Turkey Day 2010

Turkey Day usually means trekking back to Ohio for us. Traditionally we go to the gun club with the Weasels but this year Uncle John and Aunt Deb were visiting from Las Vegas. We got up, watched the parade, watched Tessa change clothes about 10 times, gathered our contributions to the feast and hit the road to Huron to Aunt Mar and Uncle Steve's to hang with the O'Haras. We proceeded to gorge ourselves all day as most Americans do on this glorious day.

N Grandkiddos: Molly (4), Paige (13), Nate (5), Zack (7), Tessa (3), Kendall (5)

Gramma Char (who is recovering from her shoulder surgery), Papa Hara, John, Mar, Deb (I will be respectful and not list their ages!)

Molly, Tessa and Kendall

Mar and Tessa

Papa Hara and Uncle John

Paige and Lauren

Uncle Steve, Uncle John and Papa Kenny chillaxin'.

This was one of Reba/Tessa's outfit changes prior to our departure. Tights, tutu, no shirt, 2 head bands and pom poms. Very practical for a thanksgiving feast. We settled on the dress in the previous pictures. A little formal for our style but at least she had her belly covered!

Soccer Shots Champion

Tessa got her Soccer Shots certificate of completion and a medal! She was quite thrilled with her achievement. Not really sure how much she actually learned and participated in the program as it was held during daycare hours but nevertheless she got a medal! Yippee! We are proud of her.

Giving Thanks.

Nate brought home a school project today. This being the Thanksgiving season and all, of course the question posed to the children was what they were thankful for. Well, Nate is quite thankful for reindeer, snakes, his Dad, his house and the sun. Hhhmmm? Quite curious. I have to admit that as his mother I was kind of wondering where my thanks were but this isn't about me after all. After his explicit explanation of why he was thankful for all of these things including that he is thankful for snakes because they eat bugs he followed with, unprompted, "Don't worry, mom. I donated my book to you." His class wrote and colored a thanksgiving book that they were to dedicate to someone. Nate "donated" or dedicated his to me. I did a little happy dance and that
"donation" made the blow of being left off of the what I'm thankful for list a little bit less ouch.

Kindergarten Parent-Teacher Conference

We had Nate's Parent-Teacher Conference this week. Nate is doing well academically. Apparently apples don't fall far from the tree. And this time Mom is the tree or rotten apple whichever way you look at it. We're having a little trouble in the 'self-control' category. Mom was notorious for talking, not paying attention, being distracted, etc, etc...but she turned out all right relatively speaking. Nate got remarks from his Kindergarten teacher as well as his gym and art teacher about listening and sitting still. We were pretty impressed that his library/media and music teacher didn't mention this behavior problem though! Nate has a lot of energy as most 5 year old boys do. Having ants in his pants and being easily distracted has earned him a special seat right in front of the teacher on the rug. He embraces this special seat as he is sure to tell the other kids to move when they are sitting in his spot, his teacher says. We're hoping to work on his focus. And, I'm sure these tactics will involve bribery.

While mom and dad are away...

Nate and Tessa got to spend the weekend with Gramma Gayla while mom and dad took a trip to Pittsburgh for the Steelers vs Patriots football game. Mom and Dad had lots of fun despite a disappointing Steelers loss. Nate and Tessa? Well, they were with Gramma so they had lots and lots of nonstop fun. First stop right after our usual McDonald's parking lot exchange was the Toledo Zoo to see The Little People Live. Should have known that Gramma would have an agenda. Then back to Napoleon for making snow, playing with the cousins, and even giving poor old shaky Shotzi a bath!

Troy "Polamalou" Baughman!

Stov, Aarika, Jen and Troy at Heinz Field.

Tessa, Cole and Nate at the Zoo. Yes, Nate is wearing his baseball uniform with cleats. Didn't exactly dress for the zoo! And it's not baseball season so he didn't have a game!

Nate, Tessa and Cole waiting for the Little People Live.

Little People Live.

Cole and Nate playing GeoTrax.

Making Snow. There was no sledding in Gramma's dining room though.

Shotzi getting a scrub down by the kids! Yikes. Poor dog.

Code Tessa

*The picture is unrelated to today's post besides featuring the key character.

Got a call while at work today from Troy and the conversation started with "It hasn't been a good morning." I shutter at this statement. What? What could possibly have gone wrong and would it have been any different if I weren't a deadbeat career mother and had I been there? Troy's usual morning routine is to drive Nate to end of our driveway and wait for the bus. During the waiting time he gives Nate his reminders of what good behaviors are expected at school and also plays beauty shop trying to tame Miss T's mane into something somewhat presentable for the day. According to Troy, this morning was particularly hairy as the kids were being lazy and not moving at the much needed brisk pace to meet the deadlines at hand. And Tessa was being rather difficult about her fro. She ran and climbed about the van trying to avoid any combs, brushes, bows or ponytails of any sort. In his superdad fashion though he managed to secure a proper ponytail. The bus comes and Nate marches up the stairs and into his seat. Troy now proceeds to properly lock down Tessa into her 5-point harness and the next stop will be her preschool. The automatic door closes. Troy rushes around to the driver's side door to get going. DUN DUN DUHHHHHH. The doors are LOCKED! Car running. Cell phone inside. Tessa on lock down in her car seat! Tessa's tantrum about the van had managed to unknowingly lock the doors. No keyless entry.

His first instinct was to throw a rock through the window. But, he settled himself down and tried to rationalize a better plan. The next 10 minutes were spent trying (through the closed windows) to teach Tessa how to wrestle herself out of her car seat. These efforts were unsuccessful and Troy realized that is probably a horrible idea to teach her such maneuvers as she would probably use them to her advantage in the future. The other horrible vision that flashed before him was her having to crawl up to the front of the van to unlock the doors and putting the car into drive while it was still running. Not good. Very very bad. Next step was to flag down someone driving down the road because the cell phone was in the running van along with the 3 yr old child! A kind woman stopped, notified the sheriff who notified the tow truck. And, in a very hot hot minute, there was the tow truck driver to save the day. Whew.

Lesson for the day is next time you lock your keys in the car if you mention there is a child inside you will get it done in a flash! Disclaimer though as I'm not sure what the repercussions are if the tow truck arrives and there is no person inside the locked vehicle.

Go Blue!

Took Nate to the Michigan football game this weekend. Tessa was all decked in her maize and blue and ready to go too but then got a much better offer to go play dolls and dress up with Allie and her Nini. It was a cold but great and sunny day. And, we secured a very, very exciting victory! Nate's endurance is quite surprising. So, even though the port-o-johns, concession stands and the band seem to excite him the most it might actually become cost effective to take him to the games rather than pay the highway robbery prices of babysitting for the entire day. It was also the 2nd Annual Chili Cook-Off Tailgate for which Troy's 3-meat recipe took a disappointing Third Place out of three contenders. Yes, that is last. But, he did get an honorable mention for effort and having the most vegetables in his dish. After the game, we headed to Jackson to see the new Narkiewicz casa and celebrate two of our very favorite twins Marco and Anthony's 2nd birthday! Big day.


Marco has the waves and is in the plaid shirt. Anthony, on the right, in orange, intensely awaiting his chance to blow out the candle!

Turkey Trot

Nate ran in the school fundraiser turkey trot today. He was proud as punch to have gotten a ribbon for his efforts too! Of course if you hear his version of the story you would have expected to see smoke coming from his tennis shoes and a sea of children over a 1/2 mile behind him because he was SO FAST! A little bit of competitiveness is healthy.