Giving Thanks

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.

The above quote is from Emerson, but I would have to add "and family" to it, both the old and the new. We are thankful for the following things this Thanksgiving:

• The Moo is thankful for "my family and pumpkins and turkey."

• The Bean is thankful for "flowers" (actually that was Kitty who was thankful for flowers; the Bean no longer resides with us apparently and Kitty gets very annoyed when we refer to her as Bean).

A few other odds and ends from this past week:

The Moo had her last swim meet of the month on Sunday. She swam her usual freestyle and backstroke, PLUS breaststroke and butterfly! Mom and Dad were flabbergasted. She finished last in all but the freestyle, but she finished all with a huge smile on her face; the timers told me that me that they had never seen a happier swimmer. It is very difficult to convey the tremendous pride that she felt in herself, as was evident from her face, and it is impossible to convey the pride that I felt as her mom. The butterfly was the last event, she had just learned the stroke the week before, and she was tired. She struggled to cover the last few yards to the wall, and it looked like she wanted to give up. But she didn't, and she finished last, but to the loudest applause of the evening. So, Mom is thankful for a Moo who has joy and most of all has heart.

Dad has been out of town so Mom had both pick up and drop off duties this week (normally I just do pick up since I try to get to work by 630 am -- a little early for dropping of munchkins). When I took the Bean into Beantree, we were walking to her classroom when her friend Sarah came up behind her. The Bean turned around, screamed "Sarah!!!!" and the two started hugging and squealing like teenage girls. So, Mom is thankful for the little friends who make the Bean and Moo's days so much brighter while they are in school, and that the two of them have such an easy time making friends.

I am also thankful that the Bean has perfected writing her name, that the Moo has such creative taste in library books (we read about Da Vinci's bronze horse this week), that the Bean -- I mean Kitty -- has such an amazing imagination, and I finally I am thankful for aliens.

Aliens? Yesterday the Bean and Moo were arguing about what aliens look like. I pointed out that since no one has ever seen one, they can look like almost anything. I told them to think about what an alien would like during the day while they were in school, and that when we got home they could design one. Well, they liked it so much they drew three each. Some interesting contrasts emerged: the Moo's aliens were all nice, small, and they all had wings, whereas the Bean's aliens were all scary, big, and they all had like a million eyes. I asked them to name and tell me some things about their aliens, and here is what they said:

Bean: My alien is named Eye Eye, because he has lots of eyes. My alien can move and float and . . . eat everyone on the rocket ship. [Alien 2]: My alien is named Scary because he has a scary face (NOTE: the picture of Scary shows him with an astronaut in his mouth). He likes to eat people, grass, houses, cupcakes, Halloween candy, kitty cats, and cottage cheese. My alien can run really fast, and his legs come out of his eyeballs. [Alien 3]: My alien is named Eye Eye Ringey Ringey Eye Eye Facey Facey Eyeball . . . My alien likes to catch food and critters. He likes to drink mango juice.

Moo: My alien is named Goopey because he leaves a trail of goop when he squirms on the ground. My alien can fly higher than the earth. [Alien 2] My alien is named Goopity Goop. My alien eats little germs on planets and toy kitties. To get away from a predator, my alien squirts poison. If that does not work, my alien flies away. [Alien3] My alien is named Lee Lee la Goop. My alien likes to dance. My alien likes to do activities like experimenting stuff. My alien likes holidays, like Thanksgiving, because he can have a feast with his family.

I think Lee Lee la Goop is probably the only alien that we would invited over for our Thanksgiving feast! I hope everyone else has a wonderful, alien-free holiday!!