Up through T-day

On a Friday night we went to a semi-pro hockey game, The Texas Tornadoes, with our friends the DeLucias and their friends and more of their friends. It was quite a crew, and I was the only 'mother hen' in the batch so I had my hands full! Next time I'll let the boys go and I'll stay home and enjoy playing babies or Sesame Street. Before the game we went out for wings.

The girls sat and colored nicely for a while.

The boys sat and fought over the video games for most of the time.

The children were determined to chase off anyone around us and the younger boys wanted to run amok. What I did see of the game wasn't too impressive. But, hey, I couldn't do it all so, good for them for being willing to get bashed up and knocked around!

I help set up the Big Centers in Kindergarten. Those are stations that the children rotate through every morning. All 4 kinders share Big Center space so a few volunteers come and set up the 'house' area to fit a 6 week theme. This time the theme is winter and we had fun decorating with holiday and winter decor. However, there lacked an activity for the children to do while in the house. So I made these felt activities. I made trees, a gingerbread man and a snow man and then a variety of shapes and colors to decorate with.

I also made these presents for the kids to put different foam 'toys' inside for them to 'wrap' and give. I hope they enjoy the activities and don't lose all the pieces on the first day!

Thanksgiving day was a nice day for us. We stayed home and built a puzzle in the morning.

We then walked over to the DeLucias for a late lunch.

John was a chef and makes wonderful food. We were certainly blessed to have him share his talents with us. They had other friends and family there so it was a loud and fun event. The only draw back being that they all speak Spanish except for me (well I don't know how much John really speaks...) Our friend Marcella is from Chile and it is so fun for us to share in her culture and family. It is an incentive for me to learn Spanish if we are going to be friends for a long while.

John made the most incredible cheesecake, but Ryan wanted the turkey cupcake from Kroger.

Here is Macey being friends with John. Let's see, we have been here since July and this is the first time that Macey has decided to really be friends.

Lego Advent calendar. I have gone back and forth with this Advent calendar for 3 years now. I really wanted it, but I didn't need it. So I kept saying I was going to buy it and then I would back out. This year it was offered to us as a gift and I jumped on it. Here are the first 3 days' pieces. I know you are thinking that it is too soon. We are counting down to our trip to AZ since I don't want to take it with us on the road.

Don't you love this picture of our sneaky Ryan!