Haircuts, Harvest Party, and Happy Thanksgiving!

10.08.2007

For those of you Americans out there, we hope the title hasn't sent you rushing to the calendar wondering where you lost a month and a half of your life...this weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. Though being a bi-national family sometimes has its hassels, one of the perks is the extra holidays. This year we had the unique treat of gathering with about 50 others to give thanks, eat turkey, and "be" Canadian together. It was a treat, but I did miss the "good turnips" that are always apart of the Cook family Thanksgiving table...don't knock 'em until you've tried them!

But I'm getting ahead of myself, and out of sequence. Let me fill you in on the last few weeks. A recent lice outbreak at the school and preschool gave me the motivation I needed to get the girls' hair cut. Sophie got lucky, I at least took her to a beauty salon. It looked so easy (sorry, all of you trained, talented hair stylists out there) that I was sure I could do it myself...to Annie's hair. I started by hacking it off, and then proceded to become extremely sick to my stomach! What had I done? After a reassuring smile to Annie, I fled the bathroom to receive reality-check-advice from John ("It will grow. Its only hair.") and returned with re-enforcements in the person of a dear local friend who cleaned up my mess a bit and you can hardly tell the difference between the professional cut and the home-grown one...it doesn't hurt that Annie's curly hair covers some of the rough edges! You can see their new do's in the pictures below.

September 28th was Sophie's school's annual Harvest party. It was a gorgeous day (before it has always been in October, but this year the planners got smart and took advantage of the beautiful late September weather) full of games, costumes, treats, and a potluck meal of epic portions. Because of the diverse nationalities represented at our school, we got to part take of not only the standard North American fair associated with potlucks, but also dishes from Brazil, Korea, Norway, Ukraine, and India. What a treat! Because of the lice outbreak, we ended the night taking turns at bat against a giant egg-shaped pinata labelled "nit" (for those of you lucky enough to never have come in contact with a lice out break, "nits" are the eggs the lice stick to the hair shaft with their own personal brand of super glue). It was a fabulous night spent with wonderful friends, delicious food, and loads of fun.

Sophie and a buddy (dressed as a Hawaiian girl)...they decided Sophie could be her Hawaiian cat!

This dear friend gave Annie yet another reason to love Cinderella.

Naptime wasn't going to keep the rest of us from joining in the fun...we parked a sleeping Benjamin in a quiet corner.

For such a featherweight, Sophie proved quite adept at the crowd-favorite game, pillow-jousting.

An awake, but dazed Benjamin is questioning why this had to be the week he had to cut his one year molars!

A youngest-to-oldest policy meant that Annie got her swing in before the pinata broke....Should I say swings? It took awhile for her to actually make contact.

While Benjamin was busy cutting teeth, Sophie was wiggling away at her two top front teeth. Having already lost her bottom front teeth (and cut new ones) she is an old pro at this tooth-losing business.

Sophie displaying her lost tooth.

And now the Thanksgiving shots...

John and Annie, joined by our new friend, Esther, show off Annie's favorite Thanksgiving treat: Chocolate. OK, so its not as festive, but it is certainly TASTY!

Sophie and Annie, joined by a fellow Canadian and schoolmate. The look on Annie's face captures how she feels about being with the "big girls".

Ben's first Canadian Thanksgiving: he would have licked the plate clean if we'd have let him!

Thanks for taking the time to catch up on our news! Don't forget to drop us a line and let us know what is new in your world.

Coming soon: Benjamin turns ONE!