Happy Thanksgiving 2011.
Yes - another year to be thankful for.  Summer has just prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, and gravy (not to mention that pumpkin pie).  It is our first Thanksgiving in the new house.Is life perfect?  Well you tell me.  The little man wakes me up at 6 am, even on the weekend.   I am not a morning person.  Ok - I wasn't a morning person until the little man showed up at the door step.  Who does he call in the middle of the night because his covers fell off the bed and on to the floor.  You guessed it.  But who also loves to get tickled in the morning and run up the stairs to beat me to his bath every night.  He loves that race (that is so carefully orchestrated to get him upstairs and ready for bed and the only price is that I have to lose the race each and every evening - what a shame).  Yes we are talking about that same little man, who lights up a room (even if I am ready to take a nap).  So maybe we do have plenty to be thankful for - just being a part of this little man's growth and development as a human being on this planet.  We get to see what he sees - seeing the world though a child's eyes - happy moments, sad moments, amazed and bewildered all within moments of each other.Speaking of the little man, here we are making the ornamental turkey for the Thanksgiving table. Somebody find the glue to make this go a little faster (or as he says "Dad, this is taking forever").

In the meantime, mom is getting the table set - nice dinning room.  Look at that silverware, passed down from one generation to the next.

 David is kept busy with his recent obsession - Monopoly.  He has hotels and houses on all of his expensive properties.  He is something else.  Mr. Capitalism.  Of course, we used to play this game as kids too - for hours - of course this is now our 4th day of the game (a real marathon).  That is my set of hotels on Connecticut - where I was born.  Mom is quietly working in the background during this massive (and ongoing) distraction.

Ok - now it is really time get ready for Thanksgiving.  David is willing to take a break from his lucrative game to help mom out but that smiles makes me think he is up to something.  We will probably find out a few days from now.

In the meantime, we sit back enjoy the meal, the left-overs, and yes more and more Monopoly.  Is life perfect?  Well he could sleep in a bit later and maybe let me win one race to the bath at night.  But all in all, we appreciate what we have - a life together - and we are thankful.

Stanford Violin Recital

 

Stanford Violin Recital.  Yes - this is David's big day at Stanford.

Ok one of his big days - many more to come.  (Parental pressure - moi?)




Mom helped him prepare (with a lot of practice - month after month - but also tightening his bow at the moment).

 The older kids got the ball rolling with a lovely piece - very accomplished.  Something I guess for us all to look forward to down the road.  Smart way to set the stage, as it were, for us parents.

Listen to them for a few seconds and you will see what I mean.

Then it was time for the real stars to preform.  

Up comes David on to the stage. 

(He is middle front left - you know the little blonde kid).

In case you missed him, here is a close-up.

Oh you wanted to hear him.  Ok.  Get ready (and click below each picture).

It was quite a joy to listen to.

(Two videos of his performance.  They are short.  They will appear in a separate screen and might take a minute to download so be patient - it is well worth the wait.)

Twinkle Part I

Twinkle Part II

What a performance!  I told you. 

You thought I was kidding. 

What an experience.  David's Stanford debut.  

What a great recital and a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  

A milestone for him.  A moment of enchantment, escape, and pure joy for us.  

Ok - we are a little proud too.  He is a very special little boy.

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011.  Yes - we have a young, very young Sigmund Freud.  For school he had to be an historic figure of some note from Europe.  So we got him a (very inexpensive) suit, shirt and tie combination and just in case no one guessed (because of his age and hair color - not exactly white), we made a sign identifying the character. He had to explain what Freud did - famous Jewish doctor who fixed minds.  He "introduced psychoanalysis."  Interesting how David never took the tie off - sounds a little like dad I think.

Of course, it does hurt his image that he is doing well (very well) at chess in that outfit.  He beats me (but mostly when he takes my turn as well as his own).  I love it when I checkmate him and he is taking the turns for both of us.  He takes chess class on Fridays and absolutely loves - really loves - the game.  He knows all the pieces and all the major moves (and plays morning - for breakfast - and before or after dinner).  I taught him how to transform a pawn into a queen.  This is a dream come true for him.

Speaking of transformer.  By day he may be Freud, eminent psychoanalyst, but by night he is a Transformer - so beware.

We made the rounds through the new neighborhood and he made a killing.  Speaking of which some of the houses in our neighborhood were really scary - take a look.

Before the Halloween walk Sarah Skyped in to see what David was wearing.  He played Twinkle Twinkle on his violin for her. She really appreciated it and he loved playing for her - distance to him is nothing.  Skype makes it the same as being across town even though it is across country.  

It was a nice Halloween and a ton of kids came by (including one who said she used to live here - that was something else) - but all in all a fun family evening.