This Week

As usual, this week has been full. Sunday we had church and then had our annual Thanksgiving Fellowship Dinner. It was so much fun, but rushed because we then had to turn around and travel the hour to the nursing home that my grandfather has been moved to. We were glad to go, though, because it was the first opportunity that the kids had to see their great-grandpa in a month (they are used to seeing him weekly). Lily didn't really know how to handle him being there and she kept trying to climb into his lap. When she found she couldn't do that, she would run up to him and poke him with her finger and whisper "poke". She would then laugh and run away. My grandfather's face would light up. The two of them have a special relationship so it was very therapeutic for him...nice to see him smile. Jacob and Hannah handled the nursing home really well. Of course, people came out of their rooms into the halls when they heard the children there and they were stopping the kids and talking to them. We were really proud of the way Jake and Hannah interacted with them.

Hannah had an exciting week as she learned how to use the damper pedal at her piano lesson. It may not sound like much, but to her it is the WORLD. She has been practicing like crazy. The bad part is that we just got a "new" second hand piano (much smaller than our old one)but it is completely out of tune. The tuner should come next week but we have to suffer in the meantime.

Jacob is rejoicing that tomorrow is his last day of Spanish class. He really enjoyed his science class this week, though. The teacher had a vial of mercury and showed the class that he could spin it around and it would separate and then immediately go back together. It's all he could talk about for two days. We love it when he finds something that really interests him.

Lily said to my dad today "Papa, your the best friend ever!". That didn't last too long because tonight she is upset with him so she doesn't like him anymore. She continues to amaze us with her expressions and phrases. We have no idea where she has ever heard "best friend" or the other things she says that make us scratch our heads, but we are always surprised that she not only knows what to say, but understands what it means and when to say it.

I don't think I mentioned earlier, but when we went to Hannah's teacher conference last week, her band teacher offered Kermit a position playing tuba in the community band. We laughed it off but I think Kermit may be toying around with the idea. We'll see what happens!