Thanksgiving

Did everyone survive Thanksgiving? I just barely did. There was so many people at my house! I didn't realize we knew that many folks. I'll start with the guest list. Besides myself, Mother, and my sisters there was: Samantha Parker (Liz's BFF), Jess and her dad; JJ, her parents, older sister Jamie, and younger brother Jack; cousin Molly and her parents; cousin Rebecca, her parents, and sisters: Lila, Hannah, Bethany, and Dilly. It was amazing we had enough food! But we did and still plenty of leftovers, which are the best part!

 As soon as everyone arrived the line for food started. Molly kept trying to pull Sam's hair. It was hilarious!

 Nellie was first in line. She's the biggest foodie in the family.

Of course, while everyone is getting their food the babies--Morgan and Annie--are fighting with each other right in the middle of the room. They almost knocked my plate out of my hands! Sometimes baby sisters can be a real pain.

 I sat at a table with my friends and Kit. We discussed the first Thanksgiving and how basically everything we ate was not even at the first Thanksgiving.
"Like marshmallows!" Kit says. "You can't have sweet potatoes without marshmallows."
JJ and I agreed with her, but Jess said the marshmallows made them too sweet and she preferred sweet potato pancakes.

 I think Rebecca heard that comment (she loves potato pancakes) and decided then was the perfect time to make her entrance.
"I want to propose a toast," she says. "To family and friends."
We all stopped eating for a moment and held up our glasses to humor her. But we all really just wanted to eat.

 Which brings me back to marshmallows! Mother loaded down the casserole. It was the best part of the whole meal!

 "I'll say it again," Kit says. "You can't have sweet potatoes without marshmallows!"

 And then it was time for dessert (and you thought marshmallows were dessert, hehe). Nellie was, of course, first in line again. There was pumpkin pie as well, but it didn't photograph very well. Plus I would start drooling and wishing it was Thanksgiving again every time I looked at it.

 "SUGAR RUSH!"

Molly got a little to many sweets in her.

Yes, that's Morgan and Annie still fighting in the background. They really do love each other.
After all the food was eaten, I didn't feel much like doing anything. That's when I noticed Rebecca sitting all my herself. It really was the last thing I wanted to do, but I went over and sat down next to her.
"What're you drinking?" I ask.
"Tea. Are the parties always this loud?"
"Yeah."
"Oh," Rebecca says. She sounded so sad; I had no choice but to ask if she was alright.
"I miss Mac," she says, talking about our other cousin who still lives in New York. "I really wish her family was a hundred percent certain they are moving here."
I just nodded. I have never met Mac. And honestly I'm kind of tired of all these cousins moving here. But I could empathize with missing a best friend. "I'm sure she can come visit even if she doesn't move here," I says.
"Maybe."

 Even though it wasn't that bad to talk to Rebecca, I was glad to get away and hide with JJ and Jess.

 Unfortunately that lasted a whole two seconds! Morgan and Annie barged in. Morgan promptly jumped on me and Annie started screaming.

The rest of my cousins showed up. Jess didn't seem to happy about all the noise. But I was glad of it and especially glad for Molly to make Rebecca feel welcome.

 

 And that's most of the drama of my Thanksgiving. I'll get into having to take family pictures another time. Right now I'm exhausted all over again.

Two Words: Rebecca Wordsworth

Apparently I have more cousins then just goofy ol' Molly. One is Rebecca Wordworth, and another whom I'll meet this Christmas. Let me tell you, I fear for my life!
 

Everything started out fine yesterday. Kit and I played with our horses.

 "It's a werehorse!" Kit practically yells. She is completely over the moon (bad pun) about werewolves after my friend Frankie and I's discussion on our club blog. Kit wants to go hunting for werewolves. And she's been searching Mother's jewelry box for silver to melt into bullets. However, Mother is a cheap-o and doesn't have any real silver, which I think is very lucky for all the werewolves out there. Anyway, getting back on track.

In walks this girl, and she says: "Your mom said I could come up. I'm Rebecca. Which one of you is Emily?"
I said I was (what else could I do?) and she offered to shake my hand. Those perfect curls! Ugh! Why does everyone else have such pretty hair?

 I shook her hand. She blathered on about her life. We're going to be in the same class! We're cousins! And when our other cousin moves here we will have so much fun together! Somebody save me!

She starts looking around my room and points to my totally awesome poster.

 "Who's that?"
Are you kidding me? Of course I couldn't say that. "Joshua Jackson from Fringe," I say. "It's one of my favorite shows."
"Never heard of it."
Are you serious?

So Rebecca makes herself all pretty and comfy in my room. I just want to scream my lungs out. Don't get me wrong, she seems like a nice girl, but she is totally no Jocelyn or Jess. I need to be around people who like to get dirty and play toys. Her perfect hair and white shirt don't scream that to me. But maybe we will learn to tolerate each other. Or at least that is what I hoped until she got up to leave.
"I'll see you in school tomorrow," she says. And pets me on the head!

 

I can only hope my other cousin will not be this crazy. Anyone else have cousin horror stories to help me out?

 

Cake Making

I'm a little late in posting these pictures. We made the cake for Halloween. But better late than never, right?

Here we are all ready to start mixing. Jess, my sister Kit, Jocelyn, and myself.

"I got the eggs!" Jocelyn yelled.

"No!" I said. "You can't just throw them in the bowl. You have to crack them. We don't want shells in our cake!"

"I'll pour the milk in," Jess said once we got the egg crisis sorted out.

Frosting time! We decided Jess was the one most likely to do a fairly neat job.

"We can't forget the sprinkles!"

The finished project.

  

Yeah, I don't think any of us will be pursuing a career in baking. But we are good at making a mess!

Fast Food!

Yesterday Mother took Jocelyn, Jess, myself, and Kit out for dinner. Since Mother is so cheap (love you Mother!) we went to McDonald's.

Jocelyn and Kit had hamburgers, Jess had chicken nuggets, and I had a sausage/egg sandwich. I'm just that awesome.

 Of course I had fries too. Who goes out for fast food and doesn't have fries?

 

We also got ice cream! Which in hindsight I think was a bad idea. Kit was already pumped up with Halloween candy, and Jess must have been as well. This is what happened:

It could have been worse, I know. But we were in public! Sometimes I don't know what gets into Jess. She usually comes off as the sweet, innocent, quiet girl. Then she acts like one of my sisters.