stuffed animals

Jackson got his cast off yesterday. He can't bicycle or play soccer at his daily three recesses, which he really loves, until the arm has a chance to heal more. He's so happy to take a shower again. I'm sure he'll bang his arm, however, as he loves to run madly about and slide on the floor and crash into people and things. We went to a pack meeting last night after his catechism class. He never sits still at the meeting. He loves it. They are fun meetings, with songs, cheers, skits, awards and lots of boys to play with. His cousin, Nicholas, is in the same pack, too. Jackson has also been busy with his computer apps--maps and such--and we set up an email address for him, too. The other day he spent drawing a floor plan of an RV he wants us to get. It does have some pretty cool features, including a dumbwaiter from the outside. His room above the cab looks like a suite, and I think the RV may actually have three floors.

Ry has been busy making stickers for his skateboard. It's an old, beat up skateboard of his cousin's, who had put on some new trucks, bearings and wheels, so that despite its appearance it rides pretty smoothly. It's a big boy board. Santa is likely to bring him one, and Ry doesn't want the mini boards for little kids. He watches the video clips of skateboarders online and knows all the top skateboarders by name. Everything is "dot com" to him. If you want to see bicycles, well, you go to bicycles-dot-com. Baseball? Go to baseball-dot-com. As you can imagine, there actually is a skateboarders-dot-com, and he's found it. He wears his bicycle helmet--along with his skateboarder shoes and clothes--and he will also likely get a helmet that's specific for skateboarding when Christmas rolls around.

The other day, Ry showed me a turkey stuffed animal. He carried it around a few days, went to bed with it, kept it by his side while watching Disney Playhouse in the morning. Right now it's sitting with some Thanksgiving decorations on the credenza, so I don't know how much he's become attached to it. Jackson never seemed to get into stuffed animals until one day I noticed that a little rabbit, called Bunny, started showing up in the pockets of backpacks and suitcases whenever we took a trip. Ariel had several favorite stuffed animals, bears especially and Brown Bear in particular. There's a series of drawings of her playing with her bears, having tea parties, raking the leaves, playing in the sandbox. I'll have to find those.

Ariel is doing well in New York. There's some links in another post below this one. She has a birthday coming up, and I think she is planning to visit Terra and Karl in Boston for Thanksgiving.

We will have Thanksgiving in Belen. Benny is getting stronger. Cousin Lauren is dancing in a half time show for the Lobos football this weekend, so there is a plan to attend the game. Rylee wants to see a live game. I think the Lobos are 0-10 this year, with lots of controversy. It's cold, too, so I think it will be a sparse crowd. Cyndi wants to finish painting the boys' room, too. A potluck for Ry's preschool tonight; Jack's parent-teacher conference Monday morning. Think that's it. No birthday party that I've heard of.