What Ben is Thankful For

I was pleasantly surprised when Ben brought this Thanksgiving place mat home. In Ben's eyes, Daddy is #1 and Ben's "best, best friend." I'm just his "best friend." But, now I can show Daddy that at least Ben is thankful for me . . . and dinosaurs.

Evolving Artist - Ben

Post-Thanksgiving Football Game

Since we had quite a few friends staying down on 30A for Thanksgiving, we coordinated a family football game on the Camp Watercolor field Friday morning. The weather was as beautiful as it had been all week as evidenced by everyone in t-shirts and shorts. Once everyone arrived, the participants were divided into two teams, and the game began. To say that the game was intense is an understatement. Nothing like seeing grown men try to intimidate young children in the name of competition! Ben and George even served as cheerleaders early on before they abandoned the field for the playground. The girls were great sports and lasted the entire game. We even had two grandfathers participate (Papa and Guy). Papa fulfilled the role of a reliable tight end. In the end, the game was close but you can see whose team won as T flashes the "V" for victory sign!

Toy Soldier

Ben made a new friend one day while at the beach. He actually found this new "friend" in the sand. He quickly claimed him as his own, and they have not been separated ever since. His friend's name? Toy soldier. Toy soldier even got a trip to meet Santa while Doggie was left at home. We've convinced Ben to add "toy soldiers" to his Christmas list since this one has been such a hit.

A Quick Visit with Santa

Friday post-Thanksgiving, we made a quick drive east to Alys Beach with Mimi and Papa to see Santa and participate in some holiday festivities. Eleanor walked up to the event, spotted a gingerbread-making-kit and went straight to work decorating her house. She was quite proud of her finished product, though the warm temperature outdoors quickly began to melt her candy decorations. The boys enjoyed the playground before they headed over to start piling the sugary decorations onto their cookies. They had a special visitor stop by to check out what they were doing, and Ben made sure to show Santa his Mater socks. I think Santa liked them. Given our family's love for the game of "Punch Buggy", Eleanor admired Santa's red "punch buggy" and his license plate. Our visit to Alys Beach ended with a quick chat with Santa. Hayes was too "nervous" to go sit on his lap, but Ben kept Santa busy enough with all of his requests. Here's hoping that we have some "nice" children rather than some "naughty" children these last few weeks leading up to Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

As Thomas and I have both agreed, Thanksgiving is probably the easiest holiday to enjoy. This year's holiday held true to our belief.

Eleanor, Hayes, Dad, Mimi and I started off the morning right as we participated in Watercolor's annual Turkey Trot around the development. Then, it was back home to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and some NFL football. In the early afternoon, Thomas and I actually got some pool time sans kids which was an added bonus. Then, while Mimi and I were inside preparing our dinner, the rest of the gang played a game or two of Bocce ball in our cul-de-sac's common area. The teams were Papa and Ben against Eleanor and Dad. The game ended with some tears before we called everyone in for dinner.

As we have done in past years, everyone wrote down what they were thankful for and shared it during our meal. E said she was "thankful for friends and family and soldiers and mashed potatoes and the Sugar Shack and Dylan's Candy Bar and trees and Jesus and God and Freedom and Baxter." Hayes was "thankful for Jesus, chairs and family." Last, but definitely not least, Ben was "thankful for kids and diapers and Mom and Dad and a tree and soldiers and his friend Palmer and his family and Papa's car."

Later Thanksgiving night, I found this quote by Thornton Wilder which seemed perfect for the day - "We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Poetry

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Eleanor's creative juices were flowing. She wrote two poems Thanksgiving morning that were worth remembering.

Thanksgiving Feast
Today is Thanksgiving,
There's so much to eat!
There's Turkey, Patatoes,
Stuffing and Pies,
and so much more,
everyone sat down before me,
they ate alot,
and now there's no more.

Leftovers
Mom made to much food,
so we have Mashed Patatoe Pie,
samwichs, soups, and same for turkey and yams,
and now, I say, I'm getting so fat
and so pale, that if I eat any more,
I'll throw up on my cat!
So, "Mom, I'm so tierd of this, just
make stuff and give it away, and buy new
food." But did she belive me,
No, not even a frown! I can't
even taste the food any more,
cause it's a bore eating stuff that you can't taste!

Beautiful Weather

This year, the kids were lucky enough that they were given the entire Thanksgiving week off from school. We decided to take full-advantage of this break and venture down to Watercolor, FL. We spent last Thanksgiving here and enjoyed ourselves so much that we were eager to get back.

Boy, have we been blessed with beautiful weather while here! The sun has been shining and there has not been a cloud in the sky. We hit the pool and its fountains, the beach,
or both daily because we can't bear to stay inside. Also, when days end like this around 4:45 each afternoon, it is hard not to feel thankful for being here.

E's First Concert!

Last December, I bought tickets to take Eleanor to the Taylor Swift's Atlanta concert in July of this year. Well, when it came time for the concert in July, Taylor Swift got laryngitis and had to reschedule her Atlanta shows. Unfortunately for us, she rescheduled them for a weekend when I and two other moms were going to be in Las Vegas. We had to do something because we really wanted our girls to see Taylor with us.

We started to design a trip around seeing Taylor perform somewhere in the Southeast. We tried Nashville, but no one would guarantee enough tickets for our party of 8 since Taylor was expecting a huge crowd in her hometown. We finally settled on Columbia, SC. None of us had ever been there and we had no trouble getting tickets.

Since E has been hearing about this concert since last December, she was frankly beyond excited once November rolled around and the time had finally come for her to see Taylor. She could barely sleep the night before we left for Columbia. She even wrote down notes on an index card that she wanted to share with Taylor if she had the chance. I must admit that it wasn't just the girls who were excited about this adventure. We were all excited about our little adventure.

What an adventure it became!! Literally, as we passed the city limits for Columbia on I-20, Eleanor threw up. We were totally caught off guard as she had given us no warning. She continued to throw up all over herself and her beloved pillow pet until we pulled into our hotel. We eventually got her inside the hotel and to our room, had her shower and then try to rest before we had to head to a very special meet and greet opportunity with Taylor. She only had about an hour to "recover" and that was not enough time for her. My thinking was that we did not need to stay for the concert, but we needed to make the effort to meet Taylor Swift because we might not ever get this opportunity again! Being a good sport, E got up and walked the mile or so to the arena. I walked beside her, carrying a plastic grocery bag ready to be put to use if E felt sick.

When we got to the arena, we found our spot for the meet and greet and proceeded to wait nearly 45 minutes for it to start. E did not even have the energy to stand up. She sat herself on the floor in a corner where no one could see her if she got sick. (Thank heavens she didn't!)

Finally, when it was time for us to proceed backstage to see Taylor, E perked up a little bit. It wasn't until we got into a tented area that E realized she was about to meet Taylor Swift. We could see her in the other room, meeting with other lucky people one by one. When it was our turn to visit, the girls burst into the room with ear-to-ear grins. Taylor was a sweet as could be and told the girls how much she loved their "Team Taylor" shirts. We posed for our picture with herwith big smiles on our faces.

Once we left the room where we met Taylor, it seemed to sink in with Eleanor what had just happened. She and her friends were jumping up and down, as they could not contain their excitement. Then, it was off to our seats where we were able to witness an amazing show. I could not believe how entertaining it was - even more so than some Broadway plays! I just wish Eleanor had been able to stay up and see it all. Her poor little body was exhausted. She kept asking if she could fall asleep at different points during the concert. I begged her to sleep since I knew that would be in her best interest. Luckily, she woke up for the big songs due to the crowd noise so I don't think she missed much.

In sum, after all of E's stomach excitement, her pre-concert bout was just that - pre-concert. . . and for that, I'm eternally grateful. Years down the road, when Eleanor shares with friends what her first concert was, I know she'll be proud to say, "Taylor Swift."

Big Gap Up Top

Hayes's top left front tooth had been hanging by a string for about 24 hours prior to his Thanksgiving program, and we kept begging him to let us pull it out. He never agreed so he went to school Friday morning with his top tooth dangling in his mouth.

When we spotted Hayes walking into his Thanksgiving program, he looked different than he had at the bus stop 45 minutes earlier. We were surprised to hear that Hayes pulled out his tooth right when he walked into his classroom. We could not believe how big his gap was! He had his tooth placed freely in his pocket, without protection from any Ziploc bag or Kleenex. I was shocked to later hear that the tooth actually made it home from school successfully!

H's Thanksgiving Program

Friday morning, Hayes's kindergarten class and four other kindergarten classes (five other classes had gone the day before) presented a Thanksgiving program for parents and other family members. The children sang some great Thanksgiving songs including, "All He Wants to Do is Gobble Now", "My Country Tis of Thee", "Five Fat Turkeys are We", "I Like Me", "Mr. Turkey" and "I'm a Little Turkey". They even sang one song in French and for that, Hayes seemed most proud. Their sweet voices sounded great together as the majority of the songs were sung in unison (something that should not be under appreciated!).