Elise did another shift of bellringing yesterday at our local grocery store. Being the day before Thanksgiving, it was busy during her whole shift and not just the lunch hour. She brought her violin again and played for much of the time. She also sang and jumped around to Jingle Bells--just a bundle of energy! One woman told us that she'd heard about us on the radio, a little girl playing the violin for the Red Kettles while her mostm sat next to her and knit. That was fun to hear! She is scheduled for one more shift in December, on a Saturday. I think she and Karl should go together and do a few violin duets.

Well, the house is half clean. I don't know whether my standards are lower or it's not as messy as it used to be, but it doesn't seem to take a two-day spree to get the cleanliness level up to visitor status. Maybe it's because the children are old enough to help out more... I spent some time toddler-proofing the living room, which mostly consisted of removing the ceramic pitcher of knitting needles sitting on the floor. We left out the nature table, a basket of yarn balls, some of my handmade dolls, and brought up the blocks and a big puzzle. Haley is allowed to explore everything she can reach now. Yay, toddlers!

Speaking of a cleaning spree, we should probably muck out the basement one of these days. Elise is giving away her American girl dolls this year, and we can only find one of Felicity's shoes. We searched her room and the four boxes of junk she had already hauled to the basement, but haven't found it yet. That basement is a fright, and most of it is my fault. I have basketry supplies strewn over a good portion, and an overflowing table of fabric, baskets of yarn, etc. I think we need more shelving down there...and I need to work from my stash.

Here are Karl and Albin finishing a game of Lunar Rails. It didn't take even take a week! And yes, Elise does spend some time at the computer, too.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!