Harris
Happenings
November
1998
Welcome
November!
This month at our house, we have welcomed
the coming of fall. The weather is cooling down, the leaves of the
trees changed to beautiful oranges, reds, yellows and gold, and the air
is crisp and clear. We are glad to have lots of wonderful things
going on this month, as we turn our attention from the summer past to the
coming of winter.
Grandma
and Grandpa Bird Came to Visit
On Nov 4th, we were lucky to have Grandpa
and Grandma Bird (Jenny's parents) come to visit. They brought lots
of doll clothes and wood-crafted items with them, which they entered into
the Howard County Christmas Craft Fair out at our fairgrounds. The
show ran the first two weekends of November, and Grandpa and Grandma were
selling their crafted items both weekends. While Grandpa and Grandma
were here, we enjoyed catching up on family news, reading lots of story
books, and generally showing off how much we've grown since we saw them
last in July. (Well, Mike and Kim were happy to be growing... Jenny
and David would rather not have anyone notice how much they have grown!
) During the week between the two craft show weekends, Grandpa and
Grandma drove to visit relatives in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, returning
to our house on Wednesday. Since that was Veteran's Day, Jenny and
David both had the day off. Jenny used that day to cook a Thanksgiving
Dinner for the family, since we will not be together on Thanksgiving Day.
We had the works - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and all
the fixin's. Mike and Kim were happy to see that we had lots of pumpkin
pie! We really enjoyed having Grandpa and Grandma around for
such a nice long visit.
Mike's
First Sleepover
Mike was invited to his first real sleepover
at a school-friend's house! It was on a Saturday night. Mike was
very excited, because he planned to stay up all night! There were
three best buddies there, and they filled their evening eating ice cream
and cookies, watching the movie AirBud, and just having lots of good fun
together. They made it all the way to 12:00am before they finally
zonked out. They were up at 8:00 the next morning, still tired but very
satisfied. The smile on his face when he walked in the door Sunday
was wide as a mile, and lit up the whole room! Unfortunately, the great
mood lasted only as long as it took for us to ask him to take his sleeping
bag upstairs - he turned grumpy in a flash! The poor guy, got so
tuckered out, but he sure did have a lot of fun. He climbed into
his bed and slept for about 3 hours on Sunday afternoon!
Report
Card Day
Mike's first quarter report card came home,
and it was full of good news. His teachers praised him for his above-level
performance, and only warned him a little about being talkative during
working time. Congratulations Mike!
Parent-Teacher Conferences Are This Month
It's time for the first round of conferences
with Mike and Kim's teachers. During Kim's conference, the daycare
teachers reported that Kim is a very good listener, is a good helper, and
likes to learn the Spanish vocabulary that Miss Dawn is teaching.
Kim rests nicely when it is time for naps, and is an enthusiastic singer.
The only thing that needs some work is separation time in the morning,
when Jenny or David drops her off. To help Kim get through that morning
routine, the teachers encouraged her to bring a small stuffed animal or
a picture of her family, which she can use as a stand-in for Mom or Dad.
We have tried it for about a week and it works great! Kim is much
happier in the morning when she is taken to school, and everyone involved
has a much nicer morning!
Halloween
Halloween was a big hit this year.
Mike was a vampire, and Kim was a "pretty witch". We carved lots
of pumpkins, and decorated the house with spider webs and spooky lights.
The kids went to a neighborhood Halloween party, where Kim wrapped Mike
up like a mummy, using a roll of toilet paper! There were lots of
other fun games at the party too. Then we waited for our friend Lucie
to come over, and we all went around the neighborhood for trick-or-treat
time. The kids filled up their buckets with goodies, and headed back
home to inspect the loot. After Mike took a quick shower to wash
off his vampire make-up, the kids all climbed into bed together, while
Lucie's mom babysat and Jenny and David went to a movie. There was
a little excitement while Jenny and David were gone - someone, probably
a teenaged prankster, knocked insistently on the front door but would not
answer when asked who was there. Lucie's mom played it safe and dialed
911. The police came to investigate, but nothing was found to be
out of order. After that, the evening went much smoother.
Thanksgiving
Plans
On Thanksgiving this year, we plan to have
Lucie and her mom over to dinner. We'll cook a big turkey (for the
second time in two weeks!), and have all the fixin's again. Mike
is looking forward to the pumpkin pie, of course. He just can't seem
to get enough! On the day after Thanksgiving, we'll be going "over
the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house" to visit Grandma
Myers in Pennsylvania. We'll only be gone a short while, though,
because soon after that, Jenny will be tied up with work commitments.
We'll start our Christmas season in earnest soon after Thanksgiving, as
we usually do. So, to round out our November and head into December,
here's wishing you and your family a happy holiday season!
Harris Front Door Harris
Happenings
Credits:
Mama Bear's PicLibrary:
http://members.xoom/com/dnoennig