Thanksgiving Pies

Look what the girls made today!

pumpkin pie

cherry pie

The finished products.

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Program

Today was Sydney's Thanksgiving program at school! She has been very excited about it and today was her big day. The kids all sang really, really well and they did dances with their songs that were super cute. Most of the kids had a small speaking part in the program, including Sydney. She got to hold up a picture she made and say what she is thankful for. She said "I am thankful for my family." So, so, so great!!! I'm so proud of her, she did a great job!

Here she is walking into the gym at the beginning of the program.

Here she is saying she is thankful for her family.

With her picture.

More singing.

Right after the program. So proud of herself!

With some of her fans.

Sydney and Mrs. Epstein

My day

This year, my family has agreed to let me have Thanksgiving at my house. I am quite excited about it, but I have never done it before, so I'm a little nervous too. I've been getting my Christmas decorations out all week, because I want my house to be very festive by Thanksgiving. I got everything out except for the tree, and today, Mike got that out (he's on vacation from work this week). We got it all set up and ready for the kids to decorate when they got home from school. Right before I left to pick them up, this is where I found Ellie.

I know. She's so cute!

The kids dug into the ornaments right away, and we now have a beautiful tree! I was a little sad though, because they are tall enough to reach the top of the tree now. When did they get so big? I don't even have to rearrange the ornaments to get some on the top half of the tree.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Smurfday Party

We had Sydney's bday party last night. She had a blast!

Getting ready to open presents.

Chixos!

Her new poley, Snowflake.

Papa Smurf's lab. That's right, lab. Not house. Lab.

Here she is with her Smurfette cake! It was just as much of a pain this time as it was the last time. Here's a better shot of it:

I also made a very yummy spinach dip for the party last night. I loved it, and I think everyone else did too. Here is the recipe:

HOT ARTICHOKE SPINACH DIP

1/2 cup spinach (frozen)
1 cup artichoke hearts
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
dash pepper

Finely chop spinach and artichoke. Boil spinach and artichokes in 1 cup water on medium heat for 10 minutes. Drain well.

In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the cream cheese for one minute or enough to soften. Add all ingredients together and serve.

May be kept in a slow cooker to keep warm. Recipe may be doubled.

I omitted the crushed red peppers and the dash pepper. So yummy!

A bouncin fun birthday party!

front row: Mila, Andrew, Austin, Zach, Sidney, Emma, Briana, Isabella

back row: Mikey, Carrine, Aubrey, Anabel, SYDNEY, Stella, Eleanor, Sloane, Kennedy

We had Sydney's birthday party at Bounce U today. It was a super fun time! I think all the kids went home happy and tired. And, most of the injuries were not life threatening.

Carrine, Sydney and Isabella on the big slide

Sydney and Isabella getting ready to go down the big slide again.

Kennedy, Carrine & Sydney taking a break

Briana got to have her friend, Emma come to the party too, and they had a blast together!

The birthday girl in the big chair getting ready to open presents!

Happy sixth birthday, Sydney!!

Something cute I found...

Just to put you in the mood for a Smurfday party!

Look what I got today! I can't wait!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SYDNEY!!!

Today's the day! Sydney is six years old!! Where does the time go? She had a very fun day. We opened presents about 9:00 this morning, and she was VERY excited about everything she got. She even said at one point, "This is the best day EVER!" Here she is with some of her loot:

I made her a Smurfette birthday cake. It was a HUGE pain in the neck, and I think I could probably live my whole life without ever doing one again. But, I will be making another one next week for her big party. So, I will post pictures then (I know. The suspense!) Anyway, after tearing apart my entire kitchen and yelling at everyone (well, mostly Mike) for two hours today, I got the cake done, and it looked really, really cute. And then I almost started crying when we had to cut into it after dinner. I guess that's just a small sacrifice I can make for my SIX year old!!

More stories

Briana came home from school yesterday with this story in her backpack.

I'm sorry, but she does write the best stories.

This morning, Sydney showed me this book that she made all on her own:

Look at all those words she is sounding out! And is it just me or is her handwriting really, really good? Better than most kindergarteners.

The joys of kindergarten

I found out last week that Sydney's kindergarten teacher is taking a six week medical leave from school. Why? Who knows. Briana heard she has to have surgery on her foot, but I have not gotten a confirmation on that rumor yet. Everyone is being very secretive about it. So, they have called in a replacement for her until she is back. Her replacement is Cruella DeVille. She is pretty nice, but she has a very loud personality. Loud clothes, lots of jewelry, and she wears a cape for a winter coat. And she has a very loud, booming voice. So, when I found out she was going to be Sydney's teacher for six weeks, I was a little concerned. Even though she seems nice enough, her loud voice could be confused for yelling at times. Last week, I went up to help at school and became more concerned by her teaching style. If she's going to be there for six weeks, is she going to be able to teach the kids what they need to be learning? Is that class going to fall behind? Sydney seems comfortable with her, so that's good. Anyway, last night, Mike put Sydney to bed and she was reading all kinds of words in her book! All on her own! And they weren't even her sight words! Then, a little while later, she brought me down this piece of paper:

It says, Mommy I love evwbtd

Translation: Mommy, I love everybody. She sounded out the word everybody! So maybe Cruella won't be so bad after all.