Raising the next generation of dorks

Yesterday Nora and Henry were sitting on the couch and laughing while Nora was drawing on the magna doodle. Nora had been drawing cars at her brother's request and then things got silly. Nora explained in her best isn't-this-just-ridiculous voice, "We are drawing hair on cars because we think cars are mammals."

Thanksgiving

Plenty of food, some family, games, our holiday celebration was just right. The only thing missing was a nap.

This year was the first we have had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. My youngest sister Liisa was here, and her boyfriend Paul, and Mark's youngest sister Maryann had one day off from work so she drove over to join us. It was a good day. Nora took her hostess duties seriously and made sure that no one lacked interaction.

Hanging out with Aunt Maryann.Helping Liisa check her blood sugar.
Playing trucks with Paul.
Henry and his dad wearing the same expression.
Lunch menu: turkey, dressing, gravy, rolls, glazed carrots and parsnips, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, mashed sweet potatoes, and Liisa's famous cranberry sauce.
After reading the paper we had pumpkin pie and apple tart. Some of us played Bang! We had sandwiches, cheese, and fruit for dinner. Nora coerced Liisa and Paul into playing Tier auf tier. Notice my new gallery wall that Liisa put up.

On the charts

27 inches (68 cm) 10th percentile
17 pounds (7.74 K) 15th percentile

She's 4 1/2 today

In the blink of an eye, my baby has become a girl. She is such an enthusiastic little person, always excited and ready to celebrate the smallest occasion. She is my helper, saving me steps and assisting in the care of the little ones. She is full of plans and suggestions for our lives and shows promise as a manager (like any oldest child).

Helena : 9 Months

She is a charming baby. She sits and plays or watches the activity around her. She flaps her arms and kicks her legs when she gets excited. She makes loud pronouncements of "a da da da" and "yaah, yaah, yaah." She travels by rolling over and over, occasionally changing course by pushing against walls or furniture with her legs.
She is quite pleased with her first tooth and spends a lot of time running her tongue over it. Her hair has started to fill in; she has soft dark fuzz all over her head.
She has added millet, barley, buckwheat, roasted red pepper, broccoli, yogurt, flax seed, banana, blueberries, carrot, squash, peach, pear and apricot to her food repertoire.

Fall Fun

Our little maple tree gave up almost all its leaves during the wind storm we had. The wind brought us some other leaves as well. The kids had fun jumping in the pile Mark made for them.

Wienermobile! (Again)

We saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile again. I think it is just great and the kids like it too. Having never seen it before it was here last January I didn't expect to see it again. Especially not so soon.
We got to climb inside and sit, they gave us limited edition glow-in-the-dark wiener whistles this time and we mailed an "I saw it" postcard.More things ought to be made more interesting using fun shapes or creative paint jobs. I also love Alaska Air's Salmon-Thirty-Salmon. A pun and a cool paint job; it doesn't get any better than that.