Raverly...85,000

Finally, a soccer mom

B and T have been offocially signed up for our little town's soccer league and yes, I am now a soccer mom. One lesson I need to learn is to buy and carry in the car with a foldable chair. I noticed with some envy the more experinced mom's at Tball in the spring seemed to have this figured out. I also need to pack a bag of easy knitting that I can do without looking while I watch thing one and thing two on the field.

Ben has joined a team to "cheer them" while his cast is still on. We will see if he plays when it comes off or not - but I like his team spirit.

Yes, he asked for pink cake

The Blue Cast

First Day...

I'm pretty sure the pictures speak for themselves - they only thing was Ben tried to leave the house a 1/2 hour early to wait for the bus. I think he was ready... (and yes, his mom drove to the school after just to make sure he made it ok!)

Kindergarten Orientation

Here are pictures of Ben's orientation with a few comments from his mom...

A hearty breakfast and a does of morning Sesame Street to fortify him for the day...


Drawing pictures in the morning dew...


Mugging for the camera...


Waiting in the Cafeteria for the first meeting to begin...


Ben's table


Walpole Primary School (isn't it cute!)


Ben after the open house


Ben at the after school bus stop

Let Christmas Begin...

...That's my Dad :.)

Thanksgiving...don't really need it.

I am just not into this holiday. I just can't summon the enthusiasm to go all out. When I was in my twenties I struggled with concepts of native american genocide brought by the "Europeans" of those days. Other years I struggled with the rigidity of family dinners held in the past - exactly the same menu for 20 years, same conversations etc... Later I tried to be the person who holds Thanksgiving and invites people who have nowhere else to go. I appreciate the spirit of the holiday - gratitude and thankfulness - but I think we need to practice those every day.

Now I think we've found an angle of repose. Since B's family has their dinner on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we stay home. We buy a turkey and cook it for the meat. We just enjoy a day together as a family.

In all honesty I consider the best part of Thanksgiving is that it heralds the start of the Christmas season. I think our emerging family tradition is to start the xmas decorating on Thanksgiving. Today we hung paper garlands around the house and brought out all the figurines - angels, xmas decorations from preschool art projects, silk flowers in xmas colors, candle holders, pine cones, and so on. It was one of the best days of the year. If all Thanksgivings are like this one - maybe you don't need to give up hope on me yet.