giving thanks, preschool-style

at the end of the month, we receive a newsletter from the bean's preschool that provides us with a calendar for the following month's happenings.  and for november, we were informed of the kids' thanksgiving feast at school, scheduled for 10am on a monday.  i happily put in for the day off at work and made sure that the hub cleared his calendar for that morning, too.

the kids were instructed to wear brown that day, so i dressed the bean in last year's thanksgiving dress, which still fit pretty well.

with my constant reassurances that her daddy and i would both be back to join her for their thanksgiving shindig, she was perfectly fine at drop-off.  i headed back home to get a few things done and pick up the hub, and about an hour later we were back at the school to help set up.

of course, most of it was done by the time we got there, so we cruised around the tables to find our designated spots.  the tables were labeled by teacher, with a place mat made by the kids with their pictures placed every two chairs.

a little plastic baggie on each place mat contained a little gift for us moms, lovingly handmade by our little special snowflakes.  cute, yes?

the aroma of turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy made my stomach grumble, and there was a whole table of dessert, too.

as the room filled up with parents, some who looked excited (like us), and others who'd obviously been through this a few times before and looked slightly bored (how sad!).  the lady in charge of the preschool took the microphone to welcome everyone and then introduce the first class for their performance - and i was excited to see the bean's teacher leading her class in.  i could tell that the bean had been crying (how could i not, with the tears still drying on her cheeks and snot smeared across her face as if she'd swiped her hand across it), and my heart melted.  i took these a nanosecond before she realized we were standing right in front of her.

and then she was happy.

i noticed that she wasn't wearing a pilgrim hat like the rest of her classmates, and her teacher, catching my questioning look, mouthed "she didn't want to wear it."  well, of course she didn't.  bah.  but as i glanced down the row of kids, i saw that she wasn't the only hatless one there, so it was all good.

and safe in the knowledge that we were there with the rest of the parents, she cheered up considerably and sang along with the rest of the class, making the hand motions and gestures as directed by her teacher.  it was super cute, and we were beaming with pride.

afterwards, she ran into my arms and clung on like she hadn't seen me in a week.  it was sweet, and i was more than happy to return the love.

this is who she looks forward to seeing when she goes to school.  heh.

we took our turn up at the buffet line, being careful to take small portions so that there would be enough grub for the rest of the room.

the bean liked the turkey and the roll, but turned her nose up at the rest of the offerings.  she picked up the sliver of pumpkin pie and inspected it, but wasn't interested enough to take a taste.  oy, i've inadvertently passed on my own food aversions to my kid.

when the party was over, we headed back to her classroom and watched her interact with her teacher and the rest of the class.  plus, she modeled the hat that she was supposed to wear for the performance.

we took her home a little early, and she ran right inside the house to tell her grandma all about her morning.  but the fun wasn't over - we took some lunch to the teen and rock-ell at school, and it was nice to see them on my "off" week.  and then after that, we headed home to grab a few things before heading back out to something super duper fun.

oh, wait till you see.  it was ah-may-zing.  eeeeeeeeee!