Happy Thanksgiving!

So here we are in beautiful Wichita, Kansas, at the Hutchinson ranch, with three cousins and Alex slowing down after dinner, trying to watch "The Princess Bride" despite several skips in the DVD.  The kids are winding down enough that it isn't as big a deal to them as it is to the adults, who are profoundly disappointed every time the DVD stalls out on us.

This is a week of rest for me, or as close to rest as I'm allowed to get these days.  I do have several projects in my briefcase, including a couple of briefs and an oral argument I've got to get ready for, but I catch a few hours of work here and there before everyone else gets up, or while Alex and Ella-Anne are having their naps.  Other than that, it's family time here in the 'Ta. 

And because it's family time, Ella-Anne doesn't lack for laps to sit in, or grandparents to hold her while she's having a "ba-ba" (bottle of formula).  Alex is in perpetual motion, chasing or being chased by her cousins Sam, Noah, and Jill or -- when the cousins are at their home -- walking around the house going "Where are the cousins?  Where did they go?"

Jill and Alex, who are about the same age (Jill was four months old, I think, when Alex was born), were playing a hysterical game earlier today.  Jill would chase Alex into the living room, and Alex would shake a finger at Jill and say "Go away, Mommy!" They both would squeal with laughter, and then reverse roles -- Alex would chase Jill from the living room into Papa's office, and Jill would turn around and say to Alex, "Go away, Mommy!"  Repeat until bored.  This was minutes of fun for the girls.

Last night, Alex played another game of her own making with Jane.  Jane was sitting in a wing-back chair in the living room, and Alex placed a wooden box that holds blocks at her feet.  Alex would kneel behind the box, in somewhat of a penitent pose, and ask, "What should I do now, Teacher Mommy?"  Mommy would say something like "I think you should give Nana a hug and a kiss," and Alex would follow instructions, giving Nana a hug and a kiss, and then returning to the box of penitence, where she would repeat, "What should I do now, Teacher Mommy?" 

Jane loved this game.  She was very sorry when it ended, because it was the only time Alex followed instructions 100%.  I believe we will be playing "Teacher Mommy" when we get back home.

Since it is the season, there are many things to be thankful for.  Jane and I are thankful most of all for each other, and the fact that we were in the right places at the right times ten and a half years ago.  We are thankful for our families, and their extended circles of loved ones.  We are grateful for our own surprisingly vast circle of friends, hundreds of whom are evidenced on our Facebook accounts alone.  We are grateful for our own health, and for that of our two daughters.  We are grateful as anything for those two little girls, Alex and Ella-Anne, who have made our lives richer with every ba-ba and every diaper.  We are thankful for the Gladney Adoption Agency, for Mamaw Peggy and Donna, the women who took such wonderful care of our daughters before we could arrive to pick them up and bring them into our lives.  Personally, I am grateful for Jane, and the wonderful mother and wife that she is.

And I am grateful that a bunch of insane comedy writers in the 1970s decided that the Pinedale Shopping Mall should be bombed with live turkeys.  On that note:  Happy Thanksgiving.