The Cousins are Coming! The Cousins are Coming!

With Mom and Dad in heaven, the family gatherings on my side of our family have changed. They are no longer here to host holidays, invite us back home, and plan get-togethers. It feels a little "untethered," kind of like a boat adrift.  With siblings scattered from California to Texas and Kansas, it is rare that the five of us are all in the same place very often. And since my brother-in-law from Kansas had a massive stroke last year, it is much more difficult for them to travel. All the more reason to get together with family whenever possible.

Catapult kits

So we are very excited that my sister's family is coming west for Thanksgiving, all 8 of them. YIPEE! Since there are not many "attractions" where we live, we are creating our own. That's why there's a picture of a trebuchet at the top of this post. We are going to have our own punkin' chunkin' contest between two teams with two different models of trebuchets. They have been ordered and should be here so we can begin assembly this week. Investing in them made sense as we approach the time period in our history studies where these weapons were in use. It will be fascinating for the kids to learn all about the physics involved in these ingenious weapons by assembling and testing them first hand.


We are also planning a big photo scavenger hunt where we will break into teams of "bigs" and "littles" (we have an age range of 50 down to 4) to see which team can complete their lists and return to the starting point first. Prizes will be awarded for best group pictures, most creative solutions, fastest time of completion, and whatever else we can think of.


Pie baking day will culminate in our "Praise, Prayers, and Pies" night at church. I can just imagine all the cousins gathered around our big kitchen island working on their pies.


Starting this morning, we will be making regular trips to Lowe's to collect appliance boxes so the kids can construct a giant fort/stockade in the backyard using duct tape, paint and box knives.


We are also planning on having a "narrated play" reenacting the first Thanksgiving story. The stockade can be the backdrop. By using a narrator, the little guys don't have to learn "lines," they can simply act out what the narrator is saying. It also won't take as many rehearsals so that "short attention spans" are accommodated. Simple costumes are on my wish list. We'll see how much time we have between now and then to throw some together. Hopefully, there will be a video to post of the finished project. We'll see . . .