Belated Late November

After several weeks of blog silence, I figured it was time to get back into it.

Damon and I have birthdays a week apart, so this year we decided to have a large joint birthday party. It was the day after my birthday and the week before his. We had about 50 people (including nearly 20 children) at our house for a soup buffet and birthday cake.

"Twenty children?!" you ask. "How did you possibly have a good time with so many kids running around?" Enter the Kids' Movie Theater:

Moving our TV out to our garage-turned-utility/guestroom was Damon's idea, but Adah really ran with it by creating tickets and the sign. After the kids ate in the kitchen it was out to the "theater," a little Monsters, Inc., and they were content and occupied for the duration of the party.

For Thanksgiving, we celebrated with several other friends who didn't have family nearby. After a last-minute addition to the group, we moved dinner to our house because we had a bigger table than the previous hosts--but they still took care of the turkey. We didn't get any photos of the feast or the guests, but I have several shots of some pre-dinner preparations:

Adah helps Dad peel apples for the pie.

Maggie & Gunnar wash the living room window.

Damon fixes the sink after we discovered it leaking just before guests arrived! (My family has a history of Thanksgiving Day plumbing problems, so this just felt traditional to me.)

We are grateful for a clean house, good helpers, and working plumbing--among all the other wonderful blessings of friends, family, health, a job, and all that usual stuff.