The Thanksgiving Feast

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Sienna's preschool so I volunteered to go in and help. These kids are just so cute. This is really a great age. They're so full of innocence and wonder, too bad all that changes in a couple of years. This is a picture of Sienna's entire class enjoying their feast. Sienna is on the right side of the picture, 5th one up from the bottom but she moved back right before I took the picture and you can't see her in it. :(

Usually at these types of things, the parent helpers will get everything ready while the children are occupied. Then the children come in and sit down in front of full plates ready to go. Things were a little different today. First the teachers split the kids up into 3 different groups and each group made one item for the feast. Sienna's group made the corn, another group made the stuffing and the last group made the mashed potatoes. They were so excited to help and actually make the items themselves. I thought that was a really nice idea. Once the children were seated at the table then the teachers and parent helpers went around with several bowls of all the feast items and asked each child if they wanted some of that item. It was a really nice meal. The kids really enjoyed themselves and so did I.

Not to toot my horn or anything, but I was a big hit with the little girls today. I walked up to the mashed potato group to ask the teacher if it would be okay to take some pictures but before I could ask her 2 girls turned around and each grabbed one of my hands. They wouldn't turn loose of me and they were both talking at sonic speed at the same time, all the while they were supposed to be helping with the potatoes. I was thinking to myself how cute these girls were and how great I am that these two girls just fell in love with me from one glance. I'll just go ahead and say it~ I was feeling pretty special. And then, it all became so clear as I heard that sweet little 3 yr old angelic voice say, "Me like your nails. They're purple." Now first let me say that these little girls have a GREAT eye for a good nail polish. As I realized that these girls weren't loving me and that they were simply fascinated by my nails I quickly asked my question and scooted off to the kitchen area as to stop being such a distraction. So, I was feeling a little bummed about not being this instantaneous invoker of love that I thought I was but I was still impressed with their good eye for a good polish. But then things got a little scary. I don't know if all the girls in Sienna's class have this fabulous eye for good polish or if the original two just had to share their great find with all the other girls but something was going on. All of the children are gathered on the carpet while the parent helpers were cleaning up. I came around the corner to watch and enjoy their song to discover that all the girls were sitting together (slightly unusual) and then they all started pointing at me. I realized that they were all trying to get a good look at my nails and that, once again, I was being a terrible distraction. So I ducked down behind the dress up station and creeped around the corner out of sight. So, my lesson to be learned from today: Definitely volunteer but do NOT wear purple nail polish (no matter how fabulous the shade).