Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving for us was a day full of feasting and celebrating and laughter.

I overheard Alexi giving Cal an anatomy lesson about the chambers of the heart while preparing the turkey.


Battleship and chess and puzzles:


Games and puzzles with Grandma and a cousin:


Who knew all that cooking and feasting could be so tiring?

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

Advent Calendar Ideas

One of our family's favorite holiday traditions is our advent calendar (purchased from Garnet Hill a couple of years ago and no longer available - here is what they have now). If you are looking for a quick, easy way to create a beautiful advent calendar, I saw this neat idea on Design Sponge last week. Here are some ideas to get you thinking about what little treats with which you can fill an advent calendar:

Creative:
Poem/limerick/haiku
Instructions for a magic trick
A joke
A small joke book

Crafty:
Glue sticks, markers, crayons, (colored) chalk
Beads to string
Materials to make an ornament
Small tablets/journals
Origami
Disposable camera
Stickers
Fun erasers/pencils

Nature:
Shells
sea glass
seeds
Pine cones
acorns
A beautiful rock

Activities:
Holiday cookie cutter, with the promise to make cookies
Coupons for special activities such as getting the tree, watching a movie, a tea party

Small toys:
Finger puppets
Harmonicas/kazoos/whistles
Marbles
Miniature cars/tops/toys
Small flip books

Ornament for the tree

This picture shows the numbered flaps. Cal is eager to get the calendar filled and hung!

Self-Calming Cards

We have found these Self-Calming Cards to be useful in coaching Cal and Abbott, and ourselves, how to recover from emotional upset more quickly.

Click to enlarge:


The back side of the above cards. These describe ways to teach the strategies (click to enlarge)


These are just a few of the dozens of self-calming techniques explained in this card deck. Each of the cards describes how one can self soothe with a different method—physical, auditory/verbal, visual, creative, self-nurturing and humor. The materials also discuss how adults can model the use of such self-soothing techniques as taking a warm bath, making a joke to defuse a situation or singing a silly song. Each method includes suggested activities for a range of ages, from toddler to adult.

These helpful cards are available for purchase here. The author, Elizabeth Crary, is a parent educator and author based in Seattle. We loved her talk at our local cooperative preschool, and highly recommend her as a speaker.

to my husband on his birthday

Alexi age 9

Dear Alexi,

Happy 38th birthday! Thank you for your warm companionship. Thank you for two gorgeous children who make my heart content every day; thank you for your devoted fathering of them. I hope that we can make you feel special, and cherished, and celebrated, today and every day. May all your dreams come true in the coming year.

All my love,
Lecia

play time

I hope you find time to get out and explore this weekend! It has been unseasonably mild in Seattle this November, and we've been taking advantage of it at every opportunity.

A few things that caught my eye this week:
HandMadeNation
Thanksgiving place markers and Thanksgiving traditions
Deconstructing the Art Wall
The cutest onesie ever
Driftwood art

I hope to have a little time to read my book this weekend.

I really need some new music - what are you listening to these days?


Happy Friday!

The beach in November

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." Rachel Carson, as cited in Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

We had a busy weekend. Alexi had to work, and it was late Sunday afternoon before we got to spend time together as a family. Abbott was cranky and tearful from being tired and scraped up from falling off his bike. Cal was recovering from being sick. I was sick. Alexi was exhausted from a weekend of call. Yet after 30 minutes at the beach, we walked home new people; happy and relaxed and energized.

What God Looks Like

Last week at Sunday School, Abbott was given the assignment to draw how he pictured God. Here is what he came up with. Note the cape.

by Abbott 11/9/08, age 6 yrs 3 months

No Comment part II

I was walking to Vivace for my morning latte this week when I spotted this in the window of Tottini - the follow up to this.

Boys will be boys!

What you see pictured below is becoming an increasingly common occurrence in our house. For some reason, it occurs most frequently in this stairwell.

Veterans Day

recipe can be found here

Veterans Day is a celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I.

I am looking forward to spending the day with my little boys, who don't have preschool/school today. They love to hang out together:



In addition to thinking about our veterans, we'll be doing mundane things like getting haircuts and getting our eyes dilated. Don't I look awesome? Cheers to that look!

after having my eyes dilated, sporting disposable sunglasses given by the optometrist

Almquist Family Cellars

UPDATE: Check out their website here!

Over the past couple of weeks we have had the fun of watching our friend Mike Almquist crush grapes for wine making. He has made wine for years, and this year's vintage will be for sale. He and his wife bought a warehouse two blocks west of the Fremont bridge in Seattle that they are converting into a winery and restaurant. The restaurant will have an open view of the winery (and a view of the ship canal), and will open after the first of the year.

The grapes are brought from eastern Washington.


Here is Mike driving the fork lift, dumping the grapes into the crusher (I am to the right):

Abbott and Cal watching grapes go through the crusher:


The degree to which the grapes are crushed is part of the art of wine making.


Stems:

Mike with crushed grapes:

This part of the crushing machine removes the grapes from the stems:


Mike and Abbott at work:

the pressing machine

Pressing will be done several times this week. If we're able to go when the grapes have sufficiently fermented (the process takes between 3-10 days, approximately) due to addition of yeast, enzymes, nutrients and/or nature, we'll also get to see the pressing. Mike plans to produce approximately 40,000 bottles this year. Watch for the Almquist Family Cellars!

Sunday Selection

Today's Sunday Selection is a bit of silliness that I hope you will enjoy as much as I have. My brother, a McCain supporter, posted this to Facebook a couple of days ago; I, an Obama supporter, laughed my head off when I watched it.

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To See How Empty Lives Are

Spawn 'Til You Die

Mascots of the hatchery, Gilda and Finlay. Cal is in the blue and green coat.

Cal's preschool class recently visited the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. Alexi went along as a chaperone.

demonstration of the salmon developmental progression

feeling the temperature of the creek water

looking at fish swimming

Death is a natural part of the fish life cycle. After spawning the salmon die. The air smells like decaying fish; Cal is sensitive to bad smells - that's why he's holding his nose in this picture!

spawning fish in the Issaquah creek

a model of a nest of salmon eggs called a red