70th Day of School

To celebrate the 70th day of school, a 70's dress-up day was planned.  I tossed the note and assumed Will wouldn't be interested since he is never into dressing up.  This day proved to be the exception!  Will was excited because Mrs. Metz had used him as the example in class to show how the guys parted their hair in the center and feathered it back.  (Will was the only one with hair long enough!)  After that he wanted to dress up for the 70's!  After some internet research (since I am NOT a style expert!) here's what we ended up with....

Will was pleased when Mrs. Metz told him he looked just like
her brother back then - all he lacked was the leisure suit!  : )

Advent Activities

We are using our Advent tins again this year.  Each tin contains a Bible verse that tells the Christmas story and either a fun activity, a charitable activity, or just candy.  Will has amazed me because most days he has read (and mostly understood) all of the verses.  It's even more amazing because the translation of his Bible isn't the easiest (grandma couldn't find an easy translation that also met all the other criteria Will wanted for his Bible!).  I'm so thankful that he's been excited about the reading  each day! 

One day our activity was decorating the tree at the Historical Society.  The first
graders made ornaments in school and were invited to decorate their
tree for the Historical Society's display one evening.

Our activity Saturday morning was decorating our tree at home.
Will posed for a picture with the first ornament he put on.

One night we went to Altoona with the Honn family to see the drive-through
light display at Lakemont park.  It rained the whole time, but the
kids had a great time anyhow!  : )

Good Timing for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came at a good time this year because I was in need of a reminder of all the things I have to be thankful for.  Apartment life with an active 6-year-old boy is wearing on my patience.  Some days, the walls seem to close in, the kitchen space contracts even further, the laundry in the basement seems miles away, I imagine the bathroom is shared with 3,000 people rather than 3, and I think the sky is just a figment of my imagination because I sure can't see it out my windows!  The Thanskgiving holiday this year was a much needed time for me to remember that our apartment is only temporary and that any sacrifices we are making are worth it for Jerry to be so much happier in his job and Will to be so much happier in school.

We went to mom's house for Thanksgiving break.  The snow in PA didn't hold us up very much, but the accident on I-64 just 10 minutes from mom's house delayed us for an hour.  It worried mom sick since we didn't get cell service on the detour we took through Rich Patch and she didn't know where we were. 

Mom cooked a huge dinner and Will passed out plates!

A game of Pictionary followed dinner.  Will drew "the tallest tower in New York city."
We all thought he was giving us a clue when he said that so we kept guessing (the Empire State building, the
Twin Towers, etc.) and wondered why he looked confused and wouldn't give us the answer!

Clean-up crew!

 

Tom took Will hunting on Friday. They only saw a squirrel but Will had fun riding the
four wheeler and building a deer blind (that Will sat in for about 5 minutes and sang).
Uncle Jerry killed a 6-pointer later that afternoon - I think Will drove it
out of the woods to him!

  

Will had off school longer than we thought for Thanksgiving so he stayed
with mom until Tuesday while Jerry and I enjoyed a nice break.  : )
Will and mom decorated granddad's tree on Sunday.  Will
enjoyed that and happily posed for a picture.

On Monday mom took him to Wal-Mart to pick out something.  He wanted a
Bible like hers (leather cover, gold pages, and a string bookmark).  She sent me
this picture of him reading it to Tom after they got home.  It wasn't a
children's Bible but he sounded out all the words.  It's amazing what he
can do when HE wants to!