Turkey Day with Our Turkeys

We spent Thanksgiving this year at the Driggs' home in Cerritos. Those sharing in our fun and revelry were Grandpa and Grandma Driggs, Mike (Stephanie was in Arizona), the Marcrofts (Thad, Allie, Sam and Nate) and the Fong Five. Thanks to Marie Callendar's donation to the party, everyone had relatively little to prepare - only the family specific goodies like soda cracker pie and Waldorf salad.

We started the day by walking to the park to watch Daddy play in the Turkey Bowl and to play on the playground. Jared opted to ride his bike instead of walking. We then returned to Grandma's house to take naps (Liz, Nathan, Sam and Lucas), play games (Dan, Cath, Allie, Mom and Jared) and just hang out. Jared soundly beat us in a rousing game of Yahtzee. Without cheating a bit he rolled 2 Yahtzees in the course of the game and won by a landslide.

Finally we did some last minute food prep and voila! Thanksgiving dinner was served. Here are some things I'm thankful for:


Crafty and creative Jared - our fun loving, super sensitive, great helper and listener, intelligent, nature loving son.


Super spicy Liz - our fashion diva, often stubborn & sassy, super generous, baby brother loving, amazingly happy daughter.


Mellow and patient Lucas - our calm, incredibly happy, overly loved and often attacked, super kissable baby.


Fun-loving, marvelously patient Danny - our always playful, incredibly mellow, super intelligent, and happy Daddy.

And a few other pictures from our day of thanks:


A fabulous day spent with family; for that I am thankful!

Four Down, One to Go

Jared just passed off another set of sight words! He's on the last set for kindergarten now.


Perhaps the teacher can work on how to match pajamas next.

Attack of the Clones

Everyone tells me that Jared looks exactly like Danny and Lucas looks exactly like Jared - which must mean that Lucas looks like Danny because if A = B and B = C then A = C. (And you thought I only taught English!).


So, what do you think?

Da Da Da Da.....Imperial!

Tonight Liz requested "eggs with butter on them" for dinner. I think butter is disgusting, but she seems to enjoy it, so I figured why not. I started cooking the eggs and put the butter on the counter. I then left the kitchen to briefly attend to Lucas. When I returned moments later this is what I found:


Liz had taken 2 or 3 bites out of the butter. Her mouth was absolutely full to the brim with butter. I guess what she really wanted for dinner was "butter with butter on it."

Responsible - with a Capital J-A-R-E-D!

A week ago Jared came home from school with a letter from his principal informing us that he was receiving an award this week! It also advised us to keep it a secret from Jared if possible. Danny got a period sub and I was able to sneak away from the office for the award presentation. I think Jared was VERY surprised and actually acted somewhat shy and reserved. The principal called him up front and read what his teacher had written about him. She started with, "Jared is one of the most responsible kindergartners I have ever taught!" and then listed all of the various things he does in the classroom to demonstrate this attribute.


Needless to say, Dan and I were very proud of him! He really does try very hard to be a good kid. He has even started saying, "Please help me to make good decisions" in his prayers at night. Granted it is usually followed up by "...so I can bring home a green card" but still, he's trying to be a good kid.


Since we're on the subject of Jared and kindergarten, please indulge a mother for a moment. Jared is in his second month of kindergarten and is already on his 4th set of flashcards. (The teacher gives them flashcards that they have to learn at home - when he knows them then she quizzes him and he receives a new set). He can read over 200 words (the number of words he's had on the flashcards!) and is getting pretty good at reading to me at night. Have I said enough lame Mom stuff yet? I guess I'm just proud of my boy.


Jared's favorite part? His Grandma Fong made the trip down from Granada Hills for it and stayed to work in his classroom for the rest of the day!!! Jared got to share his lunch with her (she forgot her lunch pail!) and was very happy to have Grandma in his classroom!

A New Twist

I have been looking everywhere for sponge curlers like my mom used to put into my hair when I was a child. I finally found them yesterday at a hair supply place. I showed them to Liz and she was very excited to try them out. (In case you aren't familiar with Liz's personality, she is about as girlie as they come. She loves shoes, clothes, make-up, shoes, jewelry, dresses, and shoes. She seriously did not come from me...). I had her take a bath and then she sat patiently while I tried to figure out how my mom used to do my hair. I was worried she would complain about sleeping in them. When I broke the news to her that we wouldn't take them out until the morning she was very distraught - she didn't want me to ever take them out! Here's how she looked before:


Here's how she looked today at church...



Oh, wait, I forgot to take pictures. It was cute although extremely curly! I should have practiced on a night other than Saturday - considering the only day Liz really has plans is Sunday! Perhaps I'll do her hair again next week...

Bottle-rific!

Lucas has recently tried his hand at holding his own bottle. He's getting pretty good at it although I think he sometimes forgets he's holding it and lets it fall.


Jared is the happiest with the development of this new talent since his arm gets tired holding the bottle for Lucas while we are driving. Sometimes being the oldest sibling has its drawbacks.