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!
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