Mrs. Claus capes in use, fun with dogs in snow

The girls got plenty of wear in their Mrs. Claus capes this week.

At the Portland Ice Arena's holiday party...

... and grandpa's annual Christmas card photo.

And I'm happy to report that none of the cats were locked in the car with the keys this year. Although Toddy still remembers as he cried in the car and through most of the photos. He was rewarded with a kitty treat for his bravery and is quite content to never leave the house again (well, until he's forced to endure next year's picture).

The girls have really enjoyed the snow this week, especially with their furry neighborhood friend (he's a well-trained dog that the girls adore, unlike the crazy one we have problems with).

Alas, I must make a mention about grandpa's help snow-blowing our big driveway. Fino was having trouble with the snowblower and grandpa came to the rescue.

Thanks grandpa!

'It's Ham, Not Turkey'

After my entry about eating ham, not turkey for Thanksgiving this year, I received an email from children's author Lisa Suhay about her book, "Pardon Me. It's Ham, Not Turkey."

An excerpt from her email:

After spending six months getting the president to acknowledge Virginia’s Thanksgiving history with our campaign and book, "Pardon Me. It’s Ham, Not Turkey," it was great to see your story.

It turns out many believe the first Thanksgiving was actually held a year before Plymouth Rock at Berkeley Plantation. And since the President 'pardons' a turkey before Thanksgiving Day every year - you gotta read this year's pardon about the turkey name - the author and a growing number of supporters have been lobbying for a pig to receive that pardon instead. Apparently this pardon ceremony is a tradition that started quite a while ago, although who started the tradition isn't so clear.

So Suhay's book and the website are out to set the record straight with the Pig Pardon campaign.

Since March 1st, National Pig Day, the campaign has been dedicated to setting the historical record straight concerning the first Thanksgiving - which was held at what is now known as Berkeley Plantation in Virginia. President Bush is scheduled to speak at Berkeley Plantation on Monday, Nov. 19th. We're excited to celebrate this historic event.

And yup, President Bush did visit the Plantation this year.

The book arrived on my desk yesterday, which is the very day of the historical Berkeley Plantation celebration (Dec. 4).

I never could have guessed winning that pig at the Cumberland Fair this year would educate my family in so many different ways...

Organizing snowpants, what to do about gloves

On Sunday I went through all the snowpants from the storage closet in anticipation of the snow yesterday. I had the girls try on the entire stockpile of snow pants (10 pairs total), all of varying sizes I've picked up from second-hand or end-of-season clearance sales over the years.

Each of the girls found two pairs of snowpants that fit them and I was psyched (no last minute runs to the store on Sunday for me ;-). The bummer was that all those snow pants were dark. Actually 3 of the 4 are black, which also look just like Fino's snowpants.

I thought that everyone having similar looking snowpants was going to be a problem this year. So the girls picked out some ribbon and tied it on to their stuff so we could identify them hanging on the rack.

This may or may not help keep us organized this winter but I thought it was worth a shot. But I ran short of ideas on how to find matching gloves and mittens in the big box we have.

Any suggestions?

'Hey' goal song back, music fun at game

The Pirates played a great game last night, beating the Worcester Sharks 6-3.

It was a fun game to be a fan in the stands. There was plenty to yell and cheer about as you can see in this video. And just for the record, my crew was very happy to hear the old "Hey" goal song back in action (the one they ditched just wasn't as much fun).

Read more ...
http://outdoors.mainetoday.com/children/kidtracks/019181.html

It's snowing - hooray!

The kids have been outside in the snow all morning and the whole family is enjoying the first snow fall of the season. (And it sure is a whopper!)

The kids had fun sledding on the small hill in our backyard this morning.

The ducks didn't seem to mind the snow either.

L. demonstrated her snow angel making abilities and gave it her own special touch. She is my creative thinker who is more self-aware than I sometimes give her credit for. I think it's more me thinking she doesn't really understand the implications of her ideas about things even though I'm pretty sure she does...

Making a snow angel


Happy snow day in Maine!

'Hey' goal song back, music fun at game

The Pirates played a great game last night, beating the Worcester Sharks 6-3.

It was a fun game to be a fan in the stands. There was plenty to yell and cheer about as you can see in this video. And just for the record, my crew was very happy to hear the old "Hey" goal song back in action (the one they ditched just wasn't as much fun).

6 Goals, 1 night


And I actually caught one of the goals on video (doesn't always happen that I have the camera on at the right time but I got lucky)

Dixon's Goal


Since the team was on a roll scoring goals, the behind-the-scenes guys got on one too with the music selections. The crowd in our section loved it.

Music fun at Pirates games


The highlight of the game for L. and her friend A. (beyond the team playing well and winning of course!) was the balloon guy. L.'s been begging me at every game we've been to this season to get a balloon animal. I finally gave her the $2 to get one last night.

Go Pirates!

Christmas sewing season

The girls went from target shooting with daddy earlier in the week to Sewing Club with mommy at the end of it.

We're going for well-rounded at our house.

The girls helped finish up the craft sale projects and made some ornaments to decorate the library's Christmas tree.

L. also learned how to use a Knifty Knitter with one of the sewing club's adult volunteers and has been busy making hats ... for her cats.

Sort of gives a whole new meaning to Dr. Seuss' tale for us.

I've also been sewing this week since I told the girls last year that I would make them Mrs. Claus capes for their various Christmas activities this month (with no such luck they would have forgotten that offer!).

Last year a friend let them borrow costume capes for the Portland Ice Arena's Christmas party and both girls loved the whole idea of them.

 2006 photo from the skating party

But when it came time to make the capes, both girls wanted fleece and white fur instead of felt material. Felt would have been much easier to manage but I saw their point when they said the fleece capes would keep them warmer while ice skating and Christmas caroling as well as posing for our annual Christmas card picture (which will hopefully not involve locking Toddy the blind cat - and the keys - in the car again).

So I picked up some red fleece at JoAnn Fabrics $2.79/yard sale last weekend and some white fur fleece and got to work modifying a pattern I already had to make the capes.

Working with fleece fur is a real drag because it's really, really MESSY!

It sheds everywhere before even cutting it. I'm sure we'll be cleaning up the stray lint from this material for weeks to come.

But once the edges were folded over and sewn (which jammed up the machine multiple times), it stopped shedding so it does have some redeeming qualities afterall.

The girls said they thought the clean up hassle was worth it (I did have to agree their idea worked out in the end) and are ready for their various Christmas holiday activities this month.