Our Cyber Thanksgiving

This was the first time in 18 Thanksgivings that Ryan and I were apart. Luckily for us we each have a web cam.

We told him the time that our dinner would be ready and he appropriately made his ready at the same time. Then we just put my lap top on the table and he ate with us. It was so great. Well, as good as it could be.

I am Thankful for my Family and Web Cams.

Last Pics of the House

Since, we close tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to get some last pictures of the kids in front of the house.

Wow, my shadow sure looks taller than 5'4".

A and N.

Trying to get D to join in.

Take 1.

Take 2.

Take 3.

This is as close as I could get. It is so hard because D never wants to look at the camera.

I can never get over how cute they are!

Moving Day: Part 1

What a crazy, long day. The movers, 4 wonderful guys, arrived at the house a little after 8:00 am. Bernie, the driver and his step-son Brent, from Texas, Bul, the Portuguese wonder, from Georgia, and Kerry, the amazing packer, from MN, all showed up ready to work. And work they did!

The boys' room. Just to let you know bunk beds are not fun to take apart by yourself. But, I got 'er done.

Had to take a picture of our tribute to our team the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. We painted this a few years ago in the boys' room.

Our bedroom.

The dining room area. Hi, Isabelle.

Storage room.

Ryan's office.

The family room.

Kerry spent the whole day packing the truck. Brent and Bul were the runners who carried the stuff to the truck. Bernie tagged everything.

Getting ready to load the snowmobile. Bul is in shorts. He said, being cold is just a state of mind. Brent is at the front on the snowmobile.

Push!

The laundry room after.

Our bedroom after.

A's room after.

The boys' room after.

The living room after.

The family room after.

The wet bar after. This was never used as a bar. It was my craft area.

The guys left about 8:30 pm. It was such a long day. The guys were amazing. It seems we have a little more stuff than the average bear. Oh well. It all made it on the truck with some clever packing and shoving by Kerry. However, our picnic table which folds up did end up getting strapped to the back.

Now my in-laws and I are off to clean the house. We close Monday morning.

Tot School

If you would like to see what other tots have been up to this week visit
1+1+1=1

Ten in a Bed felt board.

Sally the Camel felt board.

I was improvising some this week with all of the packing. D hammered golf tees into styrofoam.

His normal nail pounding thing is already packed up.


Match the outside of the fruit to the inside. I got this from a Montessori site awhile ago. I never saved it. Sorry.

I swear my kid never wears pants. Sorry!

Goofy guy. Off to the right of him is not a ghost, it is just a dog's tail. :)

These were the stencils we got from Nicole in our Pay it Forward Giveaway.

Once he started, he couldn't stop. He had so much fun with these.

What My Child Is Reading

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This week D and I spent at least an hour and a half playing at the library. No one was there and we had a blast. They have so many Folkmanis Puppets and we just love making up stories with them.

So, here is a question. Do you judge a book by it's cover? I do. I know we are told over and over and we tell our children over and over, not to, but it is hard. If the cover looks cute and fun I am way more likely to check it out. I know I am skimming over some of the best books out there but it is hard to stop.

Plus, I never read a book before we check it out to make sure that it is something D will like. So, I will be the first to admit that we have been burned by a book which I thought was going to be great because the cover was intriguing and the book was only so-so.

Anyway, I think each week I am going to start including mine and D's favorite book out of the ones we read this week.

D really like the Wolverine book. I did not. I really didn't want to check out this book. One, because it is just too difficult of a read and two because it is just a little to graphic for my liking. What is it with little boys and super heroes? We skipped many pages and we really just talked about the pictures.

My choice for this week was Grumpy Bird. Not sure why. I just liked it. I also love the Red Sled. There are usually only about 2 words per page but it is so fun to read. You can put so much umpf into reading it.

Happy Reading!

Stringing Popcorn

I have been cleaning out my cupboards and packing stuff up. Stashed in the back I found a bag of popcorn and D and I decided to pop some.

After we ate our full, we decided to string some up for the birdies.

I only had a real needle so, I would put the needle through and D would pull the popcorn down the length of thread.

Then we hung it up for the birds. Tweet. Tweet!

Shampoo

Ok, so this is totally random, but since my hair is dripping wet, it is on my mind.

I totally love Suave Clarifying Shampoo. No, I did not get a free bottle for saying this. I just really like the product.

The shampoo strips off any build up without drying out your hair. It says you can use it everyday, but I usually only use it once a week. It makes my hair squeaky clean. Go and get some and check it out.

On a side note, I have heard that it is one of the best shampoos to use on hair that is in chlorine a lot. So, if you have a swim team member in your fam, check it out.

Turkey Lurkey

I was inspired by Lil' Ms. P over at A Mommy Talks to make this cute and easy craft. I picked up the half flower foam at Walmart and we always have a variety of feathers in our craft stash. D insisted on painting the foam brown AND blue. He definitely likes to do things his own way. My stubborn little man. I think this turned out better anyway.

I used a paper plate for the other turkey parts.

D really loved pushing the feathers in.


This is one really feathered friend.

Glue, Glue, Glue.

We are going to give this to Grammy for a centerpiece for our Thanksgiving table. Way to go D.

Pics of Sugar Cookies

I knew that I posted pictures of these. I just could not find them yesterday.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

These are my FAVORITE cookies. I got this recipe about 10 yrs ago, from a dear, old friend of mine, who was my Girl Scout Co-leader. Thanks Nancy!

I swore I posted about them already and posted pictures from when we made our Halloween ones but I can't find that post. I really prefer to make a recipe when pictures are included. Not sure why, but that's just me. So, sorry for the lack of photos but still you really need to try this recipe. YUM!

1 c. sugar

1 c. butter, softened

3 oz. cream cheese softened

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg yolk

2 c. flour

Combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, vanilla & egg yolk. Blend well. Stir in flour until well bended. Refrigerate dough 2 hours for easier handling.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters. Bake for 7-10 mins. Cool and remove from cookie sheets.

I love MINNESOTA!

Minnesota has a wonderful program called ECFE. It is run by the Continuing Ed dept. in our school. ECFE offers a ton of classes, both during the day and in the evening.

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D and I attend classes on Tuesday and Friday mornings. We love it. Each class is 1 1/2 hrs long. During that time the kiddos have free time to explore the class room, do art projects, play in the sensory table, check out the science center, play with puppets, etc. After free time we have a circle time where we sing and read. D is finally enjoying this time. Last year he was too busy to come and sit.

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After that, the kids have snack and the moms and sometimes dads separate for a parent discussion group. This is usually for about 35 mins or so. During this time the kids have free time again. The parent discussions are so helpful. If you have any concerns there is always someone who is either going through the same thing or has just gone through it. We have a Parent Ed. teacher who is wonderful and so full of knowledge.

D at the sensory table. Excuse his shirtlessness. Is that a word? Anyway, every week I bring an extra shirt for him just in case the sensory table has water in it and guess what I forgot this week. He usually gets pretty wet so I figured who is really going to care. Right?

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Stamping with face expression stamps.

Coloring with chalk that is dipped in water.

Painting using stencils.

He loves to paint.


Checking out the magnets at the Science Center.


They sometimes have a little microscope at this station that D loves to use.

Checking out the cars.

He said he had airplane ears.

Playing with Mom.

That dang Mom is always asking for kisses.

If you are a MN resident check at your local school for an ECFE program. To my knowledge there isn't a program, like ECFE, available for us in NY. I hope to find something similar. Something that has both parent and child time together and then time away from each other. Wish me luck in finding something.