A Thankful Weekend

Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

We are definitely into the Holiday Season now! I suppose it "started" with Halloween, but November zipped by and now Thanksgiving is behind us.

There are 26 Days Until Christmas. What??!? How did that happen?

AND there are only 11 more days until Grandma Reva has her 99th birthday. WOWIE! Here is her photo from last year, when she was still young and inexperienced: a mere 98. :) We love you Grandma!

We spent our Turkey Day with two families from church, with kids in the general age ranges of our kids. Plus they have 2 adorable puppies, so that entertained everyone.

Then of course the day AFTER Thanksgiving, we joined the population at large, shopping for Christmas gifts! This time Frank did NOT get up at 4 a.m. for specific deals...he has done that before! I value my sleep way too much for that. Normal hours only, please.

Some stores were crowded, some weren't. We sold the kids on the "shopping trip" idea by starting it with a Dunkin Donuts breakfast. It also helped that they all love to read, and we worked in some "Barnes & Noble" time.

I've been reading about the Pilgrims with a 3rd grade student I'm working with, so I've thought a lot of how our country began. The "First Thanksgiving Feast" was not the first time the Pilgrims or the Indians gave thanks for the harvest. It was just the first time they did it together. They also signed a treaty to work together and help protect each other. That treaty lasted 50 whole years.

Here is my "quick list" of what I'm thankful for, off the top of my head:

Family, friends, food.

Airplanes, Internet, homemade rolls.

Transportation, tires, running water.

Books, piano music, unexpected happy telephone calls.

Smile from a stranger, smile from a friend.

Warm beds, waterproof jackets, sunny days.

Shrimp, sharpies, scriptures.

Recycling, railroad tracks, eyesight.

Electricity, fireplaces, hugs.

Hope you had time this weekend to think of what you're thankful for, too.

Have a great week! Kari

Teresa is TWELVE!

Hello!

A little while back I said I'd blog about Teresa...it was her 12th birthday last week, so now's a good time! Teresa is energetic and positive. She loves to have fun. She'll be the first one to jump in a pile of leaves or a pile of snow, or the swimming pool or lake. She has a contagious smile. She's an animal lover, from insects to birds to dogs to snakes. She's also good at making people feel happy and comfortable.

My comment on the previous blog was about her field hockey team. She tried a new sport this fall: she'd never played before, and she made the cuts for the team. Very cool. I got to learn about this sport too, as I had never watched a match before.

The girls wear kilts in field hockey--that rule was a little soft, as one of the teams they played just had them wear shorts. But all the other teams wore kilts, plus volleyball shorts underneath. They wear goggles and mouth guards.

The stick has to be pretty close to the ground the whole time, no swinging it so high or it's a foul. And you can only hit the ball (which is pretty hard, the size of a baseball) with one side of the stick. The stick looks a little like a golf club at the end, rounded on one side and flat on the other. You must hit the ball with the flat side of the stick.

Two twenty-minute halves is what they played, passing the ball down the field to get it into a net to score. They used the soccer field and the soccer net. At the end of season party, Teresa was awarded "Most Improved Player." She did great!

Last Wednesday Teresa turned 12! Yep, out of Primary (ages 3-11) at church, into Young Women's (ages 12-18). They have a tradition in this group for the Young Women to "welcome" the new girls into the group by giving them a "Heart Attack" after their 12th birthday. These teens go to the house of the new girl, and tape hearts and paper chains and messages all over her room. Usually they decorate and leave, but this time, it worked out for them to stay in her room, then I brought her home from our "errand." She walked into her room and there they were! (12 girls and 4 leaders, I think...it was wall-to-wall people). Very cute.

Teresa also plays flute, and likes to sell things...(don't know where THAT came from..??? Her mom apologizes profusely to all who have been approached for the raffle tickets...and THANK YOU for being patient and even buying from her...)

So, there you have TERESA. She certainly adds spice to our family! We think she's awesome.

Choir, Health Care, Tutoring

Hello--
What a church-y day! We have been practicing for weeks, with the church choir. Our organist is actually a professional organist, where he plays each week for the 2nd Church in Newton, United Church of Christ, in a neighboring town. He and their preacher thought it would be neat to do a "choir swap," where their choir and our choir would combine, and sing for their church services in the morning, then come to our church in the afternoon and sing for our Sacrament Meeting.

They meet in a beautiful old, cathedral-style building, with arching ceilings and fabulous acoustics! This morning we went to their church to practice together, then participate in their service. Followed by lunch downstairs, then drive to our own church for the afternoon meetings.

4th-grader Kara wanted to sing, too, so I brought her to the practices. There was not room for her in the community kids' music program, so I figured why not participate in the church choir? It's pretty basic music, usually a hymn or a different arrangement of a familiar song.

Then we got the music for today's performance: One of the pieces was in 8-part harmony... IN GERMAN...!!??! Oh, well, what do you do? We just kept practicing, and Kara was a good sport about it. We sang alto. She learned the part.

Our Bishop also spoke in their meeting: a nice message about tithing. So anyway, when we got home it really felt like it had been an all-day affair. Leave by 8:30 a.m., return at 4:30.

In other news: The Health Care bill passed, by a margin of 5 votes. In the on-line article I read, it offered a link for me to "read the bill." I clicked on it and scanned down. This bill is One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Pages. (Yes, you read that correctly. 1990 pages.) In case you need some light bedtime reading.

I'm feeling a little short on time these days...Frank has been gone all this week to South America. He returns Wednesday. I'm appreciating more and more how we split the driving-kids-everywhere responsibilities. And especially that he does the Seminary shift! UGH! I look at the clock and can't believe how time flies--got to go to bed, because I have to get UP and get David over to early-morning seminary!

Inspired by my sister-in-law Pam, my neighbor Carleen, and my friend in CA Susan, who all work with kids at their neighborhood schools, I have started tutoring ESL students at an elementary school in the next town over. (No, this is not one of my students--just a clipart photo!--:) )

I go in 3 days a week, the elementary kids are K-3rd. I've been doing it for about 2 weeks now. The beauty of this kind of job is that I get to work with the kids, 1-on-1 or small group, and then I go home. No staff meetings, no homework. I am "just the tutor--!" Not the teacher. So far it's been a good thing.

Well, I know this blog post jumped all over the place. That is my brain lately. Happy Monday tomorrow! Kari

Halloween and Birthdays

David's birthday was Sunday--14 years old! Yep, born at 3:10 a.m., he missed being a Halloween baby by just 3+ hours. He was ordained a Teacher in church this afternoon. Now he can prepare the Sacrament for Sacrament Meeting.

Teresa's birthday is 10 days after his, so Saturday we took them on a "combined birthday" outing. We let them each choose 5 friends to go to a place in Boston called "5 Wits." It was set up like an archaelogical site, and they were in search of an Egyptian Tomb. They were guided room to room and had to figure out the Indiana-Jones-style clues to avoid danger and find their way out of the tomb. We took 12 kids so they could be in their own group. I think they had a good time.

Here's a group shot in the leaf pile...yes, it's LEAF SEASON again! The monstrous tree in the front yard is finally deciding to shed its leaves (it's a huge, 5-story-tall thing). My guess is they will all fall within the next 10 days, EXACTLY when Frank has planned his trip to Argentina & Peru & Chile. How convenient.

Well, thankfully, we had a beautiful Halloween. I think it was around 70 degrees. Perfect day, and a grand evening to go Trunk-or-Treating at the church party Friday, then Trick-or-Treating Saturday. No parkas required.

We had a Rock Star--Kara and her neighbor buddy Isabel created their own costumes together this year, fabric painting the shirts and jeans. Add green and yellow hair, a sparkly microphone, and sparkly bracelets, and you're good to go!

Teresa was a Ninja, all black, and David an FBI agent...complete with suit, dark shades, and putting all his candy in a...briefcase. I only got a shot of Kara in costume. (Sorry but it's been a bit of a crazy weekend...)

But I did get photos of all the candy laid out on the floor after trick-or-treating...oh my holy cow. Luckily, the elementary school is doing a "send your candy to the soldiers in Iraq" program, so we can choose our favorites to keep, then donate the rest of the candy. Teresa made a pyramid with Starburst.

And here is a final fall/Halloween shot of our carved and drawn pumpkins. Carving credits go to Frank (designed by the kids, of course).

The bottom 2 pumpkins were drawn by Kara, and Teresa got creative and looked online for a dragon pumpkin. Then looking at that sketch, she drew this dragon on her pumpkin. (Top step...yes, it's really a dragon--enlarge to see better!)

Hope you're getting beautiful sunshine like we are this week. I love the colors of fall.

(My friend in Denver currently has 20 inches of snow in her front yard...I laughed about it with her on the phone, but I know that ours will come!) Happy November--:) Kari