Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thankful

We had a great Thanksgiving with our family. I think my favorite part was when Michael said, with no prompting I might add, "I'm fankful for all of you!" You just never know what they are absorbing, do you? Here are some pics of the festivites. Thanks to Mary and Ray (People's SMA for '08) for making the trip down. We enjoyed seeing you and the boys, I mean, young men!

Mike and favorite cousin Dave

The ladies in the kitchen

Emily and her godfather, Uncle Way

Mary and Alex get cozy with the sink

New favorite roasted onion recipe, very delicious

Learning how to carve from the master

Sophie and Emily

Waiting for mince pie


There's no such thing as too much whipped cream, is there?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Technical Difficulties

We are still here, but I am having problems downloading from my camera. I am a visual person, and a post without pictures is boring to me. My photo software was upgraded, which has turned out to be a downgrade in my case. I'll try to do justice with words alone.

Sophie and I scored free tickets to HSM2-Live at the Fox Theatre. It was her first time seeing anything at the Fox, and she was understandably impressed. The show was cute, although no Zac Efron=no true entertainment for Mom! We stopped at the Varsity afterward, and she really enjoyed that. I cannot remember if I have ever been to the downtown Varsity, what a sheltered life I have led.

Peg and Brendan (aka Blendan) are in town this week, and we have enjoyed that. They came over early yesterday morning to stay with Michael while I took Emily to PT. When I got home Peg was reading People magazine in the family room, uninterrupted, while the boys totally entertained each other. Our Thomas set was such a big hit, we let Brendan take it home to Grandma's, where I've heard he's had some competition for it from Grandpa.

Today was the twins Thanksgiving Party at school. The kids stood on risers in the gym to sing a song...all except for Michael, who ran crying to me. His teacher told me he was distressed about the pilgrim hat, and it went downhill from there. Emily sang all the songs, complete with arm movments like a champ. Sophie's Thanksgiving Feast is tomorrow, and she has the first line in the little play they perform in the classroom beforehand. She's got it all memorized, so she rejected my offer to make her cue cards.

That's about all for now....this weekend we will be resting up and getting ready for the Liotta's. Should be a fun Thanksgiving week!

Saturday, November 01, 2008

By Myself

Michael and Emily are in the "I do it all by myself" phase, which is time consuming, but necessary. Sophie is in a different search for independence; last evening at the neighborhood pizza party she informed me that she, Maeghan, Bella and Lily would be trick or treating all by themselves. I tried hard not to laugh outright, as I knew none of their mothers would allow this either. This was an ironic turn of events, as just an hour before Sophie asked to speak with me privately, guess she didn't want Terry to hear her angst. Maeghan had asked her to trick or treat on the bus ride home, but so did Lily and Bella. Sophie informed Maeghan she couldn't be just her friend all the time and that she was going to choose L and B. So Maeghan was miffed and Sophie was worried. Turns out they all hung out at the party, as I told her they would, and the three other girls ended up running off without Sophie. Sophie happily went trick or treating with Sara, another neighborhood friend, and her mother. She didn't want to stick with me and the twins, our pace was certainly turtle-like. Terry was on candy duty at our house, he enjoyed dressing like the Grim Reaper and scaring the little ones. She ended up going to more houses than she ever has and collected a huge haul of candy.

I asked her later how it happened that she ended up with Sara, and she said "It's ok Mom, I really liked trick or treating with her. Those other girls were running crazy from house to house, but me and Sara took our time and we always said thank you." Does a mother's heart proud to hear that!

Sophie and the witches, from left to right, Maeghan, Bella and Lily

Princess Emily, or as she called herself, "A bootifull balaweena"


Mike trying on Daddy's mask

Ahoy mateys!

Trying to be scary like the pumpkins