Time Is Flying By...

Well, today is December 2nd and I realize I haven't stopped to blog since November 22nd. I wish I could say I would do better but I honestly can't. So, rather than give up, I'll do the best I can to blog and be happy with that effort.

Thanksgiving Week:

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We truly missed having all our family for Thanksgiving dinner but we know they each had a great day doing their own thing.

On Tuesday, Nov 23rd, Claude and I headed to LaGrange in the morning to arrive at St. John's Pre-school by 10am. Bailey was having her very first performance in their Thanksgiving program and we were invited to attend. This was a big day for our littlest grandmonster. It was also a fun time for Hayden, watching his little sister and going back to his Alma Mater.

We arrived and Bailey was being left in her classroom and dressed in the Thanksgiving performance wardrobe.

Hayden, Michael and Andie joined us in the chapel. Michael was able to pass the time waiting for the program to start by teaching Hayden the fine art of Tic-Tac-Toe.

It wasn't too long before the little ones entered the chapel by classes.  Bailey's class was a couple of rows behind us. She was a bunch of wiggles and giggles seeing her family sitting in front of her. Andie had her hair done in pigtails and they seemed very appropriate for the day.

I have to say we were all very impressed with Miss Bailey the Entertainer. She was totally uninhibited. This little lady did the motions, swayed back and forth, grinned from ear-to-ear and sang her little heart out. Here are a few pictures of Bailey and her class.

After the program a light lunch was served. Michael headed to work and the rest of us stayed to eat and visit. Hayden was most excited to see Miss Amanda, his pre-school teacher last year. She had a baby the very last day of school last year and Hayden was sooooooo happy to see Claire. He took each of us over to meet Miss Amanda and Claire.

I was very impressed with how the pre-school handled this lunch. They had tables set up over the gym floor. Each table had a little fall centerpiece of some kind. Each parent was asked to provide a certain dish depending on which class their child was in. The parent was to bring two separate disposable containers with their dish divided between the two containers. Then each container could be placed on a table. When we sat down there was a plate with sliced ham, a container with fruit salad, a container with veggies and ranch dip, and a plate with rolls. The kids could eat from the containers on their table and not have to go through a buffet line. To clean up the containers could be tossed. There were dessert tables on either side of the gym so the kids could go pick a dessert after they ate their meal. Water was the beverage and some of the staff and moms were making sure water pitchers were full all the time on the tables. It was just a very efficient and easy way to do a meal for a gymnasium full of parents and lots of little kids.

After the meal, Claude and I took Hayden and Bailey while Andie stayed to help with clean-up. We drove Hayden back to his school first. Then Bailey thought she needed a run at the park before heading home. She loved pretending to be a monster on top of the playground equipment, making pretend food out of nuts and nut husks, and climbing on the playground equipment.

Tuesday evening, after a nice quiet time, Claude and I took Bailey home with us. This gave her a sleepover on her own and gave Hayden some Daddy and Mommy time without Bailey. Also, Hayden had a birthday party to attend in Wednesday.

Miss Bailey loved her car ride home. I sat in the back seat with her. She learned quickly there are lights above the passenger seats that turn off and on when you press the light. It was dark and Grampa had lots of fun driving with the psychedelic light show in the back seat.

After safely arriving in Sadieville, Bailey ran and played and watched a short show before we found her little bedroom in the basement storage room. She was quite happy to snuggle down in the Pac-'N-Play that is getting so much smaller each time she uses it. She still fills it with tons of lovies and blankets. The cutest thing about her arriving at the house was watching her roam through the upstairs looking for Tiny. That is Papa's little dog.

Thursday  we had all morning to eat and play before quiet time came. Lots of yogurt was consumed with lots of flax seed.  I purchased a bag of Cheetos for Bailey when we stopped for gas the night before. Bailey figured out the Cheetos were even delicious when dipped in her yogurt. Yum...???

 We spent a lot of time playing in the basement. We pulled out PlayDoh and  made tents. Claude even make corndogs for us for lunch and served us lunch in the basement.

After Hayden attended his birthday party and Michael got home from work, the Marx family loaded the van for their Thanksgiving trip to Sadieville. Hayden took appropriate care of his lovies. They would ride in style this trip in Bailey's car seat instead of packed in a suitcase.

Bailey was very happy to see her family again. As much fun as a little girl can have being spoiled by grandparents, there is still nothing like the love of your own family. Bailey was still working on that bag of Cheetos and she shared them with her family as they all snuggled in for a nice evening together.

Thanksgiving Day Andie had two great projects for the mini-Marx's to accomplish. They made turkeys out of PlayDoh for a centerpiece for our Thanksgiving table. They also made acorns for a snack for everyone. First the centerpiece. Andie's turkey is front left. Hayden's is center back with the entire can of green PlayDoh for the body. (Can you tell Hayden loves green!) Bailey's turkey is right front.

The acorns were so cute, so easy, and so much fun to make. Andie brought chocolate donut holes. Then she had a bowl of crushed up stuff that is all edible. I believe there were chocolate chips and crushed up chocolate candy and/or cookies. She also brought chocolate icing and pretzels. She gave each child a large spoon of chocolate icing. They held it is one hand and rolled one end of the chocolate donut hole in the icing. Then they pressed that iced end of the donut hole in the crushed up mixture. Then Andie gave them a broken piece of pretzel to put in the top of the crushed mixture for a stem. These things really looked like big acorns and they tasted yummy. Here is a picture of each of the kids with their acorn and a picture of Bailey serving the family. Poor Tiny really wanted one of them but you really aren't to give dogs chocolate. As you can tell by Hayden's face, there was a lot of tasting going on and these can be a bit of deliciously messy fun.

Papa joined us for Thanksgiving afternoon and early evening. We had a smoked turkey, rolls, mashed potatos and gravy, glazed carrots, stuffing and cranberry sauce, tossed salad and brocolli/bacon salad.

Andie also came armed with a Thanksgiving project for herself. She measured each of the mini-Marx's heads before bedtime on Thanksgiving night. Then, while they were nestled snug in their beds, Andie went to work creating two little masterpieces of head gear for Hayden and Bailey. Here they are in their reindeer stocking hats. The antlers are made out of mittens.

 Miss Bailey determined she 'was' a reindeer. I offered her reindeer food to eat (Cheerios in a bowl) and she proceeded to be a diligent and very hungry little Bambi.

Friday afternoon Andie and Michael took Miss Bailey home and left Master Hayden for his sleepover. Hayden spent a good deal of time checking out segments of the Star Wars movies, not necessarily in order. He really just wanted to learn the characters and what they looked like at different times in the process of the movies. We would watch a little bit of movie and then play other games.

One of Hayden's favorites was bringing all the train gear they have at our home up to the breakfast room area and building track systems.

We also played with the Lincoln Logs in my sewing room. They ended up being a track. Then Hayden needed an engine to ride on that track. Hmmmm...what to do.

I purchased a new box of little envelopes for when I make greeting cards. I had the old one sitting on my sewing machine to take back to storage. It was the perfect size. We were off on a project to make the perfect engine. Hayden would tell me what he needed to do on this engine next and we would brainstorm ideas to make that work for him. Eventually this project ended up at the card table in the family room and also included a coal car to pull behind the engine.

Here are pictures of Hayden holding the train and showing the side, then the bottom, then the top. He was very proud of that train and played with it the rest of the day. I took pictures of it with my cell phone and eMail them to Andie. She showed Bailey, who by this time was missing her older brother a lot. Bailey looked at Hayden holding his homemade train and said, "Oh, my Hayden Boy!!"

Saturday afternoon I drove Hayden to Shelbyville. Andie met us at the Taco Bell for dinner and then she took her little guy home.

On the ride over Hayden started to feel car sick. Just a little bit. I was very amused when in a most adult manner he said, "Ma, if you don't mind, could we find another road to ride on?"

It was great fun having a little sleepover with the mini-Marx's. We always enjoyed doing that with Nissa's kids when they were little and it is fun to have the Marxlings old enough to keep them over night.

Now, I would like to share with you "The Thanksgiving Miracle!!" 

Why is that "The Thanksgiving Miracle"? Usually I have to removed my decorating treasures off the coffee table when little ones are here. This Thanksgiving my decorations were left on the table and, other than the moving of the doily when bumped, it all stayed pretty much as I had placed it. It is just a Thanksgiving Miracle but also a sign that little ones are growing up a little more each visit.