Me Too You

Thankful

I was missing Robin a lot this Thanksgiving. We got to talk for a little bit, but she (being 4.5 hours ahead in the time zones) was bathing Hannah and Sam before taking them for the annual Christmas photos with the Penney cousins while we yawned and finished our breakfast. She got pulled away to dress the kids up in their fancy clothes. And I got pulled away to supervise the trampoline jumping that was happening at the Pieper-White household in Marisposa. But...although I miss her, I am thankful. Thankful that I have such a great family. Thankful that everyone is healthy. Thankful that I own a cell phone so I can call the ones that are far away. Thankful that there are many kids to coordinate photo shoots for and supervise on trampolines (and gossip about their love lives, Rob and Taryn!). Thankful that I have great parents who I was able to spend the holidays with, watching them shoot basketball and bake sweet potato lovliness and enjoy the kids and nap on the couch in the midst of it all (no, it is not the triptophan, Dad - you can sleep absolutely anywhere!).

Like last year, Lucas, Ben, Lily, Mika and Ava were pretty busy on Thanksgiving and the day after - tea parties, construction of train stations and tracks (and keeping Godzilla - AKA: Ava from destroying all the hard work), basketball, swinging, playing the Big Bad Wolf in the treehouse with the VERY wobbly bridge, jumping on the trampoline (Ava: "2-2-2-Go!" falling down, laughing), eating pie (and/or ice cream), slumber-partying. My mom, Kelly, Mika and I took our annual walk after Thanksgiving dinner. It was a good thing we had a reason to make us do it - the dogs down the street that needed to be let out. It was fun to hear Mika the middle schooler talk about her friends at school and the games they play with each other.

Here are a few of our photos from Thursday and Friday....

The Explorer Feast

Explorer Preschool, the coop preschool that Ben and Lily are attending this year, is truly amazing. The way the teachers talk to the kids....and to me is just...well, different. It is not rushed, it is not routine, it is not typical. It is caring and logical and exploratory. They don't care if the kids get messy. They welcome the kids independence and really encourage each child to be themselves. It is a child directed school, however they do have some group activities and routines (e.g., when arriving at school put backpack away/wash hands/get nametag from Teacher Konne and talk to her about whatever strike you that morning, group circle time - Ben and Lily are in the RED group together, when getting snack wash hands at the big sink). Maybe it has to do with maturity and readiness, but sometimes I think they have learned more there in the past couple of months than in the past 2 years at their "regular" school. Not really, but the teachers definitely have time to do more cool stuff with the kids because they have the parents there to help them.

Take, for instance, The Feast. For the whole month of November, the kids have been learning about the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. They have learned to dance like Indians. They have learned about growing corn. They have counted pumpkin seeds. They have strewn fall leaves all around the school - and, no, no one cleans them up, because it is Fall (we usually vacuum, but not during Fall leaves time).

The Feast took place on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving this year. I brought Ava and Jeff joined us too. We arrived at 10:45 and saw the kids come drumming out of their grouptime and stomping in an Indian-dance (I'm sorry, I just cannot get myself to say Native American all the time) to the outside playgroup. Lily was quite into it - she had painted her face A LOT (in fact, Renee, Blake's mom, told me that she had a hard time pulling Lily away from the face paints!) and was wearing a vest (made from a paper grocery bag that my committee, the Children's Education Committee had made) that she had painted the previous week. Ben was unadorned, but in the spirit to eat good food nonetheless. The kids got out instruments and drummed along with the "He-ho-ho-ho" Native American music. When they were ready to eat, we all went over to the tables set up in the grass. Tacher Konne carved the turkey (a paper bag, painted and decorated with feathers) which spilled over with popcorn (that Ben, Lily, Jeff and I had popped the previous week). The Feast began...no one worried much about what the kids ate and there was way too much food. We were just together. Like Thanksgiving should be.

Sunday morning

On Sunday mornings we generally try to get out of the house...slowly. Today, we headed to Target (birthday party shopping for our friend Donovan who is slightly older than Ben and Lily, at a mature 4), then to Starbucks (lattes for Mommy and Daddy) and then to Barnes and Noble (where we played with the trains, "talked shop" with the other twin mom there - her twins were 18 months old and we told her it would get better, and each picked out a new book - Incredibles for Ben, Princesses for Lily, Pooh for Ava, "The Thirteenth Tale" and the new Ann Patchett book for Mommy, a new Sci Fi for Daddy. The kids ate a snack together outside before we took off for home.

Reading with Nana and Papa

Nana Karin and Grandpa Steve (Papa or "Bapa" as Ava calls him) are voracious readers. This extends to reading with their grandchildren. The kids love a good book and the fact that Nana and Papa will read with them for hours delights them to no end. Ben can especially lose himself in a book, easily mesmorized by a story. Lily asks question after question. Ava has started to read to herself, turning the pages of her favorite books and babbling. I know this is the beginning of a lifelong pursuit.

Dressing up for Costco

Ben, Lily and Ava L-O-V-E to go to Costco. I think they believe it is Disneyland, to some degree. Here they are, ready for some shopping. The girls are wearing their new Hannah Anderson dresses. And Ben is displaying his sword skills (Power Ranger!). This photo really shows Ben and Lily's aptitude for acting these days. And, Ava, well...she's just soaking it all in.

Together Time with Ava

I get a lot of together time with Ava - I relish the one-on-one time with her that I rarely got to enjoy with Ben and Lily. (And, yes, I try to make up for that by spending one-on-one time with Ben and with Lily now too - more and more as they get older). But there is actually a class that Ava and I are taking called "Together Time." It is at Explorer Preschool, the great coop preschool that Ben and Lily (and I!) started in September. The Together Time class is sort of a preschool class...but not really. The ages of the kids are 15 -24 months, so it is not really school. But it is a preschool setting. And the teachers are great. They set out all kinds of cool stuff for the kids to do - we don't dress up for this class, as they usually get pretty messy...and that's the point! Today, Ava joined her friends Jaelyn and Emme on the tire swing - whee!

Beach Babes

We had a lovely day in Santa Cruz today. We skipped Lily's ballet class and met up with Dave, Marya and Aiden for some beach fun. A gorgeous day. Gotta love California in November. Ahhh.... this is the life.

Ava was a beach babe. Ben and Aiden dug holes to China. Lily found treasures "Look what I found, Mama." And passerbys commented on how sweet Ben and Lily were walking down the boardwalk hand in hand. They are such good buddies.