Monday, January 13, 2014

The rest of autumn

Note: this is published as a draft. I typed this draft long ago, intending to finish and add pictures, but due to the inaccessibility of my pictures right now, and the fact that I will never keep up this blog if I don't just move forward, I am publishing it as is.

There is no way to catch up on everything that I have missed, so I won't. Here are just a couple highlights.

Maggie started preschool and she loves it! On the first day, she didn't even look back, say bye, or give a single hug. Joe was pretty torn up about it. I, on the other hand, was just relieved that she has decided to embrace school because I knew that if she decided not to, then we would most likely be skipping preschool this year because, in a battle of will, I am afraid she would win. I do try to grab her for a hug each day when I drop her off--she complies but certainly doesn't care. She is happy to see me when I pick her up though, which does help repair my ego. Except for one day, when I showed up about 1 min before the bell signaled the end of class. She looked at me like I was an alien. Then, Mrs. S rang the bell, and I finally got the smile and hug that I am used to. Her teacher, Mrs. S, told me a couple weeks ago that, "Maggie has become popular. She is quite the hot little commodity and all the kids want to play with her." Hmmm. I hope it is because she is being nice, friendly, and her perky, fun little self. She certainly loves being with other kids, so maybe they just love her back.

One weekend we headed to NYC. We (me and the kids) danced on the big piano at FAO Schwartz, and I realized that I am not just a big kid after all because I couldn't let go and play chop sticks even though I really wanted to. The onlooking crowd was too large. Luckily, I could at least pretend like I was there for Jack. After a fun filled day in the city, we headed out to visit some old friends in Connecticut. The DeGroots are seriously cool people, and I miss them like crazy this year. Together we all headed to Keene, NH where we helped break the world record for the most jack-o-lanterns (30, 581 to be exact). We contributed 3. Woo hoo. Really though, it was awesome. It may be hard to imagine just what 30, 581 lighted jack-o-lanterns in one very small town looks like, but it is pretty incredible.

Halloween happened. Jack was a sea monster/dinosaur/dragon depending on who was looking. Maggie was a fairy princess superhero complete with a bright pink cape and wings, depending on the event. We hit up as many Halloween parties as we could find, so the kids got lots of chances to wear their costumes.  Joe and I attended the Johnson Halloween party-- I thought we looked awesome, even if none of the international students (which Joe's good friends are mostly comprised of) had no idea who we were.

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