Bowling and turkeys, but not turkey bowling--a review of November

We did have a November, I think. It blew by full of doctor visits and more doctor visits for me. I now understand why car accidents and whiplash, specifically, are so incredibly inconvenient for people. It's not just the fact that you may or may not have a car, but that you have abundant medical professionals that you need to see often. These appointments have consumed much of my time and it made doing even very regular, daily tasks, more hectic and complicated. I just keep telling myself, things could have been way worse, and I am exceedingly grateful that they were not. And of course, I would not have healed so well had I not spent all that time with doctors. So yay for doctors and yay for not having to see so many so often, I hope.

Here's a bit of catch up for you:

On November 11th, our nephew Cade turned six. His parents hosted a bowling party in his honor.

Dylan didn't bother to bowl, but preferred to lay amongst the discarded shoes eating other people's suckers.

But Amelia thought bowling was pretty cool.

Grandma Phillis helped manage the bowling team of small people pictured below:

Uncle Brad helped manage Dylan.

Cade, the birthday boy, thought Amelia had cooties (but only in front of his friends). Amelia handled it like a trooper, smiling, then shrugging and returning to her lane.

And here are the Rogers girls, minus one. They are a rare thing, indeed, and need to be photographed when they're together. (Out of 13 grand children there are 5 girls.)

Cade and Crew waited patiently for all of the birthday candles to be lit. Heather put letter candles in cupcakes that spelled out "Happy Birthday," but one of the "P's" went AWOL. Or maybe it was a "D"? I don't remember. Most of the kids can't read anyway.

The adults had a good laugh and Cade made his birthday wish.

And Dylan and Chloe (who are exactly two weeks apart in age) posed with ease. Chloe wore her serious face and Dylan wore his silly.

Who knew that bowling can be exhausting? Maybe it's a well-kept secret of serious bowlers. Or maybe not so well-kept and I've just never heard of it. That's probably it.

On to Thanksgiving...

Evan's parents, Duane and Phillis, have graciously allowed their children to spend the actual holiday with their in-laws the past several years so as to spare us all from trying to rush to digest two Thanksgiving meals in one day. This is exceedingly thoughtful of them, in my opinion. As a result, we have Thanksgiving on Thursday and on Saturday.

We actually hosted the feast this year, though I still didn't make the bird. My mom made and transported a delicious one. Amelia and Dylan and our nephew Clark were the only children at our gathering. It made for a surprisingly peaceful meal. Mostly because Amelia and Dylan, who can easily sound like 8 children, didn't eat a thing and rather played outside or in the play room while the adults ate and Clark cooed in his chair.

There was much convening on the couch after the meal:

Amelia and Evan

Amelia, Grandpa Ed & Dylan

Grandpa Ed and calculator-head Dylan (he has a button-pushing fetish like most two-year-olds).

And Grandma Brenda and Amelia who convened behind the couch.

Amelia took this picture of her Uncle Josh. (I should have had her take a picture of me too.)




And Elizabeth christened our kitchen sink by giving baby Clark a bath in it.

We did have a meal with the Rogers, but I neglected to get out my camera. The food was exceptional, the children were loud, and everyone eventually felt the dulling effect of satisfied stomachs.

Well, not my kids because they didn't eat.

Again.