the kids...does that count as a date?

I is for Indian

The first week of November, Amelia's class studied Native Americans.  During the course of the week, she brought home a teepee, a canoe, a necklace, and a bean shaker.

On Friday the school had a powwow.  Amelia aka Princess Sparkling Ladybug:

Renaissance Festival

Our new friends (Hannah's family) invited us to go with them to the Renaissance Festival the first Sunday in November.  We had a great time.  The kids met Mother Goose.  Amelia walked right up and held the goose:

 Seth was a little leery, but he eventually swallowed his fears and held the goose:

 There was lots of hands on stuff to do (for a coin):

The kids loved riding the camel:

 Seth jousting:

Riding a huge rocking horse:

We were there for about five hours, but it was a fun way to spend a Sunday!

Seth's first Bobcats game

We were home long enough to let poor Colette out, and then we drove to uptown and met Nathan after work.  We went out for pizza at Brixx and then the boys went to the Bobcats season opener.  Nathan bought cheap tickets the night before online in the nosebleed section:

They got free shirts and stayed until halftime.  Amelia and I hung out at the condo and watched "Mirror Mirror" (terrible!)  Nathan's parents arrived as we were getting ready to leave, so we stayed to watch the end of the game on TV, and Seth was thrilled that the Bobcats won.  The boys already have plans to see another game later this month!

impromptu visit

Amelia had the two days after Halloween off of school; Seth did not.  On Thursday she and I went to the Y, ran a couple errands, and went to eat lunch with Seth at school, something she can't do on a normal Thursday.  I happened to call Kim and found out Carley didn't have school on Friday.  Hmm.  Amelia and I dropped Seth off and drove straight to Kim's house.  I left the girls to play and took care of some unfinished business in town.  The girls had a great time just being together, playing Barbies, tormenting the cats, and painting nails:

What?  That's not how you paint your toenails?

By 1 pm we were back on the road, and we drove straight to the after school car rider line.  Seth didn't seem to mind that we went back without him, but a little Carley time did Amelia's heart good.

Halloween night

Seth's teacher knew better than to give too much homework on Halloween, so Seth cracked out his 20 minutes of reading and then we waited not-so-patiently for Nathan to get home so we could eat dinner.  A little after 6, we met up with the neighbors and started trick-or-treating just before dark.  We started with a crowd of 20+, but we quickly got separated from the pack, because even by only going two houses for the big kids' three, Amelia (and her hair) could not keep up.  I talked Seth into hanging back with his sister, and we went around the block at a less break-neck pace.  

 Look who was giving out candy at our house:

I didn't take pictures of the carving process this year, but here are Seth's bat and Amelia's cat:

And Friday, on a trip back to Clemmons, I donated three pounds of candy to the troops, because I couldn't find a dentist office around here that participated in the buyback.  We didn't need that much candy lying around!

preschool on parade

It is so nice that the kids' schools are only a five minute walk apart.  On Halloween morning, I started the day standing outside shivering waiting for Amelia's preschool parade.  It was worth it to watch all the kids troop around, even if I only know a couple of them.

 Here is her class picture, before they changed back into play clothes:

I was in charge of Amelia's class party.  A dad brought cookies, another mom read a book, a grandma provided drinks and paper products, and I brought fruit and cheese:

I was also in charge of the craft, and the kids made owls out of toilet paper rolls.  We did the craft first, got the kids set up for snack, and I had to sprint down the block to get to Seth's school in time to read.  By the time I got home at 11, I felt like I had put in a day's work!

another costume...

The principal at Seth's school allowed them to dress up for Halloween.  The catch was that it had to be a character from a book, and you had to bring the book with you to school (I told you this man wants his students to be avid readers!)  Of course Seth couldn't be Skippyjon Jones or the Lorax, because he had already been them before (I couldn't convince him that it was okay because the kids here hadn't seen those costumes before).  After some searching, he decided he wanted to be Peter Pan.  So we went to the library and checked out the book and read it at bedtime, (so we could be legit), and I spent one Friday night trying my darnedest not to say bad words in front of the children.  What I really need to do is start using my sewing machine for more than just costumes using odd materials.  Anyways, here is Peter Pan:

I've saved the costume, because I figure if we ever need Peter Pan, or Robin Hood, or an elf, we've got it covered...

The school also did a Read-A-Thon on Halloween, where parents came in and took turns reading to the classes all morning.  I had found the new Skippyjon Jones book, Cirque de Ole, the day before and surprised Seth with it at school.  Skippito Friskito has several costumes in the book, and I frantically searched our house and borrowed props from the preschool to pull off all the outfits.  The kids loved it, but I think Seth's teacher thought I was nuts.  It is the cutest Skippyjon Jones book yet, and it's going to be my go-to book when it's time to read to Amelia's class next year!

costume switcheroos

Backing up one day...there was a not-so-spooky Halloween party held in town on Saturday, and we decided to check it out.  I'm trying very hard to go to every event we can.  Anyways, we went on a hayride that turned around at Seth's school, played some carnival games, and the kids played in bounce houses before it was time for the costume parade.  Seth's cape is billowing thanks to Sandy out in the Atlantic.  It was really windy here for five days straight.

The theme for the party was superheroes.  Lucky for us, we just happened to have Wonder Woman and Superman lying around...

We were home long enough for me to pack and load up the van, and then we did a costume switcheroo.  Amelia was invited to a Pirate and Princesses birthday party.  Seth had to join us because Nathan was gone, and the invitation said, "fyi--the parents usually dress up, too."  Crud.  I wanted to dress up meeting people for the first time about as much as I wanted to wear a big fuschia hat at a southern tea party nine months pregnant.  I just couldn't see myself going as Snow White, so I found a Princess Kate ring, borrowed a tiara Nathan's mom had lying around, and wore a sheath dress and my highest heels.  Amelia ditched the wig and I ditched the heels, but we had a fun time at Hannah's 5th birthday party!

Green Acres (round 3)

The last weekend of October, Nathan went on a golf trip.  For months the kids and I had planned to go to Winston and Cary while Nathan was gone, but the first part of our plans changed because Amelia was invited to a birthday party here (and I guess I'll have to post out of order again.).  Saturday night we drove to my parents' house.  Hurricane Sandy was way out in the Atlantic, but the winds on Sunday morning were pretty fierce.  We decided a little wind wouldn't deter us from our annual trek through the Green Acres corn maze, and this year Bryan joined in on the fun.  

We were sheltered from the wind inside the maze, and as you can see, except for some run-off areas, the trail was in excellent condition this year:

Amelia freeloading, also an annual tradition:

We didn't spent too long doing the little extras outside the maze, because we'd already done so many little extra things at other events, and it was time for lunch...but I did climb to the top of the pile of hay to take a picture with the kids (also a tradition!).

walking field trip

On the last Friday of October, and the last day of the first quarter of school, Seth's class took a walking field trip of our downtown area.  I took pictures to show Nathan, but I'm sure that wouldn't be very interesting for the rest of you.  We got an extensive tour of the library, and also visited town hall, where they met a police officer and a member of the council explained what they do:

I had to leave early to pick up Amelia, but after I left, Seth said they toured the depot and got to go in the old caboose.  I always miss the fun stuff!

That afternoon after we picked up Seth, we went out for an end-of-quarter doughnut celebration:

preschool in October

Now just because I haven't been posting about preschool, doesn't mean Amelia isn't knocking our socks off with what she is learning.  In October they had S-is-for-spider week, B-is-for-bat week, and P-is-for-pumpkin week.  But Amelia was out sick with a virus for two days, and then one of her teachers was sick, and then the other teacher was sick, and then the latter teacher had a death in her family, so it wasn't full force projects like other weeks.  Here is a black widow Amelia drew on the dry-erase board:

Mid-month the school had a pumpkinpalooza, complete with a train coming to school and driving them around the property:

The day before, the kids had planted magic seeds on the playground, and they were tickled to find pumpkins in their place the next day!

They also carved a big pumpkin in class, and did science and math with little pumpkins, and then decorated the pumpkins with buttons.  Another mom took Amelia's home by mistake, and it hasn't been returned to us. Too bad, because it was cute!

Last Monday I walked in and saw this on the wall:

Mom is a...that is supposed to be a princess, she says.  Looks more like a munchkin to me.  And poor Seth didn't even make the picture!  (Although to be fair, the other kids only drew themselves, so I guess we should be glad she included us!)