A little snow falling on Mt. Elden on Thursday--but it didn't come down to us
Because Anna had to work on Thanksgiving day, we pushed our celebration to Friday. That left Thursday for prep work, baking pies, playing, and hiking. The predicted snow didn't materialize on Thursday, but the kids still had fun . . .
Clara carrying a big stick
Josiah
Lydia
Abby
Anna came up with and brought supplies for some fun crafts over the weekend. The kids loved making pom-pom pine cone ornaments and stained-glass-style paper stars to hang in the windows. The girls all really got into the crafting! (The twins have caught the crafting bug and regularly love to pull out supplies to make things here at home. Recently it's been potholder looms and Swedish paper cutting [scherenschnitte].)
Abby and Lydia with the pom-pom pine cones
Cutie-pie Willow
Crafting cousins
The snow finally came Thursday night. We woke up to more than a foot--and it was beautiful--and cold! The kids were so eager to don snow gear and head outside, where they tramped and made snowballs (mostly Josiah) and ate fresh snow and attempted sledding in Grandma and Pa's cul-de-sac. It ended up not being steep enough--and the snow was a bit too powdery. So they pulled each other around or roped Jer into pulling them when he wasn't trying to shovel the cars out.
Clara keeps up with the big kids pretty well these days!
Abby
You gotta watch out for this guy around snow
Jeremy shoveling
Lydia just lay in the snow and ate it straight from the drifts
Lydia
Workhorse Daddy
Abby and Lydia trying out the sleds
Josiah pulled Clara around a bit
Coated with snow and headed in for hot chocolate
We had a late, big breakfast together with Jer's home-smoked bacon and Justin's sourdough waffles. The kids ate . . . and ate . . . and ate. I think Elias and Josiah had close to 10 pieces of bacon each. They enjoyed their feast together:
Between breakfast and Thanksgiving dinner, the kids read books, crafted, played, got a little wild, and tried some sledding on the Pipeline trail. The sledding was only half successful, but they had fun. The wind and snow picked up and drove some of us back to indoors and warmth earlier than others. Jer and Justin stuck it out with Kezi, Lydia, and Abby for a bit longer.
Willow and Clara
Beautiful Elden
Abby climbing the sledding hill, and Josiah headed back home through the trees. Doesn't it look like Narnia?!
Pa and Grandma with their brood of grandkids--all 8 (until January)!
I'm so glad to be mama to these four--soon to be five!
We all pitched in to help make the Thanksgiving feast of turkey, bread, salads, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce, followed (of course) by pies and whipped cream. Clara discovered that she actually does like mashed potatoes, and Josiah about ate his weight in multiple servings of them--and still had room for pie!
After the dinner, we kept up our tradition--begun by Justin and drawn from his family's Thanksgiving celebration--of folk dancing. This semester during our homeschool co-op I taught our kids the Virginia reel, so they were eager to do that one with the relatives. Justin also found another couple dances that he taught us and everyone enjoyed. It was chaotic but so much fun!
Unfortunately Clara ended Friday night by throwing up. Evidently she picked up the stomach bug the cousins had had earlier that week. So she and I stayed back on Saturday when the rest of them trekked out to the Kaibab forest to find and cut down a Christmas tree. They reported that it was sunny and cold, with lots of deep drifts of snow. But they were all successful in finding and cutting down trees, and when we got back to Phoenix, we set ours up in the usual corner and wound it 'round with lights. We'll wait til a little later in Advent to decorate it. Currently it has a lone pom-pom pine cone hanging from a branch.
Poor sickie
Clara was on the mend by Sunday and feeling well enough to eat, play, and even go out in the snow for a bit. We stayed in Flagstaff through Monday and headed down the mountain around noon, managing to avoid the holiday traffic. Life at home is always a bit of a let-down after holiday with relatives, and there were many tears that first night at home.
This was our last planned trip out of town before the baby arrives. We'll have a quieter Christmas here in Phoenix with Pa and Grandma from Flagstaff, and then my mom will come around New Year's to wait for the baby with us.
Abby decided one day last week that she doesn't really want a baby to come, because it will be "so much work" for her. Then she decided it would be okay as long as the baby is a boy (we haven't found out gender, and I think this caveat is only because it means a boy won't crowd the girls' room more). But I think she's back to being reconciled now to the reality of the baby coming and the goodness of welcoming it. I am glad I have some older kids who are much better helpers than they were at ages 4 and 2.75 when Clara was born! I'm more excited about them enjoying the baby with us than just doing all the work, though, of course. :)
