Thanksgiving is over...

I was hurrying to get Superman from school, I ran out of the house, rushed to the car, put Mimi in and then quickly sprinted to my side of the car and started to climb in. Just at that point I heard a noise I've never heard before--a gobble--a real one, not the fake one I've said since pre-school. I turned to see where the noise was coming from, there was a rafter of wild turkeys. I stood there in shock. The men working on the house across the street (also standing in shock) asked me if this happens often, I somehow was able to say "never". I was frozen, I'm such a city-girl, (even though I grew up with deer in my back yard in NJ) I had been on that side of the car, and just 10 feet from those crazy birds. This blog post popped in my mind and the need to share this bizarre New England moment overcame my fear of being pecked and being late to pick up Superman. I somehow got the camera.

This picture is a little blurry, but it shows how tall a turkey can be. If Mimi was standing next to them, I'm pretty sure he would be taller.














This was a post by Val, even though it says it was a post by Greg, he is not a city girl:)

Thankful Things

Superman likes any kind of glasses. He wore these 3-D glasses ALL day, to EVERY store! The bank, the bookstore, the post office, etc. Most people took a close look and some people asked if he was going skiing, yeah, I didn't get that one either.
Mimi loves putting stuff on her head-food, wallets, hats, and balloons. I have been practicing balloon sculpture for the upcoming birthday parties, and this was my first attempt at a hat. Mimi wore it most of the afternoon.
But there is nothing my kids like more then wrestling.

For Thanksgiving I was thankful for visitors. I didn't get a picture of the food, but one of my favorite things is a brined turkey that I didn't have to touch from it's raw-fresh-organic state, until it was cooked, carved, and on my plate! Yum!

Salem

If you want to describe something and don't quite know how to put it, just put an "ity" at the end. Like today, Superman saw a house, made of bricks, and this is what he said "wow, look at that house, it's so brickity". Or later when describing me, he said that I was "runnity"
Who knows...
Anyway,
Before my sisters left, we visited Salem. Here's the memorial to the people who were accused of being witches. There is a bench for each person, with his or her name, and how and when they were killed. It turns out it's only 20 people, which doesn't seem like much, but when you consider the population was probably only a few hundred people, 20 was a big percentage of the town.
"Woooooo!"The house of the 7 gables. Nathanial Hawthorn wrote a book that took place here. He never lived here, but his cousin did. Actually it had 7 gables, then someone took most of them down, and Nathanial never saw all 7 of them. Later some rich person built them up again. Now it's part of the tourist-ity that is Salem.

I always suspected that I looked like my sister, this picture shows confirms that for me.

Beacon Hill Walking Tour

My sisters came to visit and we have done a lot of fun things. We went for a African American History walking tour of Beacon Hill on Saturday. It's very cool to hear about what went on the in the lives of early Boston settlers and especially those who had fight against extra struggles. It would have been even better if Mimi wasn't freezing and sad. But we did find this cool eggplant .Below the eggplant was this door way, I guess people were shorter when this building was built, and now this is what is said when someone tries to enter with out ducking.
Mimi cheered up once we got to the North End and saw these cup cakes. And some pictures of the the Pillsbury Dough Boy-she calls him "Baby".

Greg's birthday

Today is Greg's birthday, he says this will be a great year!

Last night Greg had to work late so that he could take a study day today. Superman asked me "what are we doing tomorrow"--something he started when my mom was here, we did something everyday, instead of our usual almost nothing that we do when no one is visiting. Anyway, he asked what we are doing tomorrow and I told him all the things we were planning for Greg's birthday starting with a good breakfast. Later when Greg called to say goodnight to the kids, Superman asked what we wanted to do in the morning. Greg said that he wanted to have breakfast, and Superman said "we can do that" -he sounded so grown up.

But today was one CRAZY day. Superman's school was in LOCKDOWN for an extra 1 and 1/2 hours! I stood outside waiting and waiting. The short of it is, 2 crimes were committed in our quiet town and both within a short distance to our school. So to keep the kids safe they kept them inside school and would let no one in or out of the school, nor would they tell us anything. We just stood there not knowing why our kids were stuck inside. When they were finally let out, all the kids ran to their moms and were ready to go home. Superman was of course mad he didn't get recess, and we had to stand in the cold a little longer and let him play.

After that we had a good birthday, Greg got a guitar. He's been playing it ever since. He's so good.

Trick Or Treat

This is what Superman says at the door: "I'm Superman, this is my sister, she's a ladybug" He then says "Trick or Treat" and then "Thank you".
Mimi says "Ween!" for Happy Halloween and "De Du" for Thank you.

We trick-or-treated with two boys from our street, it was really fun, but even funnier was how many grown-ups came along-2 for every kid! I'll put more pictures up later.
Superman didn't want a whole suit, just jeans and a t-shirt (just like me). And I didn't want him to wear red underpants on the outside:) Good thing it was a warmish night or he would have had to wear a coat and then if all you saw were his pant legs, you would have NO idea what he was.
Mimi getting down to the Halloween music. Can you see her tiny antenna?

SMACK

Mimi has been very kissy lately. Not even a fork in the eye has slowed her down. Even Superman loves it, which may explain the fork in the eye. Don't worry, she's doing much better.

Applesauce

Apparently this was the year I began canning produce. I just can't seem to help myself. We got a few apples, as you know, and I really felt like I needed to can some applesauce. It was easy with this awesome tool I borrowed from a friend, and my little helper Superman; but wow! hot applesauce can really burn!

My produce bottled this year is this: Strawberry jam (of course), Grape jelly, Tomatoes (red and yellow), Bar-B-Q sauce, and now applesauce.

Here Superman eats the peel, that he calls "apple string". BTW, if somebody wants to get me an apple-peeler-corer-slicer for Christmas, feel free.

On Notice

The Stephen Colbert "On Notice Board" Generator, here's mine:

http://shipbrook.com/onnotice/
Think of 8 things that bug and you can make your own.

Superman the photographer

We went for a long walk this week. To help pass the time Superman played with my camera. Here are few of the highlights from the trip. I deleted the other 100 pictures that he took. Ah, to see the world as a 4-year-old.
Here we walked through CVS, it's short and silly. Don't bother waiting for it if you don't have a minute. You get a glimpse of Mimi chewing on keys.

Apple Picking

Wow! Those cider doughnuts are good!

Rockport, Mass

Grandma Shauna came to visit this week, we did a bunch of cool stuff. One was going to Rockport, Mass. It is home to the famous fishing shack, affectionately nicknamed Motif #1. Lots of people come to look at it, take it's picture and some even sit and paint it. While we sat looking at the water, we saw a lobster boat show up and bring a bunch of lobsters to the docks for the surrounding restaurants. I didn't take a picture of this, even though it was cool and picturesque, because I'm sure these hard working guys are sick of tourists like me taking pictures of them as if they are quaint, when they are just doing their job.