We arrived home from Thanksgiving to find that we had a plastic tube of ants waiting for us!  This ant farm was a birthday gift for Blaine, and we’d ordered the ants a few weeks before.

One day Blaine was invited to a playdate at a house on the other side of town, and on the walk over there a firefighter invited Blaine and his friend to climb behind the wheel of the ladder truck!  We were excited to finally learn that the siren is controlled by a foot pedal (shown bottom left of the photo below).

Lastly, here’s one of Sarah proudly holding up her sleepy panda next to a random patch of bamboo growing in a neglected area in the center of Blaine’s elementary school.  She insisted on breaking off a branch to bring home with us for panda to eat.

We spent Thanksgiving in Great Falls with Gram and Grandad.  We drove down on Thanksgiving morning, and I stupidly dressed the kids in their nice clothes for the ride.  Sadly neither outfit survived the trip, as both kids got carsick.  Sigh.

We got everyone cleaned up and changed once we arrived, and we were all in good spirits for the celebration.  We celebrated with Gram, Grandad, Aunt Jody, Cameron, Megan, and Marcella.  Blaine was very excited for the traditional smashing of the chocolate turkey after dinner.

Sarah was excited to try a chocolate ginger cookie.  Followed by a butter cookie in the shape of a triceratops!  (Thanks, Gram!)

Marcella looked very grown up trying on her mother’s heels.

And all the cousins enjoyed playing bug bingo with Aunt Jody.

The next day we relaxed at home with Gram and Grandad, played some piano, more bug bingo, and got outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Gram’s shoes.  Sarah’s shoes.

Blaine and Sarah were not quite sure what was happening with the breaking of the wishbone, but Grandad gave them some guidance.  We declared them both winners, if I recall correctly.

On Saturday we drove home to NY, and successfully avoided traffic by take a long route through Maryland.  It ended up taking around seven hours all told (!) but we did get the most delicious crabcake sandwich I have ever had for lunch in Centreville, MD.

Thank you to Gram and Grandad for hosting us, we had a wonderful time!

Sarah really loves beading with the kit she got for her birthday.

Here’s a pic of Sarah at preschool observing a snake.

We went to a birthday party at our next door neighbors’ house one weekend.  Sarah and Blaine enjoyed the dinosaur theme and the doughnut mountain cake.

The kids were so excited to get these new jackets for their birthdays (thanks, Aunt Jody!).

I volunteered at Sarah’s school one day to help making apple pies for a food drive.  The kids had a blast rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes for the topping.

I was very impressed that this panda balloon lasted until Nov 22, over a month from Sarah’s birthday.

Blaine helped make our favorite chocolate ginger cookies to take with us to VA for Thanksgiving.

And the kids layed out their own Thanksgiving dinner.

The kids had off from school on Friday, 11/10, for Veterans Day, so we drove down to PA for Josie’s first birthday party on Saturday, 11/11.  We also got to spend some quality time with Uncle Tim, Uncle Fran, Aunt Jane, Aunt, Molly, Aunt Liz, and Mom-Mom.

Here’s everyone at dinner on Friday night.  Josie was entertaining us all with her game of peek-a-boo.

The next day we helped get ready for the party.  Blaine, in particular, was a big help as part of the helium balloon assembly line.

And both kids got some outside time helping Aunt Jane and Uncle Fran rake some leaves.  And then jump in them.

During the party Sarah devoted some serious time to doing puzzles.  She ended up feeling pretty tired and declared she was ready for her nap before cake!

After the party ended and Josie was up from her nap, it was time for presents.

The kids really enjoyed the donuts served at Josie’s party.  Here they are having a post-party snack of donuts with the birthday girl.

Then everyone jumped on Uncle Tim.

One day in early November I volunteered at Blaine’s school to help with an “Art Appreciation” event.  This year the program involved learning about cave art.

On election day the kids did not have school so we played with some friends at Sarah’s preschool.

On 11/4 the whole family went over to the Sheldrake River Trail for a morning hike.  This was the same place Blaine had been on his field trip, so he was eager to show Daddy and Sarah.  I also took the opportunity to try to get a Christmas card photo…