Thanksgiving

Mary and I made advent wreaths! Watch out Martha Stewart!

Here is everyone going through the line for their Thanksgiving meal!

The Chefs! Mary and I

Wow...what a busy week! I had school with students on Monday and Tuesday and had a half day inservice day on Wednesday. Because it was a special week, my second grade team decided to have a special Thanksgiving feast. Each of the four classes were in charge of something for the meal and we all ate together in a special room. The students made placemats, centerpieces, and their Pilgrim or Indian hat. We learned all about the Pilgrim's voyage to America by having a guest speaker whose great-grandfather was an actual Pilgrim! I am attaching pictures of my class with their hats...they had a great time! :)

On Wednesday, Peyton and I finished our preparations for Thanksgiving at our house. We made cheesecakes and made sure we had everything we needed! Grandma Mary, Grandpa Roger, Uncle Joey, and Aunt Mary Rose came on Wednesday night. Mary and I got up early on Thursday and cooked a DELICIOUS meal. We had four of the ESU basketball players come to eat with us who live too far away from home to be able to go home for Thanksgiving. They seemed to enjoy the food and we really enjoyed their company. They are great guys and even better players. We had two 20 pound turkeys and did not have too many leftovers at the end of the day!

Last night, Peyton and I went to the Hornet basketball game. Peyton loves to watch the game and is always on the lookout for Corky the Hornet mascot. He loves Corky from a distance...but doesn't ever want to get too close!! Corky even came to visit us in our section last night, but Peyton would not give Corky a high five...maybe by the end of the season he will warm up to him! The Hornets won the game by almost 50! They start conference play on Wednesday against the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats! Ben always enjoys seeing his old coach...and enjoys beating him even more!

Rock, Chalk, Jayhalk....

Last Tuesday night, Peyton got to go to his first basketball game of this season...at the University of Kansas! Allen Fieldhouse is pretty much the greatest place to watch basketball....especially if your dad is the opposing team's assistant coach and you get to sit behind the bench of the team! Although it was a blowout, it was fun to watch the Hornets...and I am sure it was quite a rush for our players to play in front of a packed house. Peyton loved the game...and said "three" no matter if it was a lay up, free throw, or three pointer!

Yesterday Peyton and I drove up to Topeka to get his picture taken for Christmas cards. He did pretty well and gave the photographer a workout! I am anxious to get the pictures back and put them up!

Today, Peyton went to his very first movie theatre movie. We went to Madagascar 2! Peyton's friend Alexa turned 3 today and had cake and ice cream at her house and then everyone went to the movie. I wasn't sure how we would, but the combination of popcorn, zoo animals, and great music had Peyton's attention!

That is the update for this week. :)

New Kitty!

I am a sucker for animals....if you know me, you know that is true. As you know, we had to put my cat Ernie to sleep this summer because he had cronic urinary tract infections. I was so sad...despite the fact that he was not really the nicest cat in the whole world....and told myself I would never get a cat again. Well, that was until Friday. On Friday, one of my students brought in a kitten to share as part of our Let's Explore unit in second grade. She actually had four kittens, but the night before a cyote came and got two of them and the third one was missing. So, that left one cute little gray furball left. They lived on a farm and although they had a nice little shelter, it was not warm enough or safe for baby kittens. I could not bear the thought of this innocent little kitty going back to the farm and the mom of the student kept trying to convince me to just take it home. She did not have to twist my arm very hard or for very long and thankfully my husband agreed to try another cat. So, welcome to the family Lucy McCollum. :) Peyton has been THRILLED to have a new pet. He loves her and is learning how to hold her and pet her nicely. He sometimes wants to pick her up the wrong way or pat her just a little too hard. He has been laughing and playing with her tons and loves the fact that she likes balls too! She has been a really good kitten and has used her litter box consistently. She loves to take naps on Ben and I and purrs and purrs when we hold her. Copper has also been very nice. She hasn't gotten upset by her at all and kind of ignores her. I am very relieved as I thought it might be kind of rough on her.

Halloween pictures

Here are our pictures from Halloween. They are not the best. We were so worried about Peyton actually getting to trick or treat that we did not stop to take a lot of good pictures. I am hoping to get him all dressed up in his costume again to take his picture. We will see how that goes! :)

Halloween

Last night was Halloween. Peyton had a bad cold and we weren't sure if he would wear his costume or not so we did not ask him about going trick-or-treating. That is, until we had our first trick-or-treaters come to our door. Then, Peyton got VERY interested in the whole concept of going door to door to get candy. We put his costume on and headed down our block. The Donald Duck head only lasted one house, but Peyton made it down our whole block and even got pretty good at saying, "thank you," to everyone who gave him candy. He was so proud walking down the street, holding his pumpkin candy bucket in one hand and Daddy's hand in the other.
Needless to say, it was a fun 30 minutes!

His cold is about the same today...his nose is really stuffy and runny so he finds that pretty annoying. We had a nice restful day of movies and books. We got some fresh air by going on a walk with the stroller and then went to bed early. I am hoping he can get some good rest tonight and that he will feel like his old self tomorrow.