Almost Over the Rainbow: November 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

This was colored by Byron.
He did his best coloring job ever!

Sweet Potato pie anyone?
I got this adorable apron from my Sister Holly, and I love it!
I wear it all the time!

Byron making his first Pumpkin Pie.
We actually made this pumpkin pie dairy free using coconut milk instead of evaporate milk.
It was still pretty delicious!

The Thanksgiving Table.
I sadly don't have any fancy table settings so I improvised by making pilgrim napkin rings.
I think they turned out pretty well.

I think the boy pilgrims turned out the best.
Doesn't Byron make a cute pilgrim?

And I've got to say Porter is the hottest pilgrim i've ever seen.

Vivian as a pilgrim.
I was able to find some old lace in my scrap box to make the collars for the girl pilgrims.
I think they turned out pretty cute.

The table is set the food is cooked, now were just waiting for friends to arrive!

Waiting...
Those of you who are observant might notice that Byron's hair is actually styled. He spent roughly 10 minutes combing it. Porter and I were thrilled. And yes there is hair gell in it!

Dinner!
We are so very thankful to have our friends the Logsdons and Murdocks. This is our second Thanksgiving with them. 2 more to go!
The food was delicious!

I made some little pilgrim bonnets for the girls to wear.
I tried to make pilgrim on inidian hats for the boys but Byron told me he was too old for them.

My two dear friends Vivian and Natalie, it took the little girls a while to decide they wanted to wear the hats too.

We are thankful for all of our amazing friends and family.
We love you all!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Ever Sunday evening the National Gallery of Art puts on a concert. We've been wanting to take Byron to see one and to see the Art of Power Exhibit that is currently on display. This Sunday the weather was going to be perfect and so we set out. We invited Byron's friend Bruno to come along. We love having Bruno with us, he is so much fun and so polite, we never want to take him home. We took the Metro. The boys had a great time running around while waiting for the train. Bruno handed me his cell phone to carry and we entered the train!

It's amazing how much more fun a boring train ride is when you have an awesome friend with you. Everything becomes the coolest thing, even the hand rails. It was right after this, right before going in to the first museum, that Bruno came up to us and asked where his wallet was. We responded what wallet? Apparently he had brought his wallet along with all of his allowance to spend at the gift shop. Porter and I didn't know this and after showing it to Byron he placed it in his sweatshirt pocket. Before we got on the train I zipped his sweater up because it kept falling off his shoulders and there was no wallet in it. We kept hoping that maybe he just left it in the car. Sadly, when we got back to the car there was no wallet. =( We went to the lost and found, but there was nothing. Sorry Bruno. =(
Bruno was a trooper though. He realized that he lost his wallet right at the beginning of our adventure but he kept his spirits up the whole time and didn't let it ruin his outing. Way to go!

The Natural History Museum had a new Exhibit running as well, and I really wanted the boys to see it. It was all about Bones. The first settlers bones that is. I love the exhibit! I need some more people to come out and visit me so I can take them through it and have another excuse to see it!

The boys started to get a little crazy in here, they had been with out computer games for over an hour and they were starting to feel a bit like cave men! Fortunately those ancient Egyptians, understood how young boys could be so they apparently invented the first video game...

There was almost tears when we had to leave this game.

A little sculpture anyone?

We walked through the sculpture garden on our way to the art gallery, well actually Porter and I walked, the boys ran. =) Bryon really enjoys this garden. His Grandma was the first person to take him here and he's loved it ever since.

Here the boys are deciding whether to go on or not. Little do they know what's in store for them...

The Art Lesson!!!!
Thanks Porter for trying to teach the boys how to view Art, it got to the point where the boys were holding up their hands to answer questions and to get called on to express their interpretations of the pieces. Very cute!

Here they are pondering the meaning of a large square of weatherized steel entitled Stele II. It took a while but they came up with some very interesting interpretations.

The plaque said to enjoy a seat on these sculptures so the boys did, Porter and I were a bit disturbed by the yellow caution tape. We don't think it was part of the exhibit, but we were not sure. Needless to say we didn't linger here. Did they want us to stay and take a seat or to stay away? To conflicting for us so we snapped a picture and headed out.

The Art of Power

We took the boys to the Art Gallery to see the Spanish Royal Army. Bruno is actually 1/2 Spanish and actually saw this Exhibit in the Royal Palace in Spain. Pretty Impressive. Fortunately he saw it a few years ago and his memory was a little vague so he was still able to be impressed with the display here. =)

After the Art of Power we listened to a concert held in the gallery featuring the Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble. They performed several madrigals (A madrigal is a type of secular vocal music composition, written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. ) Yes I just googled that definition. The music was beautiful and we made it through a half hour of the performance. (We don't want to over expose them just yet. Who am I kidding, we don't want to overexpose ourselves either. =)

The End! The boys were amazing and I think had a great time. We all loved having Bruno along with us, he is such a great kid!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Newest Safety Patrol Member

Byron is finally a Cashell Safety Patrol! Byron has been waiting weeks to receive his belt. This assignment is usually reserved for the 5th graders but Byron was nominated for an early patrol as a 4th grader.