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Emma and Carter spent the afternoon making up a story with Grandma Adams about Santa delivering presents to kids at the space station, and they had the time of their lives.  

Coming this Christmas to a bookstore near you…

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving is pie night.  All week, as I've been thinking about it/planning for it/shopping for it/baking for it, the words of Harold and the Purple Crayon keep running through my mind, about when he gets hungry and draws himself a "nice, simple picnic lunch." - 

"There was nothing but pie.  But there were all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best." 

And that, my friends, is the essence of pie night.  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the awesome tradition!

Pie shells await the traditional squash pie at my mom's house… yum.

And at home, getting ready for tomorrow's pies… and waiting up (always SO much later than I had planned!) for the ones in the oven to be done so I can go to bed!  

Both Emma and Carter had Thanksgiving feasts at school today!  

I got to help out with "turkey bowling" at Emma's… yes, that is bowling with frozen turkeys and liters of soda.  I was just waiting for the soda to explode or the frozen turkey to take someone out, but besides a few dents in the auditorium walls (that looked like they had been hit with frozen turkeys last year and the year before as well), everyone came out of it unscathed.  
I actually vividly remember making my paper bag Indian vest and placemat in elementary school – it was fun to be a part of.

And Carter came to the car after his feast looking like this.  When I asked him what he ate at his Thanksgiving feast, he said "Cheetos!!"   For the record, he did have some turkey, too.  Whether he'll eat anything but Jell-O on the real Thanksgiving is yet to be determined…

It is not always sunshine and roses, that's for sure.  But for the most part, in between the occasional sparks that fly (or the all-consuming blazes, if we're being honest here), these guys have a lot of fun together.  
Lately:  

Everyone creating rockets on a Sunday morning (don't you love Emma's star wars pajamas?)

Afternoon in the clubhouse (can you see that Carter is trying to block Meg from getting up the ladder, even though he has the sweetest smile, pretending that he's doing nothing wrong?) 

And yesterday they built a huge little people city, and were having so much fun responding to a city-wide fire that it reminded me of what the mom videos on Toy Story 3, so I turned my camera to video just in time to catch "I get to be Fireman Small."  "NO!  I DO!"  "Noooooo… I DO!!!"  Keeping it real for posterity, I guess.

I demand a repeat.  :)

My favorite things today:  

Meg LOVES to put on this headband of Emma's by herself.  I think the way she does it makes her look like a tiny princess.  :)

And, funny Zach.  Worried he'd be cold walking home from school without boots, I drove past after picking up Carter to see if they wanted a ride… and this is how I found him.   Having a snowball fight, in THIS.  He said, "here, Mom, take my coat so I don't have to carry it.  I'm hot!!"  Guess he's used to MN winters…

Yes, of SNOW.  Wet, heavy, branch-breaking snow.  (bummer.)  
But also beautiful, warm-ish (can snow be warm?), packable, sledd-able, fun for days snow.  

(Zach is nowhere to be seen since he spent the afternoon the camera was out shoveling the cul-de-sac sidewalks… and yes, Meg spends every second outside eating snow.)

Yes, we had to hurry and get the leaves bagged before the snowstorm… but there was still enough time for a few crazy jumps.

…a beautiful day for a zoo trip!

So Meg, Carter and I headed to the zoo with some cousins while the big kids were at school.  Besides it being an absolutely gorgeous day, we got to see the elephants and rhino up close, and see the gorillas have a bubble bath.  Only one gorilla was even interested in the bubbly tub, and she mostly splashed the water on the floor and moved the bubbles around to get clear water to drink – but she did wash her hands and one foot.  :)  

Super fun way to spend the day with some great company!   

Well, there was certainly no shortage of discussion about the election this year.  By 4th grade, Zach and all of his friends were pretty into it… politics was apparently a topic of discussion everywhere from the lunchroom to the 4-square court, and everyone was making badges supporting their candidate of choice out of the post-it notes in their desks.  By the evening of election day, even Meg was saying her "Mom-Ney" and "Bama" to fit in with the crowd.  It did get to a point that evening at dinner that I actually thought I'd rather be watching political ads on TV than listening to the chanting at the table… and that is saying something!
All that said, however, I am grateful every time we have an opportunity to vote – it is a blessing, a priviledge, and a responsibility – and I hope the kids continue to get excited about being involved!