Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving with family and friends!  A^4 spent the holiday at Grandma Collene's, Auntie Julie's, and Grandpa Chuck's.  Then on Saturday, the kids and Mommy had a date with Ms Annie, a day care teacher at Ayson's school (lives just up the hill from us). Grandpa Chuck came over on Sunday to watch football with Daddy and to celebrate Daddy's birthday a couple of days early.

Spaghetti dinner is fun time!


Ayson has been working on math at school and he wrote in his journal and wanted Mommy to take a picture so that Mommy could send the picture to his teacher, Mrs Long.


Ayson and Daddy hunting.  Ayson and Daddy are not upside down, Ayson explained that they are just far away from the deer and bear and turkey.  The lines coming from the gun are the bullets.


More math


Wednesday night hugs with Grandpa Ric's cousin, Uncle John, (no idea why he is called uncle and not cousin...)


Addie eating a yummy doughnut from Auntie Julie


Adam and his chorus line :)


Thursday morning breakfast with the cousins.


Addie had a great time playing with Nana (Babs)




The boys zoned in to Minecraft


Uncle Dan, Cousin Katie, Auntie Fran, Auntie Julie, Collene, and Adam


Addie wanted to eat sitting next to Nana and Addie did a great job on her dinner!  Thanks, Babs!


While Mommy, Auntie Fran, and Uncle Jay sat at the kid table :)


Addie cuddling with Great Grandma Barb after dinner.


Mmm, pie!


Mommy took a picture of a fox in Auntie Julie and Uncle Dan's backyard.


On Saturday, Ms Annie invited us over to help decorate two trees and to have hot chocolate and popcorn.  Yum!


Tada!


Ms Annie also gave the kiddos gifts: their very own elf (that they could touch...unlike the elf on a shelf) AND she gave them a box full of GEMS (fun rocks, crystals, and amber).  The kids had a great time playing at Ms Annie and Mr Bob's house.  Thank you for the enjoyable afternoon!

The kids also helped Ms Annie set up her Santa and Mrs Clause figurines.  The elves were Ayson's creation.


The kiddos working in their thank you cards to Ms Annie


Ayson is wearing a new pair of suspenders that Grandma Collene found for him :)


Hugs with Grandpa


Happy Birthday, Daddy!


Kisses!

Playing, Skating, and Ticks, Oh My!

Another great week filled with family fun has flown by!  Daddy had a work meeting in Seattle Wed through Friday and the kids (and Mommy) missed him terribly!  Ayson wanted to read the book "Daddy Loves Me" just about every night :)

The only "bump" during the week was that Mommy found an engorged tick on Addie!  Ugh!  She is now on antibiotics and hopefully that will take of everything.   Unfortunately, little kids can't get the "good/strong" antibiotics and the Dr said that little is know about Lyme and other tick diseases in kids...not very reassuring.  Mommy has no problems with snakes, most spiders, and even cockroaches/palmetto bugs (during our SC stint) but ticks are just too much for Mommy to handle!

Ayson reading his weekly school book on Tuesday.  This week was "My Cat."  "My cat likes to run on the grass, My cat likes to run up the hill, My cat likes to..."  Ayson told Mommy that his favorite sentence was "My cat likes to sleep on my lap."  The kids are constantly trying to coax Mason to sit on their lap (with little success as the kids won't sit still).


Daddy left mid week for a meeting so we 3 had fun at home.
We played games


and colored.
Check out Ayson's great shark picture that he drew free hand!


He also drew robots for us all to color!  Thanks, Ayson!


On Friday night, there was free skating for the elementary school kids at the Onondaga Nation ice rink, so we went with Sunshine and Khanlen.
This was Addie and Ayson's FIRST time on skates!  Mommy hadn't skated in years and it was so much fun!


Ayson had a BLAST and did not cry once or get discouraged when he fell.






Addie was not so certain about skating but Mommy was able to coax Addie to go around the rink 1 and a half times :)  Addie's skates are hand-me-downs from a friend...the skates had never been worn before!


Ugh.  While getting Addie ready for bed Friday night, Mommy found an engorged tick on Addie's scalp.  Of course Daddy was not home and Mommy did not have ANYONE to freak out at :) Mommy was mostly freaking out (internally as she did not want to alarm the kids) that the tick was not found sooner...we had not really been outside since Sunday other than a little trampoline time and walk around the yard (on the short grass in the lawn) during the week.    Luckily Mommy did find the tick as when Mommy felt the "bump" on Addie's head and parted Addie's hair, the tick just fell off (it was done feeding...great).  Mommy has a local friend who was diagnosed with multiple co-occurring diseases she contracted when she was bit by a tick and infected with Lyme disease. It has been a life long battle for Mommy's friend :(

Mommy wanted to share the gross tick picture with everyone...to gross you all out too.  If Mommy must suffer, ALL will suffer!
SO, first thing Saturday morning, we 3 went to the Drs so that Addie could get antibiotics.  


On Saturday afternoon, Ayson had a play date with a Emmett, a child in Pre-K and the after school program.  Emmett lives just down the road but far enough away that we have never run into Emmett and his family.  While talking to Emmett's Mom, Mommy found out that they also like to kayak at Labrador Pond and hike to Tinker Falls (our favorite places)!

Remembering the Important Things

This week has sure had some pretty significant solemn dates in history for A^4th:  the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, Veterans Day, Great Aunt Freda, "Auntie" Kathy's Mom, and Grandpa Ric passed away this weekend in 2013, and now the bombings in Beirut and Paris, and ALL violence that we try to shield our children from.

We are sending our love to all of our friends and family and to all who have been touched by violence.

A^4 had Gordon Lightfoot's song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on repeat on Tuesday and Wednesday and Mommy toasted with the name sake porter.  The kids got a kick out of learning that Mommy was just a baby in November 1975 and could not even walk yet!

Ayson likes the below youtube video the best because it shows actual ships:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw&list=PLBDCC86BA553BFA6A&index=68



Mommy and the kiddos had Veteran's Day off from work and school so the kiddos hung out in their jammies most of the day while Mommy put together the below hotwheels track (for the 2nd time) AND mopped the floors.  The kids were ALL over Mommy while Mommy was mopping.

Sigh...Mommy USED to mop during nap times OR during the days where she would get out of work early (before the kiddos got home).  The kids missed out on watching Mommy using a "real" mop on Tuesday afternoon but they did get to watch her use the "Shark" steamer mop on Wednesday.  Of course, the kids had opinions on the Shark mop and immediately wanted to walk on the wet floors... "Mommy, that's not a mop, it looks like a vacuum!"

Ayson making jumps for the hotweels cars





Mommy always forgets to mention this on the blog but Addie will constantly tell Mommy (and Daddy too...but not as much ;) that she loves her:  "Mumma, guess what?  I love you!"  OR "Mumma, Mumma, MUMMA...I Love you!"
Mommy and Daddy make sure to tell the kiddos (and each other) everyday that we love them.

Addie had loads of fun with the racetrack too!


We also broke out the crayons and colored since the weather was pretty crappy on Wednesday.  Ayson and Mommy helped Addie color the dinosaur (and other pages too).


Most of the tents and tunnels made it out on the floors too...AFTER Mommy mopped :)


On Saturday, it was brr cold and it started to snow!  A^4 ventured outside to watch Daddy practice shooting his bow and while outside, we could see that is was snowing in the valley and the snow was headed our way!  You can't see the mountain in the below picture because of the snow.
Mommy was surprised to see blooms on an old sunflower stalk!  On Sunday, we saw a purple coneflower and lavender in bloom too!


Ayson wanted a picture of him and Mason lounging on the Boys Room couch :)  Believe it or not, Mason is purring.  Mason LOVES to cuddle with Mommy and the kiddos (Daddy too IF Mason has no other option) and he loves to sleep next to the wood stoves.


Addie playing Candy Land



Sunday was absolutely gorgeous and A^4 made sure to get outside and enjoy it!
We played with chalk and bubbles...


then, after Daddy cut down the sunflower stalks, Daddy made a teepee for the kiddos.  How cool is that!  Daddy secured the stalks with grape vines :)




The kiddos playing in their new fort!


Addie, Daddy, Ayson, and Daddy's target/seat


Ayson's school pictures came home this week.  Our first Chick Pea is growing up!!


A bit of school work:
Mommy was happy to see the book on our Veterans.  Thank you to ALL of the Veterans in our lives!!!!
Yes, Ayson's favorite color (this year) is orange...probably because Daddy (mostly) and Mommy wear lots of orange t-shirts from our Clemson days :)




Upside down... but a summary of the weather for October in Lafayette NY!




Mommy LOVES the below page!  Ayson had to write out the names of the pictures he drew for the letter "T"