November 2013 album: celebrating life and giving thanks

I’ve been trying to make a go of “Dia de los Muertos” for the past two years.  This year, we got fancy and made some tissue paper marigolds along with our skulls, photos, and offerings.  It was a festive memorial, and another chance to talk about all of our loved ones who have passed away.  This year, we added photos of Aunt Terri, and I was grateful to share some memories of her with the kids.

  

November is Fiona’s birthday month, and she unknowingly did us a favor by requesting the exact same party as Dean.  So we kept the knight obstacle course set up in the backyard, recreated dragon eggs, and I retold my story of Dragonella. 

           

Her cupcakes were surrounded and defended by knights, and we were all sporting some sweet knight tattoos by the end of her party.

   

On Fiona’s actual birthday, Matt and I picked her up from preschool and took her out to our favorite lunch spot, the Lair Hill Bistro, which is just a hop from my work, but since it’s not downtown, parking is free and available, and the food is yummy.  Plus they serve a homemade mac and cheese, so Fiona was a pretty happy girl.  And a proud five-year-old!  We can’t believe the day is here – she is truly one whole handful.      

      

How many times does a person blow out candles in this house?  We can’t celebrate just once.  On the evening of her birthday, Fiona got more cupcakes and opened some presents – which included superheroes and a stuffed elephant.

    

And other big news this month – Leo is potty training!  We officially kicked off on Veteran’s Day weekend, which was a four-day weekend for me, and the perfect time to keep my eye on Leo, making him sit every 30 minutes or so.  By Monday, I was confident enough to take all three kids to Hollywood for the Veteran’s Day parade, and surprisingly, no accidents happened!  Which is so hard to believe, since I went completely unprepared.  Leo is ready to be rid of diapers.  That seriously makes two of us.

And, Matt and I must have gone on a date.  Well, here’s a picture that proves it.  Not sure where we were headed, but it probably had to do with the Rotary auction.

  

The kids helped me sew a tree skirt in anticipation of landing an 8-footer in December.  They all make excellent models.

   

And on Thanksgiving, I am thankful for this crew.

     

Cheers!

October 2013 album: birthdays and pumpkins

October is always about birthdays and pumpkins in our house.  Matt’s birthday was celebrated with the Northwest Children’s Theater production of James and the Giant Peach, followed by dinner at the Rheinlander, a German family-friendly mega restaurant where the wait-staff sings and plays accordions.  There must’ve been a dozen birthdays that night, too.  The kids and I made sure that Matt, too, was appropriately serenaded.  It reminded me of Matt’s 19th birthday – about a month after I met him in college, when some friends and I took him to Ninfa’s in College Station.  Waiters adorned him with a sombrero and sang happy birthday, and I think he reluctantly waved a maraca… it happened almost 19 years ago.  Not much has changed, really.   

 

   

This year, we threw Matt and Dean a joint birthday party, complete with adult- and kid-friendly tiramisu.  Tiramisu is my traditional birthday party dessert for Matt, but lately, we’d taken a hiatus from this dish, probably because amaretto and espresso aren’t very kid-friendly ingredients.  Then finally, a light bulb went off, and we decided to make a chocolate milk version, complete with sprinkles and viola!  We celebrated 7 + 37.

 

The very next morning, we went to the Pumpkin Patch with some of Fiona’s classmates and picked out some pumpkins.  These are my favorite.

 

We took selfies on the hayride.

 

We also hosted a party for Dean on the morning of his birthday, which happened on a late-opening school day.  We had invited some friends over for a morning “knight” birthday party – held in our garage, with treasure maps and knight sashes.  I created and told a fable about Dragonella, a mother dragon who hides hid her eggs right before Mt. St. Helens erupted.  It was a local dragon.  The kids earned their sashes and maps after running an obstacle course with swords.  Then they had to find the eggs and crack them open.  And we had donuts instead of cake.  After a generous dose of sugar, I walked the kids to school by 10:30.  Brilliant. 

              

Fall days mean I’m back into running!  And it’s good for me; the stress of the house is really getting to me.  I took this photo of Mrs. Bird in “The Best Nest” after I read it to the kids and laughed to myself...  Mrs. Bird tells Mr. Bird she hates their nest, even after he sings its praises.  So they set off to look for a new nest, but in the end, Mrs. Bird finally decides that their original nest was really the best.  But lately, I was feeling this side of Mrs. Bird.  Deep breath. 

  

October is no month to be stressed!  Not when the leaves are turning colors and the days are so beautiful.  We love riding our bikes and playing in the park when it’s dry.

 

   

I took a work trip to Seattle this October for a conference.  Four nights away from home – Matt is a rock star for holding down the fort.  It was a lovely time; plus I got to spend some time with JP and his crew.

     

    

 

After the boys’ multiple birthday celebrations quieted down, we had fun celebrating Halloween.

  

  

We tried a tissue jack-o-lantern craft for our window:

  

We went to an apple festival and tasted delicious apples and cider.

 

Props to my mom for this queen costume that she made me in high school.  She promised me that she wouldn’t throw it away, and so I had to wear it this year, since Fiona went as a knight and Leo’s dinosaur costume kind of looked like a dragon.  Dean went as Darth.

      

Happy Halloween!