Thanksgiving 2007

This week brought many people and things to be thanksful for.

I am thankful for the children in my classroom and all the wonder and giving attitudes they brought with them to our "Friendship Feast" this past week.

I am thankful for the gift of my family. 30 of us gathered at my sister's house for food and fun.

I think the highlight of the day was the opportunity for each of us to talk to my nephew Dave who is in Mali with the Peace Corps. We got in touch with him on his cell phone as he was biking back to his village through the Sahara Desert! Isn't Technology wonderful!

I am thankful for my late husband's family. They came from as far away as Virginia to celebrate a meal together. We arrived in time for dessert. The kids had a great time just being with their cousins and catching up with one another.

I am thankful for the workshop I attended this weekend. I made new friends and caught up with others I'd made at previous gatherings. We had a great time together and enjoyed the time with one another laughing and learning!

Leaves, leaves, leaves

For years as a child, I dreaded the words..Yard Work...when emitted from the mouth of my father.
He would gather all 5 of us and hand us each a rake to gather up the fallen leaves in the yard and out from under the bushes surrounding the house. A chore that took most of the day.

So now that my own children are old enough to pass the torch...or rake... I set up enlisting help with the Yard Work on the long Weekend we just had.
P was the fist draftee.... when he decided he wasn't going to church this past Sunday. I then handed him his rake. He had all plans of sitting and enjoying a video game but I convinced him that fresh air would be better for him.
He made quite a dent in the knee high layer of leaves in the side yard.

M and S were enlisted next as they burst into laughter seeing their brother working upon their arrival home. With all three out in the yard with rakes and the leaf blower, I decided a trip to the store and some out of the house errands could be accomplished. Upon arriving home, I noticed the rakes but no signs of the hands......yep... found them in front of the TV!

After a few more hours of work, I ended their work shift and they got some R&R time. The following day they were sent back out to finish the job. This time they brought the dogs out for entertainment...and got mom to help too...I especially enjoyed the leaf blower detail.

They piled leaves and jumped in them, had a leaf fight and carried tarp fulls of leaves up back. They worked hard and the yard looked good.
Upon completion, I took them all out to dinner and complimented them on their hard work and job commitment. They were very proud of what they'd accomplished as I'm sure that first day it looked like and impossible task that lay ahead of them.

With the storm and wind that came through this past week...our neighbors leaves have encroached on our leaf free property...but nothing a leaf blower can't rectify!

Next family fun activity???? Wood stacking...I'm sure my volunteers will be lining up to be the first to receive their work gloves...don't you?

Another year older.....but who's counting?

Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again.

~Menachem Mendel Schneerson Toward a Meaningful Life: The Wisdom of the Rebbe, 1995

For the past six years, November 18th and 19th have been trying dates on the calendar. The 18th is my birthday and the 19th was Tom's. This year, I vowed I would approach the day differently than in the past. Unfortunately, the tears still showed up on the doorstep as the day grew closer. I however, pushed them aside and set up a plan for myself. Instead of waiting on what my children or friends might do for me or with me on the day, I went into action.

I planned:
A shopping date alone
A massage
Workout time at the gym
tub soakings with instructions to children to leave mom in peace for an hour!
A lunch date with a friend to our favorite Thai place
Coffee and conversation (and they brought cheese cake) with friends and my kids

It was a wonderful birthday weekend! Monday came with Tom's birthday and thoughts of our life together. I came home and was surprised by an anonymous delivery of beautiful yellow roses with a card that only read "Happy Birthdays, We Love You". I smiled and relished the memories of birthdays past when the yellow roses were always from Tom. Thank you my anonymous friends for the gift of love and loving memories.

A week in review

It feels like its been a long time since my last post. Life has been a bit busy so I created a collage of some of my favorite things that went on in the past week and a half.

We had a visit from a local fireman. I was chosen (Yes I raised my hand!!) to don the fire fighter gear. WOW those coats, hats and the tank are VERY heavy! It was great fun and my students got a kick out of me dressed up.

I took my class on a field trip to a farm! I love this place...its makes for a wonderful field trip. We got to visit with the animals, walk around the grounds, make butter, spin wool and the highlight was eating lunch outside at the picnic spot :) We saw some funny looking ducks with mohawks too!

Our Halloween celebration was a blast. The children paraded around the school and serenaded their parents with Halloween songs. I'm the ghost!

Our final visitor was a local dental hygenist who came the day after Halloween...great planning by this teacher! She had a great dog puppet with dentures...too funny!! The kids sat so attentively for half an hour learning about keeping teeth healthy and foods that are good and bad for your teeth....they also got new toothbrushes and floss to take home!

The chicken in the collage is our chicken Bub, who resides here at my house. She was so excited to have laid an egg the other day that she clucked and clucked and ran about the pen! She gave me a good laugh. I opened the door to the nesting box and there was her egg and two others so I guess she might have thought she'd laid them all! LOL! The bigger egg in the photo is a blue Aracana egg, I love the shade of blue she lays.