November pics

Early on in November Joseph and I joined an event at the Ilsley Library.  The new librarian organized a fairy making workshop for school age children on a Friday when the schools in the area were off, and we joined the fun.  It was a great time.  Joseph loves this kind of thing.  He worked on his fairy house for about an hour and a half!

 

 

We had a fun, wild time at a Jon Gailmor concert that was fundraiser for Joseph’s school.

 

And then the Friday before thanksgiving Joseph, Bob, and I headed to Philly to visit my grandmother Selma and the rest of the family.  This was our first time driving straight through during the day, which made me very nervous.  In the end it went better then I expected—but in a strange way.  Joseph managed to stay entertained most of the time, with only a couple truly difficult moments, but he NEVER FELL ASLEEP.  This was a huge shock to me.  I would never have thought it was even possible for a child to be in the car for 8 hours and not sleep.  I still sleep in the car all the time!   Confirmation he does not have my sleeping genes.

It was really wonderful to see everyone!

 

Joseph was on a huge crafting binge and was wonderfully behaved for a lot of our visit, which made lots of sitting around and chatting possible.  Joseph drew and cut out numerous intricate life size images, such as a pirate and a skeleton.

 

We hit up a park.

Found some baseballs and practiced a bit.  (T-ball this spring!)

And he found a $20 bill!!  Crazy.  He took us out to Indian food that night (well 20 didn’t quite cover it, but we didn't mind)

And we had a great visit to the Martin guitar factory!

And then we headed home.  Again, pretty well behaved, but NO SLEEP.  This is the kind of thing that kept him occupied (tying random stuff together to make a dirty sock launcher). 

 

Quick stop to take some pictures!

 

And that’s all for now!  Hope everyone had a great holiday and I’ll keep on posting soon.

Final Score (holiday cooking wins and losses)

I usually like to cook—or experiment in the kitchen, as I think of it.  But I don’t really enjoy cooking under pressure.  So, at times like xmas, I always dream a bit too big and get myself in over my head.  This year things started of with a couple fails and I though we were headed for culinary disaster, but in the end the tally ended up in my favor ;-)

Losses:

1. First batch of fudge
2. second and third attempts at re-canning our maple syrup for gifts

Wins:

1. Pecan pie
2. Second batch of fudge
3. Ice cream sundae bar (Included in this list because it still involved planning and shopping, but I’ll admit it’s pretty fool-proof.  I probably should do this kind of thing more often!)
4. Maple granola
5. Apple pie
6. Pineapple upside-down cake
7. First batch of maple syrup

Dear Santa,

“Dear Santa,

1) Green guy

2) ninja
3) pirate

4) microscope

clay

legos  and turn over [stuck in at the top]

[on the reverse, of which I did not take a picture] toy story 3 toys

pirate stuff”

(you can also see that it is framed with toys he cut out of catalogs and taped to the letter)

Kids crafting, story-time, Halloween, hiking

 

A couple of my friends and I get together when we can for craft nights.  We leave the kids and enjoy some adult conversation, snacks, and crafyness.  Well, my little guy, not liking to be left out and having begged to join me for years, finally came up with the idea of having his own, “kids craft night,”  Always thinking ;-)  I thought this was a great idea.  It took quite awhile to pull together (seems as our children grow things get busier and busier) but finally we made it happen. 

 

We made “stuffies.”  Super simple fun project.  We drew on linen with fabric markers then cut out the picture and a back, sewed them up, and stuffed ‘em.

Here’s Joseph’s version of Buzz Lightyear.  He actually sleeps with Buzz and is a little bit attached to him, which is way more interest then he ever showed in any other stuffed animal.  This makes me quite happy.

 

April organized one of my favorite moments ever.  Could there be anything more wonderful?

 

Of course, Halloween, a very, very important time of year for Joseph, has come and gone.  This was our new children’s librarian, who we adore, doing a Halloween story time.  See how she matches the book?

 

Joseph was a cop.  A cop who does not pose for pictures.

Just before Halloween Middlebury hosts a party called the “Spooktacular.”

 

We had a blast!  Old fashioned games and obstacle courses, hot cider, TONS of kids, and of course tricker-or-treating up and down main street.  Joseph also had his picture taken for the local newspaper which was an important milestone, at least for me, who reads each and every edition.

Here is a link to the Addy Indy photostream (a couple of the other kids pictured are second? cousins on Brad’s side): http://www.flickr.com//photos/addisonindependent/show/

 

Joseph got the Berenstein Bears books out of me and has been loving his loot.

On the real Halloween ;-)  We had a blast tricker-or-treating all over Bristol and handing out candy with Dad and (grandpa) Bob.

(Before hunting season) we enjoyed a hike behind our house with friend Ben.  We love exploring and it is so wonderful to have this right out or back door!