Miss Jo's Music Class

This time the kids learned songs from Fall to Winter: Halloweeen, Thanksgiving, Christmas. The above clip is a song about "Albuquerque is my Turkey." I think everyone who lives in Albuquerque and automatically knows how to spell it is lucky.

Albuquerque is a turkey,
And he's feathered and he's fine.
And he wobbles, and he gobbles,
And he's absolutely mine.

He's the best pet that you can get,
Better than a dog or cat.
Albuquerque, he's my turkey,
And I'm awfully glad of that.

Albuquerque, he's my turkey,
He's so cozy in his bed,
Because for our Thanksgiving dinner,
We had scrambled eggs instead.





Up on the Housetop





Although you can't see it in the video, you can imagine Jo flipping through the cue cards. Lightning fast.


Thanks, Miss Jo!

We Went to Fetch Our Tree

This farm is selling their trees for $10 each, any size. Clara chose this one:


The farmer also let us glean the organic apple trees. Clara added to the organic-ness by dropping her apple in the mud between bites. I got several jars of applesauce out of the apples I picked (scratch that: Jo picked).


Here she stands, before she was felled. It's a beautiful tree. The farmer said his neighbor sells his Christmas trees to Las Vegas for a ton of money - they resale in LV for $100 a piece. Suckers.

We didn't notice that the tree didn't smell very pine-y until we got home. ... who are the suckers now?

Look at Jo, below, helping to get the lighting just right.



It was a gorgeous, blue-sky day. The kids loved running around the farm. Check out Joseph's block to Isaac. And notice how Clara is hollering off in the farm somewhere. That's the beauty of a farm. The kids can run wild and holler at the top of their lungs and the parents can ignore them with peace of mind. And also, you can grow your own Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving aux Barkers

Had an action-packed week in Farmington, culminating in the grand Turkey fest, er, family photos. The kids love going to their grandparent's house and this year had the added treat of a new cousin. Clara was enchanted by 'Tilda. She still talks about her. Matilda is one adorable newborn.

Documentation of the week can be found here. Thanks for sharing your photos, GB.

Great Grandma Kartchner

Clara gets to know Great Grandma Kartchner. They both have blue eyes. GGK was born in March 1917. Clara was born February 2010.

I don't know if my kids will remember GGK once they're grown since their time with her is so few and far between. I wanted these photos so they would know they had spent some time with her. I like how Sydney Ruth, who shares her name, is cozying up in her arm. Like she knows people who are name buddies have a special relationship.