Thanksgiving entertainment

We came back to Vernal for Thanksgiving this year. I think I discovered why Scott wanted to come.

And so it begins...

On Sunday night Scott and I invited some friends over and we decorated this gingerbread house. Yea, yea, I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but we couldn't resist. We've had the gingerbread house kit sitting on our shelf for a month already, begging us to take it out. It was lots of fun. Next comes the Christmas tree!

Soccer Mom (or hockey, or dance, or gymnastics)

This week Marcus is having a special hockey training camp. He has had two hours of hockey scheduled every night so far this week. That's a lot of hockey! (especially when you're seven.) Have any of you ever had to put on or wear all the equipment for ice hockey? I think I stuck out like a sore thumb amid all the hockey moms and dads. Imagine a woman trying to piece together at least sixteen pieces of uniform that she's never seen before onto a seven-year-old boy (who becomes increasingly immoble during the process), during which a two year old boy takes every opportunity to climb up her back to her shoulders when she squats down, and a five year old girl aimlessly waves the hockey stick nearby, occasionally hitting the nine year old girl who is trying to ignore the whole situation and trying to take charge of it at the same time. It makes me laugh just to think of it! I'm surprised more people didn't just laugh out right when they saw us.

These kids are busy kids! There's not just hockey, but dance, gymnastics, piano, violin, play groups, library storytimes... and it's just wednesday! Today (after violin, but before hockey) we had a little window of time so we went to the park.

Do you remember loving tire swings? I had totally forgotten what a rush it was to play on a tire swing. I didn't play on one tonight, but watching the kids reminded me of how coveted those tire swings were in my elementary school.

Alas, tomorrow marks the end of my week with the kids. It has been fun and busy, but I miss Scott and I am ready to sleep in my own bed again.

"I'm bored... I'm hungry"

Lyndee is five. She can eat three times her weight in food. In one sitting. Five minutes later she comes to me,
"I'm hungry."
I tell her she's not really hungry because she just ate.
"I'm bored."
What do you normally do during the day for fun?
"I don't know. I'm bored"
I've tried playing dollies with her, playing games, coloring, doing crafts, going for walks. Whatever we do, two minutes later,
"I'm bored."
For the time being, she's playing with her little brother, and that is working... for now.

Happy pre-turkey day!

p.s. I learned while making these turkeys with the kids, that the red fleshy part that hangs below a turkey's beak is called a wattle. The red fleshy part that drapes over the top of the beak is called a snood. These are always words that escape me.

Mother-o-matic 5000

Today I became a single mother of four. Don't worry, I didn't have instant quadruplets, and Scott is still alive and well. I'm watching my sister's children for a week while she and her husband are on vacation. Within the first hour of my having all four kids, the nine year old changed out of her conservative school clothes into an eentsy weentsy tank top and invited a friend over for a "dance party" (thus the miniature clothing), the five year old felt left out so she invited a friend, too, and the two-year-old-in-potty-training had a stinky, squishy mess in his underpants. It was a great initiation.

After the first hour, things ran smoothly... if you ignore the second accident in Mr. Potty Training's underpants, and ignore the burnt pizza and the smoke alarm. Oh, boy! This is going to be a fun week. Aren't you all jealous of me?

This is Bryson telling me just how big he wants his cookie to be for lunch.

The witch and the philosopher

For Halloween we were invited to a party on the farm.

Here the DJ, who was Klingon, taught us the electric slide. A Klingon who can dance? Who knew!

Here is our host, the good doctor. It was fun to see him let his hair down.