Giving Thanks

We are a little behind on the traditions this year. Instead of our Thanksgiving ABCs FHE, I was trying really hard not to die. So today, when I realized "Oh hey, I didn't die!" I decided it was time to make up for lost time. I even set aside my totally awesome praline sweet potatoes to get this finished.

This year, I had the kids fill out their own terms, including Baby. Hey, she's in preschool now. It's time she start earning her keep. Besides, the creative spelling is always a big source of entertainment.

Apples (because we're original)
Braneys (brownies, actually)
Cupcakes
Dinosaur National Park
Elephant
Fiona
Grandparents (originally spelled "granperins")
Hogwarts (Boo's contribution)
In-laws
Jessica (that came from the Man…he's so cute)
Kookies (Baby's choice so we let the spelling slide)
Legos
Mommies (I'm dealing with a bunch of kiss ups)
Nutella
Our children
Ponies
Qilt (meant to be a quilt)
Ridonkulessnes (yeah, I have no idea, either)
Sewing classes
Tillie (our dog)
Umbrella (writing the letters was losing it's appeal so Baby opted for a drawing instead)
Venes (supposed to be Venus, but I'm not sure why)
Wizards (Boo, again)
X-istence ('cux x words are hard)
You
Zelda (our kids are nerds)

What are you thankful for today?

The Great Turkey Escape

The Boy cane home with a school assignment where he was supposed to save a turkey. This particular turkey wasn't awaiting execution on death row or frozen solid. It was a cartoon turkey that needed a to escape hungry dinner guests. The task was to disguise him before Thanksgiving. We were encouraged to choose something that had special meaning to our family.

So the Boy turned his turkey into a ninja.

What better way to get past the holiday than by dressing as a master of invisibility?

Thankful for Tuesdays

Sorry, no Teaser Tuesday this week…I'm not reading books right now as I frantically try to write one. Instead, I'm going to share the results of our annual tradition for the FHE the week of Thanksgiving: Alphabet Blessings.

As a family, we go through the alphabet, one person at a time, and say something that we are grateful for. We start with the oldest and end with the youngest. (And the youngest usually needs some help…) I love it because although some things are the same from year to year, there's always new blessings that show how the kids are growing. This year it was slightly different in that my nephew was here to participate.

Apple pie (mmmm…)
Boo and books
Chocolate (mmmm…again)
Dogs
Eggs (as in the ones that made the birds angry)
Flowers
G. family (they're all pretty awesome)
House
Intelligence
Jump roping
Karate (the Boy just started taking lessons and is mildly obsessed)
Lollipops (Baby didn't need any help picking this one)
Mom (awww, shucks…)
Nachos
Ostriches
Playing
Quentin
Ruby and Max (I hate that show…)
Son
Tilly (our rent-to-own dog; she'll be getting her own post soon enough)
Underwear
Villains (when I asked Boo why she picked this, she said it was because bad guys make the story more interesting)
Water to drink right after karate (see? obsessed!)
Xylophones (because they make music)
You
Zumba!

What are you thankful for today?

FHE: 2nd Annual Alphabet Blessings

Last year for Family Home Evening before Thanksgiving, we had an activity called Alphabet Blessings. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it so I decided to try it again.

Opening Song: Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.

Opening Prayer: The Man.

Lesson: Since the kids were a little on the weepy side, I opted to skip the story that we read last year and instead we talked about what it means to be thankful. The Boy was getting very excited about it and even sang us the Alphabet Song (and did remarkably well!).

We started with the Man (because, as I found last year, when you're dividing the alphabet up in fourths, most of the tricky letters fall on whoever goes first). There were lots of similarities to last year's list but also some surprises. The letter D no longer stood for "diapers" (since no one around here wears them any more) and was now replaced with "drums." Da Boo was a little disappointed when her father declined her suggestion of "rainbows" for the letter R and chose "Rock Band" instead. Same story with the letter U no longer belonging to "unicorns" but my computer genius of a husband naming "Unix."

Funniest moment came when the Boy was asked to name a blessing for the letter X. Without hesitation or prompting, he shouted out "Xbox!"

The Man: And what do we do with the Xbox?
The Boy: Play Rock Band!

Boys...And really, Rock Band is the only game we play on the Xbox. Mostly, we play on the Wii.

Closing Song: Twinkle Little Star (because it just wouldn't be FHE without it).

Closing Prayer: The Man again, to avoid any arguments.

Treats: Root beer floats. Despite the chilly weather, da Boo was set on having ice cream.


**Thanks to everyone that left comments, emailed or called. I really, really appreciate your concern (and plates of cookies). Baby is doing well, just not liking all the squeezing going on since these contraction-thingers took over. And the Man made me promise not to do any more cakes for at least a month. *sigh* I like cake.

FHE: Alphabet Blessing

Okay, we actually got to have FHE tonight, despite the tears and tantrums (and that was just me). Just kidding. It was actually kinda nice.

Opening Song: Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam (da Boo's choice but the Boy is learning this is nursery and it's pretty cute to watch).

Opening Prayer: the Boy (with Mommy's help).

Lesson: I got this from my awesome fhe4children group. To start, I read a story from the Friend about seeing that you are very blessed. During this, both da Boo and the Boy had a meltdown of some sort, although thankfully not at the same time. Then I had a paper with the alphabet on it. We went down the whole thing, taking turns saying a blessing we were thankful for that began with that letter. Daddy got to go first. (Hint: if you try this, have an adult go first because they end up with almost all the vowels and hard letters!)

A - apples

B - baths

C - the Boy (his real name begins with this)

D - diapers (the Boy's choice, with da Boo's help)

E - elevators

F - family

G - Grandparents

H - hair

I - ice cream

J - da Boo (real name)

K - (had to skip due to tantrum)

L - lunch

M - Mommy (awwww...)

N - night time

O - olives

P - Pop-pop (the Boy's favorite person, my dad)

Q - quiet (as the Boy screamed)

R - restaurants (because I don't have to cook!)

S - suckers

T - trains and trucks (the Boy couldn't decide which he liked better)

U - unicorns (da Boo's suggestion)

V - Valentine

W - water

X - xylophone

Y - You!

Z - zippers

Closing Song: Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Closing Prayer: Daddy.

Treats: Daddy made everyone hot chocolate in Mommy's CocoMotion. We sipped this while playing the Wii. (Can I just say that I am a waaaaaay better cook in Cooking Mama than in real life?)

So what are some of your alphabet blessings?