November Recap

 I can't believe it's been a month since I posted anything.  Time is flying.  School, robotics, band, holidays, illnesses, etc.  Everything has been rushing life along.  Here's a recap of November:

We attend story time at the library every Thursday.  Peter loves going.  He loves the songs, the stories, and the librarians.  He knows all their names and they all know him. Libraries are both his and my favorites places.  How cool is it that libraries don't just have books, but also dress up clothes, toys, board games, and even make-believe houses with food/cleaning products/etc.?!  Peter decided to use a duster as a sword since the librarians wisely don't include weapons with their super hero dress-ups.  However, boys will make weapons out of pretty much anything.  He slew countless bad guys with that duster.

We visited the zoo on a particularly perfect fall day.  Warthog came along and was introduced to all the butterflies (and all the other animals all day long).  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Peter is obsessed with having conversations with his toys, so he speaks to them and I do the toy's voices and speak back.  I was getting chuckles from other zoo patrons a lot that day as I spoke for warthog everywhere we went.

Soccer season ended.  Peter stopped loving it about half way through the season and then complained bitterly every time we went.  I'm really not sure why.  He could never give me a clear or consistent answer.  The only thing I could deduce was that he spent a lot of time standing around while the coach wrangled the other kids who could never seem to follow directions and always derailed the plans.  The girls were great but the other boys were always off in their own imaginary world.  Until the last day when they played parents vs. kids so I got to be on the field and he got a medal for participating and suddenly soccer was fantastic and he was so upset I hadn't signed him up for next season. Oh well.  We're going to try swim lessons and see how those go.

Fall is so incredibly beautiful.  We spent as much time as possible outside.  Peter is happiest in the basement with his legos, but anytime I can wrestle him free of them, I do and the woods are always the favorite spot to go.  This day we rode bikes and even Kelly got to come along.  It was perfect. 

Thanksgiving was great.  We invited over 40 people to join us at the church.  We invited anyone we could think of that might not have family around - missionaries, singles, newly married couples, empty nesters, etc.  It was a blast and everyone had a great time.  There was so much food!  Kelly made enough stuffing for an army and his turkey was fantastic.  I'm so lucky to have him or I could never have pulled this off.

Peanut came to visit again.  We had him for a whole week and he was so sweet.  I loved his warm little baby cuddles.  Didn't love how he woke me up every night, though.  I'm definitely not a dog person deep down. 

These boys.  Christian is full teenager and can be such a tormentor sometimes, but they are still such sweet buddies.

First snow of the year!  So fun to play in snow again!

The only time all month when they all did something together that I didn't initiate.  I had to document it, even if it was just a video game when we were trying to start dinner.

We're so excited for Christmas around here.  The decorations go up on Saturday!  Can't wait!

Halloween

Halloween and my birthday celebration were super fun. Kelly bought me a pair of Kizik shoes which I've been wanting but have never been willing to spend the money on.  I still debated for 2 days if I should return them because I felt like they were way too much money, but I love them too much!

Kelly and I had take-out Thai food for lunch together - the benefits of working from home!  Then Bella invited friends over that evening and we all made pizza and went trick-or-treating.  I will always love trick-or-treating.  There's always such a feeling of community on Halloween - everyone out, talking, walking, sharing candy.  I wish every day could be like that instead of everyone in their houses, tucked away.  I'm so glad Peter wanted to go.  I love having another little one to take around.  Peter nailed the loud "trick-or-treat!" at each door and he came home with two huge buckets full.  Thank goodness dad came along to help him carry all the loot.  I ended up having to carry him by the end, but he went a long time!  He was Spider man at the church trunk or treat and at school, but when the big day came, he decided he'd rather be an astronaut.  The benefit of having lots of costumes from older siblings laying around.

The only ones interested in carving pumpkins were Bella and Peter.  Bella pulled up an image on her laptop as a guide and so Peter wanted to do that too.  He got his pretend laptop and drew a picture which he placed on the screen. A very creative work-around, I'd say.

I could barely get a picture of him in his spider man outfit before preschool.  He was only willing to stop mid-run to the car for this one.

I forgot to ask Bella to put up her Perry the Platypus head, but that's what she is, and Marin is Dr. Doofenshmirtz, both from the show Phinneas and Ferb.  Ailey came in her Christmas PJs, because, why not?

I also opted for the warmer costume this year.  Since Christian was being a party pooper and not coming, I took his Tigger costume rather than my usual hippie one, so I could be more comfortable.  It was wonderful to be cozy and warm all evening.

Peter was not happy with the pictures, but at least he humored me.

No pictures of the candy haul, but it was substantial.  Peter has been super good about it, though.  Most days, if I keep it out of sight, he forgets it's there.  When he remembers, one is usually enough for him.  It will last until next halloween!

It wouldn't be fall without some adorable leaf pictures of Peter.  I'll end with these. :)