thanksgiving day

First, one story from the night before...

Getting the kids down for the night after we arrived in Hamilton was something I hope never to repeat again! Neither Caleb nor Maddie had slept a lick in the car, so they were spun up, wound up and overtired to say the least. Getting them down was about a 2 hour process. The worst (and of course funniest) moment was when--after many attempts, reproofs, adjustments and more--at about 10:30pm I found myself (exhausted) laying down with Caleb on our bed hoping once again to get him to sleep. Maddie had been moved to the large armchair across the room and out of sight. I firmly told Caleb he was not to say one. more. word. Next thing I knew, he was fake snoring as loud as a horse: snoooort choo! snoooort choo! Maddie was laughing from across the room, I was determined not to laugh, and Caleb was enjoying every moment, laughing at his success between snorts. I didn't even know Caleb knew how to snort, but I think every boy just does.

On to Thanksgiving Day...

watching the Macy's parade

At one point Louise kept the kids quietly entertained for about 20 minutes just by showing them pictures on her iphone.

one of the birds getting dressed

The kitchen smelled so good with all that yummy food getting cooked and baked!

Louise taught me how to fold the 'viking ships' for the place settings. This is something her mother, who is from Sweden, does, and her parents were joining us for dinner.

And what Griggs family gathering would be complete without the famous...

Although I have no pictures, we had a wonderful dinner with tons of delicious food. We ended with full tummies and grateful hearts.

More to come...

journey to ohio

On Wednesday morning we headed out to Ohio to be with Braden's side of the family for Thanksgiving. Bubbie, Gair and Granny had already left on Tuesday morning, so Pop-pop and Tarrah came with us.

I got to sit next to Caleb. He liked that. The first thing he did was grab my hand and hold it...for some time. So cute!

We happened to take our first pit stop near an amazing creamery with an old soda fountain counter, friendly folk and fresh ice cream. It was freezing cold and flurrying, but we couldn't resist the milkshakes!

As we headed into the mountains we hit some light snow, but nothing that slowed us down.

Caleb was a bit of a challenge to keep entertained. When after just 20 minutes in the car he said to me, "Mommy, I wan out!" I knew we were in for a bit of trouble. The one activity that kept him the most occupied was stringing beads onto pipe cleaners. Who knew?

Maddie, on the other hand, was quite an easy traveler. She read books, munched on snacks, looked out the window, and we hardly heard a peep from her.


At the next stop we let Caleb drive.
One...

...two...

...three--and the hazards are on!

It was at this stop that we saw this sign, which gave us all a laugh.

Overall, we had a great trip--good weather, no traffic. We arrived in Hamilton at Uncle Thad & Aunt Louise's house in time for dinner. More to come...

* K is for kisses *

For 'K' week, Maddie bundled up...

...small baggies of KISSES to give to her family members on Thanksgiving Day...

...as a way to show them KINDNESS.

(If any family members are reading, act surprised!)

what do these things have in common? part 2

Apparently everyone's been thinking on this. I really sucked you all in! Sorry, but it's nothing too exciting. Jess was disappointed to learn those were not things in Maddie's purse, but she just hasn't been into purses lately. I assumed at least every mom would guess those things were hidden beneath the couch cushions. Those things were hidden beneath the couch cushions...along with an awful lot of crumbs and dust and dirt, no money though. Gone are those days--we use plastic now. Not nearly as fun. (I used to love wearing my winter coat for the first time and discovering $10 in the pocket from last year. Fun times!) All the dirt, toys, Gorilla Munch, etc. I can blame on the kids. However, the popcorn? That's Braden and me...faithfully, every Sunday night.

pasta night

: my good little Italian boy :

guessing game

What do these items have in common?

-a blue peg from the cribbage board
-a blue comb
-a baby doll brush
-a pink and white heart bracelet
-4 crayons (red, white & blue...and brown)
-popcorn
-and 7 pieces of Gorilla Munch

I'll let you think on it for a bit...

how to make a cute winter coat

Caleb, this is the fur from a sheep. Then they paint it different colors, and they sew it all together. And it makes my coat.

while the kids are napping...

...I'm baking cookies!
Fall leaves and acorns--for decorating tomorrow with friends.

* preschool -- J week *

Our big project for the week was a watercolor art project inspired by the illustrations in this book.

First we painted a large piece of paper that would be our ocean. We used blues and greens.

Then we painted another piece of paper with purples and blues. I drew the form of a whale on this one, which Maddie proceeded to cut out.

On a third piece of paper, we painted with yellows, oranges, and reds. These were going to become our sea creatures.

While Maddie cut out the whale, I cut out sea creatures.

Maddie then glued her whale and other sea creatures onto her ocean to create...

...this.

For older kids, you can make everything on a larger scale (which is always fun) and you can use ink to add details to the sea creatures.

This was a great project for Maddie to complete because she learned:
-to do one task at a time
-how to follow directions (even when she didn't understand how it would work)
-to be patient (watercolors have to dry!)
-how to blend colors
-how multiple items can come together to create one finished product.

As he often does, Caleb participated with us. :)
Here is his ocean:

And here is the whale he cut (tore) out:

the gourdons

We parted with tradition slightly and for the first time in 5 years did not make the Yamilies. Instead we created ourselves as the Gourdons.

Papa Gourdon, the skier.

Every year a theme emerges. This year we mixed seasons and jumped ahead to winter. It was quite timely--while we were crafting, we had our first snow (flurry) which put us even more in the holiday mood (which then led to watching 'White Christmas' afterward).

Momma Gourdon with her apron on, bringing hot chocolate.

Maddie just loved making the Gourdons! We let her pick her idea (ice skating); however, I did have to restrain her once she started creating. She wanted to add more and more and had I not intervened, she would have created a Wee Gourdon Mess!

Caleb wanted a 'soccah baw'. He was more of a terrorizer than a crafter this year, but this too shall pass! I expect next year he'll actually be able to help.

little funnies

We were upstairs in our bathroom, and Maddie stepped on our scale:

"Mommy, how many inches do I weigh?"
"You weigh 32 inches!"
"Now I want to scale YOU. How many inches do YOU weigh?"

* * * * *

I was baking cookies for the kids for a special weekend snack. I asked them if they wanted milk with their cookies. Maddie--very excited and not wanting to miss out on anything tasty--misunderstood: "Lolk? I want Lolk! I want some!"

shaving cream fun

for bubbie

our harvest party in pictures

As soon as we stepped outside, the kids started playing with 'hubbacoppahs."

We arrived.

He figured things out soon enough.
Off for games!

Maddie's first lollipop. Ever.

This was the only piece of candy Maddie asked for the whole night (it took her about the whole night to finish it). One lollipop? Now that's what I call a successful Harvest Party! :)

Daddy's Little Golfer wasn't even interested in the candy.

"Mommy, THIS is the dress that Cinderella wore!"