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...

Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked...

Our kids have been on a huge Avatar: The Last Airbender kick thanks to Uncle Timmy. Jon & I had watched the series before and loved it, so it was fun to watch our kids be enthralled.  One evening during dinner with the Knoxes (who are also huge Avatar fans) we discussed Halloween and it was decided: this year we would do Avatar for our costumes.

Despite my best intentions, morning sickness got the best of me and the costumes were still being finished 30 minutes before the party began. Add that to the fact that my phone was acting up and you get a serious lack of photos. Thankfully Melissa got some and was willing to share!

Katara

She LOVED her costume (and made the necklace herself!)

Sokka with his boomerang.

Due to said last-minute costume prep, the boomerang paint was still wet.

We used it for pictures but he brought Space Sword to the party instead.

He and his friends spent most of the night happily stealing Space Sword from each other.

With those cheeks, Aaron just HAD to be Appa.

Appa's tail.

I found the furry coat on eBay and it was just perfect!

He hates face paint but was willing to suffer for the sake of a great costume.

Elise did not like her Toph costume, particularly the headband.

We had to tell her that she was actually a dinosaur to get her to cooperate.

I feel like Toph would approve. 

Good thing Toph loves Fire Lord Ozai/Uncle Timmy! 

The only picture with the iconic Toph headband: 

Timmy had to join us, of course. It ended up being kind of hilarious since many people didn't know who he was and kept mistaking him for Jon (since he was holding Elise all night). One sweet lady asked me who my boyfriend was... Poor Timmy! 

Avatar Kyoshi: 

Appa & Momo (Luke) are best buddies: 

Katara & Aang (Paul): 

The Avatar group: 

Jon as King Bumi

Seth as Sokka

Me as Kyoshi

Anna as the Cabbage Guy

Kellie as a Water Tribe elder

Catherine as Katara

Luke as Momo

Melissa as a bounty hunter

Paul as Aang

Emma as Azula

Craig as Iroh

Gabe as Zuko

Aaron as Appa

Elise as Toph

Timmy as Ozai

Bekah as Mai

Darryn as Zuko with his scar on the wrong side

It was totally chaotic, but the kids were thrilled with their costumes. Every year I think maybe we'll simplify next time, but we just have so much fun!

Bits of October

Watching 'Wolf Children' with Uncle Timmy.

Uncle Timmy has the best movies.

(Kenna, Adleigh needs to check out this one).

Two kittens at Emma's birthday party

Pulling out Halloween costumes means a visit from Zombie Aaron...

...and Zombie Elise: 

Someone is still thinking about potty training...sometimes.

Mostly I think she enjoys being naked: 

(Yes, those are my ponytails around her thigh...)

And...announcing Baby #5, who will appearing sometime in April!

We are so excited that this little one is finally here. It took us seven months and a couple of miscarriages to get here, so I was starting to wonder if maybe four kids is all we would get. I had just committed myself to going in to talk with my doctor when this little one decided to stick around!

I'm glad to be past the morning sickness and the sheer exhaustion of the first trimester. I was able to have an ultrasound at 14 weeks and was so glad to see a healthy little baby growing right on schedule! The tech gave us an 80% chance of having another little boy, which is just what we were hoping for. Elise is about all the little girl we can handle right now!