thanksgiving is for children

Thanksgiving was yummy and full of laughter and shouting. Then on Friday, per tradition, we set off into the woods to extract our Christmas trees from the wilderness. This year we didn't have to drive nearly so long to get to the wilderness, so thumbs up. It's a good tradition, because when you're in the woods almost nobody gets trampled to death by a crowd of disgusting pukes who value low-priced garbage more than human life. Not that I'm judging.

Pinga chillaxin' with Ron.

Pinga being cute.

Captain America being pensive.

Superman being devious.

The Hulk getting ready to pound his little sister.

There used to be a video here of someone purposely tripping someone else's kid, but I had to take it off because one of the parties refused to sign the release form, and since said party is a minor, I didn't want any other misdemeanors on my permanent record.

my husband the guy who made those cookies that one time

This is John saying, "Yeah, I made them. So what?"

John made cookies for his home teaching families tonight, almost by himself. He made the old-school chocolate chip cookies we used to make when we were unenlightened. He sprayed flour all over the mixer cart, but it's okay, because he dustbusted it like Grandma Maxine would want.

I couldn't really recognize them as food, because it's been so long since we used white flour and white sugar in our cookies. Ha! Reading this post is totally like, "Food snob much?" Sorry about that--I forgot to say out loud how beautiful you really are. They were good.

They're so pale! They look sad and anemic!

my roommate nick is an ignorant baldhead

Sorry that all we seem to talk about is Pinga, but she provides such great pictures! Her naturally curly hair is the source of much entertainment.
She has the best bed head of any kid I know. It's like she goes to sleep a child and wakes up as Ras Pinga.

she cleans up nice

I think I owe myself some redemption. Here's what Pinga looks like sometimes, specifically church times: Pretty, huh? She takes after me.

another industrial ugly morning

You know when you go to the grocery store and there's some kid there with a snotty nose, hair all rumply and ratted, probably in character pajamas, and when there are shoes they aren't on top of socks? I used to--and still do, actually--think mean things about the parents of those children. The Oompa-loompas knew it: you can't blame the children in a case like that. Rather you must point the long, thin claw of accusation at the parents who are so lazy or neglectful or ignorant of societal mores that they will take their precious lamb out into the world looking totally unloved.

It's one of my refrains during hair-combing, bathing, fingernail-cutting, and dressing times. "Come here so I can make you look like somebody loves you." But I have four kids now, and I am tired. So this is what happens:

small minds talk about people, great minds jump on beanbags

As John and I have gotten older we have also grown more sophisticated. We put aside childish things and behave in a manner befitting such highly-esteemed members of society. For example:

A night of scholarly endeavors.

halloween 2009 reportkien

Here is Halloween. I tell you, that monkey costume has paid for itself and then some. All four of my kids have worn it and looked awesome doing it.

Pinga was pretty stoked that she could get to her fingers for the few seconds before we pinned her sleeves shut.

Superman refuses to wear any other signifiers of vampirehood. He threw a fit when I tried to give him a widow's peak.

The Hulk wanted to be a skeleton for the third year in a row, but we strong-armed him into wearing a costume that actually fits him.

Captain America was Indiana Jones again, because he tried telling me the day before Halloween that he wanted to be a werewolf. When I have soup and bread to make and a huge long paper to edit? Not bloody likely.

Here is my lame Sea Captain costume. I do think my sideburns turned out nice, though.

We didn't get any pictures of John, which is a pity, because he wore some very convincing horns and went as a Mormon.

Here is Captain America making English Rock Face.

Troy as too many servings.

I don't know why the rest of us even bother dressing up, because Claire and Nate's costumes are always so much better than ours that we just end up looking like idiots. This year they were dressed as Wild Things, and Norah was Max.

Like Nate needs to be any taller.

Pinga screamed and screamed when she saw them. Probably because she was jealous.

Aleece and Dave were tire mechanics and Lucy was the Michelin man, but I guess John doesn't love them very much, because we don't have any individual pictures of them. Here we are all together, though, minus Justine and Norah and Lucy (I stole this picture from Nate and Claire--suckers!).