French Fry

Another week almost done and while nothing big happened, lots of little stuff got done. A smattering:

Friday the urge hit to redo the living room so off to Home Goods the kids and I went where the clearance aisles were very good to us. New "lamp" for the corner.

David came over to mount our tv 

New mirror, put the old in the kids room. The space feels much larger and lighter, which heading in to the winter season is always a good thing. 

Handsomest guy on the path

Saturday a new member joined us (Hen is bummed that Hudson got a turn holding him)

Meet French Fry! Actually, I think he's a jerk and haven't bonded with him at all. Clive was a nice fish who acted happy to see you. FF refuses to come out from behind his plants and is very boring. We should have gone with the kitten we played with instead...

The kids put together their Thanksgiving craft

A rare  peaceful moment on Sunday. We taught the children's church, and with 15 kids 5 and under, it went pretty much how you'd expect. 

There was about 30 of these photos. Apparently when the kids get up in the morning (at 5am) they like to take pictures.

some of them were rather artsy

the perpetrator has been identified by the fingers

Hudson talking to the ants that live in this stump on our daily walk. Speaking of Hud, on Monday I decided we were done with diapers and after an 87 minute stand off (I timed it) he went and while there have been a few accidents, today he was perfect so I think the "just do it" method (fingers crossed) seems to work well for us. 

Enjoying his morning coffee

We got breakfast here on Tuesday. The onion and bacon pastry was amazing, but I was disappointed in the red bean bun which had been my true reason for going. Guess I'll stick with HMart for now. 

Just walking and snacking (on pickle popcorn, a favorite of his)

The new rug. A bit small, but the next size up was too big. I'm planning to replace the long console table with a more chest-like one (mirrored? def with doors) and that should bring the room into balance. 

Ikea continues to delight.

Annnnnnd they added slurpee machines. With not just the usual cherry and coke but also lingonberry. It was pretty amazing.

 That's about it. We had some excitement with our neighbor on Sunday when he collapsed while I was (fortunately) at his house so I got to hang out with our local fire department for a bit (very nice boys, they all grew up on the surrounding 3 streets) after I'd called 911. We got most of the church to join us for frozen yogurt after last night's service which was fun until I realized it was 9:15 and a school night. Oops. The kids and I got rear-ended this morning on the way to school but no harm was done (weird, I'd never been in an accident until this summer and now I'm up to 2, both completely not my fault). Everyone is looking forward to getting through the next few days so we can start the holiday, and hang with family, and be unapologetic gluttons. Woohoo!!!

Amos

So titled, because that was the subject of the conference we had all day Saturday at church. It was really good, and I feel like I could explain the entire history and completed prophesy of the book. I put together a list of projects and activities to keep the little kids occupied downstairs (there were 2 teen sitters), and then a packet of coloring pages and puzzles and stickers and wax strings for the older kids sitting upstairs. That occupied my evenings for 2 days. And then the drama of the elections, and trying to explain without crying or disrespecting the title of president the implications to my kids. Today we listened to Les Mis again (it seemed apropos) and this time Henri was really in to it and "got" the whole story line and we had a great discussion about grace and redemption and how we are to treat everyone, even those society would deem past the pale. "Be kind" has become a mantra around here. Hoping it internalizes soon.

David's birthday was yesterday and he came over for supper and cake. Life hack: if in the middle of making meat loaf you realize the container of bread crumbs only has 2 teaspoons left in it, crushed parmesan goldfish crackers make a delicious substitute. I am not a cake baker, but I attempted a vanilla one and it was edible (though I do make a fantastic carrot cake that's never failed.....). The kids enjoyed a chance to lick the beaters.

Today Henri had off from school, so of course both of them were up at 5:15. I picked up our neighbor from daycare at 4 and she hung out with us till her dad got out of work, a big treat for the kids.

Oh! Also of note, we finished listening to the unabridged Peter Pan. A lot went over their heads of course, but I don't think I'd ever read the whole thing before. A true delight. I'm sad that it's done, but we started "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and so far it's been a lot of fun as well. It will be a grand day when the kids can read well enough to trade off reading aloud in the evenings, but for now books on CD (especially the ones read in a British accent) are serving us well. Does anyone have any suggestions or favorites? We've also listened to "Igraine the Brave" (which was hilarious), "A Mouse and His Motorcycle", a few Treehouse Club stories (meh), and a series on the life and music of different composers (wildly popular with Henri for some obscure reason).

Not much on the camera, but here's what I have:

Hudson started gymnastics at the Y. I don't want to gush since it was just the first class, but I was really impressed with the teacher and the set up. He loved it and learned to do a wall assisted hand stand. It looked do-able, so I practiced once the kids were in bed until I could do one too. Now to master an unassisted one!

One of the projects I had for the little kids; making foxes out of maple leaves (this was Henri's, she tested the craft for me to make sure it was doable)

I slacked on making our thankful tree this year, so I made a quick banner instead. 

When you have extra time on Sunday you get to be more creative with hair. 

Steve held a spot in line for us so I didn't arrive at the polls until 0645. Line was already doubled and then out the door. 

The kids ate their breakfast in line

After 3 years of fighting with the town (and arguing with the same pompous election official for those 3 years) I was finally on the voter list. 

Tofu in a creamy tomato sauce. All vegan, all from scratch, takes 20ish minutes to make (except I let the tofu marinate while we went for a walk) and tastes like paneer tikki masala, restaurant quality. The leftovers were even better. If you're reading this, Steve, I'm very serious about the need for that cookbook to be under the tree on the 25th.....

David's cake. 

I decided to practice what I preach and went for a yearly physical, the first in, oh.....6 years? I really like the office I go to, I was in and out in 15 minutes, flu shot included. And the gowns are real cloth and completely cover you which is a nice touch.

An unscheduled weekend lies ahead, so I anticipate taking advantage of this great weather with some hiking. Or park play. Or raking (again). :)

Novembering

This has been a gorgeous, normal, busyish week. We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary with a meal out (thanks, David, for watching the kids!), and, um....brain is somehow fried. I can't remember what else.

This is on my Christmas wish list. Everything in it is tasty and quick and uses ingredients I generally have on hand.

"Happy pancakes" (scallion).

Hudson working on his homework while Henri does hers.

A happy thrift store find. Piggie pj's!

Hudson likes to grab a turn in them too. 

Henri had a Fall Festival at her school and we got to attend. While thrilled to be there, Hudson had just woke up from a car nap and only wanted to hang by Hen's side.

We went to friends for dinner and I made some bread. Smells so good!

Bumped lip

Went to Drumlin on Saturday with Steve since he hadn't been before. The deer were out.

They were supposed to be making animals out of leaves. 

and then Dumpling Daughter for lunch!!! This kid can put away an insane amount of dumplings.

Hudson tried, and ate a few bites of, a bbq steamed bun. And a whole bowl of white rice.

Our neighbor brought us over his latest crop of tomatoes so I roasted them and made sauce for the freezer.

LOL! Mr. C has a way with my kids.

In his defense, I think he was seeing if the flashlight worked, haha.

On Halloween Chipotle offered $3 burritos/tacos if you were in costumes. So of course I dressed them up so we could have cheap food for days

The squirrel ate most of our pumpkin before I could carve it, so we went with that look.

The kids were adamant they just wanted to hand out candy, but when our neighbor came by they took off with her and had a great time hitting up a few (ridiculously generous) neighbors. I confiscated all the peanut m+m's, then threw the rest of our candy out as I've eaten my weight in kit kats.

Still loving this lunchbox. Sushi is a favorite. Unfortunately the dragonfruit wasn't as good this time. 

One of many costumes on Monday (yay for dress up bins)

Another happy thrift store find. I love nativity sets, and having them kid-friendly is even better.

Our carrot harvest

Most of it was this size (dime for comparison).

He's so cute in flannel.

Walks in the rain

Made red bean stuffed rice balls with the kids tonight for dessert/lunch tomorrow. 

And that's pretty much the week. Hudson starts a different gymnastics class tomorrow, we have a conference all day at church on Saturday, there's a sew-a-thon for Days for Girls on Sunday, then we're back to the school routine again.