Thanksgiving

I decided to take a quick break from our regular MFW themes. We will start again after Christmas. But I figured we would focus on Thanksgiving this week instead.   Bella did our Thanksgiving unit with us. EVERYthing James did, she wanted to do...I mean everything!

We spent the week focusing on being thankful, and WHO we are to be thanking for all our blessings. We also learned and reviewed about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and their first hardships leading up to that famous feast we all know of. Last year, we spent the whole month on a Thanksgiving unit, and made a lapbook to go along with our study. So we got that out and also used that to review. It was fun to watch as James' face light up when he was remembering all his work from last year, remembering the games he played, etc.

Below is a memory game we played last year for our Thanksgiving unit.  James had to say the verse before he "earned" the match.  We brought it out again this year.  He remembered the verses quickly.  I would try to read the card to remind him of the verse, and he would say "I know, I know!"  :)

James and Mark worked on this craft together. (to the right) The directions were to take the turkey template and decorate him in a disguise that represented our family in some wayDisguise...you know, so he won't be captured and EATEN for dinner.Mark is a big time camper and outdoors man.  In fact, he just took James on a camping/canoeing trip down a river, and they both had a blast.  So, they came up with the camping outfit to disguise him.

So far so good, he's still here.  :)

Then, on Thanksgiving Day, we packed the kids up along with our sweet potato casserole, and a cake...(I was baking a sour cream pound cake in a silicone rose pan and well, only the bottom half came out...~ no beautiful rose, and thank goodness for the store bought cake in freezer...note to self: just because you didn't have to grease the silicone rose pound cake pan the first time, doesn't mean that you don't have all the rest of the times...buy some baking spray!!!)

Here's a picture of the first one I made...As it was baking I was just imagining everyone exclaiming how beautiful it was, and oh my Kathryn, that's so great of you!!!  Hmm, what's that?
Pride comes before a fall...oh yeah....

 Anyhoo...
We traveled down to Savannah to spend some time with Mark's grandparents and family on his dad's side, and to eat! It was a great time of fellowship, since we hadn't seen since last year. In fact, last year about this time...they canceled the annual get together, because he was just getting out of the hospital recovering from a stroke. So it was good to see them well and we had a great time. James was VERY shy at first, but warmed up after the "feast" as he calls it. :) Mark's grandmom used to make and now collects porcelain dolls, so Bella was in 7th heaven. She was oohing and ahhing over all the "babies", but she couldn't touch. Finally we found her a teddy bear to play with. She put it in a play high chair, pretending to feed it, and then proclaimed that he was a mess! She got a napkin, and wiped him down. The kids had a great time playing hide and seek outside. They have a great yard with plenty of places to hide. And it was a beautiful day, great weather! Wish I had some pictures from the day, but I forgot my camera.

We spent the weekend hanging out, organizing, unpacking and putting up Christmas decorations...no shopping for us!  I am not a big shopper.  I hate shopping.  And I am not a morning person.  So the thought of waking up early, to fight hundreds of crazed bargain hunters is not my idea of fun.  In fact, I slept in!  And it was nice!  Then I got on the computer and got some great free deals from Currclick's Black Friday Freebie Giveaways.    Then I got inspired to redo our circle time (calendar,weather, etc) wall and reorganize the entire schoolroom.  It is getting crowded in the dining room.  And we are hosting Mark's side of the family for Christmas this season...and who knows how we would all fit in the dining room to get to the food...  So yesterday afternoon and all day today was spent cleaning out the playroom, and designating a spot for the schoolroom.  Pictures to come.  I am excited, there's a lot more room than we had before, and  tons of windows...I will be able to keep a better eye on Bella.

So...I guess I will blog all about that another day.  Have a great weekend!