Thanksgiving turned out to be a beautiful day in every way. It was 70 degrees – unheard of! We had three stops to make as we visited Don’s mom’s, my dad’s, and my aunt’s house, and Don and I were both worried about how the kids would hold up. We left home around 10 and hoped for the best. Alex took a quick catnap in the car while Avery stared like a zombie at the Tigger and Pooh Christmas Movie playing on the dvd player in the van. “Poohy” seems to be her favorite thing to see on tv these days, along with Elmo and Mickey. As an aside, I don’t know how those marketing companies do it, but these kids who have so few words even for the most common things – they still say “woof woof” instead of “dog” – but damned if they can’t say Pooh clear as day, and Avery calls Micky “Me-oo.” She doesn’t even watch tv every day. Genius…

But anyway, both kids were happy to pose for pictures as they destroyed Grandma’s condo – driving (wrecking) her model car, smelling (picking and shredding) her flowers, etc. Grandma was very understanding and it was a nice visit. Then it was off to my father’s. We did our best to time leaving Grandma’s place at naptime so they’d sleep in the van, but they didn’t.

The kids had a blast at Bop-Bop’s house. They managed to eat twice, steal his new Hess truck, dump the dog’s water bowl all over the kitchen floor, and take the dog for a walk around the block. But it’s clear that Dad and Nancy love having them around, even if they are into everything in sight. My dad finally understood what I meant when I told him that his house wasn’t childproofed. I wasn’t so much talking about safety as the million and two objects that are on display within their 3 feet of reach height-wise – fun stuff to throw, move, climb on, rearrange, etc.

Finally we headed to Jimmie’s for dinner. Both kids slept on the way there, which was nice. Jimmie’s remodeled house gave them plenty of room to run. I think Alex’s favorite thing was her bird, Houdini. He terrorized the poor thing all day by running into its room and yelling “Tweet Tweet!” at the top of his lungs. The bird was upside down, rocking its head back and forth within a few hours. Dinner was exciting – the kids were definitely hungry and put on a show. They each ate probably as much as Don did – turkey, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, corn, biscuits, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Avery was a little too distracted by it all to really eat at the dinner table, but Alex cleaned his plate quickly. He decided the cranberries were his favorite food ever, pretty much, and ate Avery’s and Don’s as well. Then he got a little nuts and started throwing food, so Don cleaned him up and put him down, then took Avery into the kitchen where she sat on his lap and finished her dinner. By dessert, they were ready to melt down from all the excitement. We left right at bedtime and they snoozed all the way home.

It’s funny how different this year was from last year, when they were still pretty much little lumps who just tasted a few bites of pumpkin pie. We are so blessed to have healthy, smart, funny babies who make us laugh and smile even when they are driving us crazy. We couldn’t help but think of next year, when our children will outnumber us. More craziness, but even more to be thankful for as well. Life’s good.