Thanksgivnukkah

The kids were sick the week before Thanksgiving. Monday, Max was acting especially quiet and when his temperature was taken it was quite high.  By the time Joe got there to pick him up, the other two had exhibited fevers as well, so everyone came home.  Luckily, they weren't too symptom-y - just a question of fevers that refused to consistently stay down.

By the weekend before Thanksgiving, they were all cooled off and feeling better, and were excited to get to go back to school and participate in the Thanksgiving luncheon that was planned. But, of course, this was the day that the boys decided they had to wear matching tshirts, so you'll have to use one of your other tricks to figure out who is who in the pictures.  The food was brought in by parents, with the exception of some of the cranberry sauce, which was made by kids in the class.  Everyone got a taste of everything on their plate.  The big hits with the 'Teenies were cranberry sauce, corn on the cobb, and corn muffins.

The Salvateenies were seated at the end of the table so that I could sit near them.

First clue - which boy almost always has a photo-perfect "CHEESE" for the camera?

Second clue - whose hair is crunchy and flyaway?

"OK - who am I?"

Everyone enjoyed trying to eat with their utensils.  Check out Caroline's studious focus.

Here's your answer - I think DANIEL really enjoyed that pumpkin pie!!!

Perhaps more than the Jell-O

Max wasn't sure about the Jell-O

After lunch, I watched while the kids lined up and went outside for playtime and then stayed for a little bit to help clean up before sneaking away before they saw me again and wanted to come play with me.

This year, Chanukah coincided with Thanksgiving,  so the kids were able to enjoy presents and traditions at the same time.  This year, the kids really got into it, asking each night if they could "do Chanukah" or "light candles".  We let each kid choose candles to put in the menorah and everyone helped out using the shamash to light the candles.  Then we gave them a gift each night (I didn't wrap them - they have color coded tote bags and each night they would bring us the empty bag, ask to do Chanukah, and we would put a gift in the bag for after candles).  Max, my little Maccabbee (his Hebrew name), got the most into the candles themselves, insisting that we turn off the lights so we could see how pretty the candles looked as they burned down.

One of the first gifts they got were these ski-cap and mitten/glove sets.

Caroline in her Minnie Mouse hat and mittens

Monster Max in his Monsters U outfit

Daniel let Sportacus try on his Thomas the Train set.

On Thanksgiving Day, Joe went to spend the holiday with his parents, who would be alone after Auntie Lee Ann moved to Chicago at the beginning of the month.

Max is enjoying his Thanksgivnukah with a new dreidl on Thanksgiving morning.

The original plan was for the adults (Grandma, Boppy, Mommy, Uncle, and Cousins Ravi and Djivan) to sit at the dining room table and the kids to sit at a smaller table in the den.  The kids rebelled against this instantly, wanting to be part of the action, and we dragged the table in to sit next to us.  The highlight was learning to eat whipped cream out of the aerosol can!

Pumpkin Pie!

More whipped cream, please?

Mmmm....whipped cream....

 Caroline really, really wanted to play outside in front of the house, so we all headed out to enjoy the sun (and flag down passersby for a family photo).

The whole gaggle of Kellys, Salvatores, and Abcarians

One of the additional activities that day was exploring Grandma and Boppy's hat collection.

Please don't bother me while I'm drawing, Boppy.