Turkey day has come and gone. For Thanksgiving day we joined our friends Matt and Amy, their kids, and some other friends of theirs at their house in West Seattle. The kids ran around like benign little bandits, scattering toys as they went and occasionally staging raids on mama's plate for the odd green bean or bite of roll. The kids' table was not a big hit; maybe next year.

I baked 4 pies: pecan, peach, peach/berry, and apple cranberry. I think in future I will stick with my usual 3. (Pecan, apple, pumpkin.) The quality of the four pies suffered a bit from the rush to get them all done, though the pecan -- which used maple syrup instead of corn syrup -- was quite decent.

Tuck was especially jolly and sociable at the dinner. He really enjoys playing whatever Matt and Amy's daughter (aged 3) plays at. If she has a potato head, he wants a potato head. And vice versa. Emi pretty much stays out of it, immersing herself in building Lego towers.

We drove away from Matt and Amy's house in the dark in a rainstorm. The kids seemed drowsy, but I noticed that they had already drained their bottles of milk. (We are trying to transition to sippy cups of milk during most of the day, but these were exceptional circumstances.) So I asked James to pull over, saying, "The kids are going to need more milk, and the milk is in the back of the van." At which point Emi chimed in firmly, "Must feed little peoples!" We both thought this was hilarious. I do actually often call them "the little people" or "the small persons" when talking about them with the babysitters. As in, "The small persons have been very cranky today."

Happy Thanksgiving, all big and little persons out there!