Joe the Baker

Emma & Chris went to see a movie together this afternoon and then to spend a couple of hours hanging out and doing errands. Joe and I decided not to shop today and instead we stayed home and started our holiday baking. We made 2 loaves of zucchini bread and a large batch of Butterball cookies (Mexican wedding cakes). Joe thought it was funny to flatten the cookies into pancakes rather than roll them into balls.

Thanksgiving Traditions

Dinner

Dancing

Mary Poppins

Thanksgiving

What could be finer than playing Bingo while munching on olive & cheese english muffins?

Joe laughing hysterically at his knock knock joke that is only funny to him. Here it is: Joe: "knock, knock" me: "who is there?" Joe: "Rick" me: "Rick who?" Joe: "Rick my bus driver!"
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Today we slept in, watched the Macy's Day parade, played Sesame Street Bingo, took a family walk, and waited for the turkey to cook. Still waiting......

Bedtime

Holiday Photo?

I took this picture today after horseback riding. I'm thinking about using this for the holiday photo.

Hippotherapy

Joe is riding independently these days. Here he is on C.J. leading him around cones.

Turkey Tango

Emma taught Joe a new song and dance this morning. Here is how it goes: "Do the turkey tango, you can dance the day away, when you do the turkey tango, you can dance on turkey day. The end. Let's eat!"

Indy Friends

Here are Philip & Kate's girls Ning and Cece in Indianapolis. They win the cute award today.

The Chore Chart

This is what is has come to in our household. Today we instituted a chore chart for Emma. Each day she will put an "X" after she has set the table WITHOUT being asked. On Tuesdays she also will put a "*" for taking out the recycling. If you can see today, she has already set the table (not bad for the first day!). If she has 6 Xs & 1 * by Thursday evening she has earned the right to have movie night (video & popcorn at home) on Friday night. Joe's Friday evenings will also be determined by Emma's actions. In a couple of days we will institute a potty chart for Joe (oh, joy). Rather than focusing on if he is dry (as we have been doing), he will put stickers on the chart for each time he tries the potty by himself. 5 stickers will equal 1 piece of candy. Forget about what I have said over the years about never using food as a bribe. That was before I had a 5 1/2 year old who still wasn't potty trained. There are some problems with this plan. First, Joe's OT skills aren't so great a stickers are very challenging. Second, I am not sure that he will connect 5 times to 1 candy. That seems a little too abstract but I am not willing to go 1 piece of candy each time. Any suggestions?

Our little politician

Here is the political update from our corner of the world: As noted in a previous post, Emma conducted a voter survey in her 3rd grade class, drew a bar graph to demonstrate the results (which happily matched the election results in the state), and wrote a op ed letter to the Lansing State Journal. Sadly, the letter and graph weren't published. Although she was disappointed, quickly she focused her political energy and interests toward a highly contested vote in her elementary school about which charity (3 choices) the students should sponsor this year. Emma wrote and delivered an impassioned speech calling on her fellow Marble School Muskrats to vote for the animal shelter. Everyone voted on Tuesday (including parents) and on Wednesday the reported results (made by friend Daniel) showed a clear victory for the Animal Shelter! Here in her own words, grammar, and spelling is Emma's first political speech:

"Hello. My name is Emma. I think you should vote for the animal shelter because we have been wrecking their homes. Doesn't everyboddy like animals? They are fun to play with and help people for example some dogs can help people who can't see! If you give money to the shelter it will help feed the animals give them blankits toys for them to play with. Think about it. We have all that stuff and these pore animals don't and they should have some stuff! I bet a lot of you have a pet and love them! What if you were stuk in that shelter you would probable get fed but not your favrit food! Animals have favrit foods too like us! You should vote for the animal shelter because we are the Marble Muskrats and muskrats are animals! VOTE FOR ANIMAL SHELTER!!!!!!!"