Thanksgiving: Thankful for Family and My Amazing Kids

She gets more beautiful
and more clever every day

Time with Uncle Dean

We love Uncle Dean and Aunt Emily

He would eat the marshmallow

Larry and I are big fans of the Stanford marshmallow experiment.
Abigail once, at the age of 2, held a donut on a 12 minute car ride home on the promise that she would be allowed to eat the whole thing if she could wait until she got home to eat it but would only be allowed half if she ate it in the car.

Joseph, however, he would eat the marshmallow.  Then find a way to sneak another.  And if he couldn't be sneaky, he would find a way to sweet-talk the psychologist into a 2nd anyhow.  That is just the kind of boy he is.

So, when we heard from his Montessori teacher that he was beyond meticulous on an art project recently, that he was so patient with himself and so perfectionist that he re-did it 3 times to get it just the way he wanted, we were elated!  The boy isn't a wrecking ball 100% of the time! He can be patient!

I present to you the Painted Noodle Turkey:

Abigail's First Hike on Old Rag Mountain

Lar and I recently had the chance to go for a hike.  There is a massive 10 mile hike we want to do in Shenandoah, and also there is Old Rag, which we haven't done yet in 2016.  (Where did summer go?) But when Abigail expressed interest in going with us, we eagerly chose to hike with her on a shorter hike than go without her.  You have to nurture things like love of hiking and Broadway early!

So, we went on Old Rag on a crisp fall day, the leaves were just slightly past their peak and the temperature was somewhere in-between "I need two layers and I need only one."  Abigail only complained once around lunch time "when are we going to get there?" but when given the chance to turn around, she eagerly said that she wanted to keep going.  

We ended up going the first 3 miles up to what we call The First Break Spot, the big bald outlook before the all-rock scramble continues across the top.  (It took Abigail 1:40 to do this.) The 3 miles down from there were harder than I could have imagined.  Abigail declared "I agree with Mama.  I like going up better than down.  When you go up, the rocks help you but when you go down the rocks roll and try to trip you."  Preach it, girl.  (Wait until she has 40 year old knees!)

For lunch, we spent a leisurely half hour enjoying the view and greeting the other hikers coming past.  Abigail was by far the youngest.  Abigail loved eating Slim Jims and sipping "chicken breast soup" (broth) from a Thermos.  Larry and I loved giving her 100% of our attention for hours and hearing her stories from the world of 2nd grade.  ("We tried to spy on them at recess, but things didn't turn out as planned!" she said of the 2nd grade version of the Mean Girls.)

It was her idea to bring binoculars

We love her so much!

mmmm, hot broth on a cool hike

Where she is standing is rolling and steep.
This spot makes Larry hella' nervous, but what a great picture!

Standing on a spot that made Baba feel more comfortable.