::thanks::

For Family Home Evening the other night I stole an idea from a friend (which had already been stolen by her from another friend).
I cut out a bunch of shapes so we could put together little turkeys and write something that we're grateful for on each feather.
I thought it was such a cute idea, and I also thought it would be fun to see what Max is grateful for.

So we did it.

They turned out cute, right?
Max's is hilarious looking. He was pretty disappointed in me that I didn't remember to cut out wattles for the turkeys. I think they must've been working on turkeys at school because I for sure did not teach him that word!

He's grateful for friends, family, eating, his body (I think he had a little help with that one), Dad, Mama Fish, Sultan, and lastly me. We had to remind him that he probably should put me on there. We said, "Didn't you forget somebody Max?" He thought hard and said, "Oh yeah, SULTAN!" Ah well, I know he loves me.

I'm grateful for a lot of things, but one of those things is the internet. It's so nice to feel connected to so many friends and family even though we're so far apart. What a blessing.

::surefire method to make mom cry::

Bring this home from school:

Isn't it the cutest?

::prep::

When family lives far away (or when you live far from family) you've got to be ready for Christmas sooner. That is, you've got to be ready if you want to not be stressed out at the post office.
So we've been working on family presents and stuff. Working hard. Max has been working too.

Hopefully we'll be able to send packages at the end of the week. Yay!

::three-dee::

All summer every time we went to the store Max would spy out this package of sidewalk chalk that said it was "3D." He wanted it so bad. And I didn't want it bad enough to pay $5 for it. Plus he had a whole bunch of other sidewalk chalk. Non 3D I guess.
I also thought it was a gimmick. I mean, seriously? 3-D sidewalk chalk? So anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was at Target and saw that they had marked the 3d chalk down 50%. Now that's more like it. So I snagged a package and brought it home to Max. Needless to say he was excited and headed out to try it right away.

He was very diligent about following the instructions. You were supposed to use certain colors next to each other.



The package came with these little 3d glasses. I guess the way it works is that certain colors look like they're raised up higher than others when you're wearing the glasses.

And truthfully, it sort of did look 3d through the glasses. I tried to take a picture through the glasses, but I guess since the camera doesn't have two eyes it didn't work. Ah well, that's the breaks.
The best part was, I got out his old chalk and drew some stuff and all that looked just as 3d as the special expensive chalk. Hah.



But despite the over hyped 3d chalk we all had some fun outside together, and that's all that really matters. And plus, I blogged about it. Does it get better than that?

::cute::

At school they have Max write his full name on all his work. It's cute. I never had him do it before, so I was surprised to see it the first time.


The papers remind me of Kris's old homework papers that his mom saved. They all say Kristin on them. Cute little boys.

::public service announcement::

I need to make sure everybody knows about this stuff. It's just too good not to share!

First announcement: Snickerdoodles are delicious. Ok. Everybody knows that, right? But I just tried a recipe today that turned out so so yummy. Try it. You'll only be sorry if you end up eating too many and get a stomachache.


Second announcement: If you need some really cool jewelry go here. Bet you didn't know my sister made pretty jewelry! I have several pairs of earrings and an awesome bracelet. I'm a big fan. I love the necklaces she has in her shop too.

Yeah, I'm not sure why my hand looks like I just slept on it. I don't think I took this first thing in the morning. Maybe I took a nap and didn't know it.
But I love the bracelet and that's what matters.

Third announcement: If you need an awesome, interesting accessory for any sort of outfit, check out Katy's etsy shop. At the end of October Kris's employer hosted their annual charity ball. We got to go, and I was looking for the perfect outfit. I found a dress, but I knew that I needed something cool from Katy to finish it off. We talked and she came up with this:


It was perfect and I loved wearing it. It was unusual, interesting, sophisticated but still didn't take itself too seriously.

So I'd highly recommend checking her stuff out. She's pretty much amazing.

Fourth announcement: This stuff smells better than anything:

I picked it up at Tarjay the other day, just for fun and turns out I love it. It actually makes me want to clean stuff. And that's a good thing. I cleaned my hand mixer today for the first time in forever (gross I know), just so I could smell the dang stuff.
It's kind of a citrusy christmassy smell. Mmmmmm.

That's it for now. Phew, I've done my duty and now the world is enlightened. At least for now.

::boston adventure pt 3::

And here's the last little bit of our Boston adventure.
On the side of the church was a really cool little brick courtyard.

And on the left side of the courtyard there was this really pretty old gate.

I tried googling this gate to see if I could learn anything about it, but it appears to be unimportant--or so google thinks. I think it's cool. The gate led into this little square garden, walled with bricks. The bricks were all covered in ivy.

Max said he thought it was probably just like the Garden of Eden used to be. I told him I didn't agree, but it was a good observation.
Then I asked Kris to take a couple of pictures.


There aren't a lot of pictures of Max and I where I'm not holding the camera myself, so these are fun.

It was just such a cool area. It seemed like there were little secret places everywhere.

(yes, Kris is holding my purse, not his own)
Then we found one more little nook, down a little set of stairs from the original courtyard. And it was just too perfect for pictures. It cried out to be posed in. So we did.



(think max was done with posing yet?)

After that we headed home, since these late fall days have started getting dark pretty darn early.
And on the way home, like a gift, was the most gorgeous sunset I've seen in a while. I took so many photos trying to capture it that I had a really hard time picking just a couple to post. So here are three.



Amazing, right?
The end of this adventure, at least for now.

::mr studious::

We've been keeping Max's little desk in our storage room since we moved. It used to live in the front room and had his little computer on it, but we didn't have room for it in the new place. So a month or so ago Kris reorganized the storage room so that he could exercise out there. In the process the little desk got moved into Max's room. It was well received.
Last week Max suddenly realized that desks are used to write and draw and do stuff on. He announced that he was going to ALWAYS do his homework on his desk. Forever.
He had homework to do, so I asked him if he wanted to go and do some now. And why yes, he did!
So off he went. And when I walked by the hall, there he was, homeworking away.

Working hard. And yeah, there's silly little stuff covering every surface in his room. Oh well, we've been teaching him to keep the floor clean at least. We've got to start somewhere.
He's been doing great with his homework. They send some home a couple of times a week, and it's mostly coloring. He hated it at first, since he had a mental block about coloring, but we somehow got through that and now he's doing fine, which is nice because nagging a 5 year old to do his homework is not my idea of a good time. (Nor does it really seem that necessary in the long run.)

His little friend Frankie was supervising the work. Frankie came from Wendy's in a kid's meal one day. I thought he was weird, but he suddenly became Max's new best friend. He's been around for months.

That Frankie is a lucky guy to have a buddy like Max.

::more little guys::

Green eyed kitty:

Little blue hippo:


These guys are fun because they're such small projects that I can actually get them done. It feels good to finish a project once in a while!