Redmond Thanksgiving

Celebrating Thanksgiving with family is such a blessing.

Only missing the photographer here, Uncle Bill. 

Stace contributed the Yorkshire puddings, which turned out great. I made English roast potatoes, and everyone wanted the recipe. Everything else was delicious, too!

Here's Cora's beautiful apple pie. She learned from the best!

After dinner, we played some games - Anna and I played the very old Navy game of cribbage, which I learned from my grandparents.

Tyler set out to best Cora (and Alison and William) in a game of Splendor - but Cora STILL won! This kid can't be beat in strategy games. 

I love this pic of Uncle Stace with the babies! Miles on the left, Lupin on the right.

Stace was impressed with the very festive (and huge) holly bush out back, so we had Anna take a few photos of us out there.

My mom sent these Russian dolls for Alison - they have sentimental value for her - and Lupin enjoyed them.

Spending time with everyone was so sweet! Until next time, Washington family.

Redmond Trip

Cora's show ended Saturday night, and on Sunday my family came over for an early Thanksgiving celebration. 

On Monday, we flew to Washington, to spend the week with Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill. 

We got to see my cousins and their new babies, as well. Always great meeting new family members!

We enjoyed several days of relaxation, cooking, baking, playing games, taking walks and very yummy food.

Here, we're playing an interesting game where you consider "worst case scenarios" and decide, with your teammate, which of several answer options is correct.

It brought some laughter and some interesting discussions.

We had a couple of beautiful wintry days... 

...and a couple of beautiful wet days. 

Aunt Patty taught us how to make biscotti. This is Uncle Bill's face when he's told that Violet was supposed to be learning how to slice them, as he'd finished slicing the first loaf.

Cora learned how to make apple pie, and here she's making crepes for breakfast while Patty makes dinner rolls.

Oh, did we eat well! It would have been worth it to photograph the meals - homemade pizza, huge salmon filets, roast lamb and of course Thanksgiving dinner. 

Legally Blonde Part II

 Another successful show down!

We are so blessed to have a performer to watch, and the kids all worked so hard to put on this show. Full choreography, a million songs, set changes, costumes, the works.

Fun fact: Cora wore my old business suit as Brooke Wyndham on trial, for the courtroom scenes. Glad I bought it so many years ago, and kept it!

Cousin Lucy came out from Orange County to watch!

Cora was very touched that one of her friends from her D&D group came and even brought her flowers!

Ben, her co-star in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, came back from college for the night so he could watch his old friends.

My dad took some fun shots with his good camera after taking the cast photo after Saturday's matinee show.

One of Brooke's lyrics is that her Whipped into Shape jump rope can work as a self-defense tool, to "wring your assailant's neck."

Cora and Elle - named Brooke in real life - took some fun photos, too.

Legally Blonde Part I

Cora's theatre department presented Legally Blonde: The Musical this past weekend, and it was a great show!

Above, Cora is in the ensemble, cheering on Elle Woods as she presents her "personal statement" video as she tries to gain acceptance to Harvard Law School.

In the other photos, Cora is playing fitness guru Brooke Wyndham,  who is on trial for the murder of her husband. We see her doing her fitness routine while singing "Whipped into Shape."

Cora did a great job. She hasn't been singing formally as long as the other lead singers, but she totally held her own. And we all know she can act!

Elle helps represent Brooke, and helps prove her innocence. 

Thanks to my dad for these awesome photos - he volunteered his time to shoot one of the dress rehearsals prior to the show.

 

Week in Review

Our game room roof is leaking again, especially around the skylights, so with winter coming, Stace and Violet climbed up to re-seal things again.

We went to Colleen and Rigo's for dinner, and our archers got some practice in.

Friday was Veterans Day, and for the first time in years, we went to the city's ceremony at our Veterans Plaza. 

Stace, Violet and I played Bananagrams the other night, and Violet got me set up. When I turned my tiles over, this is what I found. 

Ummmm I think the odds of this happening naturally are REALLY low.

And on Monday, I watched Ellie for a couple of hours. She set up her Bluey friends before we walked them over to the park. 
 

Cats

 We've had some extra animals around the house lately - some unwanted ones. The girls have been hearing rats on the roof of the playroom/game room for months, and, even worse, we SAW one a couple of times in the garage. So, out went the traps, and we actually caught several in a couple of days. 

The other morning, I spotted this guy, dead on the mulch. Perhaps he got caught in the trap, survived and escaped and succumbed to his injuries? Not sure, and Spencer didn't seem to care to find out. (If you can't spot the rat, it's just to the left of Spencer's tail.)

Oh, to nap like a cat! Particularly, Sebastian.

Sometimes, you're so thirsty, you've gotta lick the condensation off the windows.