Thanksgiving

This is the first Thanksgiving in a long time that our family has not been together. Alix expressed that she would still like us to have turkey, potatoes, and of course, pumpkin pie. Well, it is hard to make a Thanksgiving Dinner for four people (the smallest turkey I could find was 16lbs.) but I did not feel up to inviting people over and entertaining without Spencer. We had so much food left over! I was thrilled when ChiChi came over as I was cleaning up. He said he wasn't hungry, but I packed up a load of food for him to take home to his family (there are at least 10 people living in his house). He came back about an hour later and told me how full he was. I was so pleased to hear that his family dug in and ate it right when he got there.

Trying Something New

We've been having a little bit of a hard time when it comes to doing schoolwork. Attitudes are just not at their best. Today we tried something new. I have these electronic time tickets from Homeschool with Index Cards that I decided to put to some use. It made all the difference. Seth had a great attitude during Spanish class today (he usually gives Adriana, our sweet, soft spoken tutor, a hard time). It will also be great to teach them to budget and prioritze their freetime. Not to mention, help me to set limits to how much time they are 'plugged in'!

Cranberry Thanksgiving Poll

The black object, on the right. What do you think it is?

UPDATE: I emailed the Devlins (children). After a couple emails I received this response from their daughter:

"It is believed to be an antique coach lantern.Best,Wende D. Gates"

Famous Quotes

Seth: "Murphy's not a dog, he's a spic -r- spaniel."

Nathan: While coloring an Indian picture, "I know there is Indian on dad's side. That makes us half Indian and half pirate!" (Blackbeard is on my side of the family)

Alix: "Now, which dishes did you want me to wash?"

Christopher: I sent a funny email to my mom which she read aloud to Chris. He says, "I didn't know my mom was funny. I've never heard her say anything funny before."

Spencer: I hear this as I am listening to phone messages, "Hey, the phone is going straight to voicemail. You might want to listen to messages."

Alix (again): after falling off my bed, "It's higher than it was before!" my response, "Well, it's not any more narrow!"

Sleepover

Last night I was waiting for paint to dry on my bed. Since Christopher and Spencer are out of town, I just decided to bunk in with the younger boys. We had an extra bunk on their new triple decker bunkbed, so everyone just moved up one.

After being mysteriously busy in their room for a while, Seth comes in and tells me they are ready! I go in to find that Seth had cleaned his room, made his bed and even set up a couple of bed buddies for me! They were all giggles while I was tucking them in. Finally, I ask, 'Does this feel kind of like a sleepover?' They grinned and the answer was a resounding 'yes'! I felt so blessed to be welcomed in with such excitement, and that they would be pleased with something so simple. (apparently we don't get out much :o)

The little things...