Our Thanksgiving...Take One

On Thanksgiving day we headed to Ryan's parents for a yummy lunch (followed by a very yummy snack, yummy snack, well...you get the picture). Ryan's mom loves to cook and always spoils us with lots of great food. Ryan loves to cook too (he gets it very honestly) and added to the meal quite nicely.

Throughout the day Mallory and Miles played with their cousins Rebekah and Ryan. It had been quite a while since they had seen each other. They made a tent in the basement, played games, and so much more. All four of the little people came to our house to spend the night. We had a good time watching Kung Fu Panda and eating my always welcome popcorn (my contribution to the day).

I love this picture of Mallory with my niece, Rebekah. She has grown up so much here lately. Mallory always looks forward to spending time with Rebekah since they have many of the same interests. As you can tell from the other picture, Miles enjoyed giving his cousin a whooping! For some reason he had more than his share of energy and decided that he was going to wrestle Ryan. I must say he gave him a run for his money!

I hope you all had a restful Thanksgiving wherever you were!

A Part of Santa's Sleigh

Today Ryan surprised M & M by bringing home part of Santa's Sleigh. They inspected it for the longest time and were excited that their daddy was fixing it for him. This is the bottom flap from Santa's sleigh and they were happy to have their picture taken with it (multiple times).

As you could probably imagine we are very excited about Christmas being right around the corner. Miles keeps asking when we are going to put our tree up and Mallory chimes right in at that moment. For the time being we are going to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with family and enjoy the food as well. I know I will have lots of pictures (if I am not too full from the yummy turkey and fall asleep) with many stories to tell.

My Two Spies

What can I say? Mallory and Miles have big imaginations. This morning they were running around our house dressed as two spies. It sure did make me laugh when they came running around the corner. Of course, I asked them if I could take their picture and they did not have a problem with it. I guess that has something to do with the nickname I have been given "Cyclops Woman" or "Auntie Cyclops". Oh well...I will take that nickname with pride:).

Annual Turkey Bowl

So every year for at least the past five years, our school comes together the day before Thanksgiving Break at 2:00 in the gym for our yearly tradition...the turkey bowl! The students look forward to this event and I believe that most of the teachers, if not all, look forward to it too. Our names are pulled out one by one and we get two chances to knock the pins down...WITH A FROZEN TURKEY!!! Sounds a little crazy...right? My name was pulled out second this year and I ended up knocking down six pins with throw number one and a big zero for throw number two. I have yet to knock all of the pins down! What a disappointment! I want the big prize! Oh well...maybe next year!!!

Unfortunately the gym is not the best place to take pictures. I looked across the gym from where I was and saw something neat...Mallory sitting next to her cousin Sam. It was cool! He is new to our school this year and is in Mallory's classroom.

A few years ago my teaching buddy had back surgery. Since that, she has not bowled. With the creativity of another teacher, she decided that each year a "family member" would visit and bowl for her. Last year was her cousin Earl and this year Grandma Stella from Missouri. As always the students were waiting for her name to be called and see who had come to visit. When she announced Grandma Stella, our principal wheeled her out in a wheelchair. From there "Grandma Stella" took the show over and bowled twice. The second time she put her fanny in the air and bowled through her legs...backwards. A very nice touch! I wonder who will be visiting next year???Mallory's teacher ended winning the face-off (three of the teachers knocked down all the pins with their first two chances). She ran around (as you can see) and high fived all of the students hands that were in the front. At this point...and every moment until this point...it was quite deafening in the gym. It makes me happy to be able to put myself out there for a short moment for the students. It is a fun time!

(Again...sorry for the quality of these pictures. The gym is not the best place for my camera!)

A Blooming Artist

Mallory is my little artist. It is awesome that she has won two high honors at school so far (and she is only in first grade!!). Many who know her see the artist within. She would rather have her art supplies out instead of playing any video game any day. I think that makes her very unique to her peers.

This is a picture of the "765 Engine" that her brother adores (alongside his grandpa). I think it is cute how she has written the number...it sure does make sense! She made this by outlining with the new glitter glue we recently purchased. She thanked me up and down for it. What can I say? She is easily entertained!

Mallory is planning to work the next few days to enter the Christmas card contest the Park Department in town has each year. She is excited because if she wins she could get about "20 bucks"! The great thing about that was I mentioned how that could go into the bank for her when she goes to college and she thought that was a good idea. Yippee!!

My Little "Reductor"

As many of you know, Miles LOVES anything to do with trains. It does not matter if it is a toothbrush with Thomas that plays music everytime he brushes (by the way Amber, we had to buy another one:), one of his many train shirts (he can never have enough of those), books with trains, I think you get the picture. I guess we are thankful to live where we do because he always tells me what kind of train just went by on the tracks and what kind of cars it was pulling. He truly is amazing with his knowledge. One of his favorite things to do is to go back to our bedroom and watch one of the train documentaries he has borrowed from his grandpa.


He is really getting into creating his own train tracks. It does not matter if it is his Thomas track or his GeoTrax, he takes turns and loves them the same. I was impressed with this one since he built it by himself. What a little problem solver!!!

Phew...the Carnival is Over!!!

For being the first carnival I (and the other officers) have ever been a part of, it went very well. We only had three people of ALL the volunteers not able to fulfill their shifts. I was super pleased with that! We ended up going through two big pots of chili and LOTS of prizes. I think the prizes were a huge hit this year.



There was a lot of work that went into the carnival but it was more than rewarding to watch the students and their families enjoying our hard work. Next year we already know there will be much more room and that means more new games! Ryan already has a game idea ready to go!



I was in charge of the photo spot for part of the night. It was fun watching the students come for a picture and who they chose to be with and how they posed. Lots of fun! One of my highlights of the evening was when one of my former "friends" (that is what I refer to past students as) who is now in middle school (I think eighth grade) came over to get his picture taken. He put his tickets into the box and said, "I want to get my picture taken. With you!" I almost cried! I was so honored at that moment. A few years back he wanted to apply for a certain program in Australia and asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him. I told him that I would as long as he promised to hold a koala bear for me once he made it there. He ended up being chosen and did hold a koala bear for me. That was so cool to see that picture in my inbox one day! But, it was even neater when he came back Friday night and asked for this picture. This one is going into a special place:).