The Accidental Boilermaker

 We put the Christmas tree up on Sunday.  Penny is such a good kitty; she has never bothered the tree or ornaments.  Evelyn and Jameson had fun getting out all the decorations.  We took a few family pictures for my mom too. I think this one is my favorite.  Saturday we went for a nice hike at Eagle Marsh. We actually saw an eagle flying high in the sky but equally cool was the train that went by.

 We stayed home for Thanksgiving but decided we were still going to have a full Thanksgiving feast. We have never made a whole turkey but it turned out really good with plenty of leftovers. We also had rolls, cracker dressing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, brussel sprouts, cranberry chutney, and carrot-pineapple salad.  There was pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert. I won’t be cooking dinner again for a while.  We had one fun Thanksgiving activity - a colorable table cloth Mimi gave me last year. But I think Evelyn and Jameson also enjoyed watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.  Speaking of Evelyn, she has lost 3 teeth in 10 days. Nate asked his friend who is a dentist if that was normal and he said yes, some kids do lose their teeth all at once. The tooth fairy had to scramble for a book, but it all worked out. 

This weekend would have been the winter wonder dash where you run/walk through the fantasy of lights but it was cancelled. Which is ok, I understand why but it was still disappointing because I thought the event had taken lots of precautions (limited number of participants, staggered start times, everyone must wear a face mask).  We didn't get a refund which is also ok because we got all our race swag and were still able to drive through the lights plus Fort4fitness donates a portion of your race fee to a local charity of your choice.  The lights were super cool as always.  And then today we woke up to snow. Evelyn and Jameson played outside before church.  Then they went back outside after lunch.  Nate started a snow ball fight.  Then he helped Jameson build a big snowman in the front yard while Evelyn came in for a hot chocolate. 

Jameson had to disguise a turkey for school. He decided on a pizza delivery guy disguise and I asked should the turkey work for Pizza Hut, Domino’s? Jameson’s answer was Mama Mia’s because they make the best pizza. (Which is true - they are the best local pizza place.) Turns out they read a book at school about a turkey who dresses up to avoid being eaten for Thanksgiving and one of the disguises in the book is pizza delivery guy. So Jameson’s idea wasn’t super original but I do think his turkey turned out great.  Evelyn did the same project for kindergarten and I really thought I posted about her turkey but I couldn’t find it so here’s her Blackhawk hockey player disguised turkey from last year. 

School for the kids but no work for Nate so after we dropped off Evelyn we drove downtown to get a coffee and walk around the riverfront. Jameson really enjoyed watching the construction workers.  Jameson wanted Nate to drop him off and pick him up from school which sounded great to me. Jameson’s class had a Veteran’s Day lesson and his teacher shared some pictures.

 We took a weekend trip up to Michigan.  The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. Evelyn and Jameson spent lots of time on the swing.  We went for a walk around the lake and collected rocks for Grandpa Paul.  The hammock came out for reading and relaxing.  We had a big bonfire and roasted a few marshmallows. And I think the favorite activity of the weekend - target practice with the BB gun.