Mid-November

A few weeks ago, we decided to retry visiting the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester as a part of our dedication to the 1000 Places to See in Massachusetts. We'd tried before, but they'd always been closed in the past. Fortunately, they were open for visitors when we arrived. 

The kids both liked looking at all of the art and ship displays, but we saved the best for last, which was the kids' discovery room. 

They both enjoyed the puzzles and especially the toy lobster trap.

The following weekend, we made a family trip to the Wenham Museum.

On the Thursday before Thanksgiving, Avonlea Jane had her preschool Thanksgiving feast. The kids did Thanksgiving activities in the morning while a few parents prepared the food in the kitchen for an eventual crowd of around sixty. Each child was told they could invite a grandparent or a special senior in their life. I got quite a chuckle out of thinking that my parents could be labeled as seniors. As all her grandparents are far away, and we didn't want step on any toes by calling one of our friends a senior, she didn't invite anyone to come with her, which was the case for most of the kids. Fortunately, the school invited the senior group from the church, and Avonlea Jane already knew Miss Charlene and asked her to sit next to her. 

When we went to pick her up, there had a been a potato emergency earlier in the day and the feast was late in being served. Will didn't waiting for her to finish because it meant he could sit down with his own plate of turkey and stuffing.

Later that day, we went to a joint birthday party for cousins Jacqueline and Sherrie. Avonlea Jane and Will enjoyed decorating mini "Christmas trees." 

Will was in a sea of little girls. There were other brothers there, but they were all big brothers who went off to play in the basement. 

"Brush teef wif A'Jane," Will says.

During the week of Avonlea Jane's fourth birthday, we decided to do four nice things for other people to celebrate. We gave her a few suggestions for the kinds of things we could do (make cookies for someone, give coffee to the construction crew on our street, donate toys, etc.), and she made her own list of what she wanted to do: take cookies to the fire department, take cookies to the Plummer Home for Boys, take coffee to the gardeners at the Ropes Garden, and make dog cookies for the dogs we know. 

Our list was far easier to make than it was to complete. It took four attempts to be able to successfully deliver to the fire department, because they were always leaving on a run. Above is our first failed attempt. After attempt number one, we no longer put the kids in their fire department t-shirts. We tried a few times to deliver to the Ropes Garden, but the staff wasn't on duty. (Avonlea Jane didn't want to change the coffee delivery to someone else, so we've decided to hold that one until warmer weather, when they're out every day.)