Travelingjenny
Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood
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Tess's class has been studying voting, and they held their very own election today. Last week, the teacher invited all interested students to bring in $1 to be donated to a charity, and then the first and second graders used the Quaker decision-making process to choose three worthy organizations – an orphanage in Kenya, a local soup kitchen, and the animal shelter their class birds came from. Yesterday they made a ballot box and ballots, voter i.d. cards for each of the students, and even "I voted!" stickers. Today they had two private polling spots in their classroom, and all of the students came and voted. Tess's class helped their Kindergarten buddies fill out the ballots. The whole thing was fabulous, and such a great learning experience. Tess was so proud. Plus she got to help her dad vote in the preidential election this morning. Super cool.
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At some point in the course of last week, Tess suddenly remembered that she has her very own cookbook, and that she would like to use it. So, she spent some time flagging recipes of interest, then chose TWO breakfast items to make this past weekend. On Saturday we enjoyed french toast, and on Sunday she made "hide-and-seek" muffins, with a banana chunk and some chocolate chips (her idea) hidden inside. Her cookbook has easy-to-read, step-by-step instructions with illustrations, so she can figure out what to do all by herself! Awesome. And this morning at school when she was asked to draw a picture of something she did over the weekend, she drew a picture of the two of us cooking together in the kitchen. 🙂
Sweet Grace also rediscovered her love for cooking this weekend, and chose to make us alphabet soup for dinner. She started with making a grocery list, and the two of us had a lovely trip to the store together (of course, we added on a trip to Claire's, where she ogled the sparkly make-up cases). When it came time to cook, Grace pretty much did everything by herself, including chopping with a sharp knife! I was merely her assistant, grabbing ingredients and peeling carrots, and doing the dishes. The results were amazing — Tess even declared that her new favorite food is alphabet soup!!
Now that we've had such successes, the girls are each going to cook a meal on the weekends. Tess has even made up a schedule for us!
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The adorable, toothless bunny and the super-cool gypsy had a fabulous time trick-or-treating tonight. It was our sixth (!) year roaming Main Street in Freeport with Grace's buddy Elyse (a vampire). It's amazing how much further we can go each year, and how much less tired the girls are afterwards. And this time, I didn't even have to hold Tess's hand (except for when we encountered the Wolfman, twice!). I have to admit, that made me a little sad.
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It's offical – Adam and I will be getting our own pumpkins next year, because our carving skills are no longer needed here. Except maybe for helping Tess, who does NOT like to get pumpkin goop on her hands. That makes for slow progress, but the end result is still spectacular.
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Tess's second front tooth has been wiggly for a while now. And for the past few days, we've closed the drain on the sink during tooth-brushing time, just in case. But today, at school, Tess's class was outside playing a game, and Tess accidentally ran into a friend's shoulder. Out popped the tooth onto the grass, and Tess ended up in tears in my office. Losing her tooth in that fashion was rather surprising to her, but she rallied and has written the Tooth Fairy a note asking her to leave the tooth AND to please provide a picture of her fairy village. That's going to be interesting.
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Our internet connection was down for a few days (the horror!!) and now I'm a bit behind with the blogging… But, last weekend we went on one of our two favorite hikes — Bradbury Mountain. This state park is known for its scenic views, particularly in fall, and we are lucky enough to leave less than 5 miles down the road from it. Not only is it great for viewing fall colors, it is also perfect for hiking, catching leaves, playing — and amazingly adorable sister photos.
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So, we woke up one morning and it was fall. Just like that, the air is crisp and cool and we have leaves all over the yard. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I am sure that the girls are quite happy with the change. They spent a good chunk of Friday afternoon moving leaves to the bottom of the slide so they could land in them. And then they threw them at each other. Ah, fall…
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This kid is really into writing and reading now, thanks to first grade. She has learned how to sound out words, and has been practicing writing words based on how they sound. In the photo above, the last sentence reads, "I went sledding with my friend." The rest is obvious — she loves us!
Travelingjenny 