Thanksgiving 2012

We had a pretty fantastic Thanksgiving week. We started things off by watching the Pilgrims and Indians kick off the celebration in Emma's kindergarten class. Emma opted to be an Indian because there were only 6 others, and she saw that things needed a little evening out.

The kindergarten class acted out the scene where the Pilgrims and Wampanoags meet and later eat. There were lots of cute songs; the highlight was when the class performed the "Turkey Tango," complete with dance moves.

Later, my Emma came to mutual along with cute Barnard cousins Emma, Marissa, and Miranda (not in this pic) to decorate the homeless shelter for Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday, we met up with Cummings gals to have our own version of Chocolate Day. We borrowed Valerie's tempering machines (thank you!) and made some tasty treats. Mom tried a maple fondant that was delicious!

Here are cousins hanging out, playing some computer games. From L to R: Emma, Spencer, Daniel, Maddie, Emma, Ryan. 

*Disclaimer: I can't tell Daniel and Ryan apart from just a profile shot.

 

Thursday morning started with a little football. Here is one group of Turkey Bowl players. Adam and Spencer are on the left. 

This shot (and caption) came from Bro. Baldwin and was featured in the church lobby poster recounting the morning's games. Love it. 

After the Turkey Bowl, the rest of our clan joined up with Adam and Spencer to  have a little Turkey Trot. We looped the school track many times over (some faster than others, all faster than me and my 7.5 months of prego belly). 

Taking a stab at getting everyone identified from L to R, back to front:

 Matt, Jorge Luis, Emily, Brad, Marie, John, Adam, Landon, Mitch, Jessica, Valerie, Miranda, Morena

Ryan, Daniel, Spencer, Maddie, Emma, Laura, Laney (Mori's sister), Guiliani, Gabriella, Emma

I think all the photos of our actual Thanksgiving dinner with the Barnards, Withers, and guest George Ruck are on Adam's phone. Suffice it to say that it was a lovely meal; 1pm is the perfect time to eat; and pie is a perfectly acceptable alternative to dinner.

Friday, we celebrated Lefse Day, when all the Cummings clan gathers to put Thanksgiving leftovers in a Norwegian potato-tortilla of sorts. It's the best food ever. 

Here's the kid table: Spencer, Trina, Ginger, Hazel, Emma, Hilde, and Laurel.

Grammy's beautifully remodeled kitchen is the perfect gathering place for a large family crowd. 

(Pictured below from L to R: Adam, Aaron doing an impressive job of holding both Reuben and Miriam, Kari, Katy).

Papa did a little story time for some sleepy young ones as the evening got later. It took me back to when I was young. Papa has a very soothing story-telling voice.

 Here's Emma helping me bake and after-Thanksgiving pie. She does so with style.

We helped Gma, Gpa, and Laura pick out their Christmas tree. It was a chilly day, so we all headed to Starbucks for some apple cider and hot cocoa. Ryan and Emma caught up on some news while we waited for our order. 

Ryan, Spencer, Laura, Daniel, Gma, Maddie, and Emma.

John with Gpa.

Jorge Luis, Emily, and Ryan. 

Adam and Spencer.

I snuck this photo in for a little picture proof that I was there too. :)

Chocolate Days 2012

We love Chocolate Days. It's an official Wride family holiday. The kiddos conveniently get the Monday and Tuesday of Election week off of school, and we take advantage to meet up with the Coxes to do some major chocolatier-ing. Christmas music plays all weekend long; cousins spend hours out of doors; new concoctions are created; a glorious time is had by all.

This year, Maddie had written a play to start things off. She quickly enlisted the help of Spencer, Emma, Daniel, Ryan, and Oakley. They rehearsed and performed her latest theatrical creation.

Emma and Maddie hard at work.

Here are the chocolate mice they made, all by themselves.

Women at work. This is seriously fun business. There is lots of gabbing while we stir, chop, and dip. 

Apprentices don't mind getting their hands dirty. Maddie would gladly have spent all day dipping; Emma is a little less enthused about the squishiness of a hand full of chocolate, but she had fun giving it a go.

The other kiddos got in on the candy action too. Here they are, eagerly decorating graham cracker houses.

These are the heroes of Chocolate Day. This team of fathers and grandfathers keep the kiddos entertained for days on end so that the chocolates can get made. This year, they were presented with shirts that had been created by Valerie and Kate. 

Here they are, jumping for joy. From left to right: Brad, Adam, Brady, and Darwin.

Love this.

The dads and gpas take the kids to the park...

Create leaf mazes for them to run through...

Take them on four-wheel "tractor" rides...

and swing them in the hammock. Can you see why this group of cousins and friends love Chocolate Days?

Here's a little cousin loving. Sadie got some major snuggles from adoring cousins. She lives in CA, so we don't get to see her often enough. 

When it came time to say goodbye, we gave cousin Sadie some big hugs.

Until next year...

p.s. Harrison and Bridget - can't you come too?

Miscellaneous - Fall 2012

Here's a post of little moments I didn't want to forget in the recording of our family's story.

Adam took Emma on a Daddy Date to the Mitt Romney rally in Leesburg. The papers later reported that over 6,000 people were there. Emma was excited to see Caroline and Anna, who are two of my violin students.

Here is Emma with Adam once the rally had begun.

This was one of Johnny's Daddy Dates. They went to the nearby Town Center to get some chocolate ice cream cones. 

John loves to sneak an iphone and perch on a chair in Daddy's office (or else right behind my chair while I teach violin). He's very adept at opening the Netflix app and starting a show, though he is also a big fan of the game Temple Run.

This photo somehow didn't make it into the Pumpkinville post. Spencer was the only one of our kiddos brave enough to climb into the tortoise shell. Props, Spence.

Spencer has been having a a pretty fantastic year. His buddy Cole (on the right) moved into a house up the street from us, and Zach (on the left) lives just a few doors down from us as well. These three get together most afternoons and play legos, games, or build forts in the forest. Emma and John are frequently part of the after-school hangout. We're pretty lucky to have such great neighbors.

John likes to dress like a firefighter. 

Sometimes he's a firefighter-artist. Chalk is a favorite medium.

Here he is cheesing it up at the ward party.  

The YW were in charge of the games, so while I supervised them, Super-Daddy supervised our brood.

No small task, especially since we added a neighbor friend to the mix. Missionary-minded Emma invited our cute friend Kareena (Luigi) to come along.

Daddy is home!

Adam has just returned from a 10 day trip to Russia. More on that later, but here are a few nuggets from the kids, who are over-the-moon-excited that he is back.

Spencer (in the car on the way home from the airport): Dad, tell us some of your most interesting experiences.
Emma: Yes, Dad. What experiences did you have?

So eloquent. Love these kiddos.

John was getting in a good bedtime wrestle with Dad just now, which he has sorely missed since his uber-prego Momma doesn't do much in the way of wrestling. In the midst of a good tackle, John said, "Please, Dad. More!" 

We're so glad that Daddy is home.

Weekend with Fuzzy

Emma has an AWESOME kindergarten teacher this year. Her name is Mrs. Fay. 

Mrs. Fay teaches the children in her class about new concepts and ideas in creative ways. Often her buddy Rascal the Raccoon helps the class understand rules (usually by breaking them and getting corrected). Rascal is a good student most of the time, but the kindergartners are there to help him out when he is having trouble. In doing so, they learn correct behavior themselves. Here is Emma with Rascal and Mrs. Fay at the open house before the school year started. 

Mrs. Fay uses other animals in her classroom as well. Elmer the Elephant helped when they learned about pumpkins; there was a newspaper clipping showing how elephants at the zoo love stomping pumpkins, so the kids had to keep Elmer away from their class pumpkins until they had time to discuss the different parts of the pumpkin. Eventually sneaky Elmer ended up smashing some, but then they got to look inside so I guess that wasn't all bad. 

I volunteer on Mondays, and when it was time to introduce the spider unit, the class carpet was FILLED with HUGE spiders. The kids got to do research and Emma proudly explained to me later that spiders have 8 legs, which are attached not to their abdomen, but to the cephalothorax. Cephalo...what? My 5 year old knows way more about spiders than I do. 

Emma LOVES the class animals, so she was quite thrilled when her turn came to take Fuzzy home for the weekend. He comes with a backpack, pajamas, bedtime story, blanket, and a journal where Emma got to write about the adventures they had together.

Fuzzy came with us to Cafe Rio.

Then he joined us for an outing to Nielsen's Frozen Custard in Vienna.

We had to see how the VA branch compares to the one by Gpa B in Utah.

Fuzzy even became a snuggly nighttime friend for Emma, who wanted to be sure he had a comfy place to sleep. Have I mentioned how much I love this caring little kindergartner?