He's got a hole in the head

Miles lost his first tooth on the drive home from Thanksgiving weekend. He took a bite of a cracker and it fell out in his lap. After he blotted the blood, we called the grandparents and cousins to share the happy news. That night, the Tooth Fairy left him two gold doubloons (the gold president dollars) in his tooth pillow! His teacher celebrates lost teeth at school too. The kids draw a picture of how they lost the tooth and share the story with the class. Then the child brings home a bag filled with storybooks about losing teeth. He has his dentist check up next week, so we'll ask him when he thinks the next one will come out.

Watch out, Turkeys!

Miles's class had a Thanksgiving feast a few days before the holiday. He chose to be a Native American because he knew the pilgrims would wear black garbage bags. He and his friend Patrick were the narrators for the show, then the kids had a feast together.

For Thanksgiving break we traveled to Memphis to visit the family. We got to celebrate with both of the kids' great grandmothers. GG Crosby turns 96 in December, but we won't be back for the party. GG claimed the kids as her seat neighbors, and Miles claimed Aunt Megan as his seat buddy.

On the way to Memphis we stopped in Jackson for lunch with GG Kremser. She'll be 96 next September. How blessed the kids are to have these two women in their lives, both still going strong nearing the century mark.

Friday we took the kids to the Enchanted Forest at the Pink Palace Museum. It's a path through a snowy forest filled with magical woodland creatures and elves helping Santa prepare for Christmas. It has been around for over 50 years, although it's no longer in its intimate cave-like home at downtown Goldsmiths. While it didn't seem as enchanting as I remembered it, the kids loved it!

Up in the Smokys

We went on a last minute mini-vacation this weekend and stayed in a cabin in Townsend, TN (the peaceful side of the Smokys, as they claim). The area where we picked up our keys was hosting an Art Walk this weekend, with many crafters set up in tents among the galleries and restaurants.

The kids - as well as the fur-kids - loved our getaway! Saturday we drove into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and hiked the trail to Laurel Falls. It was a paved 1.3 mile path that rose 300 ft in elevation. It wasn't difficult, but there were some steep drop offs on areas.

Everyone did great, even little Audrey with some helpful piggyback rides. Miles exclaimed that his two favorite things are "nature and coloring." Me too, buddy. Me too.

The falls were beautiful. We're glad we went early though, when we drove by again after lunch the parking area was overflowing.

We went into Gatlinburg for lunch and had to introduce the kids to Smoky Mountain taffy logs, yum!

At lunch the kids worked on their Junior Ranger workbooks, so on the return we stopped back at the visitor center to get their badges. They are now Junior Rangers at Hatteras National Seashore and GSMNP! If you visit a National Park with kids, I recommend you check out the program. It's a fun way to learn more about the area.

The owners of the cabin we stayed in (family friends) are building a new house near their current rental. We took several walks up the road to enjoy the new view. Hopefully we'll make the cut and be invited to stay in the new house too!

visiting Papa Stan on All Souls Day

Padre Pio

All Saints' Day was November 1st, and the kindergarten kids really celebrated. Each child picked a saint and dressed as that person for the day. They processed in at Mass, thankfully holding signs so we knew who was whom. There were many St. Patricks and St. Francis of Assisis as you might imagine. There was a great St. Michael the Archangel (the commander of the army of God) dressed in US Army fatigues.

Miles was going to wear his Jedi robe for his saint and originally wanted to be St. Francis. I suggested we wander the Paraclete and look for other saints in brown robes. When I picked up the Padre Pio story and read some to him, he was sold! Padre Pio has a lot of mystical {and controversial} occurrences attributed to him, such as ecstasy and visions of Christ, as well as bilocation - being in two places at the same time. But he was canonized for his devout piety and his ability to read people's souls and bring them closer to God. An episode of Unsolved Mysteries investigated him.   

Here's a video of his friends, Miles is not in this one though.