big bird

"Big bird" refers to the whopper of a turkey Keena raised for us for our Thanksgiving supper. At 31 pounds, it weighed slightly more than Binbin! While the thought of eating turkey sandwiches for the next month had its charms, we were happy to have Keena and Zach cook the bird and come help us eat it Thursday afternoon. We also invited the Horches--Fred, Hadley, Cordelia, Everett and Ian--and the Baumgarte/Topp family--Thomas, Karen, Julia, and Benjamin. It was wonderful to share the cooking duties and possibly even more wonderful to have the kids eat and entertain themselves while the not-kids had about an hour of nearly uninterrupted conversation.

Since I haven't posted in ages, we've got a glut of photographs from this month. Beginning with a snapshot from a short hike at Bradbury Mountain. Though we never did make it to the top for a snack, we did run around in the woods for awhile.



We spent several afternoons raking leaves. Since Binbin started watching Blue's Clues as Miss Donna's house, he's been asking for things in the form of a pawprint, including raked leaf piles. We've got an enormous sugar maple in the backyard, so there were plenty of leaves to mound into multiple piles...the better to jump in!



One morning, Binbin found sparklers in the cabinet. So we took one out to light up on the deck.




You probably didn't know that pancakes can also be made in the form of a pawprint. Yup, they're tastier that way, too. And the colored sugar doesn't hurt. Yum!




Here, at last, is the picture proof you've been waiting for. That's Zack with the knife. Keena stands at a safe distance behind.



Pictures of grown-ups aren't all that interesting, so here' just a snapshot of the three boys together on one bench: Benjamin, Everett, and Binbin.



Thanksgiving day was filled with excitement for Binbin: Baba and Mama did not have to work, the Macy's parade included big balloons and marching bands, lots of older kids came to play at our house!

But even the days after Thanksgiving were fun: Baba and Mama still did not have to work and Binbin could wear pajamas almost all morning. We took out lots of playdough colors one morning, and Binbin arranged them on his chair. Pretty!