Music

This morning, K decided to take a break from piano practice to play a duet with Q. It was a very modern piece! Check out the Liberace dos both boys are sporting. ;-) The rest of the day has been a whirlwind of math, origami, art, spelling, and Native American tales. Once R gets home, our Thanksgiving preparations will begin in earnest.


Yesterday, the cabin "field trip" was a board game party in one family's basement. The boys had a blast playing games (Animal Soup, Cadoo, Trouble, Guess Who?, among others) with their friends and the moms. Chinese food was enjoyed by all. Afterward, it was off to G's gymnastics, and back home for game play with dad while mom was at her ESL class.

Here A protests the assumed rules of Trouble:


K and G played a lively game of Cadoo with two of their friends:


Q and his friends played with the big box of blocks:

Chevre

On Monday, we had the cabin field trip to the beautiful Elodie Farms. We met the owner, Dave, the goats (32 in all), their guard donkey, Ed, and their pushy field mate, a paint named Sadie. We were able to tour the milk room and the little kitchen where the milk is pasteurized, made into cheese, and stored until it makes its way to the local farmer's markets, grocery stores, and restaurants. Afterward, the boys and their friends fed the goats sweet tarts, hard bread, and pretzels before we had our own delicious snack of various cheeses with crackers. My favorites were the Jalapeno and Sweet Pepper, while K and G particularly enjoyed the mild soft goat cheese. We weren't able to milk the goats this time as we had hoped because all of them were pregnant and no longer producing. Apparently goats are very, very fertile; it's unusual for them to not get pregnant.

The day started out sunny but cold, and soon became cloudy and very cold, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. We did get in some chicken holding time, so all was not lost. Any day is a good day if it includes holding a chicken!

Q is now an officially mobile baby! He is crawling, and trying to pull up, and can make it just about anywhere in the house. It's now time to really baby proof, something I have resisted with each of my kiddos until the absolute last minute. Well, it's officially the last minute! ;-) This week has been filled with lots of tears of frustration as Q tried to reach these latest milestones, and now that he has, he's back to his usual friendly, happy self.

My Christmas spirit is raging, as the boys will attest! We've been singing and listening to Christmas carols, and have rounded up all of our Christmas stories. We have our own plans for Thanksgiving this year, which don't include the Macy's Day Parade (we're saving that for a less crazy year, 2009 perhaps), but do include yummy food, a big bike ride, and lots of games. It's strange to think that we won't be with family this year, but maybe we'll set up the web cam on the laptop and invite our families over that way!

Sweet Somethings

K passed his yellow belt test! Woohoo! He was a tad nervous, but felt quite prepared.

G hopes to test for his blue belt in a few weeks. Sometimes, it totally surprises me that two of my boys have entered the big kid stage. Crazy!

A's dental work was a success. It was a difficult experience, particularly for a newly 3 year old, but he handled it well. Hopefully, our dental woes are fully behind us, at least until we enter the orthodontia period.

Q is 6 months!! He is up on his hands and knees, trying to get mobile, though he ends up going backwards as much as forwards. He puts all of his weight on his legs, dashing my hopes that he won't walk for another year. ;-) He's also begging for solids, so he's had a bit here and there of organic banana, avocado, and squash.

We won a year's worth of classes at G's gym! I never win raffles/drawings, so this was a very pleasant, much appreciated surprise, particularly given all of the expenses we've had as of late.

Improv and ESL are going well. One of these days, I'm going to quit stretching myself and just do things that come really, really, insanely easy to me. Like sleeping. Or drinking hot beverages. Just coast a bit, ya know?