Library Day
We skipped storytime at the library this week in favor of having our own time with fewer kids running around  (well, really Mommy wanted to clean on Wednesday before family arrived, so we went on Tuesday). We had a lovely time sitting in the beanbag chairs reading with just the entourage, and spent lots of time looking for books. Our "what do you want learn about this week?" was a little more involved than usual. Monkey wanted a book about ice cream. The kids section didn't have any, so she helped me track down the Dewey decimal number in the adult section. However, the one recipe book we found didn't meet her criteria (no pictures). Bug also had a little trouble with her topic of choice; we couldn't find a book specifically about Christmas trees, but from the holiday section she found a great book that talks about Christmas traditions from around the world. Goose also decided that we absolutely had to bring home The Dangerous Book for Girls. I don't know where she found it, but she spent most of our library visit clutching that massive book to her chest (I suspect it had to do with the sparkly cover). The girls are a bit too young for the book yet, so they didn't spend much time with it, but we did determine that's it's a book we'll need to buy someday, so we can keep it.
We came home with these books this week:
The First Thanksgiving
The Invisible Mistake Case
Christopher Counting
Jack in a Box
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
The Alphabet Tree
Arthur's Teacher Moves In
The Best Picnic Ever
The Dangerous Book for Girls
Christmas around the World

Visitors!
It was a visitor filled week for the entourage! Last weekend Aunt A and her boyfriend, Mr. M, came to visit, and the girls had a great time with these grown ups who had nothing better to do than read books, build with blocks, help with puzzles, etc. Aunt A and Mr. M had to leave Sunday, but Aunt A was back on Tuesday to be here when Mommy's family gathered at our house for Thanksgiving. Grandma, Granddad, and Uncle N arrived Wednesday night, so the entourage had even more playmates to choose from! I think some of the highlights were wrestling with Granddad and sitting on the couch with Grandma to read from her anthology of 20th century classic kid's stories.

Happy Thanksgiving!
The girls have been preparing for Thanksgiving by checking out books from the library about the first Thanksgiving, talking about what it means to be thankful, and what we were thankful for. The girls don't have a great understanding of time in terms of how long ago the first Thanksgiving happened, but they were very excited about hosting our own feast! They all helped with the baking on Wednesday (lots of measuring and dumping, counting scoops, and smelling spices), although we sent them to the park with Granddad and Uncle N while we were cooking Thursday morning. As expected, plenty of delicious food was consumed; though I think the cranberry ice was probably their favorite.

Thanksgiving with Mommy's family involves a traditional after-the-feast walk in the woods. This year we delayed the walk until Friday morning and went to a local nature park with a stroller friendly trail. At some point though we left the stroller behind in order to explore a narrower trail; we admired some huge leaves, talked about how leaves decompose and turn into dirt, and finally laid eyes on the creek the park is named for. Goose did a particularly impressive job walking the whole way while holding Aunt A's or Grandma's hand.

A Hop, Skip, and Jump
The entourage has been actively working on some gross motor skills lately. Monkey and Bug are learning how to skip. After a brief demonstration Monkey took off with aplomb, but it's a little more challenging for Bug. She decided that she needed to get steadier on hopping on one foot first, so she's been practicing that. Goose has been doing a lot of hopping herself (with two feet at this point), and practicing jumping off of things (like Daddy's back when he's lying on the floor). Monkey and Bug have also been trying to teach Goose how to climb in and out of her crib (she hasn't succeeded yet, but I'm expecting that to happen any day now).