This year’s Thanksgiving Celebration was in Oregon (mostly), and we are certainly thankful for the Keller portion of our family tree! Although Felicia couldn’t be persuaded to join this picture, we all had a great time, and our girls especially enjoyed playing with their cousins and hanging with GrandMaMa & GrandPaPa. And Hunter, too!

Their house in Roseburg features “the best backyard ever,” according to Jocelyn. This is a picture of the cousins enjoying the “creek” that runs through the yard … They spent as much time as they could exploring the rest of the yard.

We had a great time in Roseburg for Thanksgiving 2006, visiting GrandPaPa & GrandMaMa along with the Vancouver Kellers.

There were fun times, great food, hikes through the backyard, a Coke/Mentos experiment, two showings of Disney’s movie “Cars,” and of course … Turkeys … lots of turkeys. In addition to the smoked turkey we enjoyed for dinner, we got a few close looks at the packs of wild turkeys that roam the streets of Roseburg. These guys here were just hanging out on our front lawn, looking for a meal of their own.

Of course, if you’ve got Flickr privileges, you can see all of the pictures.

We’re off to the Pacific Northwest for Thanksgiving … but not before a little preschool celebration in Felicia’s class. She made her own headband, and then she made one for me, too!

Karen snapped the picture on her phone, because somehow we’d forgotten our camera.

What with Jocelyn turning eight this month, November is suddenly a big month for milestones and measurements.

At her doctor’s appointment, we learned that her 50-1/2 pounds and 48-3/4 inches are both in about the 25th percentile for her healthy cohorts. And, she’s very healthy, too.

On the academic side, we learned frmo her parent-teacher conference that she’s reading at the sixth-grade level, and achieving at-or-above all grade level proficiencies for the second grade.

Yay! ….

As part of Felicia’s bedtime routine every night (and at nap time, too), one of us sings the traditional “Rock-a-Bye Baby” nursery rhyme, which she calls “Baby Song.” Of course, there’s a twist.

When she asks for the song, she also specifies who exactly will be rocking in the treetops, and who will catch the rockers if/when the bough breaks. Most often, it’s “Baby and Shasha are rocking … and Jocelyn catch me.” We are happy to oblige.

Lots of cuteness in this quote …

We were shopping for shoes earlier today, because Jocelyn needed a black pair for the winter dress-up season. Felicia looked through the rack, too, and found a cute pair of sneakers that were green with pink trim. She picked them up, and said “I want these for Halloween” (which she pronounces “Honkeen,” itself very cute).

Today is November 12, so she’s a little late. But wait until she figures out what comes next in the calendar … We’ve got the one-two punch of Christmas and her birthday on the way!

This post has been officially backdated to protect the innocent … Perhaps the truth can be told someday …

—–Original Message—–
From: Karen Martin-Keller
Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2006 9:56 PM
To: David Keller

Subject: I don’t know what to do with this potential blog entry

So, I can’t put this one in the blog because it will let the cat out of the bag, but I thought it was worth remembering.

Jocelyn lost another tooth last night (#6). For some reason she didn’t want me to tell her dad, so I didn’t. Unfortunately, I forgot to do the tooth fairy thing. Fortunately she didn’t remember to check either (I think). So, during church, I asked David to help out by putting a Sacajawea ($1 coin) in the proper location. Later this evening I asked her if she had told David about losing a tooth.

She confirmed that she had told him at dinner. “I got money, too. But, it was wierd, all 5 of the others were shiny, and this one was really dirty.” I guess I forgot to mention to David that he should try to find a shiny one.

She followed up with, “Do you think the tooth fairy steals money?”

It’s fascinating how the mind of a child works … in conjunction with popular culture.

As far as I can tell, Felicia has watched parts of Disney’s “Finding Nemo” once, maybe twice. I am fairly certain that she has never watched the whole thing in its entirety. Nonetheless, all fish — real … pretend … fictional … or plush — are named “Nemo,” no matter the species, the color, or its actual name.

When Jocelyn was a little girl, we acquired a book called “Freddi Fish: The Big Froople Match.” Freddi has a name — Karen and I read it out loud when we read the book — and he is mostly yellow with burnt-siena-colored fins. The name of the book is currently “Nemo.”

We were in Atlanta last month, and purchased a souvenir from the Georgia Aquarium named “Deepo,” who is admittedly a very bright shade of orange. Felicia currently sleeps with this fish, and his name is “Nemo.”

We were at Westfield Oakridge the other day, and their Kids Playtown has a collection of foam animals, including a blue and white, sort of bass-ish fish with big lips. Felicia enjoyed playing on “Nemo.”