Day 318: Thanksgiving Part 1

Today our homeschool co op threw a Thanksgiving feast for out lunch!  Oh my goodness, I was so full for hours!  I'm surprised the kids didn't sleep through their afternoon lessons!  We'll be off next week from co op, which is our Thanksgiving break.  Depending on if we finish our history book this week or not, I might do a little school at home next week.  I'll give them a week off of math at some point.  But Justin is in the middle of learning how to divide fractions and Keturah's on her last few lessons of her Beta math book (2nd grade level maybe, they don't go by grades).  So, I don't want them to stop for long.  Plus they get so bored if they don't have some schoolwork.

Meanwhile, Abishai had a fab day playing with the younger kids, eating a snack, then going home with Grandma for the rest of the day.  We did have to back a pit stop back at the house because the kids forgot their gardens for botany.  He played and played, took a nap, and then played some more.  I think he's enjoying all this one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa.  He had a late nap, so Jared picked him up around 5 or so.  It felt like forever since the kids and I saw our 21 month old!  Yes, Abishai is 21 months old now!  Crazy!

Abishai does recognize faces most of the time in photos.  He will see photos that rotate on my desktop on my computer and will scream, "Dada!"  "Sissy!"  "Baba!"  Well, I showed him Daddy's high school photo at Grandma's house and he said, "Benaiahahahaha" (his tongue goes from side to side with the "niah" part).  Bwahahaha!  He was all confused when I corrected him and said that it was actually Daddy with hair!  Fun times!

One more "aw" moment from Abishai and Keturah.  Keturah told me that for about a week or so, she's been climbing down into Abishai's bed to snuggle with him at night until he falls asleep!  Then she climbs back up to her own bed!  Wow, that's so sweet!  Don't let her fool you when she says she doesn't like having Abishai in her room.  She mothers him so much, and most of the time, it's great.  She will give him one of her blankets if she thinks he's cold.  Or she'll stick her stuffed animals into the crib with him.  We take out most of it the next day so to be on the safe side, although I think the risk of SIDS is much lower at this age.  Last night when Abishai didn't want a shirt on, I told her to keep an eye on him in case he gets cold.  He didn't wake up once, that little furnace, just like big brother Justin.  In fact, he wants all his clothes off after he walks in the front door and then he just runs around in his diaper all day, happy as a clam.  I'm usually in warm pants, and a sweatshirt because we keep the heat as low as I can stand it to save money.  Anyway, sibling love at it's best.

Tomorrow will be a heavy school day because I have an appointment on Wednesday and we have another appointment on Thursday plus everyone gets to see the dentist for a cleaning!  So, we'll be working hard on our history, their gardens, and writing paragraphs.  Justin threw a fit (which included tears in front of all his classmates and his teacher) today over not wanting to make his garden, so I told him we'd work on it together, revamp it a bit, but he will do the necessary parts of it.  I understand that he's not as creative as some of the others (unless it's Legos), but he needs to learn to do things he doesn't like and to follow through with a project until the end.  Wish us luck!

The youngest girls in our co op.  Sweet kids.

Desserts.  Pumpkin pie, apple pie, fruit salad, GF brownies, real whipped cream, and apple cherry crumble.

Our group, from little to big.  Those boys look super hungry!

Drinks and sides.  Pumpkin bread, rolls, stuffing, kale, and cranberry jello salad.

The main stuff.  Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, GF stuffing, green bean casserole, cheese broccoli rice, and sweet potatoes.

Sibling love as the day got started.  Abishai insisted Sissy sit next to him.

Waiting for our day to start.

Mama likes getting packages from Amazon in the mail because it saves her from running all over time looking for something.  Abishai likes getting packages from Amazon because he gets to pop the big bubble fillers.  He tried so hard to pop it himself, carefully stomping on it so he wouldn't fall over.

Poised and ready to nail it!

Not quite.  His foot rolled off.  Daddy came to the rescue and helped him pop it in the end.

Our version of Jack-Jack from The Incredibles movie.  Yes, actually, that character fits him well because he can go be flaming mad to all cute and cuddle the next.  Oh he could be a unicorn, or a rhino, or a triceratops or just a crazy almost 2 year old..