Happy Thanksgiving

It was wonderful to have a full house for Thanksgiving. We stayed up late baking pies and prepping food for dinner, then had our plan of sleeping in interrupted by Phoebe. Benjamin and I ran a 5k, we played some group games together (like Poetry for Neanderthals and Really Loud Librarians) so that everyone could play at once. It's actually a little difficult to find games suitable for 10 players. 

Our neighbours are giving away a little clubhouse that has been sitting unused in their backyard for the past 20+ years. They offered it to Benjamin, who was pretty excited about the idea. His real dream is to build himself a tiny house so he can have his own personal space, but he and his friend Reed recently decided they'd build a shed in the backyard. They searched on Amazon and figured they could order a shed for around $40. 

"You can't buy a shed for $40," I told them.

I was accused of hating adventure and killing dreams. 

On the contrary, I support their dreams. They're simply not plausible because there is no such thing as a $40 shed. They need to come up with a better plan. 

"Show me this $40 shed," I challenged Benjamin.

"Well, they can be like $40 on average," he told me.

We went searching on Amazon together. We found this:

A $20 shed...floor mat. Not a shed. A floor mat.

"How could only a floor mat be $20?!" Benjamin wailed. "We saw an entire log cabin for only $60!"

"Show me this log cabin," I challenged him. 

"Right there, see?" he said. 

"Keep reading,"  I said. 

"Easy cabin designs 28 by 363-bedroom, 2-and-a-half bath plans package, blueprints, material list..."

"Uh-huh. So what does it sound like your $60 (closer to $70) would get you?"

"Just the blueprints."

"Yup, just the blueprints. No materials whatsover."

So we looked at the kind of shed they're dreaming of and it'll definitely cost them a cool $2,000 to $3,000 for a (cheap) shed. And then they want to add solar panels, and lights, and windows, cots, and a couch, and a television, and a minifridge and, and, and...

He is big dreamer, that's for sure. 

While we were running we talked about managing expectations and setting achievable goals. I am not a monster for suggesting the boys simply accept the clubhouse from the neighbours (a clubhouse that will take a lot of work to move!). Sure, it won't be the secluded cabin of their dreams, but their dreams, altogether, could easily cost $10,000. 

The clubhouse will be wonderful (assuming we can move it). 

Anyway, after going over to look at the clubhouse (to see if it is even a possibility to move it), we went home to finish up a few games, and then split up to do some more cooking. Rachel, Zoë, Alexander, Grandpa, Emily, and Katharine went over to Grandpa's house where they made turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. At home, Benjamin, Miriam, Andrew and I made sweet potato casserole, roasted carrots and green beans, Korean carrot salad (which is from Russia); we heated up the cranberry sauce Miriam made last night, and shook cream for some homemade butter. 

Phoebe mostly got in the way, but insisted that she was "Mommy heppo!"

Miriam folded the napkins into roses for everyone, which was very fancy:

Emily put together a little fruit tray and Katharine made raspberry pretzel jell-o (which Grandpa insisted counted as a vegetable).

Here's everyone digging in:

After dinner we tidied up, took a little walk to aid in our digestion, and then played games until we were ready for pie. Auntie Emily made "yucky pumpkin pie" (known to most of the rest of the world as pumpkin pudding pie or no bake pumpkin pie), I made traditional pumpkin pie, Miriam made apple pie, Rachel made berry pie, Andrew made banana cream pie and Atlantic Beach pie...oh, and pumpkin crème brûlée. Here he is putting on the finishing touches:

And here are a few pictures of the pies, minus the apple pie, which was warming up in the oven (and that's a real shame because the apple pie crus held its shape fairly well, I thought):

After pie we played more games, while the little kids played (and indulged in some screen time).

Here are Rachel and Emily together; they matched so well!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving day!