Turkey Day

Thanksgiving was a hit this year.  We had beautiful weather and great company.  My mom and dad flew in on Wednesday.  Kenna was so excited for them to come I think her head was ready to explode for a week before they got her.  In Thanksgiving fashion we went out to Babe’s Chicken the night before.  Kenna and Callie love that place.  They will both eat the food and there is old farm equipment for them to climb on and play with outside.  

Nate played football on Thanksgiving morning.  Callie played the shape sorter with Grandpa and Kenna played Nativity with Grandma.  The girls both had fun.  Jarom, Lix and Lixi’s parents joined us for Thanksgiving dinner so there wasn’t a lot of prep.  Nate brined our turkey on Wednesday night.  It turned out delicious, though he did forget to take out the bag of giblets.  We made cranberry salad, potatoes, sweet potatoes and stuffing to go with the turkey.  Lix made more pie than we could eat and her mom brought some great sides.  It was a delicious dinner and everyone was stuffed.

That night we turned the swing set lights on and the girls got to go outside and swing in the Christmas lights.  Kenna loves that tradition.  The next morning we started something new…Elf on the Shelf.  Kenna has spent so long telling me about all the silly things her friends’ elves do that I decided she should have one too.  I can tell it is going to be a love hate relationship.  It showed up on Friday morning with a book and on Friday night I woke up in the middle of the night and remembered I needed to move it.  Kenna thinks it is great though.  She spent the whole first day talking to her (she named her Sparkle) and asking questions about Santa.  She even read a book to Sparkle.  The elf has turned up in some silly places and Kenna told me that we should call her,  “Elf on the ceiling fan”  and “Elf in the cookie jar” and “Elf on the TV” and “Elf on the shelf.”  Callie is completely oblivious to the elf.

 

 

Callie did get to have her first experience jumping in a pile of leaves.  I wasn’t sure if that would happen since there are a limited number of trees here, but the tree in our backyard shed so Nate raked them up.  The good news is that we will only have to do that once or twice each fall/winter instead of every month between October and February.  Callie thought it was fun and kept picking up the leaves to show them to me.

 

The weather has been great and we’ve been spending a lot of time outside.  Callie likes to ride Kenna’s old tricycle or just walk around the pond with us.  Kenna is getting really good at her balance bike and loves to ride it around the pond.  Although the other day after about 30 minutes of riding she told me her bottom hurt.  It made me laugh.  That is the reason Nate hates riding bikes.  He says his mission ruined it for him.

 

Kenna got to break the wishbone from the turkey.  We tried to get her to wait to do it with Jenna but she wanted to do it herself so we let her.  Before she broke it she said, “I wish for a pet tiger, a pet unicorn and a pet cat.”  It was pretty cute.  She was really excited but then the next day she asked me why sometimes wishes don’t come true.

Callie keeps getting bigger and smarter.  I built Kenna a little “hide-out” in the toy room.  Maybe that’s mean of me but she wanted a place to play princesses where Callie couldn’t get her.  Poor little Callie.  Oh well.  She finally got her two top teeth in.  It was a rough week but she’s pretty happy again.  It always surprises me how smart she is.  This morning we had some of those packing bags that are filled with air lying around the living room.  I turned the ceiling fan on and all the sudden I heard her yelling for me.  I went in and she was watching the bags blow around.  She’d stare at one and wait for it to move then yell and repeat the process.  It was really funny.  She is constantly amazing me.

 

 

 

 Some of you might remember all our posts about Quackersons.  He was the duck who lived at the local pond and Kenna called him her duck.  He disappeared and Kenna has been missing him.  She keeps asking when he is coming back even though we've told her he probably isn't.  We hit the jackpot and found a replacement.  A swan suddenly turned up in the lake and Kenna is so excited.  We fed her the other morning and Kenna kept telling me to look at how big her feet were.  She decided to name her 'gold and silver rockstar hear rosy'.  I'm glad she could get a swan since her wish for a pet tiger, unicorn and cat didn't come true.  I love that kid.  She keeps me laughing.