Veteran's Day
On a non-COVID year, Jaden and Cody's school typically has a veteran's day assembly in which the students sing songs and have a short program to honor veterans. This year, the school held a drive-through event instead. The students were encouraged to wear patriotic clothes and wave flags as veterans drove through the campus. Parents were not supposed to attend, so these photos were shared by Jaden's teacher.
Animal Habitat Projects
Jaden and Cody were very excited (thankfully!) about this 3rd grade science project. Each student selected a wild animal to research. The students wrote research papers about their animals at school, and then created a habitat diorama at home. The boys worked on their dioramas over the course of two weekends. It was a time-consuming project for Jaden and Cody, but they worked diligently and were proud of their completed habitats.
Cody's animal was a wild boar in a deciduous forest habitat.
Jaden created a jungle habitat for his favorite animal, the jaguar.
Adley's Playtime
I continue to enjoy my weekdays at home with this energetic girl! She is such a great helper and is usually up for anything. One day, we discovered that our garage made a perfect canvas for Magnatiles. So fun!
Anytime I have a baking project, Adley doesn't hesitate to help. Her favorite part is licking the "poon" at the end.
As Christmas was drawing nearer, I decided that a perfect gift for Adley would be a fleece blanket. She was with me when we shopped for the fabric, and we both had no hesitation about selecting this cute, bright donut pattern. Adley was SO excited about the blanket and asked me nearly every day if it was done yet. She was certainly good motivation! Because of her enthusiasm, I was happy to complete the blanket in late November and give her an early Christmas present.
Flat Adley
Unfortunately, a week before Thanksgiving, my mom broke her femur and had to have a rod and pin put into her leg. She was in the hospital for almost two weeks recovering from surgery and learning how to get around again. Thankfully, my dad was able to be by my mom's side during the daytime at the hospital (this policy changed the day my mom was discharged!). Because the rest of the family couldn't visit Mom, we sure missed her! Adley and I decided to create a Flat Adley (borrowed from the Flat Stanley book series) to give my mom at least one more hospital "visitor."
Adley was so proud of her flat person and tried to decorate it to look just like her!
Mom was pleased to have Flat Adley join her in the hospital. Mom involved Flat Adley in all of her hospital activities and sent us daily photos of what Flat Adley was doing.
When Mom finally did return home on the day before Thanksgiving, all of the grandkids worked together to create a banner to decorate Mom and Dad's garage door. Matt and Kim's family hung up the banner and added even more decorations. We were very excited to see Mom and so happy for her that she could be home again!
Families Feeding Families
Just before Thanksgiving each year, our church sponsors a community event called Families Feeding Families. For weeks prior to this event, our church and school collects all kinds of food and toiletry items and organizes them into bags. On the day of the event, community families in need drive through our campus to pick up these bags and many more handouts from other local agencies. The kids and I volunteered for the first time this year. Our job was to greet the families as they drove through and to pack food bags into their trunks. It was a great opportunity for the kids to serve.
Thanksgiving
Our family (Schleicher side and Walquist side combined) gathered at Mom and Dad's house for the Thanksgiving holiday. Since Mom had just been discharged from the hospital the day before, it was easier for her not to travel to someone else's home. Despite our best efforts to convince him otherwise, Dad prepared the vast majority of the food. Each family brought one contribution for the meal, at least. I prepared these turkey brownies.
We enjoyed a relaxing holiday at Mom and Dad's-- worshipping online together, singing additional favorite hymns around the piano, eating the delicious turkey meal, playing at the park with the kids, watching football, playing some board games, and enjoying turkey soup in the evening for dinner. We were especially thankful that Mom was out of the hospital for the holiday festivities! My only complaint for the whole day is a similar problem each year-- I always forget to take Thanksgiving photos!! Guess that means we are simply focused on enjoying the time together, right? I did take a picture of Adley's Thanksgiving outfit since it was given to us by a friend.
During the month of November, we hang up this tree on our wall each year. The kids write down items that they are thankful for on the leaves and add them to the tree. We try to encourage the kids to be as specific as possible so that we can help them see the many, many gifts that come from our Father's hand. It was fun to see the addition of Adley's handwriting on the thankful tree this year. We truly have many reasons to give God thanks!
