Thanksgiving and November poem of the month

I'm ending this week of Thanksgiving full--full of food, full of thanks. We kind of had a low-key Thanksgiving this year, which was relaxing and nice. Louie and Kathy came from California for the feast, the bulk of which was provided by Ron and Vickie and was delish.

We started Thanksgiving day off with the 10K Turkey Trot. It was such a beautiful morning--overcast and cool, perfect for running. I kept my eyes glued to the crazy lines and movements of the clouds over the desert butte in the distance and dreamed up a new painting, to be titled, "Anticipation." But back to the race. According to my watch, I ran it in 53 minutes, which beats my old time of 56 minutes, so I was excited about that. I wish it was an "official" time, though, but I was in line for the porta-a-potty (only THREE for a race of almost 3,000 people!!) and thought that since I had a timing chip, it wouldn't matter that I started late. Guess it did. My chip didn't register.

Then, we feasted. I made my usual: sweet potatoes, green slush, creamed corn, bacon-stuffed mushrooms.

Please feast your eyes on this beauty (the pies, not Ron, although is lookin' good with the whipped cream!). Ron made all 14 pies, as usual. He is the pie master. We had 6 adults and 6 children, so that's pretty good pie-to-person ratio--more than 1 pie per person, just like I like it. My fav was the strawberry rhubarb. Thanks, Ron!

After eating leftovers Friday and Sat night, we hung out in the backyard with the outdoor heater and talked and played with this big elastic piece of fabric that would slingshot people back and forth. The video is better, but I'm too lazy to upload it tonight:

So, I'll end with the poem of the month, called "Father, We Thank You," has been attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, even though The Ralph Waldo Emerson Society swears it's not by him. I found it in one of our picture books that I love to read during November. It's very simple and straightforward and doesn't need any explication, which is sometimes nice in poetry:

Father, We Thank You

For flowers that bloom about our feet,

Father, we thank You.

For tender grass so fresh and sweet,

Father, we thank You.

For song of bird and hum of bee,

For all things fair we hear or see,

Father in heaven, we thank You.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,

Father, we thank You.

For pleasant shade of branches high,

Father, we thank You.

For fragrant air and cooling breeze,

For beauty of the blooming trees,

Father in heaven, we thank You.

For rest and shelter of the night,

Father, we thank You.

For this new morning with its light,

Father, we thank You.

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Your goodness sends,

Father in heaven, we thank You.

The secret passageway

Me: "H, what are you doing?"

H: "Um, I go Massachusetts."

If only I had known before that 5-hr flight last month.

I

Guess that scratch-and-sniff Thanksgiving book is really believable

Sweetie, the Soccer Star

Hallelujah, we're finally done with fall sports. I want to reclaim my Saturdays. I want to go to boot camp aerobics class at the gym. I want to stop carrying around in my purse a gallon of water for each child and 3 fruit snacks/fruit roll-ups per sports game for H.

Sweetie ended the season with a bang, scoring 3 of her team's goals today and saving double that on defense. Sweetie is actually very fun to watch. She's persistent, fast, determined, and all over the field. She also hates to loose, and, poor girl, she had to learn to accept loss this season, given the fact that her team was lousy.

Mister is equally glad that soccer is over because he is tired of entertaining H by playing in the dirt, running up and down the sides of the field, and looking for ants and other bugs. (Note, Mister's blue hair is from his football tournament.)

I'm thankful Sweetie played soccer this fall because it gave me a chance to focus on her strengths, to praise her for never giving up, even when her team was loosing badly, and for doing her best.

Fall flag football

We're finally at the end of football season. The tournament was supposed to be last Saturday, but got rained out, so instead the team went to Peter Piper pizza, and we'll hope for good weather this Saturday (because I'm SO ready to be done with practices!). His coaches were really invested in the team this year, which was fun. It was their first time coaching, though, and many of the boys' first times playing, so they won only about 1/4 or a 1/3 of their games. Mister had a chance to play quarterback, receiver, running back, and defense.

The spectators: Sweetie reading, H wandering (after stealing Sweetie's pink hat)

Halloween

Don't believe what you hear: Halloween is not just one day. It's at least a week-long affair. Here are the pics to prove it.

Halloween Decor

No pics of ours, although we certainly have plenty. But H was obsessed with the house down the street and its vampire. Whenever I took my eyes off him for a second, he was down visiting the vampire. The vampire became especially alluring when its owners started giving him lollipops too.

Ward Trunk or Treat

Our ward trunk or treat was the Friday before Halloween. We brought white-chicken chili and lots and lots of candy to pass out. I didn't take many pics because it was extremely hard to keep track of H in a dark church parking lot. We also participated in the bishopric apple-pie-eating contest. Sweetie was determined to be Hermione this year. I found most of her costume at the Salvation Army in Massachusetts. I painted the stripes on her tie and made the wizard cloak. She got the wand from a friend's Harry Potter birthday party. Mister was a whoopie cushion, thanks to a costume borrowed from his cousin Rob, and H was Peter Pan (although he insisted for a while that he was Superman). Alas, the garden gnome costume did not pan out this year. I was going to be a glow-in-the-dark stick figure, but my costume fell apart just as we were getting into the van. Maybe next year.

Class Parties

The kids and I made cupcakes for Sweetie's class party. We decided to try scary faces. Then the kids decided to try to make those scary faces on their own faces.

I helped in Mister's class by bringing in 30 baggies of candy corns and manning the bingo-game station. The school also has a Halloween parade to the tune of "Monster Mash," which is really fun.

Pumpkin Carving. Mister and Sweetie drew their own designs. I did H's to be a Dr. Jekyll/Mister Hyde pumpkin, just like H is. One minute hugs and kisses, the next minute screaming and throwing-things fits.

Pumpkin Painting with the Neighbors

Halloween Night! Our neighbors all brought their dinners out, one lit a fire in their fire pit, and we canvased the neighborhood until H had enough.