Not much has changed since we shot this short film. Three years and two grandchildren later, this recent Thanksgiving documentary shows how little we have grown and matured. Flies in the face of progress.

George! He takes all the love he needs and gives back more than you knew you wanted.

When he wasn’t crying on the floor or sprinting out the door…

…he was hugging his friends.

The over-age cousins somehow made it past security and gained access to the soft play room.

When it came time to blow out candles in the subterranean Hilltop Room…

This harkens back to another 2-year-old birthday I remember. I dare say George’s screaming “took the cake,” but it’s not a competition. 

Also, I think Della tried to hug George while he was crying and he bit her.

After some Oreo ice cream cake, he was back to his usual self.

Earlier that day, when I asked the kids to hug each other:

That’s better.

And finally, Della is showing Adrien a gag trick…?

Della and George raged it tonight. I’ve never seen them so focused and full of determination. We covered a lot of ground, and no one was shy about standing around the candy bowl waiting for someone to say, okay you can take two. Huge improvement over past years; this evening was a sure sign of their physical and cognitive progress. 

We couldn’t have done it without our candy and diaper caddy, Nanny Rose.

George was a Nice Shark; I was Adona, the Little Mermaid’s sister; Della was Super Snow White to the Rescue, though by the end of the night she was telling people she was Snow White’s Googly Stepsister. Steve, discouraged by the reception of his Christopher Robin costume last year, didn’t dress up. 

I call this series, My Heart Is a Ghost Town.

Just because Georgie’s birthday is coming up (tomorrow) doesn’t mean Della’s birthday isn’t also coming up.

Here’s the birthday boy now.

George, bummed he looks so much like Guy Fieri. 

But back to Halloween. Here is George with top teacher Elsy at the Halloween parade yesterday.

It was not hard to get a picture of these guys smiling.

Also yesterday, the kids put on these leggings and hats at 9 p.m. and went completely nuts.

Halloween after party at the Jernigans’. Everything was fine until a bear and the Big Bad Wolf stopped by. Oh well, it was time to go anyway. Better get some rest before the big birthday tomorrow. It’s not like they’re going to sleep in.