Thanksgiving in Wisconsin

This year there were only 11 measley pies in Aunt Lois's garage for the Lemke Thanksgiving.

I had a great time with my nieces, who stayed at my parents' house with us on Thursday night, and came back again on Saturday to bake cookies.

Linnea is a very earnest 4-year-old. Thursday we were playing in the barn, just the two of us, and she was worried about spiders. I joked that they probably have all flown south for the winter already, and she didn't even crack a smile. Much later, she said to me, "Well" - she starts every sentence with well - "Well, I guess the spiders could jump on a duck's back to fly south." She had been pondering it all that time, and finally figured out what she considered to be a plausible solution!

Natalie is almost 2, and she talks a lot, but I can hardly understand any of it. While I was changing her diaper, I caught something about "fall down" and "owie" and she pointed to a bandaid on her leg. Later, Laura informed me that the bandaid was just for fun, she really didn't have any "owie" there. Quite an imagination! Natalie had fun playing with her baby cousin, bringing him toys and making him giggle. She was so distressed when Baby Liam left that she started crying.