Thanksgiving Visitors

Oma and Papa came to town! Within their first two days, they got to see Owen's 4th grade musical, witness Hadley's gymnastics class, and attend school Thankful parties before the kids were out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday week. The kids were so excited to have house guests and got lots of fun time in with their grandparents!

When in Houston, there's nothing like dinner out! We had many occasions to go out to eat with extended family and friends.

Meanwhile, the kids pet sat the neighbors' gecko. He was pretty cute and low maintenance. We were supposed to handle him every once in a while to keep him accustomed to human contact. No shortage of volunteers for that here!

Finally, four weeks to the day from getting his splint, Owen's cast came off. Such an exciting day in our house! Time to figure out if he can still write, eat, and throw with this hand.

To celebrate the cast coming off, we went to check out a couple of the larger city parks that we hadn't seen yet. Everything seemed to be back to working order! And the parks were pretty awesome - wish they were closer to our house.

Then, it was time for Oma and Papa to do the second half of their visit, based out of Uncky Dan's house. The kids were sad to see them leave. They ran next to their car all the way to the end of the street. 

But we met up with them soon enough at the Thanksgiving feast! The kids initiated this family collection of thankful lists Thanksgiving morning so that we could remember the reason for the holiday. We have been truly blessed!

Since Thanksgiving fell on Addie's birthday (and Will's two days later), their Sugar Land grandparents had a huge bouncy house and slide set up in the backyard. The kids didn't mind the humidity and sprinkles and got super sweaty in between food courses.

After Thanksgiving, there was one more family get-together to celebrate Papa's birthday before Oma and Papa headed back to Ohio. We even managed to get a full family photo!

There was lots of quality, low-key family time. I guess Owen was avoiding the camera...

Papa got a homemade carrot cake to celebrate 71 years. Well done, Aunt Jenn!

And Owen even got a couple of early birthday gifts! He's rounding the corner to double digits in just a couple of weeks.

After cake, the youngest ventured outside with sidewalk chalk. They ended up with an impressive art piece up to a full aquarium.

Between all of the amazing family functions, the kids had fun on their week off of school! Although it should be noted that it went by too fast for Owen, and Hadley was sad that she had a week off from school at all.

Go West and International

Our little school holds an International Night every year where student families host booths displaying the countries of their heritage. It was so cool! We had 21 countries represented, including Russia, China, India, Kenya, Argentina, Iraq, and Trinidad and Tobago, to name a few. Hadley and I checked it out and got our "passport" stamped at all the countries.

Each country had information and pictures to admire, food to try, and items on display unique to their culture. There were performances by several dance troops and martial arts groups, and Hadley even got her name written in Chinese calligraphy. It was so cool to see and celebrate the diversity in our community!

Also in our gym a week later, Owen and his fellow 4th graders put on an adorable musical about westward expansion, called "Go West." As you can see, there were cowpokes, Native Americans, rail workers, and steamboat crew. Owen is 2nd from the left and 2nd from the top in the chorus.

He was the Mayor of Independence, and he had to memorize a pretty verbose bunch of lines, as a result. Not sure that he'll seek out more performances in the future, but it was such an "auspicious occasion."

As mayor, he had to wear a suit, along with a hat and cane to boot. Swoon! Here he is with his music teacher, Mrs. Peterson (no relation1). She did a great job turning these kids into a half-hour musical production in just over a month!

Lastly, we do make it over to see our cousins about once a month. Addie had fun spinning Owen around in the desk chair, and Will loved showing us his Dyson "bac-yume". He may be a little obsessed.

Reflections

November started off with a Field Day at school. That means extra hours of active time for the kids inside and outside. Owen was still in his splint/sling, so I thought I could accompany him and be his right hand, if he needed one. He had a good sense of what he could and couldn't do (football toss out, running in, etc.), and he kept in good spirits despite his limitations. I was impressed when he would one-handedly roll a kickball up his side from the floor for a trash can basket and he got kudos from the game volunteers for participating as much as he did.

I stuck around to check in on Hadley's grade level afterwards. She ran around with a couple of her classmates, and their first stop was the treat station. She did not need help, and she and her friends were obviously having a blast, so I gave her a hug and let her go. Glad she's finding her tribe!

One week after he broke it, Owen got upgraded to his cast. He picked green for his color, and set about getting it covered in signatures. So far, he likes it way better than the sling!

Hadley entered the district-wide Reflections art contest at school. The theme was "Look Within", so Hadley decided to draw her dream about a unicorn helping butterflies. The entries were judged by middle school art teachers and Hadley came away with 3rd place in the PK-2 category! She was so surprised and excited, especially when she got a trophy! She's been on a roll lately - she was also asked to join the competition level gymnastics class, and she's close to straight 100s in all her classes! #winning

The entrants and winners (including the 3-5 graders) of the inaugural art contest. 

More Paint

We jokingly called our house "50 shades of beige." Once we tackled the browns downstairs, the upstairs was much more noticeable, especially in the playroom where the golden tan extended up onto the ceiling. I didn't realize how dark it was until I started trying to paint the ceiling white! We're gonna need more paint!

This was quite an undertaking, since the playroom is large and is open to the front door and the hallways upstairs, and both the ceilings and walls needed two coats to cover the tan. We wanted something lighter, but kind of fun since it was a playroom, so we went with a gray that plays to blue and green depending on the lighting. Here are some before and afters.

Here's the spot that is open to the foyer and front door. We had some painters come do the two-story foyer in the same color as the rest of the downstairs. As you can see, it reflects the light a lot more, though it is not white as it appears here, and we replaced the hallway lights.

I'm not sure I like how it sometimes looks more like baby blue in certain lighting. But it's too late now! And J is not fond of how the walls meet in the corner as two different colors. That's the problem with open floor plans!

While the painters were here for the foyer, I had them paint the ceiling over the stairs too, because I was not up to figuring that out with a ladder/scaffold. And I didn't get a picture of it, but we replaced the ceiling fan, too.

Here's a better look at the foyer. We still have a wall or two to paint, but we probably need to figure out the walls in the formal living room/soon-to-be office first. One thing at a time!