Thanksgiving

We started November with a tree trunk and bare branches on the pantry door and filled it up with fall colored leaves as the month went on.  Each morning after reading scriptures we would each fill in a leaf and put it on the tree.

My personal favorite was one of Justin's:

I can't help but appreciate the early morning, smart-alec sarcasm of a groggy teenager.

Kate and Kara brought their kids to help us celebrate on Thanksgiving Day.  To me, Thanksgiving is best prepared and celebrated with sisters in the kitchen.  Of course, we prepared way too much food, especially the "salads" (which should really be called desserts) but we fixed everything the kids requested, knowing that it would all be eaten over the next few days.

Derek was so thrilled to see all that food in one place that he couldn't wait.

Hyrum had a writing assignment in class that left me wondering if I need to spend some time with him teaching how 

to care for a pet or how to properly cook a turkey.

"If I could keep a turkey as a pet I would... 

I will burn it to death.  I will eat it when it is done.  It will be great. So great to me.  I will love it."

I'm thankful for my teen/adult children that are so good at entertaining the younger siblings and cousins.  I'm often asked if it is difficult having such an age span in the family but it really balances well. It's fun to see our little flock of boys stick together as they go from one person or activity to the next.

They all seemed in awe of Derek as he played Nathan in chess.  

They don't ever wrestle with Derek, probably because he appears giant to their little eyes.

With Levi they full on attack.  He takes it, gives it, and usually he can tell when it needs to stop so that it ends with laughter instead of tears.  If Levi isn't around, they attack Justin but he tends to makes a game of tag out of it, racing around the house trying to get away from their grabby hugs and hands or dodging their Nerf darts as they chase him.

Erika plays both sides.  They will cuddle with her or play games when they are calm and wrestle with her when they're feeling aggressive.  Daymia even got some of the cousin attention this year.  

And, then there is LeRoy.  The not-so-adult adult of the family.  He thrilled them with dynamite and just as he did on the 4th of July, he brought out their best squeals and hollers as he blew up pumpkins with them.  Each time he lights a wick he yells out "fire in the hole" so that everyone runs back a little further.  The kids have done this enough now that they also yell "fire in the hole".  

They wandered the yard with him after the explosions to see how far out the pieces flew. We fondly consider him our Destructive Pied Piper.

I love to feed people so I putter around the kitchen filling little cups with milk and providing snacks and meals.  I also enjoy providing crafty things for them to do and occasionally I selfishly sneak in a project that I get to keep for years to come.  This year I had them each do colored fingerprints to fill in a fall tree on canvas. 

I was unprepared for the personality lesson that I would witness doing this.  Logan did a perfect job of pouncing his finger in multiple colors with no thought for pattern or fear of doing it wrong, providing what I think are perfect, beautiful fingerprint leaves and he would have filled the whole canvas if I'd let him.  Nathan was worried about doing it just right and criticized each one that he did.  Hyrum was annoyed to have his play interrupted but quickly did it to humor me, blobbing his finger in the thickest section of paint and smearing it on the canvas.  Korben hesitated at first but then caught me off guard when he dabbed his finger in one color, plopped it on the canvas and wiped his jeans trying to get the paint off.  Max wanted an explanation of why we were doing this before he would agree to it and then proceeded to give me a full explanation of how to properly mix the paints and how important it is to not touch his clothes with the paint and how he needed to wash his hands with soap.  Zane pulled a shy act and hid in the stuffed animals and I didn't even approach Brooklyn this year, not wanting to interrupt her focused play with Anna and Elsa.  We can always add Zane and Brooklyn fingerprints next year. 

The canvas was then set aside to dry, other activities came up, the month passed and Christmas came and I have yet to decide how to finish the canvas.  I want to do a border on it and possibly the year but I have until next fall to figure it out.