Thanksgiving and the rest of November

My Thanksgiving tribe!

I realize it's December and I hardly posted about November, which included Thanksgiving. In November, we learned a lot about pilgrims and Native Americans, stayed well for at least a week or so, chatted a lot with Elise, slept in (I'm not kidding!!), made about a million turkey crafts, saw some friends and family and held quite a few birthday parties for stuffed animals.

I'm not sure why I didn't find much to say in November, except for the fact that we were doing a lot (see above). Matt was also out of town quite a bit, so it was a strange month and one that didn't involve a lot of extra brain power for me (or downtime) for blogging. I'm sure I'll make up for it in December.

Otters at the zoo.

On Thanksgiving itself, we joyously greeted Uncle Tom, who pushed aside Grandpa temporarily as the Most Popular Person Who's Not Mommy. We all ate some turkey, even Elise, but the favorites of the girls were mashed potatoes (Kalina) and cranberries (Elise), not to mention the orange-frosted, sprinkled sugar cookies Elise had picked out at the grocery store. In the days following, we did so much playing, site-seeing and visiting that the week after (this week) we only left home when absolutely necessary, and played rather nicely and creatively together, the only downside being that all of the play scenarios seemed to involve massive amounts of Stuff being dragged from one room to the other, and only being dragged back under duress.

Previously, we'd welcomed Grandma, who kept us company (and Mommy sane) while Matt was gone, for the world's most perfect grandparent visit. Lovely weather shuttled us outside for an amazingly dynamic day at the zoo (how often do you get to see a grizzly bear enjoy breakfast, or a trained baby tree kangaroo have a snack?), and a wonderful picnic at a park (Elise's top request nowadays!), plus frozen yogurt for lunch one day (possibly the highlight of the trip?) and much more.

Ready for a sleepover!

And last night, after a lovely day of playing nicely together (lovely for all of us!), the two came up with an acceptable, and very enthusiastically delivered plan for a sleepover in Kalina's room. How could we say no? We did tweak the plan, shifting Elise's intended sleep location from Kalina's big-girl bed on her bean bag chair, to her pack-and-play (Kalina insisted on her sleeping bag on the floor). Kalina, the ever-helpful big sister, managed to drag all of Elise's favorite blankets and animals into her room in as much time as we could say, "Um, I guess you can have a sleepover tonight," and focused every bit of her intensity on getting Elise settled (and not nearly as much on brushing her teeth). As I was reminding them of the rules (if you wake up, go back to sleep if you possibly can; don't get up to play until the clock is green), responsible Kalina wondered, "What if Elise wakes up and I can't get her back to sleep?" I assured her I'd be in to help. Then, Elise willed herself into the pack-and-play (I don't remember actually lifting her in, perhaps she jumped in her excitement?), we read a story and turned out the light, hoping for more slumber and less party (but a little party would be okay).

We like to pretend Elise is a baby in
the cradle my grandpa made for me.

It took a long, long time for Elise, at least to fall asleep, and we're not actually sure how much of Elise's chattering, singing, flopping and random, "Ready, set GO!!!" noises Kalina was able to sleep through. Apparently, not very many. After a surprisingly restful night for Matt and I, we were informed emphatically (but not entirely unhappily) by Kalina that, "Elise kept waking me up all night with her kicking and her talking!" She nicely played with Elise in the morning before Matt and I wandered into their room, and so seemed not to hold a grudge, but she did seem relieved to hear that Elise would be sleeping in her own room tonight. "I will go to bed at suppertime," she mentioned. We probably won't hold her to it.

And that was November. Next time you hear from me, it'll undoubtedly be about Christmas trees and other festivities.

Brave enough for a ride on a
giraffe!

At the park with "Poky" and "Casey."