November Decorations

 

Halloween decorations have been put away and November ones have been taken out. First up is Martinmas (one of our most favorite festivals) and the lantern walk to bring light into the darkness. xo 

From Our Family To Yours

 

Grace (with an assist from Emma) taught the ladies how to make window stars! 

Jane and Bill brough the girls this gorgeous piece of art. Emma took this stunning picture! 

We were a small but mighty gathering this year, thrilled to have Bill and Jane (the girls bonus grandparents) join us, but missing my mom, dad, brother and sister! It was a lovely day regardless, with full bellies and full hearts! Happy Thanksgiving! xo 

Saturday 10:30am.

 

After I dropped Grace off yesterday I went to Panera to have some breakfast and work on my research paper while I waited for Dave's parents and Emma to arrive in Sturbridge. They had wanted to see her before heading back to New Jersey and since I was out there I had them bring Emma with them and met them there. We heard a wonderful lecture about the Quakers in New England before heading over to Freeman Farm where Grace and some of the other ladies were working that day. The day was beautiful but very cold, especially when the wind picked up! It was lovely to get to spend some time outside though and I am grateful we all had lots of layers to keep us warm! xo 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! xo

With Thanks

 

The girls made cranberry sauce, cornbread and cards to thank their advisors for all that they do! xo

November Wrap Up

 Happy last day of November! It sure has been a whirlwind this month and I have spent each and every day planning (hoping?) to post in this space and then for one reason or another it never occurred. The big reason for my lack of presence here is due to my being on a screen all day (and some times many hours past "all day") at work. I find that by the end of the work day, whether that's at 4:00pm or later, that I need several hours away from the screen to decompress. As a result I am behind not only in blogging but in all things email, Facebook and Instagram. Between my working, the pandemic and the girls being "at" school our days look different than they used to. I have done a lot of reflecting on this over the past three (almost four) months and have come to the conclusion that even if I had not returned to paid work that our days would probably not be as "bloggable" as they were even a couple of years ago. Not being able to go places like we used to (due to the pandemic) has changed this space of ours considerably since March. The girls being older has changed this space considerably over the last lesson year. Us doing many of the things we've always done and me having blogged about it for ten years now has changed this space considerably over the course of this year too. I love having ten years of their life to look back on, and I am grateful for all that I shared here over the past ten years. I am hoping to be able to close out this tenth year of blogging with, actual (read: more than four posts in one month) blogging. My goal is to post something daily (or near daily) for the whole of December. We'll see if I can reach that lofty) goal. So, with that in mind, let's begin....

Grace's class did a geometry block that wrapped up in early November. They worked on creating the platonic solids out of clay as well as out of paper. The dodecahedron gave her a run for her money but she did it!  

One never knows where Gretchen will turn up next, but you can be pretty sure wherever it is is gonna be some place extra comfy! 

The hens look very proud of Grace's platonic solids (and so were we)! 

After geometry, Class Eight launched into a short story block. They read short stories, analyzed short stories and wrote their own. Grace chose to revisit a short story she had written a few years ago. The additions and revisions she made to the story were wonderful and definitely took it to the next level. 

Breakfast with the hens. 

Any chance this family has to make a Monty Python reference is going to be taken! Emma didn't miss a beat with this one! 

Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving if we didn't make fancy hand turkeys, 

or if Emma didn't make cornbread, 

or if Grace didn't make cranberry sauce. 

This year Dave made a delicious (and gluten free) cranberry tart! 

While the turkey was cooking there was Lego building, 

and time spent with the hens, 

and table setting. 

Pre-dinner silliness. 

And the obligatory, pre-Thanksgiving family dinner picture. This is the smallest one we've ever taken. It felt weird not to be around this table with everyone but, as Dave liked to say to people "A Zoom Thanksgiving is better than an ICU Christmas." 

You can't go wrong with three desserts on Thanksgiving (even if it was way too much for four people)! 

The next night it was off to the Magic of Holiday Lights at Gillette Stadium. We all agreed that it would have been much more magical if there was snow on the ground, but it was a fun way to spend part of the evening nontheless. 

I took exactly three pictures. Two of which are here (the quality of the third one was terrible). 

Saturday morning after bootcamp my dear friend Sharon gave me this wonderful gift! Anyone that knows me knows how much I adore Mister Rogers! So much of what I believe as a mother and an educator has to do to growing up with the wisdom of him and his wonderful show. I am grateful that his show is one of the girls' favorites, and that even at their ages they still enjoy watching it. I could go on and on about how I wish that he was still with us (though I think things like Sandy Hook and the Trump presidency would have absolutely broken his heart) or how I wish that more of today's children were watching the repeats of his show rather than whatever it is they are watching today, but I shall leave that for another post. This sweet gift quickly found a home here on our desk and I am hoping to acquire a second one so that I can have one on my desk at work too (for the one day a week I am at the school building). 

Though we got our tree Friday morning, I decided to save this picture for last. It felt like a good one to end this month on. This is easily the earliest we've ever gotten the tree but with how things have gone with this pandemic we figured it was better to get it now than to wait and have all the trees be gone. Plus, it's time for the magic of sitting by the light of the Christmas tree.....Yes, it's a bit on the short side but we all knew as soon as we saw it that this was the tree that was meant for us. It's sweet and truly perfect and looks wonderful in the window. The cat, however, is a bit dismayed that she cannot sit as far underneath it as she would like. We'll have to see if we can do something about that. xo 

On Thanksgiving Day

The girls kicked off Thanksgiving day with some pumpkin sheet cake (dessert breakfast, anyone?!) and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. 

Then we met up with Grandma Joan and Grandpa Ron at Old Sturbridge Village. 

From there it was home to make the meal! 

 And there was lots, 

 and lots, 

 and lots of Racko playing.

 Finally our feast was ready! 

We were a small but mighty group this year! It's always lovely to have the entire family here but the small gatherings are just as wonderful too!

For those who celebrated we hope you day was full of gratitude for your many blessings and time spent with those you love most. xo