Happy Thanksgiving!

"Life is too short and you never know how many more times we will be able to get together like this. We need to get together every time we can." This is what my Uncle Bill said just before saying grace prior to our Thanksgiving feast this afternoon. My Uncle Bill is one of the greatest guys I know. His sense of family is so strong and it tends to rub off on all of us. My immediate and extended family have always been one of the most important things to me. Now that my children share in this family, it is even more important to me that we get together every time we can.

Today was such a great time! My Uncle Bill (my mom's younger brother) and Aunt Vida hosted Thanksgiving at their house this year. My Grandmother, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins were all in attendance. We spent the afternoon visiting with one another, laughing and joking. It was great! We even made plans for a get together this summer so holidays are not our only time to see each other. Unfortunately we missed Mike, Michelle, Shane and Paul--a police officer, undertaker and an ER tech that were not able to take the day off and Paul who spent this holiday with Allison's family. We missed you all. Hope everyone had a super Thanksgiving!!

Opening Night

Last night was the GREATEST!!! Our preschool put on a play. Rabia, Treasa and I directed the play Stone Soup with our preschool kids. The toddlers, two year olds, three year olds and four year olds took part in our play. Three of the four year old class members were our "travelers" and the remainder of the students were townspeople. Each class made their props as art projects and brought them out as a class and put them in the Stone Soup pot. Lydia and Emily's class (the three year olds) made carrots and potatoes that they brought out to the soup pot. At the end of the play, all of the kids stood and sang a Loaves and Fish song that tied into the play "lesson." Following our night of drama, we hosted a pot-luck dinner where the school provided the main dish of our own stone soup and all of the families brought a side dish. It was terrific!!

Happy Birthday Erin!

I am starting to understand that things "start" in Kindergarten that I was not quite expecting yet. Birthday parties are one of these things. Ryan just turned 5, but children in his class are already turning 6. We were invited to our first classmate birthday party today. Erin is a little girl in Ryan's class who actually turned 6 a couple of weeks ago, but had her birthday party today at Pump it Up (Harrisonburg's answer to not having a Chuck E. Cheese). They are known for their inflatable playground. They have slides, a large jumping trampoline thing, an inflatable obstacle course, and a flag catching ramp. After letting the children loose to play for an hour, the staff of Pump it Up bring you into the party room where they serve pizza, cake and ice cream or one or two of these items. The birthday child is then seated in a large inflatable throne and is adorned with a crown while they open their gifts. It is a very exciting time for the birthday child as well as the children that are attending the party. Ryan has already decided that he is having his 6th birthday party at Pump it Up:). We shall see.

Twins Party

Last night was our twins club (ARCMOM) holiday party. We decided to have our holiday party in November as a result of the fact that the hall where we have the party was booked up for December, but we still wanted to have the party before Christmas so we could offer a photographer again for family Christmas pictures. In addition, the photographer took a group picture of everyone that came to the party. 11 of our members and their families came to the party. As our gift to our MOMs (Mothers of Mulitples) we made little tote bags with the words "World's Greatest MOM Hands Down" painted on one side and with some help from some teenagers, the kids painted their handprints on the other side of the tote. Not only was this a great gift for the MOMs, but it was a neat activity for the kids as well.

Pictured below are Lydia (standing), Emily and Ryan with their good friends, Abby, Glenn and James (next to Ryan) (my good friend Kara's kids). James and Glenn are five days older than Ryan and Abby is 5 weeks younger than Lydia and Emily--I "caught" my twins from Kara:)