So it’s a week late, but here are some pictures from our family Thanksgiving dinner.
And I apparently don’t feed my kids enough pie, as Jonah assumed the proper way to eat the apple pie was to separate it into its triangular layers and eat it like a piece of pizza. Deprived children…
Nora enjoyed being a little chef, too, making us muffins and cupcakes out of fruits and vegetables.
One day, Jonah and I were looking online for photos of the Phillie Phanatic because he was wondering something about the kind of socks he wears. We stumbled across a photo of a kid who had a Phanatic hat, and Jonah said he really wanted me to make him a Phillie Phanatic costume for Halloween. And he asked so sweetly and optimistically – “Oh Mom. I just know you could sew one up with your sewing machine!” that I knew I had to give it a good try. Well, I looked through patterns I already had to see what could be adapted in some way to make a Phanatic, and I (and Jonah, of course) couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!
He was running all over, doing his Phanatic moves and shaking his tail all around. It was hilarious.
“You’re outta here!!”
Jonah also helped decide that Nora should be a ladybug. That costume was a lot easier, but no less cute.
So last night we went downtown, where they had thousands of pumpkins to see. Both kids liked looking around for funny faces and weird pumpkin decorating materials. (The one with green bean ears was a hit.)
Both kids walked in the children’s costume parade, and Jonah won a $50 gift card for “funniest costume.” Hooray!!
Oh, and Jonah said, “Mom, you said this costume was going to take a long time and be a lot of work, but really it only took you eight minutes a day.” Ummm… yeah… something like that. :)
I took a few video clips of the kids on Easter morning. Jonah was excited to find an egg in his garbage truck, and Nora was working hard to figure out how the whole egg/treat thing worked. Mmmmm….
The kids had a great time this morning, looking around the living room for all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid last night. Nora very quickly caught on to the whole egg-finding business, and excitedly put eggs in her basket just like her big brother.
Jonah was especially pleased to find eggs in some of his favorite trucks.
Nora loves the sound of shaking candy.
As usual, you have to use your imagination to merge these images if you want to get two smiling kids in the same photo. ;)
Yesterday, Jonah and Sean dyed eggs after naptime. Jonah liked it when he wrote his name in white crayon and it showed up after he dipped it in the dye.
Out of all the little Easter treats, the one thing that has provided the greatest joy of the day has been… the Easter grass! First it was ‘yard waste’ for the garbage trucks to come pick up and dump out repeatedly. Jonah was the main garbage truck, but Nora was captivated by this game for quite a while, too.
Then it was the digger’s turn to load up some dump trucks over and over.
And as soon as they got up from their naps, it was right back to the Easter grass for more digging fun!
Happy Easter!
First things first – Jonah and Nora got a new cousin this week, just in time for Christmas! Phoebe Magnolia was born early Tuesday morning, the 21st. Sooo cute, and we can’t wait to meet her! When I told Jonah about the baby cousin, he said, “Um, but they are still going to live at their house, right?” I think one baby girl in his space is all he wants to handle. ;) He has enjoyed looking at Phoebe’s name, though, and noticing all the interesting spelling things going on, like the “Ph” at the beginning, an “o” that doesn’t make a sound, and the “e” at the very end that actually does. He’s our little word master.
OK. Now on to Christmas Eve. Before bed, Jonah and Nora got in their Christmas jammies and both made drawings for Santa.
Jonah drew Henry and James, the trains, because they’re Christmas colors, and put Bertie the Bus at the bottom. I’ll let you guess what Nora drew. ;)
Reading the Night Before Christmas with Dad.
Bringing out a plate with cookies for Santa
Jonah swoops in to save Santa’s cookies from the speedy and determined Nora.
Nora did not need help opening presents today, aside from the occasional ribbon. She totally knows what she’s doing!
She enjoyed opening her presents, as well as admiring Jonah’s.
She got a raincoat, now that she’s going to be walking around in the rain for the next six months, and she wanted to put it on right away. How cute is this?
And Santa brought Jonah just what he wanted – trains with faces, like Thomas! Mom had a lot of fun building the track, too. :)
The real trick is going to be keeping Nora from “playing” too much with the tracks while Jonah’s busy with it, too. She loves trains, just like her big brother!
Finally, we showed them the big felt playhouse I made for them which fits over a card table. They love it! (which is good because I can’t even begin to count the number of hours that went into making it…) ;)
Here’s Jonah peeking out the door.
And Nora really likes crawling in and out and in and out and peeking out the windows. The mailbox opens for mail to go into the house. There is a jingly ‘doorbell’ to the left of the door. I made some keys that go in the keyhole, and they can pick the flowers.
The other sides. . .
A garden with corn and carrots to pick. A pond that fish and ducks can go in. Removable train cars with Jonah as the driver (of course) and the rest of the family as passengers. A moon and sun can be changed out for day and night.
The back side is the market. There are shelves and a crate to hold veggies from the garden or other things for sale. The window shade can go down when the store is closed, and there is a removable shopping bag to use.
The other side has a window with windowbox for flowers and flowers to pick in the grass below. Apples can come off of the tree, as can the chunks of leaves if they want a more wintry tree-branch look. Originally I thought I’d make some fall leaves, too, but yeah… we’ll see…
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