Thanksgiving at Auntie Laurie's Farm

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Eric's aunt's farm near Sacramento.  It was a full house this year with Eric's aunt, our family of four, Eric's dad and brother, Eric's brother's girlfriend, and my parents.  In addition, there were Laurie's two dogs, our Pippa, my parents' dog, and Eric's brother's huge puppy.  That's 10 people and 5 dogs.  Like I said, it was a full house.

The first morning we were there (Thanksgiving Day) was foggy.  It was so magical looking that I had to head outside and snap some photos.

 Eventually, Carter threw on a jacket and joined me.

 After breakfast, the skies cleared and we headed outside for a few projects around the farm.  An outdoor light was replaced and a new planter wall was built.

 Here are the blocks for the planter wall:

 Carter rarely looks into the camera lens, so I had to post all of these.

As finishing touches were being put on the wall, the kids and I headed out to look at the neighbor's horses and pony.  Check out my girl with the camera!

 

  Brian's girlfriend and his puppy joined us.

Exploring

Later, both kids got to drive "Dr. Pepper" with my dad.  They had a blast with Papa as he let them take the wheel and be crazy drivers.

 Laurie then got her horse, Blue, ready for a ride.

 Beau and Pippa weren't too sure about the big horse.

After Laurie rode Blue for a while, it was time for the kids to ride.  They loved it!  First was Ashlynn's turn.  She looked like such a big girl and really rode with confidence.

 

Then it was Carter's turn.  He did so much better this year.  A few years back he was scared of being on the horse and this time he rode with some confidence.

Friday was another beautiful day that was sunny from the start.  Our family was a little sunnier from the start too because we got a better night's sleep on the second night.

We went on a hike/ walk with the dogs along the American River in Rancho Cordova.

All the dogs

The four Cavaliers, representing the four colors the breed comes in: Merlot (ruby), Beau (black and tan), Misty (blenheim), and Pippa (tri-color).

Carter was a trailblazer.

Carter walking back to the car along the bike trail.

Okay, next up is something that could probably be its own blog entry, but since it was part of our time at Laurie's, I'm leaving it here (and hoping you aren't so bored with photos that you're leaving this post).  Ever since I ordered Ashlynn's Little House dress for her birthday (and party ... and Halloween), I thought about how fun it would be for her to wear it among the prairie grasses at Laurie's house ... and she did.  Forgive me but I posted a bunch of photos.  At first I wasn't so sure I got anything special, but the more I look at the photos, the more they grow on me.  See what you think.

 Photographing someone in glasses without getting too much glare is tricky!

 My mom joined us for a bit.

 Eric was there too.  This shot of him somehow reminds me of the movie Meet Joe Black.

 Just a couple more ...

After our little photo shoot we checked out the barn one last time,

 enjoyed the beautiful fall colors,

 made some long shadows,

 harvested a few gourds to take home (this one is Carter's because it has a "C"),

 enjoyed the sunset,

 and said good-bye to Laurie.

It was a nice Thanksgiving weekend.  Hope you had a good one too!

PTA Reflections Contest

Ashlynn entered the PTA Reflections contest for the first time this year.  Last week we got a call that she was a 1st place winner for her category of visual arts, kindergarten to second grade.  This morning the school recognized the participants and winners.  She was super nervous last night and quite nervous walking up to the front, but I think she was pretty proud.

 I wish she would have step over a foot to her left!

The Reflections contest theme this year is "The Magic of a Moment".  She painted a watercolor of a sunset and then added black construction paper silhouettes of our family and a palm tree.  She named it "Beautiful Sunset".

We're proud of our girl!

Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is one of my favorite kid-friendly giving opportunities.  It is through Samaritan's Purse and simply involves packing a shoebox full of Christmas gifts for a less fortunate child somewhere in the world.  Along with the gifts, which include things like little toys, toothbrushes and toothpaste, socks, soap, crayons, and coloring books, Samaritan's Purse includes a little book about the love of God and Jesus.  I'm not a super sentimental person, but when I think of these children, who have so little, being filled with such joy by receiving a box of simple gifts, it makes me teary.

On Saturday the kids and I went shopping at Target for the gifts and on Sunday morning we packed and wrapped the boxes before taking them to church for the collection.  Ashlynn and Carter both packed boxes this year: one was for a 5-9 year old girl and one was for a 2-4 year old boy (I'll let you guess which kid did which).   When the kids brought the boxes to church, each Sunday School group (elementary and preschool) prayed for the children who would someday receive the boxes.

Here are a few pictures of the kids packing their boxes and preparing a note that goes into the box.

What a fun way to share joy!

Carter Says the Pledge

Carter says the Pledge of Allegiance everyday at preschool (I must confess, I often forget to do it in my class).  Here he is on video, so we can remember how cute it is to listen to a 4-year-old saying it.

Yep, that is an "Amen" at the end. 

Election Day

Yesterday was Election Day and also a workday for me.  I had fun creating a voting experience for my students that was as real as I could create with a zero budget, and after work our family celebrated the opportunity to vote by going to the polls together, eating out and watching some TV!

In my class election, students came to a desk where the election worker found their name on the list (a class list with addresses, like what they have at the polling place) and crossed it out with a ruler and red pen.  The voter then signed their name and got a ballot to vote for President. 

The voters then took their ballots to the booths I made from testing privacy boards.  The ballots were not like the ones we mark in a real election, but very similar to what we see in our sample ballots.  The kids marked the bubble next to their choice.  They were really cute and took the job of voting quite seriously.

After they were finished, they took their ballots to the ballot box person and got an "I voted" sticker I made with address labels and sharpie markers.

In case you're curious, the results were 17 votes for Obama and 12 votes for Romney (there were a number of kids out sick, if you're wondering how that only adds up to 29).  We ended the day with (another) talk about being kind to others who might disagree with us, how we need to respect our leaders whether they are our choice or not, etc. 

 In the evening after work, our family went to the polls and voted.  Our kids have gone with us to vote for every election since they were older than infants.  It is interesting to see how much more they understand each time.

Since Eric and I were dating, it has been our tradition to go out to dinner on election night (in presidential election years) and eat at a restaurant that has TVs where we can watch the states turn red and blue as the results come in.  The first few times we ate at Macaroni Grill, but the one near us closed so we had to find a new place this year.  We ended up at T. Phillips in Old Town because they have a bunch of big screen TVs. We were able to dine on burgers and pulled pork while following the results on CNN.  It was pretty fun!

This year I added a new activity for Ashlynn.  She has a decent understanding of the states, so as states were declared "red" or "blue", she colored them in on her map too.  I think coloring made it hard for her to want to go to bed because there were still a number of states that were not called at bedtime, but I also think it made the results a little more interesting and inspired good discussions about population and the electoral college (which is mostly beyond her understanding but it doesn't hurt to talk about the basics).

I know that many "teachable moments" pass us by, but I was glad that I was able to make the most of Election Day with both my students and my family. 

Halloween

 

Halloween was a pretty fun day and evening (part of that was probably because I was off from work).

Ashlynn's morning at school was filled with a fun assembly (it was also Red Ribbon Week) and Halloween activity centers.  I helped for about an hour in her classroom, and then she and I headed over to Carter's school for his Halloween parade.

I always love the parade at the preschool; the kids makes their costumes at school and each class has its own theme.  Carter's class this year was a shapes train.  He was pretty excited to be his favorite color, green.

 Ashlynn was happy to come to the parade and cheer on her brother.

  Other classes had cute costumes too.  Here's our neighbor, Dana, dressed as a Hershey's kiss.

 Here's the other 4 year old class dressed as spiders.

In the afternoon, I took the kids trick-or-treating in Old Town.  Most of the businesses hand out candy.  It gets super busy, but it is fun to see lots of people dressed up and hopefully run into some friends.  Here the kids are before we left:

 One of the Old Town bears

 There were activities in Library Park, but all we really did was play with a parachute (I LOVE parachute play).

 Here are the kids with Halloween artwork they made at school.

 As you can see, Carter did not want to cooperate. 

 Ashlynn with her glowing jack o' lantern.

 Running off some of the Halloween craziness.

 And crash!

My parents joined us for dinner and then Eric, the kids and I headed out to trick-or-treat on our block (my parents manned our candy distribution).  But, not before our annual Halloween picture on the front porch!

 On our way!

 At our neighbor Mike's house.

 My Little House on the Prairie girl

Back at home!  My dad did a great job while we were gone.  (He hated Halloween when I was a kid but he's a good sport about it now and I think he kind of enjoys it).

 Pippa got to play with her brother, Beau, for the evening. 

The kids with Nana and the loot (Carter still being a stinker).  Fortunately, at least 3/4 of the candy went to Ashlynn's school's candy buy back program.  Yay!

 Happy Halloween!