Uggggh! The Tough Lessons of Childhood!

Tonight we attended the Reflections Award Night, an annual celebration of our children's achievements in the arts. Tristan entered a photograph that he took of the Blue Angels when we were in San Diego. Last year he won a trophy and his entry was sent onto the next level of the competition. His photo was a close up of "November Snow". Although this year's photo was much more impressive, he was faced with one of the hard lessons of childhood: WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR RAGE AND DISAPPOINTMENT WHEN OTHERS RECEIVE TROPHYS AND YOU DON'T.

It was rather embarassing when Tristan's name was called and he stomped up to the podium to receive his certificate. He then hid his face in my lap and proceeded to cry and grunt (did I mention we were sitting on the front row?) This is the proud photo I took after his meltdown was complete.

We spent the ride home and 40 minutes afterward lecturing him about how we don't always win, someone has to come in second place, a trophy isn't a measure of sucess, it's knowing you did your best work and tried your hardest.

I guess these are lessons we all have to learn at one time or another. Some of us have a harder time than others.

The Feast

Despite all the work, Thanksgiving was very nice. The kids were excited to help with the cooking. Tristan and Grandpa made a special pumpkin pie, Jolie and I made a mud pie (yumm!) and both of them peeled potatoes. Gavin tried to do some damage on a couple of potatoes with a variety of kitchen tools, as well.

We used our high tech Viking meat probe to determine the cooking time for our turkey but it failed us. Fortunately, Jerry arrived early and suggested we give the turkey a little more time in the oven.

We were excited to have our friend Maria with us. She brought her grandmother's famous stuffing and a delicious pecan pie. We sat in the family room after dinner, moaning about our waistline discomfort and looking though the shopping ads. Maria and mom also talked Dad into giving them a foot rub.

Pilgrims and Indians

Yesterday I helped with Jolie's Thanksgiving feast. The kindergarteners have been learning about Squanto and the first Thanksgiving. They got the rare privilege of eating in the cafeteria! This has been a much-anticipated event for Jolie. All week the kids have been working on their costumes. They died macaroni for Indian necklaces and decorated their Indian headdresses and Pilgrim hats. They each got to choose which costume they wanted to wear to the feast (this year the Indians were much more numerous than the Pilgrims).

One of the kindergarten teachers told me that a sixth grade class walked by the cafeteria as she was bringing her kindergarteners in. She said you could hear the sixth graders in almost a group sigh, "Ooooohhhh..." as they watched the little kids. It was as if they were all fondly remembering their own kindergarten Thanksgiving feast years ago.

I'm glad I got to be there. I'm sure Jolie will remember this for some time.

Christmas Cards

I was up until 1:00 this morning working on Christmas cards. I just finished them so I thought I'd post some photos! I've been in a card swap for the past couple of years. I send blank cards each month to people all over the U.S. and Canada. I get cards from all over, too, which adds a bit of excitement to the trip to the mailbox each afternoon.

I'm also rather pleased with myself because I used materials that I (mostly) had on hand. I made a gift album for Dan's parents last Christmas and I had a lot of paper scraps left over. I also made the embellishment ("Merry & Bright") in MS Word! If anyone is wondering how to write text in a circle, please ask. It might just save you 2 or 3 hours of trying to figure it out on your own.

I'll get 24 different Christmas cards back from this swap. I can't wait!

Autumn... Autumn... PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US!!

This week we've had some beautiful Autumn days close to 70 degrees. Ofcourse all good things must come to an end, and in the case of our weather, it's usually from one extreme to another. The forcasters have been warning of a big change, so we decided to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. We joined Grandma on one of our favorite trails for a walk.

Yesterday was one of those days of urgency in which we all knew we'd better get certain things done or we'd regret it. I caught a glimpse of my neighbor doing the last of her fall cleanup at 8-something in the morning when I got Tristan off to school. Throughout the day I saw people out doing the necessary chores of fall. On our way home from parent teacher conferences we saw some neighbors on their roof putting up Christmas lights! It didn't make sense until I realized they were saving themselves an icy climb later in the season. It was a busy day and we didn't get a chance to start raking the leaves and pods off the lawn until dusk. So while the rest of the neighborhood was out in their yards during the day, we were outside raking leaves in the dark. It wasn't bad though, it was still pretty warm and the kids played a fun game of "Ghost in the Graveyard".

The Main Event!

THERE'S SO MUCH EXCITEMENT AROUND HERE I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!!! Tristan and Jolie were up early again this morning (did I mention they've been up at 5-something the last three days?) This time it wasn't the anticipation of Halloween that had them awake (and daylight savings hasn't helped), but it was the QUEST FOR THE CANDY! A good Mommy hides the Halloween candy before she goes to bed unless she approves of Rollos and Starbursts for breakfast. Once I got the stash out of hiding, there was some serious trading taking place on our family room floor. Gavin gave away a full-sized Snickers bar (yes, they give that out in this neighborhood) for Tristan's Play-Doh. A good mommy also monitors the trading to make sure less experienced Trick-or-Treaters aren't taken advantage of.

Last night we left for Trick or Treating at dusk (about 5:30) and we were home by 7:30. Tristan ended up ahead of us with a group of friends. I had Jolie on foot and Gavin in the jogging stroller so our pace was way too slow for Tristan. Things were more complicated this year as Gavin was in and out of the stroller at every house. I'd forgotten how scary some of the sights and sounds of Halloween can be to a little one. He was really frightened by the masks that the older kids were wearing. Jolie and I kept reminding him that they were kids in costumes and the scary faces were just masks. After a while he said "It's a mask, Mommy" as though he was trying to convince himself it was true.

Don't the kids look darling? I made Gavin's lion costume and part of Tristan's. My mom made Jolie's gorgeous dress and the other half of Tristan's costume. Jolie is Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean and Tristan is Jack Sparrow. We intended to give him hair and a beard and the works but I ran out of steam. I asked Tristan whether he'd rather spend an hour in hair & makeup or be out on the street that much sooner. It was and easy choice.