Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall has quickly turned into winter around here. We've been pokey homeowners and slow to rake our leaves. In our yard we only have evergreen trees, but we get leaves from the neighbors and our pine sheds a few needles every year.


FFM helped out a lot
And then a lot more.

We opted for a quiet just-the-three-of-us Thanksgiving this year. Like most of our Thanksgiving history we broke with tradition and had a feast of fondue instead of the traditional turkey. Poor FFM will probably grow up not knowing that most of America watches football and eats turkey for Thanksgiving. At least he's learning about pilgrims and Indians at school.

In other news, FFM is the proud owner of his very own FIRST ski pass. Lucky for him it's free until he's 5. What a deal!

Santa 2010 and the Black Eye

This year's visit to Santa has been much anticipated. For what seems like months I have been peppered with The List nearly every time we drive in the car. Somehow, through no fault of my own, FFM has made the connection that Santa is The Official One to tell The List to and I am merely one to practice on.

Wednesday I get a call from my mom telling me Santa has arrived at the mall and that there is no line. Now, I turn around and look at my child in the backseat of the car. His hair is sticking up a million ways, he's got smears of oatmeal on his too small shirt, and remnants of pink toothpaste on his chin. Not a good Santa day. Friday it is.

We arrive just as the mall is opening and FFM gets to watch Santa arrive, with bells jingling. Hooray! Because we're first in line, he even gets to sit and visit with Santa for extra time while the photographer sets up. He gets his whole list out, and of his own volition, even tells Santa some of the thing he should bring Mommy for Christmas. We stayed for a snack, some playtime at the new mall playground and then headed for the car. I spied some warm clothes (I'm ALWAYS cold now!) and since everyone was still in a very cheery mood we stopped for some unscheduled browsing.

Then BAM. Poor FFM glanced away while he was walking and slammed head first into a table, klonking his left eye. One half inch higher and it would have been a trip to the emergency room. Luckily he's just got a little puncture in his lower eyelid and a pretty good black eye. I now know how to get first aid in the mall and a free teddy bear. It's very vain, but I'm glad we'd already been to tell Santa the list and to get the photo as the kiddo now looks like the walking wounded. He was very brave, and recovered remarkably well, especially after guest services arrived with a bear.

And for grins, from left to right, 2009, 2008, and 2007. As always, lots of cheek.

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, my orange vest is sad."

me: "Why is your orange vest sad?"

"Because I'm wearing my blue vest today."

Chips

Life is slowly returning to normal around here. I can chop things for dinner again and get my right arm up high enough that I can actually wash and brush and blow dry my hair. My shoulder feels OK most of the time, a bit tender and stiff, and it improves daily. Did you know you use shoulder muscles when you sneeze and yawn?!

We just returned from a trip to visit family in Pennsylvania and one of the highlights of the trip was a potato chip factory tour. This was at the request of Mr. Man who wanted to know where chips came from. The factory we got to see not only made regular chips but kettle chips and popcorn, too. That's a lot of chips. About this point in the tour our wee blondie starting asking about tasting some chips. Being veteran factory tourists we were pretty confident we'd get a sample of the wares, we just weren't sure when.

Luckily, just around the bend there was a spot where our guide snagged fresh chips right off the line and dumped them into a basket. FFM started with one chip, then got so excited he started grabbing huge handfuls and couldn't figure out how to hold two handfuls of chips and maneuver them into his mouth. Dad to the rescue.
A batch of popcorn popped up nearby while we were sampling and our guide refilled his tray with some freshly popped corn. Yum!
The whole trip was a 3 year old's delight - Pennsylvania parks, a model train museum, horse and buggies in Amish country, the National Aquarium (he reported he did not like the dolphins), Hershey chocolate factory, and Cousin Audrey's 2nd birthday party. Adults rejoiced, too, as the superfun days and overexcited kiddos resulted in 6:30 bedtimes most nights. We almost sure what to do with that much kid-free time.

Now we're back home and settling into winter. I'm trying not to flinch everytime it drops below freezing and the weather forcast is for snow. Last winter still lives large in my memory - I was cold all winter and seemed to perpetually shovel snow. Good news for me, my therapist says no snow shoveling for me this winter. Even more good news? She says skiing is fine!

Spooktacular

Halloween Spooktacular is a massive Halloween party at our local rec center. Anyone and everyone under the age of 8 is there, and this year we took our neighbor Dylan with us. Of course once there we ran into most of the rest of the neighborhood, but FFM and Dylan had a good time making about 30 laps of the center making sure they had all the best candy and played all the best games.

Meet the Roaring Dragon and the Zombie Army Guy.
Waiting for the Cupcake Walk to Begin.

A real cupcake walk! Travis and both have fond memories of winning cakes and other baked goods at cake walks during our own youth.

Guess who won a cupcake! He's a lucky lucky boy.

Both boys made it through the Haunted Houses that night, FFM through the one for under 5's and Dylan was extra brave and made it through both the little and BIG kid Haunted Houses (he's got a couple years on our kiddo, though. What fun to have age appropriate scariness!

I would like to add a thank you note to Kelly T. for her face painting inspiration - I plunged right in and went full out. The photos here really don't do it justice, our little dragon really looked quite scaly and frightful and was quite pleased with himself and his toothy grin. Thanks Kelly!