A party, a conference, and a day at home

Yesterday, Jeff used a vacation day, because I had to help at Lily's Thanksgiving party, and younger siblings are not allowed. Also, I had a conference with Andrew's teacher in the afternoon. So because Jeff was home, I also go to do some Christmas shopping alone (?!?) and run some pre-birthday/Thanksgiving errands alone. Awesome.

Lily's party:

Kids waiting for the action to start

Lily just happened to be V.I.P. (Very Important Preschooler) yesterday. A much coveted position that she has been moaning about lately. She got to point to the calendar as they talked about the day of the week, etc.
She also got to check the weather and then put the appropriate sticker on the weather chart.

She also got hold the flag during the pledge of allegiance and singing of God Bless America.

Very cute.

Then they dressed in their pilgrim and Native American costumes they made last week.

Then they traded necklaces with their Native American/Pilgrim friends.

They ate a fabulous feast of pumpkin pancakes and applesauce. And then they sat down to wait for their Mommies to come and get them and sang turkey songs while they waited. Cutest thing ever. Lily has been trying to remember the words to this song for a week...so when they started to sing it, she turned to me and yelled, "This is it! This is the turkey song, Mom!"

Andrew's conference was later that day. I took no pictures...obviously. He is wonderful and smart and perfectly perfect. The only thing to work on is to encourage him to not be so hard on himself when he doesn't do something perfect. She had no tips as to how to accomplish this. Which I would have appreciated...since I never quite mastered that myself as a student. ;) Also, she mentioned that she is getting a new student next week and she'd just met with the parents. Apparently they are moving into the house that just sold in our neighborhood. So their son will be in Andrew's class. And they also just happen to have a daughter who turned 4 in September. Hello? Stalking shall begin as soon as I see the moving truck. ;)

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Today was destined to be a difficult day. Nobody had school. Jeff worked a normal day. I had already completed my errands, but still had almost all the cleaning and cooking left to do on my list. Blergh.

But the kids were fabulous. They played so nicely together, and it was so fun to see the playing switch. When one kid needed a break, the other two would pick up with their own game, etc etc. A nice perk to the 3 kid equation that I've never seen before in practice. I got a TON of my chores accomplished...although all the cooking will wait until tomorrow morning, and I managed to avoid the master bath. Overwhelming.

We also made a fort while I was washing the kitchen floor:

And we made place cards for the Thanksgiving table using paint and our thumbs and an old Cheerios box that I cut up to use as card stock. The kids had a blast because it was Paint! and Mom never lets us Paint! (it was miserable...FYI) (I chickened out and did it while Mikey napped...FYI)

Only the girls got googly eyes...per Lily's decree.

My in-laws get here tonight. My parents were supposed to come Friday, but with all the great-grandma/Memere issues, they are wisely skipping the long trip to Philly. Jeff's mom and dad quickly jumped on the wagon and are coming instead. And much to my dismay, they are missing the Ohio State/Michigan game that they had tickets for. If I had been aware, I wouldn't have made them choose. But as it is, they chose us (and I'm glad).

Have a happy Thanksgiving!