A busy November Satuday.

My recruits.  They didn't look like they had much experience, but I wasn't disappointed.

Today was great.   Saturdays are so hard to come by, it seems, and having a day that is relatively loosely scheduled, good weather, and available to do projects at home is quite the rarity.   There's still more on my list, but I was happy, the boys were happy, the girl was happy...  No complaints.

• Made Pancakes
• From my favorite cookbook, but added a half cup of potato flakes, after having some by Bro. B at a ward campout that had such great texture.  I thought he was just being cheap and "cutting" the recipe, but it certainly helped mine not be as rubbery as the flapjacks usually are.  Blueberry topping and New Hampshire maple syrup.  Mmmm!
• Long-arm quilting
• Jen went for lessons on long-arm quilting, so I had the boys today.  From the report, it sounds like the type of class that I would enjoy.  I enjoy a nice craft day.  Honestly though, she said there was a computerized machine that could run the quilter on a program, which reminds me of the CNC Milling machines at BYU, which could run automatic tool-paths.  Who knew quilting was so high-tech?
• Raked leaves.
• Yay!  It's November!  It really was a great day for it.  Turns out that Ian is quite helpful, and Blake has very little patience for wet leaves.  Ian was  very sad that we had to bail prematurely out of consideration for Blake, but I promised him that once naptime commenced, we could come work on the project a bit more.

  

  Pretty handy with a rake.  Not a fan of the crawling on damp knees.

  

  A whole canvas with which do work!

• Folded Laundry and Did Dishes. 
• A bit more than usual this time, since we are restocking Blake's wardrobe for the winter from the Basement Bins. We did the work to the soundtrack of  WaitWait and CarTalk.   Ian responsible for his own (some moaning, not fully trained yet).  Blake was good for playing with the hand-towels.
• Naptime/ more outdoor chores!  
• Six more tarps worth of leaves, and cutting up some fallen branches from the fluke Halloween snowstorm.  My back is getting achy, my hands a bit loose on the grip, and I have the fleeting thought that this is the reason that raking leaves as a team makes so much sense.

  

  About ready to take flight.  Weather conditions are Just Right.

  

  Post flight.  Pilot crash-landed in pile.

• Scavenger hunt
• When the 5 S. boys came to stay in May, one of the activities was a scavenger hunt through the back forest.  Ian gave me his version today with a nice little tour of features (Grandpa tree, leaf pile, a downed tree) on the way to a secret stash of cookies that we split.  I only had put 5 cookies in the baggie, and the thought occurred to me that it wasn't an even number.  I had to make it enough so that I wouldn't worry too much if he ate them all, but not so few that we couldn't have a substantial share if we split.

  

  Ian's custom scavenger hunt.  Clue 2: "Cousin tree, you have something caught in your moustache."

  

  Balancing our way out to the treasure.  We had several trees come down in the swamp during the Halloween Blizzard.

Splitting up the Loot

I: Dad, would you like a cookie?  (Yes!  He's going to share!)

me: Sure!  Thank you.  (I eat cookie number 1.  He eats cookie number 2.)

I: Dad, would you like another cookie?  (Wow, what a kid!)

me: That's great!  Thanks.  (I eat cookie number 3, and he eats cookie number 4.)

I: Would you like another?  (Should I push it?)

me: Okay!

I: Oh.  I was hoping you were going to say no.

me: Alright, no thank you.

I: Great!

me: That was the last cookie, wasn't it?

I: yes.  (I love my exchanges with my boy!)

• Tables/chairs for Thanksgiving
• Setting up for our annual dinner at church.  Seating for 240.  (Normal attendance 190.  Optimistic?).  Ian helped with some of the chairs, then was on the table cloth team, then on the cheerleading squad to get the battery changed on the tall clock in the chapel.
• Cooked dinner
• Jen lets me cook sometimes, especially when we're out of "prime" ingredients.  So I did mac'n'cheese with franks, salad, steamed broccoli.  There was something for everyone, and Blake worked his way through dinner with a fork!
• Bath
• Happy time.
• Played lincoln logs, cars, clean up/sort, pretend
• Fantastic to see a 5yo and 18mo old pretend together.  Great to contribute to kids repertoire of imagination.  Blake sent some time sitting inside the play castle.  Ian spent some time pretending to be a T-Rex chasing after the cowboy that comes with the Lincoln Logs.
• Blake Bedtime routine:  The kid was beat.  He collapsed
• Doctor/Dentist
• When we play, we take turns being the doctor.  It follows a good model/emulate cycle.  Upon inspecting my eyes with a pretend flashlight, Ian declared, "Your pupers are a bit big."  An obvious reference to my inspecting his pupils just prior.
• Ian was my dentist, and had me lower and tip back the computer desk chair.  He fitted me with some sunglasses to keep the bright light from my eyes, then went upstairs to get my toothbrush and some toothpaste.  The boy brushed my teeth.  He Brushed My Teeth!  Then he counted each one (16 on bottom, 16 on top, he said.  I think I only have 14+14, though), gave me some advice ("You should also brush under your tongue...this is real advice, Dad"), and had a inspected his work.

And now I'm blogging why BYU football is putting the smack down on N. Mexico State.  Successful Day.