First Thanksgiving Back in the USA

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my uncle's house in Dallas.  It was a little lower key than I had been expecting.  My kids were the only ones there and I had been hoping for a Thanksgiving with cousins and second cousins, but for a myriad of reasons that was not in the cards.

Everyone's looking, smiling, and no one has a blurry body part, but, oh, the stick!!!

The very next day after Thanksgiving, we got up at 4:45am and got on the road to go visit Brian's family in Indiana.  He had stored some things up there and so we needed to pick up our stuff anyway.  We couldn't squeeze everything in the days that the girls had off from school.  We talked to Hannah and she said it was okay with her for us to miss her birthday if her Mimi stayed with her and Genna to take them to school and such.  Genevieve was actually far more bothered by the fact that we were going to miss the actual day of Hannah's birthday.  I thought I was okay with it, but as the day approached I began to regret my decision. It was very hard to leave my baby girls for six days.

Drawing with Mark Kistler!

Scary!!!

We drove 15 hours straight to Indiana.  The boys did amazing!  As usual, I barely had any issues to deal with at all and was able to read and take a few naps.  Brian got tired eventually and had me drive the last three hours.

The trip was fun and very relaxing, maybe too much so.  I felt like a lazy bum.  The boys had so much fun with their cousin!  We even had another Thanksgiving meal, and Brian's aunt and uncle were able to come.

What does a promise mean?

I have been putting it off for months longer than I should have.  Our three year old privilege is to move to a big bed.  Bobby is approaching three and a half and was still totally content to be in his crib and rocked like a baby every night.  What's the rush?  After all, there's no one waiting on his crib this time.  Nobody to push that little bird from his nest!   So I reluctantly started the conversation with him about the end game of moving to a big boy bed, but first we could take out some of the rails in his crib to make sure he was ready.  What I didn't say (out loud) was, "Those can be put right back in, if it's a huge mistake."  He talked about it with me, but didn't seem particularly interested in it at the time.

We had three nights in a row where he wet the bed.  He's been dry for months and out of night time diapers.  I had the sheets still off when naptime came around and so just started putting him in Isaac's bed for naptime.  He was fine with that and was still going right to sleep and staying put.  After three days of that I asked him, as we were walking up the stairs for bedtime, if he wanted me to just take the rails off his crib tonight since he had been sleeping in a big boy bed at naptime.  His response was so very precious.  His face lit up, and he exclaimed, "Tonight?  Yes, oh yes!"

I reminded him that he had to stay in his bed though and followed it up with, "Promise to stay in your bed?"

He said still very excitedly, "Yes, I pwomise!  Pwomise means you weally will."  Gotta love those w's replacing the r's!

Melt my heart.  I don't even know where he learned that definition, but I love it.

He is doing great and never ever gets out of bed without Isaac or I telling him it's okay.  He loves to remind me that he can get out of bed all by himself.

All Saint's Day Party 2018

On All Saint's Day, the day immediately following Halloween (origin of the word...All Hallows Eve, meaning the night before All Saint's Day,)  we went to a party with the homeschoolers in the park.  I say we, but only the boys and I were able to go because the girls were in school.  Brian was on a plane on his way to a conference at the time.

I really did an awful job of getting photos!  Isaac was Padre Pio and had his hands were bandaged up with red dots for the stigmata.  He used the same Jedi robe that he wore for his Harry Potter costume, but added a rope belt.  Judah was St. John Bosco, a priest, who we have been studying this year.  Drew is, once again, St Andrew the Apostle with fish tied around his neck and a tunic with sash and rope.  Bobby is, once again, St. Francis of Assisi with a hand-sewn bird pinned to his brown robe.

There were games and cupcakes and candy prizes.  The kids got to run around and play at the giant playground/park too.  Judah saw some boys swinging over big puddles on their tummies and started to run for the available swing above another puddle to do the same thing.  I called to him to give him fair warning that if he got wet, I had to other clothes for him.  He listened attentively, and then decided to give it a try anyway.  He jumped onto his belly on the swing and swung across, but his body kept going forward when the swing made it's return trip, causing his hands and upper body to pass the puddle and the rest of his body to flop right down into it.  :)  I just laughed and helped him wipe off the leaves and mud.  It was a learning experience...I hope.  One I quite enjoyed.

We all went to Mass after picking up the girls from school.  We celebrated with a very late dinner of Chick-fil-a which is a rare treat these days.

Pumpkin Carving

The Sunday before Halloween, we bought pumpkins outside of our church for each of the kids.  Isaac carved his own creepy eye.  

Judah took out the pulp and seeds for me, but requested I carve a Batman signal on his.  In the end, I drew it on and Isaac did the carving for it.

Drew was virtually no help, because "It is gross!"  He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, but he had no problem requesting the most difficult carving.  I saw some pictures on Facebook after I carved this that people somehow use a picture on a paper as a guide.  This girl's not that smart.  I hand drew it on the pumpkin.  Oh well!

Bob requested a PJ Mask Gecko pumpkin and I was so worn out by the time I got to his mini pumpkin that I used marker and my linoleum cutter to do a quick job of it, with no actual cutting and carving and dealing with seeds.

Genevieve carved and designed her emoji pumpkin all on her own.

Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Bench

You'll notice in the group picture of the pumpkins, Hannah's is missing.  It's because she never carved or decorated hers.  She had planned to use markers and decorate it, but she never got around to it.

Here's Hannah's pumpkin keeping Our Lady company by the front door.  I couldn't resist these pictures of Bobby!  He is such a joy!

And a charmer too!

Halloween 2018

Our First Ever Halloween with cousins was a fun one.  I made spaghetti, and my brother and sister brought their sons over for trick or treating.  I ended up staying behind to hand out candy, and Brian walked the neighborhood with the group.  Brian enjoys the trick or treating more than me.  Plus, who could pass up an hour or a quiet house, at least in between the doorbell ringing.

Catboy borrowed this costume from his cousin.

Judah used his Ninja Turtle Jammies that he got last Christmas.

Luke Skywalker reused last year's costume.

Harry Potter also made his costume from what we already had in the house.  Hannah is credited for the scar.

Princess Leia pulled her own costume together from things we already had.  Mom is credited for the hair do.

A Ninja AKA a teenager who really wanted candy, but didn't want to wear a costume

My nephew, An Aggie Football Player

My other nephew, the Greatest Showman

The kids all promptly emptied their buckets to do the "Great Candy Exchange of 2018."  Bobby was pretty adorable putting his candy in two careful piles of what he likes and what he doesn't like.  Then at the end when Brian and I called bedtime, he dumped his hard work all back into the same bucket.

By the way, this girl got braces the day before Halloween and poor thing could barely eat any candy or much of anything.

Wearing the "Harry Potter" glasses that dad made by popping out the lenses in an old pair of his glasses.

A Family Sunday Dinner and a Fall Festival

Sunday we went to my sister's for Sunday Family Dinner.  Brian grilled chicken and I made Schafkase Uberbacken which we used to get as an appetizer at our favorite Italian restaurant a few villages away from our house.

The dish, Baked Sheep's Cheese is basically a block of feta cheese with kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, peppercinos, and sauteed onions (in olive oil with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano, and basil) poured on top.  Then you bake it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the middle is heated through.  It is really good on bread, but we found it also goes well on top of a grilled chicken breast too.

After dinner, playtime, and dessert we went to a fall festival that our neighbors had invited us to.  It had free food and games.  The kids had fun.  I took the little boys around to do the little games and jump in the "younger" bouncy houses.  Bob and Judah were so cute when they were waiting in lines together, hugging and kissing like they hadn't seen each other in years.  I am so glad Judah has Bob, who likes to hug, since Drew is not a hugger.

Favorite Moment of the Evening

Be a Sweetie

I made a sign for the kids' bathroom.  A friend of mine was talking about boys (and man) in her house who didn't keep the toilet in proper condition for a lady to sit upon it.  I agreed it is a problem, especially with four young boys in our house.  She told me a cute little saying that she says to her boys (and man) when they leave the seat a mess.

If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie.

Inspiration struck me, and this sign was created.

I used the color of the shower curtain that came with the house, a periwinkle blue, and added some yellow/gold.  I have a stack of unused frames and I picked a white one and painted polka dots to match on the frame.  I really like it.  Maybe I need one for my bathroom too.

I also finished up my laundry station, upstairs in the hallway.  I have officially done away with individual laundry hampers in bedrooms.  Now no one has to sort laundry which is making kids smile at our house.  I made a spot for lost socks which we always have gads of around here.  I used to have a drawer for single socks and realized in Germany that no one was checking for matches when adding socks to the drawer, so I pinterested (yes, it is a verb, I declare) until I found a solution.

Brian made the laundry basket holder a long time ago and it has always been in my laundry room doing a very good job of keeping laundry off the floor, but he stained them so I could keep them in a public space.  I love them!  I can grab a basket on my way downstairs in the morning to run my daily load.