Playin' Catch-Up

I'm trying to pace myself for the holidays, and the arrival of "baby brother", expected just before Christmas. So, I'm a little behind. . . . oh well.

Afternoon snow at grandpa-grandpa John's house

For Thanksgiving Devon & I took the girls to the family farm in Usk, Washington, ~1 hour north of Spokane. That's 8 hours from here, which is a long way for kids and an 8-month pregnant lady. . . . But, Devon managed to get us there in time for turkey dinner with the family: Grandpa-grandpa John, grandpa Gary, uncle Jon Paul, aunt Linda & uncle Brian and their family, even some neighbors joined in the feast. Then we had some brave guests that showed up outside, too!

"wild" turkeys at grandpa-grandpa John's house

We were able to stay the weekend and had a good visit with the whole family.

When we got home we were able to squeeze in a little gingerbread house-building tradition with Kelly & Kate. It didn't go quite like planned, but we all had a good, chaotic time anyway.

Mid-way through, and you can see the structural failures of Avery's gingerbread house -- both roof pieces were broken out of the box. I tried to "glue" it all together with frosting and popsicle sticks, but it just wasn't strong enough to survive . . . .

We looked away for a second, and bam! Collapse. As soon as it was down it was game over -- they were frosting the pieces, and eating them hand over fist.

Kelly ended up decorating the remaining one, while the girls, all honked up on frosting & gumdrops, played like maniacs for at least another hour -- completely disinterested in the gingerbread houses