How to burn off Thanksgiving Dinner

1. Rake leaves into a large pile

2. Jump in the middle of said pile


3. Run in circles, spreading out leaf pile

4. Roll around in leaves

5. Repeat. Over and over again. Then go back in for more pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

At her library class last week, Em made almost the exact same turkey as last year. She looks a little older, and is obviously less willing to sit still for pictures.


For Family Home Evening this week, we talked about gratitude and made this "thankful turkey," where we listed things we're thankful for on each feather. He looks a little ridiculous, but it was fun.


And finally, Mabes has officially become a girly girl. She's always seemed like more of a tomboy, so I thought we'd bypass that. I was wrong. Suddenly, it's nearly impossible to get her to wear pants ("Princesses don't wear pants! Or skirts! They wear dresses!"), and she spends just about every waking minute at home in her "gowns"--which consist of nightgowns, her pettiskirt, and/or a shiny piece of red fabric tied like a halter dress. And she loves those ridiculous plastic heels. They are both her glass slippers and ballet slippers, and I'm thinking Santa will take those away when he brings her ballet slippers.


The only other thing a princess needs is a wand, so Mabes and I made one yesterday. I had seen some at Target but I could practically hear my mom saying, "I could make that..." So we did, and Mabes declared me the best mom of the day. She applied the sequins, can you tell?

Speed Demons

Last Saturday, we were uncharacteristically up and ready to go fairly early in the morning, so we headed north to the outlet mall. I needed to get some long sleeved play dresses for Mabes, but that's a different post. As we were shopping, Dave pointed out that they have a go-cart track at the mall. Dave has been wanting to drive a go-cart for a while--he said he had a "craving" for it this summer--but we stopped at a local place and Mabes was an inch or two below the 40 inch requirement, and he didn't want to go without her. But he loves go-carts, and I think he really fell in love with my family when we celebrated Becca's 13th birthday with In-N-Out and unlimited go-cart rides at Camelot.

I didn't want to get Mabes' hopes up again, because I was afraid she wasn't quite tall enough. We got there and measured her, and sure enough, she was well over the 40 inch mark. She was thrilled. She and Dave waited in line while I waited to the side, kicking myself (yes, literally...okay, not really) for not bringing my camera. And then I noticed a girl that was maybe 7 or 8, riding with her mom, just completely freaked out and screaming. When the teenager in charge of the operation signaled that there was one lap left, she screamed "thank you!" and looked positively terrified. And I just thought, "What have I done?!?!" And then overprotective Allison took over--"I should tell Dave to be careful. And that he shouldn't drive fast. Or maybe I should just go get her, I mean, who lets their 3-year-old ride a go-cart? Simply because she's tall enough? They probably assumed most kids are 4 or 5 at that height...There will probably be some horrible go-cart accident and I am the worst mother ever!"

She was fine, and (shocker) my worries were unnecessary. When they opened the gate, she ran to the first car and jumped in. Though I could barely see her head , when she came around the corner where I was standing, her smile and wave were unmistakable. And when Dave realized she was in fearless mode (she's usually quite brave, but every once in a while, silly things, like a helicopter flying overhead or a twig on the ground paralyze her with fear), he floored it and got his speed fix. He even noticed that the 2 person go-carts must have been more powerful than the others, since he was passing (!) a lot of people.

So because I left my brick-like camera at home (someday I'll join Laura and Jeff and trade mine in for a younger, smaller model), phone pictures are all I've got:

And here they are after--notice her windblown hair:

Published

Okay, not really. But two months after submission, my picture finally made it. My next goal is to get on cakewrecks.

Birthdays!

Today is Bora's birthday, and while her cousins may have beat her to the punch, Mabes is very excited to wish her aunt a happy birthday. She was quite disappointed when I told her we couldn't bake her a cake and drive it to her, nor would she be coming over for a party tonight. So yay for Bora. In the last 24 years, the world has been blessed by Laura and her obvious talents, such as her music and just general awesomeness, but let me point out the many silly reasons Laura is fabulous.

(you may have to crank up the volume, Mabes insisted on whispering)

"Sparkler hugs": Okay, this has become and Ostler-girl thing, but Laura has mastered the finger tapping/awkward breathing that make the hug both creepy and hilarious. Stairs: If you're going up the stairs and Laura is behind you, run. And cover your bum. Phone calls: Conversations generally start with "so I don't really have a reason for calling you," but then we end up talking for an hour mainly about food and/or TV. Food is at least mentioned once. Pork: I revere bacon as much as the next girl, but Laura is one of two people I know who dreams of eating a bowl of sausage like she would a bowl of ice cream. And I find this hilarious. Ice cream: it's a food group. Silly walks/prances: I don't have much to say about this, I think it's self explanatory. Humor: While I happen to think our entire family is pretty funny, Laura is exceptionally talented in this area. She has not only mastered the sarcasm necessary as an Ostler, but she is perhaps the best one at being able to take a joke and laugh at herself. I mean, she's put up with being the butt of the same joke for 12 years now, and while that may be mean on our part, I think it just shows how easy-going and fun she is. Happy birthday, Bora.

And I can't post a birthday song for Laura without mentioning my mom. Her birthday was almost two weeks ago, and I didn't post anything for her. Mabes sang to her via Skype, so my mom got to see it. But given that last month was Scream Like a Demon Month, video just wasn't happening. But rather than having Mabes sing "Happy Birthday" to Grandma again, I thought I'd share this:

If you turned up your volume for "Happy Birthday," you may need to turn it down now. About a month or so ago, my mom sent a package including CDs for the entire Primary songbook. Mabes will only let us listen to the CD with "Give Said the Little Stream." Mabes adores this CD, and while I may get a little sick of it, it makes car rides much more bearable. There are enough songs that she doesn't get bored like she does with other CDs we've tried. This is just one of the many reasons my mom is awesome: she always knows what we need. It may seem random at the time--a CD when your kid is crazy, a dress when you have an ovarian cyst, or just listening when nothing is going right--but she knows what will make you feel better. She knows when to give advice and when to hold back and let us make our own decisions. But she's always there, supporting, crying, cheering, sympathizing. I had a boss tell me once that if his kids turned out half as well as I did, he'd be thrilled. Likewise, if I turn out to be half the mother my mom is, I'll consider that a huge accomplishment.

I voted!

Because this is the first presidential election in which I've been able to vote in-person, I was really looking forward to voting on election day, getting my "I voted sticker," and really feeling a part of it. In 2000, I was out-of-state, and in 2004, I was in Oregon, which is (or at least was) absentee-only. After seeing all the clips about how long of lines they had at early voting, I was a little nervous for today, though, and was pretty mad at myself for not going early.

Mabes and I went to vote just before 10 this morning. I really wanted her to go with me, but was going to bail if the lines were really long and just go back on my own tonight. I was armed with paper, a pen, a bag of carrots, a box of raisins, and 2 lollipops if things got desperate. Fortunately, lines were pretty short (but much longer right as we finished), and Mabes stayed close as I pointed out the "special voting computers" and we talked about the election and the president. I'm sure it all went over her head, but thanks to our DC trip, she was excited to hear that this election determines who will live in the White House--"Hey, we saw the White House when we saw the Washngtn Momumin! Let's go again!"

I voted, got my sticker, and then went over to the "kids voting" section where Mabes got to cast her ballot. At the risk of sounding super cheesy, I got a little teary-eyed as I looked around the room. This is our democracy, and it's great to see it in action. And as Mabes put her ballot in the box and got her "I voted!" sticker, I realized that though she may not remember this historic election, someday I'll be able to tell her how excited she was to participate.