Will's Turkey Story

This is Will's "What Would a Turkey Do on It's Last Day" story.  (With my spelling corrections, otherwise you wouldn't be able to read it.)  He was so excited about this school assignment that he came home and assigned it to everybody else in his family!  In total, 10 turkey stories were read on Thanksgiving- even one from Emily who skyped with us so she could be a part of it too!
So stay tuned for more stories!
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You know what?  I hate Thanksgiving.  "Why?" you ask?  I'll tell you. 

It started on the day before Thanksgiving when the farmer was talking on the phone.  "Yeah, we're having turkey for Thanksgiving dinner......Yeah, last time it was pretty good."

A turkey for dinner, I thought.  "He wants me to eat with him for thanksgiving?!  I wonder what we're having?"

"You dimwit," said a pig. (Which can get on your nerves all the time.)  "They are having YOU!"

"I know! They want me to eat with them!"

"No, no, YOU'RE the Thanksgiving dinner!"

I thought about that for a second.  From all the stuff that the pigs have told me this is the weirdest. "What are you talking about?"

"They're going to eat you!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

"Really?!"

"YEAH!"

"REALLY?!!!"

"Would you stop saying that?!"

"Well, I'm no chicken, I'm a turkey!"

"HEY!" said the chickens.

*    *    *
(He actually drew little circles, to signify that time has passed.)

So now I'm walking along here, hoping the farmer won't chase me when I hear gobbling.  I hurry towards the sound and I find a bunch of other turkeys! "Hello," I say.  Then I have a brilliant idea.  "Did you know the farmer over there wants to cook us and then eat us?" 

There was silence after cries of horror.  "They've eaten enough of us, so I say we fight back!  Let's get revenge!  Either we fight, or get eaten!"  There was silence.  Then I realized how stupid I sounded. 

But then,  "Let's get revenge!  Let's get revenge!  Let's get revenge!"  So then we marched into the night towards the farmer's house.

*   *   *

So here I am.  I'm flying higher than I ever flew before.  So I'm here flying higher and higher and the world below me looks like an ant hill.  I wonder if the other turkeys got out okay after they ran away when the farmer pulled out the pitchfork?  But I'm still wondering how the farmer's Thanksgiving was.  I hope I tasted good.  And that is why I hate Thanksgiving.

Lemme Halloween Parade 2010

 The parade started with the Lemme Leopard, of course!

Sam's class was lead by his teacher and him!

Here are some other costumes we liked, especially Max.  A hotdog:

R2-D2- very cool!  but needed assistance in walking!  It even had a panel on the front with lite-brite peg buttons that really lit up!

 Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head:

Where's Waldo and a giant rubber ducky:

Will:

 Ghostbuster Ghost:

A ninja banana:

Can you tell that Sam put on his costume and facial hair all by himself?  I sure do love that boy - even with eyebrows on his temples.

Sam is 7!

 Sam turned 7 on October 18th!   Laura had these letters taped to the outside of his present.  He was funny to watch when we read the words aloud to him.  He tried to act each one out.

We celebrated with hy-vee brownies - no homemade anything this year due to the state of the kitchen.

Will's present was this gargoyle he made at school:

He invited a few friends to the children's museum for an afternoon.  Turns out it was free day and to top it off, not even crowded!  We ended the party with a big cookie from the cookie place.  Blech.  (Don't recommend.)

 

Tuckered Out

Last week was Max's first full week of preschool but he stayed home last Monday because of stomach issues the day before. After 3 days of preschool (Tuesday - Thursday) this is how I found him Thursday afternoon. All zonked out on the landing! Not the most comfortable place in the world.

Did you notice the rather large bump in the back of his pants? Well let's just zoom in on that. Uh, yeah. We have yet to get that kid to poop in the potty. After a few days of waiting us out, he does this major load:
What? that grosses you out? sorry.

He's home again today, throwing up every little bit since 4:30 this morning. :-( I've decided I'm not getting a shower today. I've pretty much got to camp out here on the couch with him because he has no energy to move or make much noise. boo.

The Birthday Boy

Max is totally in to his birthday this year! He turned the big three on the 19th (the first day of school). We waited to celebrate with family until Friday night. Here he is giving me his cheeseball smile:
Here he is opening the dog kennel present that the McC's got him. He's obsessed with Lily's, so Laura searched all over the great state of Iowa until she found one. I realize that this is 2 minutes of opening a present, but if you can make it til the end, it gets really cute!


He's super in to Toy Story right now so we got him a toy story geotrax set where the bridge goes out. (It will connect with all the other pieces we have too!)



Poor guy jumped clear out of his skin the first time the bridge collapsed!

Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Larry got him some inflatable toy story items:


He's also got some wicked new rock moves with the toy electric guitar that the Berends grandparents got him. Happy Birthday buddy!

Buzz Lightyear...

To the rescue!



He's got his Toy Story underwear on, his Buzz backpack, and goes around the house constantly saying "To infinity... and beyond!" He's ready for anything.

Mortification

Second Day of School:

Chance of rain by the time school is getting out, so I washed the boys' spring jackets and put them in their backpacks. Will went to put his on after school at his locker, and a pair of underwear fell out of the sleeve. The boy next to him noticed and snickered. Will quickly stuffed it into his backpack, and being totally embarrassed proceeds to chew Sam out the minute he finds him, accusing him of stuffing dirty underwear into his jacket on purpose. He even twisted Sam's arm and made him cry while I watched from across the field. Sam came running to me and once the story was out, I immediately knew it was MY "fault." Why the little turd immediately thought that Sam was to blame, I do not know. So now I'm mad too. Mad that he treated his brother that way, mad that I didn't notice the underwear when I did the laundry, mad that he'd had an embarrassing experience. This was just the type of thing that would have scarred me for life at that age. Once I realized that Will is not me, thank goodness, and he does not appear to be scarred for life, I was able to find the humor. Ah, it's good for him. Keeps him humble.

First Day Of School

Thursday was the first day of school for all THREE of my boys! I now have a preschooler, a first grader, and a fifth grader! Everyone was excited and did great on their first day!

As always, the "out takes" are more enjoyable than the normal picture:

Backpacks:

Pay no attention to the woman behind the picnic table:My Lemme Leopards, wearing their new shirts:
My preschooler, wearing his Buzz Lightyear backpack:
He is READY. To. Go!
Getting settled in:

Music Can Convey so Many Emotions

This is Twinkle Twinkle, in case you were wondering.

Water Slide

Doesn't work as well as we'd hoped - if you're little you tend to fall right off!

If you're bigger, and you get a big running start, you'll probably be ok.

My review is it's not worth the money, but the kids had fun anyway.