Meow, meow, meow, meow, then we shall have some pie

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a wonderful dinner with Grandpa and Darla and Darla's brother Georgia and his wife Laurie. All the food was delicious. Laurie brought buns and sweet potatoes, Darla made turkey and ham and beans and stuffing and berry salad. We did pies.

And cranberry sauce.

In fact, Miriam made 10 cups of cranberry sauce. She hand-grated the nutmeg. She zested oranges. It smelled divine. 

We left it in our fridge at home.

Luckily, Darla had a jar of cranberry sauce on hand.

After we'd had our dinner, Darla ran to her kids' house for Thanksgiving. We were explicitly not invited...but, like...meh. So Darla went to Thanksgiving Dinner, Part II. We had dessert and visited with George and Laurie. 

Andrew and the kids made so much pie. I...worked on my presentation for next week, tasted the cranberry curd, and showed Miriam that putting all the cranberries into a bowl and shaking them in the sugar would coat them much faster and less...sticky-ly...than rolling them around individually with her fingers. 

Benjamin made the Yucky Pumpkin Pie and helped layer the banana cream pies (with Zoë's help). 

There were...so many pies.

I think we ended up with 4 pumpkin pies, 3 YPP, 2 banana cream pie, 1 pecan pie, 1 cranberry curd tart, and 1 Atlantic beach pie. Oh, and an apple pie in a sheet pan, which was divine. 

It was a lot of pie!

Zoë shaped these pumpkin crusts.

Here's the cranberry curd tart:

Here's Andrew sprinkling some pistachio onto one of the banana cream pies (while Benjamin and Grandpa finish a zoom call with Grandpa's siblings and Grandma Pat):

After George and Laurie left we played games. And then went for a walk. There are some pretty cool lights in Grandpa and Darla's neighbourhood.

When Darla came home we played a few more games with her and then took Phoebe home. We left the rest of the kids there to sleep over. Grandpa and Darla took them to see Wicked: For Good (the second half) and then brought them home this afternoon. 

Phoebe was thrilled to have our full attention on the drive home. She talked the entire way!

I decided to use this little car trip to remind her of my upcoming trip (I leave next week and I am so nervous, but Phoebe seemed a bit more confident).

“Oh. Where are you going to stay while you are away?” she asked.

“I’m going to spend a few nights at a hotel and a few nights at my mommy’s house—at Naanii’s.”

“What?!" she said, busting up with laughter. "Why do you have a mom?”

“Everyone has a mom,” I told her.

“Not grown ups!”

“Even grown ups have moms.”

“This is the silliest thing I ever heard!" she cackled from her carseat.

Mostly she wanted to know whether or not I would be back to take her to the pool when it reopens...in May...or whether she'd have to convince Daddy to do that. I told her that I would definitely be back to take her to the pool in May, considering I would only be gone for about a week.

She was living her best life at home without the kids around, as well. She got up and did her chores and reading lesson so that she could watch a show. 

While she was watching her show, Andrew and I went to our respective work spaces so we could...do some work. 

I came downstairs to check on something and found her skipping down the hallway with the big bucket of sugared cranberries. She loves them so much. But, uhhhh...

"Where do you think you're going with that?" I asked.

"I just need a little snack!" she said. 

"You are not eating those in front of the TV!" I said. "You know that's against the rules."

Eating in front of the TV is against the rules in general (except under special circumstances, like a family movie night). Eating sugared cranberries in front of the TV is super against the rules. 

They're sticky. 

They're stain-y. 

There are so many cons about them. 

I mean, they're delicious, but they're not finger-food-in-front-of-the-TV-as-a-four-year-old food...if you know what I mean.

"Oh, man!" she moaned. "But I just need a few more to go on my pie."

"On your pie?!" I asked. "What pie?!"

"The pie that I'm eating."

"You're eating pie!?! In front of the TV?!"

"I set up a little table...." she said, as if that fact alone would make it better.

And she had! She had put out a little laptop table (that we have for...laptops) and had gotten herself a piece of pie on a plate and was going to garnish her pie with cranberries. All of which is rather against the rules! She was absolutely living large.

I think we compromised and let her eat in the entry way. You can see the TV from there...but it's over wood floor, right by the dining room, instead of over carpet not by the dining room. 

So, anyway, she's getting a little independent these days.

I'm glad I checked on her.

*****

Andrew and I were jealous that the kids all got to see Wicked. 

(Actually, when the kids came home, I sang out, "I have been changed for good!" and Zoë was shocked. She was like, "How...how do you know that song?! Did you already go see the movie?!" So I had to tell her that the musical came out 22 years ago...and that is how I know the song.)

They went to see the first Wicked with Grandpa and Darla last year, too, and Andrew and I later went for our anniversary. But, as it turns out, I was coming down with an awful cold of sorts and ended up spiking a fever and falling asleep in the theater and...it wasn't a wonderful outing for me. 

But we decided to go see Wicked 2 after the kids came home and this time we were both (rather freshly) healthy and...despite mixed reviews online...we liked it quite a bit!

Andrew was particularly happy to have the whole plot in his mind. Rachel, Miriam, and I have all seen it on Broadway and have been singing the songs for ages (decades for some of us) and I've explained the plot to him...but he was like, "Oh, I get it now."

The kids had leftover pizza and pie for dinner and we were home before bedtime!