wintry days ahead

The weather changed to gray and wet. To Cyndi, it was perfect weather for a family Thanksgiving. Ariel had her 25th birthday this year, and we celebrated with a party on Sunday. Several of her friends came over, some from school days, some from post-school, some running and bicycling partners. We grilled a bunch of food. Ry and Jack were so excited about the party, and they joined in. We were a little concerned, because they can be so overwhelming, but Ariel and her friends welcomed them, especially in rounds of Twister and a word game.



Ariel's friend, Ethan, taught Jackson a hand game, which Jack took to show and tell this week. Cyndi had a busy week prepping for the family meal. She took it upon herself to get and make all the side dishes.



On Thanksgiving morning, Jackson was up early and when Rylee woke up, they hugged each other like little cubs. We didn't do our usual Turkey Trek run. There was a light rain, and there were still dishes to make. Pete and I got Bennie for Thanksgiving at Dorie's.



Ariel joined us, too. There was wine and lots of good turkey. Jackson played some chess and played with Lauren. I saw Ry pop in and out of the room. He seemed to be entertaining himself, as the other kids were running about.



The boys' vocabulary astonishes me sometimes. Ry said something about being in balance the other day, and Jackson told me all about ordinal numbers. They have a saying, "If you want to be enthusiastic, you've got to act enthusiastic." That word, enthusiastic, comes out so clearly from Ry's 3-year-old voice. Jackson is reading, but has yet to read a book aloud to me. Rylee is spelling. He wants a soccer net, so we told him to write it down for Santa. He got out a piece of paper (from his drawing supply) and a pencil, and asked how to spell net. He drew a huge n (backwards) and an e from his name and then a t. It was a capital T, Jackson pointed out.

This afternoon we travel to Santa Fe for a little holiday vacation. It may snow.