Thanksgiving/Papa's Birthday

I realize Christmas is just 9 days away (yikes!) and I'm still posting about things that happened last month. My goal is to get caught up by the end of this week, so hang in there...

My dad's birthday is November 26th, so every few years his birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day, like this year. We spent the day at my parents' house so I could pretend to help my mom with the dinner preparations. She was really on top of things, so there wasn't much for me to do other than to help wash dishes and chop and stir a few things here and there. Dad and I always set the table together, and we did a little flower arranging, too. We had to get more creative with the seating arrangements this year because we had 13 people: Mom, Dad, Jonathan & Becki and their 3 kids, Becki's parents, and the four of us.

Here's what we ended up with:

Pieces of our flower arrangement As always, getting a photo of all four boys was a challenge. I mean, seriously, what is going on in the last picture?

Thanksgiving Feast

Once again I am far behind on my posting...

Tyler's Thanksgiving Feast for his preschool class was 3 weeks ago, just before Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun to join the kids in their classroom.

The kids all made little turkey masks. While we waited for all the parents to arrive, I took a couple photos with Tyler inspecting his turkey face.




They sang two songs for the parents--"Mr. Turkey" and "Five Little Monkeys" (see prior post). Well, actually their teacher Ms. Kerri sang the first song pretty much by herself. The kids were so bashful with all the parents pointing cameras and camcorders at them. I can't say I blame them.

Tyler has 12 kids in his class, but there are only 8 kids shown in these pictures because 3 were absent and one little boy just didn't want to sing.

The kids' stage fright did begin to subside once they started singing "Five Little Monkeys", a song that they love. Tyler spent the first verse or so scratching his nose so it looked like he was picking it. I kept mouthing to him, "put your hand down!" By the time they got to "three little monkeys" Tyler finally started doing some of the actions. The thing that cracks me up when I look at the next couple photos is that none of the kids are doing the same hand motions at the same time. They were all kind of doing their own thing. It was really cute.


After the kids sang their 2 songs, it was the parents' turn to sing a song that the kids sing at least once a week. It's called "Tooty Ta" and it involves putting your thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart, knees together, bottoms up, tongue out, eyes closed and turning around...all at the same time. I've heard Tyler singing it at home, but this was my first time hearing the whole thing, and obviously, doing all the motions.

Once we all sang our songs, it was time for eating the Thanksgiving feast. The parents brought food to share with everyone. Someone even brought Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, which were the biggest hit. The kids had made adorable turkey napkin holders and a placemat that listed the things they're thankful for. Tyler's placemat said, "I am thankful for: playing basketball and soccer. Also playing games, and of course Mommy and Daddy."

Tyler with his napkin holder and placement (held by Ms. Kerri off-camera)

That day I was particularly thankful for my sweet neighbor Michelle who kindly watched Nathan so I could attend the feast and focus my attention on my other little turkey.