Preschool Thanksgiving Party

Novak really enjoyed his preschool Thanksgiving party.

Thanksgiving Dance Party

This song (Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO) is played at home Hawkeye games.  It's been stuck in my head for a week now, and so Tom finally downloaded it and played it on the home speakers.

Nate has some awesome moves, check them out!  I reduced the quality of the video so it will be easier to stream, so hopefully it's easy to view.  I have it in it's full HD glory at home :)

I have so much to be thankful for this year - today I'm especially grateful for a first grader who can make me smile any time. :)

Thankful Tree

Nile brought home this project from Sunday School. The 3 and 4 year olds were making a tree and on the back was a list of what they are thankful for.

When I saw this I was sure that number (1) was Novak. Nile has been loving (smothering) Novak since the day he came home. But I asked Nile which brother he was thankful for. His answer?

"N - A - T - E"

How cute is that? You should have seen the look on Nate's face when I told him. He had the biggest grin, turned to Nile and said, "Nile, thank you!" and leaned in for a hug. In true "little brother" fashion, Nile ran the other way.

Herky the Turkey

Nate has a running joke with his teacher, Mrs. Chaney, and a few of the other staff members (and some of the moms) at his school. All of these ladies are Illini fans. We, obviously, are Hawkeye fans. Nate enjoys wearing his Hawkeye shirts to school, and showing them off to the teachers. So far I've heard from two teachers, a few moms, and one husband - all commenting on what a great sense of humor Nate has, especially when it comes to the Illini and Hawkeyes. He's gone so far now as to refuse the color orange - I have had to remind him that orange is also the color of the Chicago Bears. Otherwise I might not be able to convince him to wear his orange jacket, or use an orange marker. This week he refused to let me buy him an orange shirt.

About a week ago, Nate brought home a big piece of brown paper with a turkey printed on it. Attached was a note. Each student had been asked to disguise his turkey so that it could make it safely through the Thanksgiving season. The note also requested that the turkey be disguised as a member of the family - or in a way that meant something to the family.

So what do you suppose Nate picked?

Introducing...Herky the Turkey!

He can not wait to take Herky the Turkey to school and show him to Mrs. Chaney.

I love that I am able to share my son and his crazy sense of humor with the world.

Introducing...Brown Bear

Let me introduce Brown Bear. Brown Bear is Nathan's preschool "Indian" name.
(I cringe even to type it, I'd rather say "Native American," but I feel I should stick with what Nate and his teachers were calling it).

Oh, and by the way - that's not red paint on his nose. He hit his nose with the lid of his laptop last week...

Today we attended Nate's preschool Thanksgiving Feast and program. Again this year I continue to be amazed at the improvement Nate is making. At last year's program he stood with the group and, well, just stood there. This year, he participated! Yippee!

Here are a few photos I thought I'd share.

The class singing one of the songs. (Nate is on the right side of the photo)


The boys go to do a little drumming while the girls dance.


The boys then got to dance while the girls played the drums.


After the program the families got to eat a special Thanksgiving meal that the class helped prepare. Vegetable soup, cornbread, applesauce, chocolate chip bars, and apple juice. Nate proudly informed me that he "dumped the corn into the soup!"

It was a good morning.