Thankful Trees, Trains, & Tinkertoys

This week we started our "thankful tree" for the month of November.  We're a little late in starting, but since we add 5 leaves to it daily, we'll still have plenty of "thanks" on it.  Initially we gathered sticks to put in a vase and hang our leaves from the sticks.  But then I remembered Caroline and decided that was a very bad idea.  So, I drew a tree on a poster board and we tape our leaves to that.  For the first day, I asked the boys what Caroline was thankful for and they said she was thankful for 2 big brothers.  :)  For her other days, I have chosen the things for which she is thankful:  her thumb, her blanket, her shoes, & her cookies.  Speaking of cookies, she can now say "cookie" quite well.  In fact, she says it morning, noon, and night and all times in between.  She loves her cookies.  I think we're going to have to have a cookie fast after this batch is eaten.

Henry would like you to know he drew the sky and Josiah would like you to know he drew the flowers

The boys came home from their Music & More at church on Wednesday with goodies.  Henry had a music CD with his two songs on it that he has to learn for the children's Christmas concert.  We've put the music on and Henry definitely knows the words and hand motions.  He even knows the teacher's directions for the kids because for one song, towards the end, he'll say, "ok, get louder now."  I am really hoping he does all the singing and hand motions when he's at the concert.  We are definitely taking a video!

This afternoon the boys and I went to church to participate in their "Thanksgiving Express."  Basically they got to decorate a box to look like a train.  They had a wrapping station (colored paper to wrap their box), then wheel station, light/license plate station, decoration station (where they wrote what they're thankful for as well as stickers and markers), and a snack station.  All the kids walked around the gym making one long train (with license plates on every car apparently).  The boys really enjoyed it.  Then they watched a Veggie Tales video about being thankful.  Although, given the age range of the children there (Josiah was an older kid in this crowd), 10 minutes into the video, nearly all the kids had gotten up and were running in a huge circle around the gym.  Not one parent attempted to stop them.  I think everyone was thrilled they were getting all their energy out before going home for the evening.

Henry working on his decorations

Todd did a "save" for Caroline at church, too.  Upon dropping her off in her room, she started to cry.  As he was walking away, he heard the lady say to Caroline, "It's ok, would you like some goldfish?"  Noooooooo!!!!  He walked back and kindly said she couldn't eat those foods and we had brought her own snacks.  The idea finally came to me this week to buy stickers that we can put on her wherever we go that indicate her allergies (or in her case, "sensitivities").  On amazon, I found cute (big) stickers that say, "Please do not feed me.  I have allergies."

For school this week, we learned about the underground railroad and slavery.  I wasn't sure if Josiah could understand the concept of slavery, but he asked a lot of questions and seemed to have a decent understanding (for a 5 year old).  We had some really good books from the library that he liked.  We read a book about the patchwork quilt system to help slaves escape the south and he requested we read that a lot.  Also, he has learned to read quite a few words by now and one way we review them (without being boring) is by forming sentences.  We each take turns making sentences and he loves to make funny sentences.  Fortunately we learn a few articles along with our families each week, so we have enough words to make proper sentences.

Henry surprised us during prayer time this week.  We always read the Bible and pray before bed and we give the boys both opportunities to pray if they'd like.  Usually they do as long as they get to pray first.  When Henry prayed, he prayed for "the black man, the white man, and the red man."  Todd and I looked at each other strangely wondering where he got this until we realized he was looking at the color clothing people were wearing.

This week I finished reading the Duggar book written by the four oldest daughters.  I read it hoping to pick up some parenting tips and they really had a lot of good information in it.  One thing their parents do is the Obedience Game.  So we gave it a try.  We had the kids line up and then say something like, "Josiah, I want you to run around the ottoman 3 times, touch the front door, give me five and go back to your spot."  He has to say, "Yes, ma'am/sir, I'd be happy to."  So, they are doing fun things, but we're getting them to respond respectfully and with a good attitude.  We seem to struggle with attitudes around here.  I think not a day goes by that I don't question, "What am I doing wrong?"  At least they really like the game.  Caroline likes it, too, and will sometimes follow our directions, but sometimes she'll just spin in circles over and over again.

Caroline ran out of her soy milk on Monday, so we went early in the morning to Walmart (which has the economy size Organic, non-carrageenan Soy Milk - we buy 5 at a time).  They already have all their Christmas stuff out, including candy.  The boys were very happy to get their very first Pez dispensers.  The store is not very far from our house and Henry had finished his candy before we arrived home.  He's not one to savor things.  During school one day, Henry occupied himself by drawing a picture of the Pez dispensers.

And one story that was funny for us.  Henry asked about a toy that he hasn't seen since we've been here.  He kept saying that Max and Charlie gave it to him and Josiah.  Josiah said it was a rocket.  It was also an airplane.  We were totally confused, so Henry said he'd draw a picture for us:

Yep, that's the picture.  Then he said it was a cart.  That was my clue.  Tinkertoys.  I always made them a cart out of Tinkertoys.  But we got them as a door prize at MOPS, not from their cousins.  And they didn't make it here.  I threw them away because most of the pieces were so torn up and broken.

And here's Todd pretending to be a gorilla and getting the kids while in their fort.  (We were in the process of getting ready for church which is why Josiah is dressed up and Henry is half undressed.)

Caroline making the gorilla face with Todd