Ready or Not...

Ready for Christmas?

Our jack-o-lanterns think otherwise...

We left the spiderwebs on our bushes.

By this point we can call them "snow drifts" and keep them up all winter.

Ready for another..BOY?

Everything looked great at the ultrasound, which is always a comfort. There were placenta issues with Elise, so I was worried, but everything looks great this time around. Here's to an uneventful pregnancy and delivery!

Thanksgiving

Since it was our turn to go to West Virginia for Christmas this year, we weren't expecting to have any family around for Thanksgiving (besides Timmy!). But then Mom, Dad, Stephen, Claudia & kids decided to make the drive and we ended up with a very fun house full!

Tauriel & Elise did much better this time.

Maybe there's hope for a friendship in the next year?

It's been a very cold fall, but we opted to head to Annie's Playground on the warmest day.

The kids did eventually shed most of their layers after running around.

Bonding over Tauriel's goldfish crackers.

My three assistant pie-makers.

They did a great job!

Plus it's always more fun to have helpers in the kitchen.

Our original plan was to join forces with the Knoxes and Uhligs for Thanksgiving. Thankfully our friends are awesome and were willing to add an extra eight Bloods to the plans! As I expected, everyone got along beautifully, even if Paul never did manage to convince Eowyn that they were really best friends at first sight. 

The bigger little kids table (toddlers were closer to the adults)

Bente brought a fabulous craft for the kids: clementine turkeys!

Post-feast nap on the Knoxes' chair. 

Aaron & Eowyn were always willing to help eat the food.

I'm still just happy Eowyn actually talks to me: that's a rare thing!

We loved spending the week holding Ethan's chubbiness, playing lots of games (yes, we survived another round of Blood Rage with Stephen), and letting the kids run wild. Hopefully Dad survived being constantly cold in our house and not having football games to watch. We'll see if he will still come visit us in the winter again...

First Snow

We were all a little skeptical that a mid-November snow storm would produce much, but we ended up with several inches--enough that I had to dig out all the snow clothes about two months earlier than I usually have to.

My patience ended sometime during the third time I had to put on/take off all the snow clothes. Luckily Elise is very independent and took care of business herself: 

Snowpants over a swimsuit.

Just in case there's a heatwave while she's out in the snow.

We'll see if we end up with any more decent snowstorms this winter!

November Already?

Ah, nothing like beginning November with a naked skate around the living room 

while eating a sucker. AKA: Still working on potty-training...

All that potty-training can really wear a girl out.

I'm not sure who enjoys Sunday afternoons with a calculator more: Aaron, or Jon.

Chemistry class is extra fun when the teacher lights her hoodie on fire.

Thank you, magnesium strip!

At least it was me and not a student...

Seth's brave geography teacher had them make landforms out of candy.

Jacob and Seth had WAY too much fun together...

Elise has THE BEST preschool teacher.

They had a little feast in class the week before Thanksgiving.

This is Elise's new trick: eating all our food.

It doesn't matter if we take it directly from ours plate and put it on hers:

it somehow tastes better off our plates.

Halloween/Dia de los Muertos

Baby's first costume! 

In our co-op this year I get to teach middle school Spanish 1. Since we had class on Halloween this year, I had them present on a deceased loved one and decorate an ofrenda for Dia de los Muertos. They also decorated sugar skulls. Despite a couple of the faces below, I think they really enjoyed it!

And then it was time for the official Halloween costumes!

Percy Jackson wields his pen... 

...which transforms into a sword! 

Catherine was SO excited to be Ponyo with chicken feet.

She was not impressed with the general public's lack of knowledge when it comes to Ponyo. 

Aaron was a skeleton zombie who refused to wear his zombie head trick-or-treating: 

And Elise was in her glory as Daniel Tiger: 

She was putting on quite the show for me--growling ferociously and baring her claws.

Can't say I've ever seen Daniel Tiger be quite so aggressive... 

A calavera, because what else can you be when teaching a Spanish class on Halloween? 

Catherine's sugar skull: 

Seth's turn: 

Elise was a very diligent decorator: 

I missed Aaron's ten second decorating event, but here are the finished products: 

Because Elise was sick with (yet another) fever, we skipped out on dinner at the Knoxes but still joined them for trick-or-treating. Seth & Gabe headed out together, Jon took the girls and Aaron, and I went and fetched Aaron when he was done WAY earlier than the girls were. Catherine outlasted even Seth & Gabe!

We enjoyed a lovely evening sitting by the fire pit on the driveway with Knoxes and Uhligs, chatting and drinking wassail made by Anna (I had no idea it was so delicious!). We also were quite amused when Gabe & Seth came home much earlier than we expected, claiming their feet were tired. Ten minutes later they were all out in the cul-de-sac chasing each other with various weapons for the next thirty minutes. My favorite part was Gabe confessing that he was avoiding Brie because she was "an excellent swordsman" who took him down several times. We couldn't have asked for a better Halloween night!

Pumpkin Time!

Aaron was excited that he could actually carve a (tiny) bit by himself this year.

Seth is ten years old, which completely explains this picture.

Jon loves pumpkin carving so, so much.

Catherine is ready to carve!

Elise really, really wanted to carve by herself.

She mostly just stabbed pumpkins when we weren't watching closely enough.

Loads of fun, especially for Jon.

Aaron's puppy pumpkin

Also Aaron's puppy face

Glowing Puppy

Elise's Daniel Tiger pumpkin

Daniel Tiger

Catherine carved this all by herself!

Cat and the moon

Seth picked a really complicated design but still carved it himself!

I was really impressed!

Thanos

Four carved pumpkins!

This year's family pumpkin carving theme was superheros. My kids obviously were very invested in the competition. At least Seth's was a supervillian...