Join Us for Thanksgiving

We started a project last year that would visually incorporate family and friends into our Thanksgiving celebration even though they aren't physically here to celebrate with us. We asked family and friends to send an outline of one of their hands. I used these outlines to make colorful hand-shaped cutouts and then used these to make Thanksgiving decorations.

We got them hung up for this year's Thanksgiving today.

From 2009.6

A few members of the rafter:
Grandma Claudia

From 2009.6

Matthew Robinson (2nd cousin)

From 2009.6

Norah 2009

From 2009.6

Uncle Van

From 2009.6

Aunt Leslie

From 2009.6

The easy part about having family and friends join us for Thanksgiving in this way is that I don't have to do any extra cooking!

If you'd like to join us for Thanksgiving, please trace the outline of one of your hands. You can scan it and email it to handprintturkey@gmail.com or fax it to (201) 622-4312. Please include your name, location and, if you want, age.

Strolling with Norah

Norah and I managed to get outside this morning in what turned out to be the brief time between 2 large storms. She wanted to take one of her babies for a stroll.

From 2009.6

From 2009.6

From 2009.6

This particular baby comes with an interesting story. The plush doll was a wedding gift. Hello, Allyson! Remember this? It was a funny gift because the doll is mechanized and can dance as Phil Collins' song Groovy Kind of Love resonates from it's stuffed core. Four years later the gift became somewhat less charming in the hands of Avery. He pressed the button to cue the music and dancing over and over and overandoverandoverandoverandover...

Now 8 years later the doll is still going strong. We've yet to replace the battery and Norah enjoys making the "baby" dance and sing.

When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do
Is take a look at you, then I'm not so blue
When you're close to me, I can hear your heart beat
I can feel you breathing in my ear.
Wouldn't you agree, baby you and me, we've got a groovy kind of love.

From 2009.6

He Reads

For me one of the key responsibilities of being a parent is to help my children to become literate and then to become thoughtful consumers of all types of print media. While it is a responsibility that takes mindful work and effort on my part, my experience of sharing in Avery and Norah's reading development has been nothing short of a pleasure and true privilege.

Avery has been interested in letters, the sounds they make and words for awhile. He been self-motivated to pursue thinking about and playing with reading concepts. When pressed he's been able to sound out and read a number of words. I didn't want to press though and risk him losing interest or becoming self-conscious about his ability to read. And so I've stepped back and watched and participated when he asked.

Tonight Avery offered to read to me from a book he'd never seen or heard before. He just opened the book and read. I was giddy in the moment am still so very excited for him. The ability to read grants him access to a much bigger world of ideas, adventures, places and people. In the few minutes it took him to read to me about the misadventures of Mat, Sam and a cat who sat on one another, I imagined the lifetime of reading he has to look forward to. I'm so excited for him.

From 2009.6

From 2009.6

The Stairs of Queen Anne

Mindy and I played hookey today and explored the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle. A few months ago a magazine ran an article about the many pedestrian stairways in the Queen Anne neighborhood. We decided that we should take an adult-only field trip and see them for ourselves.

More information about the stairways of Queen Anne and their history are here and here.

We had near-perfect weather for our adventure. There was sun for most of the time we were out, with the clouds rolling in the last hour. We were also able to enjoy the beautiful colors of autumn. We walked along streets flanked by mansions, cottages, bungalows and townhomes. The architecture was stunning and many properties were in excellent condition. My photography did poor justice to the beauty of these buildings and the quiet streets they're on.

Click on the image below to see some of the pictures from our adventure.

Queen Anne Stairs 11022009

Halloween 2009

We've been enjoying the fun of Halloween all month with pumpkin carving, talking about costumes and looking at decorations. This week the Halloween fun cranked up with a party and 2 rounds of trick-or-treating.

My mom's club held a Halloween party. There were crafts for the kids.

From Halloween 2009

There were also games, food and general running around.

Norah fell in love with this here little cowboy. She followed him around for awhile. He didn't know what to make of her. He's 13 months old, a bit shorter and about 1 lb. heavier.

From Halloween 2009

Avery met Optimus Prime.

From Halloween 2009

This morning we joined members of the mom's club for trick-or-treating at a local assisted living home. The kids enjoyed showing off their costumes, playing with the resident dog and getting candy.

From Halloween 2009

Afterwards the reprised some of the fun from the Halloween party and ran around.

From Halloween 2009

Norah, like a true Captain Hook, held on to the loot.

From Halloween 2009

With some cajoling there was a group shot.

From Halloween 2009

Norah wanted nothing to do with the group shot. This will be a theme for her today.

From Halloween 2009

The kids stayed in costume all day, even while helping with yard work. At 4pm we headed down the street for a pizza dinner and trick-or-treating with Finn and some other friends.

Peter Pan at Full Tilt

From Halloween 2009

Peter Pan and Captain Hook Holding Hands to Cross the Street

From Halloween 2009

"Wait for me Avewee!"

From Halloween 2009

Trick-or-Treating with Astronaut Finn

From Halloween 2009

They were also joined by 3 year old twins Ella and Evie.

Avery and Norah got to choose one piece of candy to munch on when we got home. Norah choose a Tootsie Roll Pop.

From Halloween 2009

Avery chose a piece of chocolate and talked on the phone with Nana and Papa.

From Halloween 2009

Peter Pan

From Halloween 2009

Captain Hook Running Away

From Halloween 2009

Norah is still very, very afraid of bees and being in places where bees might be. She doesn't like to be outdoors and especially doesn't like being in the grass. She was not at all excited about this photo shoot. She hid in the garage.

From Halloween 2009

It's after 8pm. The kids have been in bed for almost an hour. Nash and I have enjoyed a few pieces of candy. The trick-or-treaters stopping by the house are few. Whew! The end of another Halloween.

Hot Water

This has been our water heater since Wednesday evening.

From 2009.6

The other, much larger water heater started leaking. Luckily we caught the leak before the situation became catastrophic. The leaking water was just about to crest the catch pan when we noticed a problem. That night we drained the tank and the kids happily missed their evening bath. Actually bathing wasn't the most inconvenient part of not having hot water. Nash could shower at work, I could shower at the gym and the kids got shampoos and sponge baths in the kitchen with water warmed on the stove.

The most inconvenient thing was not having a working dishwasher. We lost hot water shortly after I closed the door to a full load of dirty dishes. This morning with hot water from the stove top, sponges and towels Norah and I washed those dishes plus the others we'd dirtied. Norah was in charge of rinsing. She was very helpful until she got bored and climbed off the stool and started emptying the cabinets and drawers she could reach.

This afternoon the wonderful plumbers arrived with a new hot water heater. It's in and working and we should enjoy hot water soon.

All in all being without hot water and the effort of finding and coordinating a replacement heater wasn't so bad when I compared our situation to that of my friend Elizabeth. She will be without any water for a week and currently has 2 sick pre-schoolers. Yikes!

Christmas in October

A few weeks ago my neighbor Mindy got a new toy. It's a Bosch mixer. Even before she ordered it we floated the idea of getting together to make Christmas cookie dough. We imagined the fun it could be to pull out prepared cookie dough the afternoon the kids suggest cutting and decorating Christmas cookies instead of dragging the kids through a multi-step process of making the dough and then doing what they consider to be the fun parts. We also felt a bit of pre-holiday pride with the thought that we would have a head-start with the Christmas preparations.

Just before noon Jon came over to help me schlep the kids, cookie dough ingredients and lunch across the street. We had lunch and cleaned up. The kids were a bit disappointed that we weren't going to make cookies. Mindy had the foresight to get a mix for the kids to make cookies in Beka's Easy Bake Oven. That activity kept them busy and fed and the kitchen clear for Mindy and I to work.

Mindy was generous to share her new "toy". The mixer has a serious motor and never groaned as we added pounds of butter and dry ingredients into it's bowl. In a few hours we made 2 double batches of cookie press dough, double batches of ginger bread and sugar cookie doughs and the filling for chocolate covered peanut butter balls.

In addition to the tangible produce of the afternoon, I took home the happiness of spending time with another mom/grown-up/friend. Being a mom, with the company of just children, is sometimes a lonely experience. Being with another mom like Mindy to share conversation, childcare and to collaborate on a project is a true gift.

Mindy wrote about this in her blog and has some pictures of our afternoon.