Thanksgiving

I can't remember exactly how it happened, but we got to be the designated Blood family Thanksgiving hosts again this year! It was supposed to be us, Timmy, Mom & Dad, Daniel & Wendy's family, and Stephen & Claudia's family. Unfortunately, Daniel's family caught a stomach bug right before Thanksgiving and opted to stay home. My kids were devastated, but it was for the best. 

We still had a great time with the family we were able to have, though! It was extra special since we found out that Stephen accepted a job in Tucson and their family was heading to Arizona in January. Definitely a bittersweet thing for us since we never know the next time we'll be in Arizona. 

Aaron & Eowyn playing Risk together. 

The only thing I heard from them was, "Corpses. EVERYWHERE."

Finally, it was Thanksgiving Day.

Don't worry: Elijah brought the rolls: 

(Thanks for the best onesie ever, Grandma Cathy!)

Thanksgiving was kind of a funny ordeal this year. Plan #1 was that no family would be here, so we'd join with the Knoxes and Uhligs. Then we found out family WAS coming, so Plan #2 was that we'd still join with our friends. Then the number of people invited to the Knoxes kept growing and our family started to think it was going to be too crowded. Plan #3 was that the Bloods do dinner alone, then pie with friends later. But when we found out Daniel's family wasn't coming, we begged to join the Knox party again. So Final Plan had all of us enjoying dinner and pie at the Knoxes! It was definitely a houseful, but it ended up being a really lovely time with wonderful people. I'm grateful that my friends love my family and that my family is okay with us having insane Thanksgivings with a million friends.  

Elijah getting some Bekah love while he naps.

As part of the entertainment for the week, I found a great deal on a local indoor climbing place and had everyone buy tickets. We'd never been before, but it ended up being really cool! The kids all had a great time (and so did the few adults who got to climb). 

Catherine scales Mt. Rushmore

So does Seth (and Brianna)

Made it to the top!

It helps when you're 100% muscle and 0% fat.

Jonny got to do some climbing in between assisting children.

Aaron climbs

So does Elise.

Her harness was a bit too small so she didn't climb for long.

Jonny & Stephen race to the top. 

It was close, but Stephen won in the end.

Jon claims it was because he'd already been climbing for an hour and Stephen hadn't.

(Love Mom Blood's expression watching her boys race).

Poor Dad is always freezing at our house. He spent most of his time in the basement bedroom under a pile of blankets with the portable heater on. But he would emerge to enjoy the insanity occasionally. We loved seeing Grandpa Turtle on the recliner, poking his head out of his giant coat: 

I'm so grateful we were able to enjoy Thanksgiving together. It was hard saying goodbye to Stephen & Claudia, not knowing when we'll get to see them again. Maybe we need to start looking for jobs in Arizona, too..

Seven Months

Most of the big progress this month has been in the "learning to sit up" category. I'm always so excited for this phase: you'll be so much happier once you can sit up and play with toys!

Feeling pretty pleased with yourself

Daddy stays close by to grab you when you inevitably topple over.

You LOVE your piano and were sad when it totally died.

But for a hand-me-down toy to (almost) make it through five kids? Pretty impressive.

You've been getting more opinionated as you get older. Your opinions usually have to do with three things: not being fed when you want to be fed, being put down (ever), or being left alone in a room. 

Pouty lip = "Pick me up, Mom!"

As the youngest of five, you have a built-in entertainment committee almost every moment of your life. When you wake up super early (before your siblings) you are SO BORED. You don't know what to do with your life when you're alone. Which is probably why you scream whenever you find yourself alone in a room (even if I'm just in the kitchen next to where you are). 

Enjoying your "cupboard" with some Elise assistance.

You're still no good at finger foods, which is really annoying. I'm ready for the phase where I can stick you in your chair and give you food to keep you entertained. You are, however, very good at judging all of us and finding us very, very disappointing:

You've discovered the piano and LOVE to pound on it whenever you see it. This makes teaching piano lessons very exciting. Thankfully most of my students are very understanding and can still play while you add a little duet part up in the high treble clef.

You've kind of stalled out as far as weight gain goes, but you are getting longer. I've put away all your nine month clothes. You're generally in 12 month outfits now, with a couple of 18 months thrown in as well. 

You've basically stopped spitting up, all of a sudden. Hallelujah.

You're still waking up to nurse 2-3 times a night, but your naps are consolidating. Still not horribly consistent, but that's mostly due to our schedule. 

You've started babbling: "uh ba, ba, ba" when you're happy, "ma, ma, ma!" when you're not. You also like to do the silent babble (where you open and shut your mouth like you're babbling, but make no sound). 

We sure love you, Little Stinky! 

November Fun

No wonder I often find my kids trying to get into someone else's van after church...

With Scouting wrapping up, Seth's leader tried to fill their last few months with tons of awesome activities. Jon was great about going along to help when he could (great way to get in that Seth-Dad bonding time). When they announced a final campout in November, Jon decided he would take Catherine & Aaron along. I pressured him into taking Elise along, too, mostly because she'd be devastated to be left alone. 

It was chilly, but Jon did a good job preparing and making sure they were warm. He snapped this picture for me before bed. Elise was already passed out:

I also got this one in the morning:

She might have been crying by the end of the campout (she was cold and ready to go home), but they all came home bursting with stories about how fun camping was. And I definitely enjoyed a lovely night to myself once Elijah went to bed!

Happy Halloween!

I wasn't sure we were going to be able to pull off Halloween since my kids were sick (AGAIN) with some random fever. We seriously spent all of October-December rotating between illnesses. One kid would get sick for a few days, then recover. Then a few days later, another kid would get it. Then the next. 

Thankfully this time we managed to get the same sickness as the Knoxes, so they were totally fine with us continuing our Halloween dinner tradition! 

I try to only do one set of involved costumes each year, but how could I resist when Catherine convinced Elise to be the Salt to her Pepper?  Thankfully it was a super fast sewing project, especially once I remembered that fabric spray glue existed:

Their cute little shaker hats only lasted a few minutes in the wind outside, 

so I'm glad I snapped pictures before we left!

Seth wanted to be a Viking. But a REAL Viking, which meant no horns on the helmet. Guess what's literally impossible to find in a costume?? Thankfully someone was selling this shield and helmet and he was thrilled. And so Sir Seth, the non-Viking knight was created:

(His shirt is grey, because ARMOR)

Sir Seth and Gabe the skeleton

Gabe kept wandering around with that empty-looking expression.

It was kind of terrifying. 

Aaron wanted to be a Minecraft zombie with an axe.

Done:

(Making that Minecraft zombie head all those years ago 

has been probably the best costume investment I've ever made).

It was supposed to be storming pretty heavily on Halloween evening, so we were pleasantly surprised to find the weather to be pleasantly warm and lovely. Just really, really windy. We were wishing we had stuck with our plan to do a fire pit on the driveway again. Oh well!

Elise and her best friend, Luke, ready to get some candy

Elijah passed out immediately, which is good since those cheeks don't need any candy:

Later that night I got a good shot of his adorable ghost outfit from Grandma Cathy:

Catherine went out trick or treating with Seth & Gabe this year. They got quite the haul (Catherine only came back because her bucket was full. She says she's using a pillowcase next year). It's fun to watch my kids growing up!

Pumpkin Carving

Not pumpkin carving, but we did take the kids bowling and the ball was orange...so, close?

This has been something we have to work on. Jon & I are both checklist kind of people and weekends are the only time we can really get anything done between work and homeschooling. But that also means that we rarely do anything fun together as a family. We're still working on finding a balance there, but we are trying! (Seth was at a friends house and Elijah was being held by me, in case you're wondering where the rest of our family is). 

On to the pumpkin carving! Because life is crazy, plus homeschooling, plus baby, we MIGHT have been carving pumpkins on Halloween morning. Sigh.

Elise opted for the Headless Horseman

I showed the kids the Disney version of Legend of Sleepy Hollow a week or so earlier, and Elise was fascinated by the Headless Horseman. In case you're wondering, it's really hard to come up with a simple Headless Horseman carving pattern that's easily recognizable. Thankfully Elise doesn't care!

(Side note: somehow I never realized that Bing Crosby was the voice of Ichabod in the movie until watching the credits this time. My kids spent all of Christmas hearing his songs and saying, "Is that Ichabod Crane?")

Aaron opted for a Minecraft Creeper

Seth had grand plans, but they fell through.

Thankfully, the old standby of "Cannibal Pumpkin" was there for him:

He was quite pleased with his creation.

Catherine was going through a wolf phase that month (probably thanks to another Uncle Timmy movie), so she opted for a wolf carving:

I failed to get a group picture this year since it was Halloween. Oops!

Let's-a Go!

This year we decided to let the Knoxes pick the theme instead of dictating to them like we usually do (sorry, Knoxen). After some deliberation (Neverending Story?) and some serious pressure from Jon, they decided to go with a Mario Kart theme.

Life being what it is now, I tried to keep things simple this year. I did a lot of buying costumes and a lot of using what we already had. Sometimes I miss the elaborate costumes of years past, but with homeschooling and a baby, even this was almost too much! But in the end it's always worth the effort. 

We have to start with our star, Mario!

The moustache...I'm dying...

And, of course, Waluigi made an appearance:

Waluigi sneaking up on poor little Mario:

The beautiful Princess Peach:

Peach & Mario:

Catherine was very specific: she wanted to be Blue Toad.

After some research, I just bought a regular Toad costume and covered the spots.

Worked for her!

The running pose:

Also, she insisted that ALL of her hair be in the cap.

So there's a wig cap under the Toad hat. 

Elijah went as a Red Shell.

And, of course, Jon got the best costume:

As soon as they mentioned Mario Kart, he knew he wanted to be a Thwomp.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Group photo (minus me)

I went for a more abstract costume:

Rainbow Road!

I had lots of fun with the rainbow eyeshadow:

Then it was off to the church for Trunk or Treat!

Toad and Blue Toad:

Wario, Waluigi and a nerd with Nintendo hat and socks:

Best picture I could get of Luigi and Mario...

Timmy also made an appearance as Koopa Troopa:

He loves taking pictures so, so much:

The Bloxen group costume:

Paul was Yoshi, Craig was a Question Box, Melissa was a Star, and Bekah was a Chomp.

Happy Trunk or Treat!