Happy Thanksgiving

It's a bright November day, sixty seven degrees and sunny.  I'm raking leaves in anticipation of turkey, pork & potatoes, warm rolls with butter, pumpkin pie,  apple pie with ice cream and all the love and fellowship that comes with a Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family. 

A Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to you. 

 The photos say it all. 

Darling Daisy

Holly (The Chief Brownie) helps Eden & Delaney carry the Daisy Flag

Was I ever this little?  Carrying a big giant overgrown Girl Scout flag during an Investiture Ceremony?  Swallowed up by the fabric, yet so excited, it didn't matter?

Eden gets her Daisy pin, welcoming her (officially) to the world of Girl Scouting

Well, technically, yes and no.  I was that little, but Daisy's didn't exist when I was six.  I had to wait until first grade when I could become a Brownie.  And my mom was one of the chief Brownies, and that was so cool. And we sang the most fun songs.  Make new friends, but keep the old...remember that one? 

We got all messy with arts and crafts and we earned badges, doing good works for others along the way and leaving a place better than we found it when we came.  Which meant making a long line of little people walking, picking up every bit of trash that had been there for at least a year, crusted into the dirt. 

And don't forget the cookie sales.  Who in the world out there wouldn't kill for a Thin Mint when the mood strikes? 

Proud as a ... Daisy?

For Eden, she is a Kindergarten Daisy.  And they have more than cookie sales now, they sell nuts and candy before they sell cookies.  (I think it's practice for the BIG one.)  And in her little blue smock with her two little Daisy friends, she looks so little, and so grown up, all at the same time.  And she sings the silly songs and the sweet ones, too, and comes home with crafts and talks about her new friends.  And her old friends.  And even though her mom isn't the chief brownie, she includes me in every little way when we walk home together.

Delaney & Eden sing about life as a "Darling Darling Daisy"

And I love her for it.  

My little Daisy. 

Sweet November

Fifty Three days until Christmas and we had our first (sort of) snow last night.  The experts at The Weather Channel predicted a big snowfall with wind and hazardous conditions and the radar looked pretty scary and convincing of such a storm, but it fizzled out over the Laramie range in Wyoming and was piddly by the time it reached Bridgeport. 

Which made for happy adults but very disappointed children this morning.  Eden & Lars still wore their boots & snow pants to school and were melting by this afternoon's 40 degree weather.  Lars begged me to shovel the snow off the sidewalk this morning but it had completely melted by 0745 and there was nothing to shovel.  So we wrapped up in a fuzzy green blanket and waited for the bus on the porch instead.  That's way better than shoveling snow anyway, if you ask me. 

The day turned out beautiful with lots of sunshine & little wind.  Elia and I took our morning walk, delivering chocolate chip cookies to a couple businesses in town, I biked for a bit, and the moon showed itself as I walked the kids home from school this afternoon, which gave them something to talk about. 

Eden is already thinking about next year's Halloween costume and how she's going to decorate her pumpkin for the contest that she didn't win this year.  Speaking of which, Lars went trick or treating this year as a Navy Sailor and Eden was a princess with long blond hair.  The photographer was absent Monday evening because she was busy fixing a feast for friends, some of whom are country bumpkins & come to town for the Halloween festivities, so you'll have to use your imagination on their costumes.

I had a great time playing Betty Crocker all day Monday, making cinnamon rolls & chili (a Nebraska combination), Artisan bread, wheat bread, and a huge salad.  I'm not sure how many people ended up coming over, but the house was pretty thick at one point.  The weather was perfect to sit out on the porch under a blanket, handing out candy treats & visiting with the ghosts & goblins that came by.  It always seems like Halloween night is the last night of the year that I sit outside for any length of time.  Once November hits, I watch traffic go by from the INDOORS.

And with that, I'm going to go enjoy my November....