Class Par tay

I volunteered to help with Jonathan's Thanksgiving party for his class, and ended up being put in charge of it. :) But it turned out great and they all loved it. I found some fun patterns for making pilgrim hats and bonnets, and you should have seen how cool the boys felt,

and how absolutely gorgeous all the girls felt. They literally swayed and pranced when they had them on. You can't see it very well, but there's paper lace on the trim (from wedding doylies) that made all the difference.

Seth stayed busy either watching and stapling at my table, or playing in the kitchen area.

I was impressed with this whole table that he set up. For him, being in Jonathan's class for an hour and a half is a dream come true.

After school I asked Jonathan what his favorite part of the day was, (I thought he would say decorating the cupcakes like turkeys and eating them) but he said without hesitation, "Making the Pilgrim hats." I was surprised and happy, and he said, "Because it was with you, and you're the most beautiful-est mom in the whole world." Double flattery. This kid's good.

I love being invloved with Jonathan's class. Yet another perk of not having a day job away from home. :)

Thanksgiving FHE

Jonathan and I made the turkey body earlier in the day, and then in the evening we talked about the 10 Lepers story and Jonathan hid the feathers all over the house (his idea) for Seth and him to find. They colored and glued things that they're thankful for and we had popcorn. It was super fun.

He made the other turkey at school - it's a cool pattern - using their shoe prints and hand prints.

My personal favorite. He didn't leave any room for doubt as to which one is the pregnant momma.

It goes without saying that Jonathan loves his bike, but I just thought I'd post some pictures so you could all see how cool he is.




I'm pretty proud of him. :)

The Halloween Post

With the amount of excitement for Halloween amoung the younger generation around this house on the days preceeding Halloween, you'da thought it was Christmas. This was actually our funnest Halloween ever too. Holidays keep getting funner as the kids get older.

John carved this apple a week or so before Halloween and just let nature take its course. It would've added to the overall effect if we hadn't shooed away the swarm of fruit flies before taking the picture.


This was part of our FHE the night before. The boys loved seeding them and helping. Any guesses who did which one? It's a toughy.


A bit of Halloween festivities at dinnertime.

Jonathan was the coolest fireman hero ever.

He especially liked the sooty face - to show that he had just now come from rescuing countless victims from a blazing firey inferno. (This pose was his idea - the cool, collected fireman holding the hose.)

Note the homemade fire extinguisher. Accessories are big for a five year old costume. It gave him something to DO with his character, which is important for any hero.

Seth was the most reserved clown ever in existence. He said trick or treat and happy halloween and thank you, but that was as forward as he got. Cuter than cute though.

He had a stong desire to help with the face paint, so it's a little sketchy at best, but its the right general idea. :)

Dumpin and sortin the loot. (First on my list was always to separate the chocolate from the fruity, so flavors don't compromise the other's goodness.)

Playing with glowsticks constituted most the rest of the night.


This really should be a side shot so you can see the prodigious profile.

John went all out and was "Gene" from the More Cowbell skit, which is a big favorite at John's work. Hih-larious. He threw in Gene quotes all day long at work. Everyone there dresses up, and they even had a trick or treating party there for all the employee's kids. And Jonathan is still saying "More Cowbell!"

Exploring carbonation

Yesterday Jonathan got a small can of soda and a cookie from school, and he immediately decided to give Seth a full half of his cookie, and some of his soda. I'm so impressed with his generosity. It was so funny while they were drinking it, because you would've thought it was whiskey by watching their expressions after a swig. They describe that carbonation burn as being "spicey," or "ficey" for Seth. After a drink Seth said with an excited smile, "It's pwetty ficey!" And Jonathan knowingly responded, "That's because it's hibernated." I put in, "Carbonated," which he repeated to Seth.

He commented later that, being so spicey, there must be a lot of "carbonate" in it, which I realized makes sense in a way --- the same way that something that is salted has salt in it. Take off the "ed" and you have the ingredient. Same with peppered, seasoned, buttered, battered, etc. Should work with carbonated too, right? I love the way a child experiments with the language.