Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful time of year!  We’ve gotten out our sweaters (and Susanna her “jacket dresses”) switched on the heat, and begun to rake and sweep leaves in every spare moment.

Susanna only had school two days this week.  She was excited to stay home and we loved having her.  Scott is finally an employee of Emory University, although he has yet to do an experiment, and is keeping very busy reading and writing.

Poor Scott had to work basically the entire weekend (he carved out time for us on Thursday and the BYU-Utah football game today).  The kids and I thought of him while we played.

Friday was a cold rainy day.  Perfect for going to the zoo, right?  That’s what we did and it was fantastic.  The animals are all out and about (I suppose they are used to dealing with weather).  We  dressed warmly and the kids were enthusiastically interested and delighted with all they saw.  No one else was there; the zoo folks literally locked the entrance gates behind us as we left and I think there were five cars in the parking lot.

Today we went to the Chattahoochee River National Recreational Area.  It was clear but still cold and the trails were just as empty as the zoo.  Susanna did a fantastic job (it was her second hike without assistance) and Andrew loved pointing at the trees and saying “tee!”  He was also excited to get to wear Susanna’s hand-me-down pink bunting.

Susanna playing in our backyard:

Andrew and his “pet rock”:That’s Susanna’s phrase for Andrew’s beloved rock.  He finds it almost every time we go outside and carries it around while he plays.  He often gets it stuck under the stairs in the background and screams for help.  He also likes to kiss it.

A tree from our backyard:

Fall in our backyard (about two weeks ago):

More fall in our backyard (in the form of Pumpkin Doughnuts):

Medlock Bridge in the Chattahoochie River National Recreational Area (or as we locals call it, the Hooch):This was taken with the timer feature on the camera.  I was just about to crouch down next to Susanna and put my arm around her when this was taken.

another pic from the hooch:

A more successful timer photo, also from the hooch:

Update

We’re settling in, Susanna loves preschool, and everyone here is very kind.  I certainly miss the local parks from our old home, but not everywhere can be Seattle.  So far, we love it.

Here are a few photographs of the kids playing in our backyard.

And here are their Halloween costumes (they were Frog and Toad).  That leaf on Susanna’s cheek is actually supposed to be a green frog cheek with wide frog lips.  Andrew is smearing the other cheek with his finger. 

This adorable photograph of Susanna was taken during the parade at church.  It’s really that sweet look of joy that I love.  Okay, so it’s really that wonderful, spririted little girl that I love. 

And here’s Andrew’s solo shot.  Don’t you love the Picasso-esque eye placement on his toad head/hat?

That hat was the bane of my existence in the days coming up to Halloween.  I could not make it work!  Finally, an hour before our first party, I realized everything was coming to a head.  I Scott on the verge of tears, explaining that Andrew’s hat was ridiculous (and besides it didn’t fit), and that everything I did to fix that hat seemed to make it worse.  Meanwhile the kids were trying to kill each other and tear apart our house.  I managed to pull something together and we made it to the party only a half hour late (and with only minor injuries).  Here’s a close-up of the fine workmanship on his final product: