Thanksgiving Poem

The First Thanksgiving
by
Jack Prelutsky (2006 Children's Poet Laureate)

When the Pilgrims
first gathered together to share
With their Indian friends
in the mild autumn air,
they lifted their voices
in jubilant praise
for the bread on the table
for berries and maize,
for field and for forest,
for turkey and deer,
for the bountiful crops
they were blessed with that year.
They were thankful for these
as they feasted away,
and as they were thankful,
we're thankful today.

Thanksgiving Tree

Last year my friend told me about this really great Thanksgiving calendar. Every night in November each member of the family writes something they are thankful for and puts it in one of the little pockets. I liked the idea because it is always good to find holiday traditions that don't involve gifts, shopping, materialism or calories. Well, I got online and the calenders were like $80!




















So I found this idea for a Thankfulness Tree. I made the tree out of sticks ( a little Charlie Brownyish I know) and PK1 and I cut out a bunch of leaves.















Every night we write down on a paper leaf something we are thankful for, and hang it on the tree.

I just happened to take pictures the night PK1 wrote "Bible," not all of them are that lofty.















I was going to do the tree every night, but nothing like a tradition to make glaringly obvious how chaotic your life is! I would say we have done it 1/2 - 2/3 of the nights.















It was special to do it one night with the Political Grandparents and one night with The College Aunt.

We are going to read them all on Thanksgiving!

They're BACK!

Water Park

We're back..and the first Political Family vacation was a success. Check out our family fun:

One Day Vacation

We never do this kind of thing, but to celebrate the end of the election..we are headed here:

See you Saturday!

History Timeline

PK1 is memorizing a history timeline.

It has these really beautiful flash cards that incorporate the Bible and history.

PK2 listens to us do the cards because we do it during our Bible time every morning. A few weeks into it I realized that she knows them pretty well too. We are only up to the Founding of Rome, but I had to post her saying them, because it is hilarious.

We are Most Assuredly Dorks

When PD is home in the evening and we don't have anywhere we have to go, we usually eat dinner at 6, then he plays with the girls from 6:30-7 while I do dishes and then we like to watch Jeopardy. We have a heated little competition to see who can get the most questions right. The girls sometime come and sit on the floor near us while we watch and they say whose team they are on. Despite the fact that I lose a lot, they still choose my team most of the time.

This week my college sister was here and she likes to watch us watch Jeopardy because she is alternately awed by our genius and dumbfounded by our nerdiness.

So lately I have been on a wicked winning steak, maybe it is all the homeschooling, maybe it is because it is college week, but I have been beating the PD soundly of late. When we got to the end the other night, I was gloating about my win and PK1 said: "Well it is just because Daddy wasn't answering any questions!" Exactly.

Our Chinese Brother

Have you met baby Kevin?

PK2 calls him our Chinese brother. We have just enjoyed the heck out of him since he was born 5 months ago. We just saw his portliness last night.

He used to look like this:

Then he looked like this:

then this:

maybe for awhile he was doing too much of this:

last night he looked like this:

and played with them:

he is laughing and rolling all over the carpet. And PK1 got to do this:

I enjoy babies so much more when they come out of someone else's tummy and wake up at 6AM at someone else's house.

The PKs on Election Night

The Political Dad told me to refer to the Political Daughters as Political Kids so that he could be PD and they could be PK1 and PK2. He thinks it is easier to follow and so do I.

I have such election fatigue, which is not helped by PD being at a two day "retreat" for political dorks strategists today and tomorrow. So I had to put on my single mom hat again. We may be having tuna melts for dinner both nights.

But here is my last election post for awhile. (I hope)

So the Political Grandparents watched the PKs while we were at dinner and then they came over to the election party.

Don't the girls look cute?

And it was so different than it was two years ago. They behaved so well and we had a lot of fun. They are my two little buddies. PK1 and I even messed around in the fancy bathroom and took pictures of each other on the fancy pink sofa.

They drank a Shirley Temple.  PK1 almost barfed because she doesn't do well with sugar and PK2 was not too sure what to think of the fizz.

Here is the whole Political Family. This picture is a little blurry, which is disappointing as far as a Christmas card picture is concerned, but perhaps not too inappropriate considering our life lately.

Election

On election day, the Political Dad got up at 6 AM and went door to door to drop literature one last time with his political cronies. I was so excited because he came back at 8 AM and kissed me in the kitchen and I said, "It is morning again in America!" (famous quote from Ronald Reagan)

















I was thinking that it was a new era for our family maybe having him around more, but PD's head was still in politics and he said, "It is always darkest just before it goes completely black." This was said originally by Mao Zedong and more recently by John McCain. (That turned out to be somewhat prophetic in his case.)

PD took PK1 to her home school co-op and headed to work. I was very glad I had voted absentee because I had a big day ahead of me applying fake tanner to my legs in order to be nice and bronzey for the big night.

Around 5 PM, we took the girls to the PGs and went to eat dinner with the staff.














It was a really nice restaurant. I had scallops and PD had steak. This was actually the best part of the evening because PD could sit by me and visit.

Here we are:
















Here is my dear friend also a political wife who although she looks drunk in this photo is not:
















It was good that PD and I had this time together at diner because the rest of the night he was doing this:







(this photo is blurry because he was walking and talking really fast like they do on West Wing)

and hanging out in this dirty little war room they all go to to watch results come in at the party. I go back there occasionally, but I try to avoid it because of the profanity and the likelihood that one's very high heel could get caught on old ribbons or yard sign wire.

One more election post coming in which you will get to see the PKs at the election party.

The Home Stretch Part I

Well, the election is finally over and as I blog, the Political Dad is playing "circus" with the girls. Life is as it should be again. As I said to the PD last week, "These five days have been the longest six months of my life." You know how when you get into the home stretch, it should go faster... well it didn't. Saturday and Sunday PD was in charge of the Pat Tiberi Bus Tour.















We went to see him off and hear the Congressman speak before we went to church on Sunday morning and I should have known, the PDs really wanted to ride the bus. So we went to church, had lunch and a little nap and then I drove them out to ride the last leg of the tour with the bus.

They also got to hang out with the CD (Congressional Daughter) who is exactly PD1's age.

Tune in tomorrow for pictures and stories from election night. Oh... and PD's candidate was one of the few Republicans to have a really good night!

A Prayer for the Election

A Prayer for the Election

by John Piper

Father in heaven, as we approach this election I pray:

1) that your people will vote,
2) and that they will vote with a sense of thankfulness for a democratic system that at least partially holds in check the folly and evil in all our hearts so that power which corrupts so readily is not given to one group or person too easily;
3) that we would know and live the meaning of being in the world, but not of it, doing politics as though not doing them, being on the earth, yet having our lives hidden with Christ in God, rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God’s;
4) that we would discern what truths and values should advance by being made law and which should advance only by the leavening of honest influence;
5) that your people would see what love and justice and far-seeing wisdom demand in regard to the issues of education, business and industry, health care, marriage and family, abortion, welfare, energy, government and taxes, military, terrorism, international relations, and every challenge that we will face in the years to come;
6) and above all, that we will treasure Jesus Christ, and tell everyone of his sovereignty and supremacy over all nations, and that long after America is a footnote to the future world, he will reign with his people from every tribe and tongue and nation.

Keep us faithful to Christ’s all important Word, and may we turn to it every day for light in these dark times.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

Meow!

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