The Circus Zoo, Thanksgiving and Other Happenings

The Knie Circus was in town one weekend late in November.  We considered taking the kids to see the actual show, but found out it was 2.5 hours long.  Given Eowyn's age we thought it might be a bit tough for her to sit through the whole thing so we opted to visit the Circus zoo instead.  It actually was small but quite sweet, and we went with friends which always makes for a better time.  They had all the little ponies out and the kids could go for a short ride for 2CH.  Liam and Cassidy really enjoyed it.  Eowyn was a bit nervous to try so we just watched from the side lines with Jamison.  They also got to see and pet the zebras, camels, and even the trunk of an elephant!  We saw the big horses too.  All in all, a worthwhile hour or two!

Liam and Cassidy on the pony ride

Patting the zebra 

Eowyn and the zebra

Cassidy and Liam in awe of the huge elephant

We are always in short supply of new books, so when the Usborne book fair came to TASIS I made sure to stop in a get a few new books for the kids.  One of their favorites is a book with some short stories from around the world.  Baba Yaga is their favorite of all the stories because there's a witch who rides around in a bowl! We are now reading a childrens' version of some classics like "The Wizard of Oz", "Black Beauty", "Little Women" and others.  That book was given to them as a christmas present and we've had very long story times since! 

"Reading" together - we find them like this on a fairly regular basis 

 We had another wonderful friends thanksgiving this year.  Again we did the potluck and Leigh and Gavin graciously hosted.  We also hired 3 babysitters to help out with the kids.  The spread was amazing and the company fantastic.  If it weren't for the pink eye that Liam came down with, it all would have been perfect!  This year the Dibberts, Doves, Us, Walsers, Loves and Bryn and co were all together.  It was a bit bigger than last year, but with the help of the babysitters keeping the kids in order while they played downstairs, it really was a good time.

All dressed up - Eowyn finally getting to wear her fancy dress from Amu, Auntie Fariba and kids 

Happy thanksgiving - some of the ladies - Carolyn, Leigh, Nura and Bryn (missing Alexi and Kat)

The lads being goofy - James, Michael, Nate and Gavin (missing Chris and Eric)

peaking in on the kids downstairs (with Gloria, one of their sitters)

Eowyn brushing daddy's "hair"

Eowyn with us by the fire

The spread

Poor Liam came down with pink eye right after thanksgiving (or during!) We had no idea it was coming and all of a sudden his eyes were totally pink.  In true classic form though, he didn't complain about pain, itching or anything, so it was a bit hard to figure out if it was just an allergy or if when he had been playing something hit his eye or actual conjunctivitis.  When it hadn't improved by the next day we figured it was the latter.  The first day before we called the dr for a prescription I made him lie with tea bags on his eyes.  He wasn't a huge fan but put up with it a few times during the day.  Amazingly Eowyn and the rest of us seemed to escape it, well until yesterday when Eowyn suddenly woke up with one pink eye (and chicken pox!)  So funny how these things spread and incubate.  We unfortunately spread pink eye to a bunch of our friends, and now Liam and Eowyn seem to have Chicken pox from Grayson's shingles!

 On a fateful Saturday afternoon - the saturday after my birthday in fact, I had been enjoying the luxury and freedom of a day to myself downtown (thank you James!).  When I got home, and I mean minutes after I got home, James called me from Eowyn's room.  I went upstairs to find this:

the entire contents of Eowyn's wardrobe emptied into the middle of the room

I guess she really didn't want to take a nap (which is what she told James), so she kept herself very busy for two hours instead.  It was pretty unbelievable, and took me the better part of 2 hours to put everything away.  On top of that, she and I had to miss a christmas party with friends as her consequence.  Of course we reacted to all this and then realized that the reaction might make it happen again.  We were ok for almost a month, but just last week she did it again.  I made a point not to react to it, and have taken some precautions to block her drawers so she can't access everything again.  Time will only tell if that is going to happen again.