NY Thanksgiving

We had an extended holiday as we went to NY for the actual event, and then headed to my folks for another week to enjoy Abi being home from Guam. Maybe it's all the being gone, but wow is December already flying! The next two weeks are packed solid, and I haven't even begun to schedule the usual events like making cookies for the neighbors or taking the kids to shop for each other. But we got our tree today, and decorated the church, and watched White Christmas, so we're off to a good start :)

He's starting to play independently (of Henri) and with deep concentration with stuff that interests him.

The past two playgroup crafts

OK, huge excitement/free entertainment. The house at the bottom of our driveway finally came down. Fortunately all the workmen were amused by their fan section and didn't mind that we set up camp (complete with coffee) every day to watch the minutae. I made them maple apple caramel bars as a thank you.

The unloading of the enormous excavator was a bit too much for Hud

TWO excavators!!!! Little guy nearly stopped breathing he was so excited. Turns out they really did need the second one as the house came this close to tipping into the street...

Pretty much the best day of his life. Until the owner of the job arrived, chased us off the property, and hung up No Trespassing signs and caution tape. Killjoy.

Dad "playing" with the kids

And it's down! Our neighbor Lou had us over for an impromptu viewing party and I didn't have my phone on me. But we were a few feet from the action and it was a lot of fun. 

The next morning we headed to NY, and decided to stop at my alma mater to visit Anna. I hadn't been on campus since graduation, but nothing (except a new gym) has changed. Even the dorms smell exactly the same. 

Making the trip into a 9 hour one, we stopped at Sue's workplace (library) to say hello since she wouldn't be home till late. They had a huge chess set which the kids loved. 

And then we decided to paint all the trim at her house. Which led to painting the bathroom a new shade. Which led to a lot more work than I'd expected. But it's a lot fresher, and the trim looks great!

Attempting to throw leaves and get a good family photo while using a self timer, haha

I'll go on record as stating that trampolines are extremely dangerous and irresponsible to have. However, there happens to be a large one at Grams, and try keeping kids off it if their cousins are on it. Fortunately the kids are all really small so not much force is generated. And they really love it.....

And one of the days they were on it for a solid 2.5 hours and slept awesome that night. Also, easy containment in a small area so the adults could play bocce ball and have golf ball hitting competitions (Melanie was the most accurate with her drives)

I think this was the best we got....hard to see with the light, but its crazy how much Hen looks like her cousins. Also crazy how hot the weather was. We had the house windows open it was so warm.

Poorly staged food shot, it was just so yummy (leftover cornbread stuffing I fried with a poached egg and avocado) that I had to commemorate 

Park play

Look reeeeally closely, and you will see a tiny worm on the tip of the leaf. He was carefully carried for the duration of our walk.

Cool grasses. We went to a new park that had a path that led to another one. Along the way we found a ton of golf balls someone had hit there. You never saw so much excitement hunting for more.

This sign...I looked up all the news for Big Flatts but despite the sternness of the wording there was no public record of what this is all about. Dying to know though!

It's a special gift to have cousins so close in age that love you and just assimilate you into their routine. The girls sort of charged about the place and we really only saw them at meals and when they sent the youngest to ask if they could do something normally not allowed. 

Also? Unlimited dress up. Hen was in heaven, I think she had on a different princess dress for each hour we were there. 

And then we went from shirt sleeves weather to snow and mid-20's in VT

Hud was soooooo excited about the little shovels. 

Checking out the beginning of the annual bonfire (which Henri has claimed as her log cabin like Laura Ingalls and it's going to be a sad day for her when it gets torched)

Abi brought her some skirts from Guam and they were a huge hit. Making her wear a jacket was a huge miss (it was 27 degrees!!!)

Dropped Steve off at the bus and took (major) advantage of Mom watching the kids to hit up Trader Joe's and Pier One. And drive in my first snow of the season

I was attempting to get a decent one of him in front of the tree.....

More phone photos to come soon :)