The last few weeks have whizzed by, here are some highlights.
We visited the Denver Botanic Gardens one last time before it moves on, this time at night for the illuminated experience. We loved it. I was glad FFM and I know the paths well, between sculptures it was pretty dark.
Travis had a business trip so we asked Granny Annie to come with us to our symphony season opener, Spooktacular! F's costume this year was a mad scientist. The dangley bits on his hat lit up and flashed and his test tube full of "molecules" glowed.
The symphony runs a low key costume contest, winners get to go on stage during the performance. See our little mad scientist on the right side of the photo. He was not shy at all and had plenty to say about his costume and molecules.
under the green arrow
Trick or treating with old and new friends was extra fun this year. I couldn't keep up and ended up taking a short cut home.
We went to a bowling birthday party, got there half an hour early, and killed time in a photo booth.
I had surprise surgery on my foot in early November. It required 2 weeks of zero weight bearing. That's HARD. I switched couches periodically for a change of scenery. I'm starting to walk this week, should be out of the boot in about two more weeks.
A good friend kindly loaned me her knee scooter. I would have gone crazy without it. Crutches work OK but it's hard to carry much when your hands are full of handles. I scooted my tiny path and only spilled a couple glasses of water.
Our most recent symphony was Symphonic ComicCon. We've been before and knew that wearing a costume was encouraged. Darth Vader was thrilled to walk in to the lobby to find his troops waiting for him. They asked for some time off and raise.
Now we're in the throes of a very low key Thanksgiving week. Being hobbled makes it easy to justify doing little to no prep. When I explained to F that we were having a traditional dinner this year he got upset and told us quite clearly he wanted fondue again. Fondue is now on the menu for Wednesday night with turkey to follow on Thursday. We also had to explain why people camp out in front of Best Buy and he remarked that he still didn't get it, why anyone would want to buy something that badly. Hard to argue with that.
We live in an established neighborhood, most houses are +/- 30 years old. However, a couple years ago the one stray empty lot sold and a new house was built. While a huge surprise to our entire neighborhood and HOA, the new house was built as an assisted living home. It looks just like a regular house on the outside, complete with garage doors, and the main area looks just like a regular kitchen, dining, and family room, but instead of huge bedrooms there are lots of small ones.
This was the first Halloween for trick or treating at the new house, and the kids ended up with bountiful treats, some lovingly hand decorated and wrapped by the residents. The kids asked if they could visit again and we parental units thought that was a great idea.
With a few days off from school, F and Emma both had large chunks of free time, at the same time, and we made today a craft day. The kids made Thanksgiving goodies to hand deliver to the "new house" residents (we also had several discussions about how they should not refer to them as such).
Emma's handprint turkey cards in progress
F's cards, also in progress
It takes 2 to stir a batch of pumpkin muffins
The staff and residents were a little confused why we were there at first. I kept explaining, emphasizing we were neighbors, and the kids just started handing out stuff. It suddenly clicked, smiles all around, and invitations to come back soon. I warned the staff the kids would likely be back before Christmas.
Right before our Fall break the Kindergarten classes at Lois Lenski Elementary put on a combo Thanksgiving / Grandparents Day show. It was AWESOME. Just like a little kid show should be. They all concentrated so hard they didn't quite smile enough, they had cute homemade (by themselves) costumes, and there was great singing and a little dancing.
There are 2 morning K classes and 2 afternoon classes which in aggregate makes for a fair number of students. They all needed their costumes packaged and their pilgrim buckles rubber banded onto their shoes. F's teacher asked me the morning of the show if I could come help out beforehand since her expected help, the reading teacher, had fallen ill. Sure!
Oh My. I have never fully understood the phrase herding cats until that evening. It's late in the day for these kids, they are hyped up to perform, and they all need a construction paper buckle attached to each shoe. Not any buckle, THEIR buckle that they made and then wrote their name on in Kindergarten style handwriting. And while they were all neatly lined up so the kids could easily find them the first three kids to walk in the door rototilled the piles and no one can find anything and everyone is getting anxious and that makes them more hyped up and LOUD LOUD LOUD. And for some reason very eager to pinch each other.
Now, I am not a rookie when it comes to wrangling 5 and 6 year olds. I've worked with kids for years and have been volunteering in the classroom every week since school started so know the drill. I know where to find extra binder clips and rubber bands, I know what spoon in the bowl means, and I know the right words to say to the pinchers. I'm not sure how it all happened, but we got every Kindergartener outfitted, some more than once after they rolled around on the floor and tore their buckles, lined up in the order they were supposed to be in, their additional costume parts neatly clipped with a binder clip, and out the door right on time. I give massive credit to the two amazing Kindergarten teachers (who even managed a lesson on what it means when we say "Break a leg").
Me stopping F for a personal break a leg + photo op on his way to the stage.
F's in the back row, roughly in the center of each photo.
Act 1 - The Turkey Act piles of costumes in front of the kids
Act 2 - The Indian Act
Getting ready for Act 3 - the Pilgrim Act
All four classes doing a costume change. The little piles on the floor are their clipped together paper hats and props that I helped wrangle beforehand.
Sadly it's been so long since I made a video I neglected to check the setting on the camera. No HD video, we'll have to make do with the blurry stuff. I'm also trying some new video uploaders so check the volume, one seems a bit low.
Albuquerque Turkey. I have had this song stuck in my head for weeks.
Take a Turkey Out to Lunch. Don't say a word! I love how they all whisper together and then all are loud together.
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