Thanksgiving 2014

We stayed in town this year for Thanksgiving and had dinner with our extended families, including 3 grandparents - 11 of us in all; Sandy and Rob, Jamie and AJ, Grandma, Grandpa, Mormor, and the four of us.   The dinner was at Aunt Sandy's and it was a calm evening.   The turkey was the best I've ever had, the pies were delicious, and all of the side dishes were yummy.  The boys got to go sledding right outside Sandy's door after dinner (in the dark!) which was perfectly convenient and so fun for them on their zippy sleds.  The rest of us spent time looking through boxes of old family photos, playing games and relaxing.  We then took a walk over to grandma and grandpas new condo which is right across the street from Sandy's. They are moving near to Sandy.  Ironically, it's exactly one year ago that we moved them here from Buffalo.  Moving them closer to us is truly something to feel grateful for!   

Giving Thanks

“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot” ~Hausa Proverb

Kuba wrote these in school and I think this pretty much sums up the gratitude
 I too feel for my family and friends.  

Hi

We came to the Catskills this weekend to visit Uncle Pete and Aunt Jen.   They are expecting a baby boy in January and we are all so excited about it!  The baby shower happened to be at a beautiful spot on Hunter Mountain and this gorgeous rock foundation was way out in the back of the building.  There was blue graffiti spray painted on some of the rock wall - mostly oriental characters and the word hi.  It was quite beautiful and blue was a good color choice.  The boys had a ton of fun climbing the old foundation, and of course playing in the open spaces.  I just had to take photos. I am certain the new baby will be photographed just as much if not more.  Maybe Jen will even keep a blog? 

Animals....still Animals

I have been posting about animal play with these two for years now, and it continues to be one of their favorite ways to play, even though now they are 7 and almost 10 years of age.  I like capturing the depth and serious aspect of their play, and I am so glad that it still continues to involve their imagination and their love of animals.  They have been on a Wild Kratts watching marathon and I sometimes think when they grow up they are going to both be veterinarians and open a business together healing animals....or perhaps a toy repair shop to mend broken plastic creatures.  

   

Click here for another post about animals.

Click here for even another post with animals.

And a third post with animals. 

How about a fourth post regarding animals? 

Synonyms for Leap

Synonyms for leap
noun jump; increase 

surge      upsurge      upswing      bound      caper     boys 
escalation      frisk      hop      rise      skip      spring      vault 

White Boards

Anna has a white board at her office.   Fabulous if you ask the kids.  Both boys spend time drawing on it and using it to "teach" each other things.    Here is Anders explaining to Kuba what a skeletal array is.  Here is a maze Kuba created for Anders to meander through.   There have been many other enlightening and artistic white board expressions over the past few months, but these capture the gist of it.   

 

Taking Violin at School

Taking Violin at School

April Halprin Wayland

I open my case 

tighten my bow 

pluck a string to tune. 

I love to listen to it chirp across the echoing room. 

My friends are in class 

reading about 

a famous English king. 

But I am training this wooden bird upon my arm to sing. 

Anders has started violin at school, both in class and after school for private lessons.  Both boys have started piano lessons.   It's been a musical start to the year and I am so very very very happy they have started music lessons.  I think it's so important and I am curious as to how they will progress. Here is Anders early learning of Hot Cross Buns.   

Striped Playmates

                            

two boys in striped shirts

epic friends says my son Kuba

together they rule

My Wild and Wacky 7 Year Old

This boy.
This seven year old boy.
Let me tell you about him.
He's brilliant, imaginative, kind, joyful, and passionate.
He loves his family, his brother, his friends, and all animals.
He sings, writes, reads, draws, and dreams.
He loves.
He loves wildly, and gigantically.
He trusts.
He believes in magic.
He is afraid of the dark.
He still speaks with his imaginary friends, Eli, Bingo and Eggy.
He is enchanted by all sorts of things; bugs, colors, words, people.
He is generous and gracious.
He has good manners.
He likes to be cozy and to cuddle.
He loves fuzzy socks and soft clothing.
He LOVES things that are funny.
He loves to watch the show Wild Kratts.  He particularly likes Chris, the younger Kratt brother.
He is always hungry.
He says he is always tired.
He is growing like a weed.  His feet are enormous and all 8 of his front teeth have left his mouth.
He loves to play.
He loves school!
He especially loves music class.
He's learning to play the piano - and even though he says he doesn't like his piano lesson, each time he plays he is thrilled to death with himself and the music.
He practices and tries hard.
He likes to learn things.
He likes to do things for himself.
He likes to come up with his own ideas.
He's happy.
Really happy.

Happy 7th Birthday Kuba!!!!

Making Pencils

Kuba turned 7 on Sunday and it was fun getting ready for his birthday party this year.  He wanted a nature themed party - so we went to work figuring how to do that.  The boys chose pictures of animals from old discarded library books, and we set about sewing small paper books for everyone. We used brown paper bags from Trader Joe's because the paper felt so thick and sturdy. Then we cut up branches from our apple tree to make into wood pencils.   This was challenging because we had no idea what we were doing.  We had to crush up a gazillion real pencils to harvest out the lead and then drilled holes into the end of the branch pieces.  We glued in the lead and Anders whittled the tips down with his Crows Path knife to form a new pencil.  The pencils we made were surprisingly cool. Kuba loves writing and drawing, so we thought giving away books and pencils was a good idea and appropriate for first graders.  I have no idea how the other kids liked them, but I do know that both my boys have started filling their own notebooks using their cool new apple wood pencil.