Miss Matched Girl

This was a slow start morning for us. H was putzing around so long she needed a ride to the bus stop. That girl doesn't have a fast forward button on her anywhere.
Lu and E didn't want to get up either and struggled to get out the door.
But now they're off!
Yesterday it was warm enough to play at the park after school . There were a few kids there and we had a fun time. I think our park days our numbered. Today isn't too cold but it's coming.
I spent the day mostly getting stuff unpacked and put away yesterday.
Poor Big hit a deer and dented his new car hood :( He was not very happy.
Today's agenda: get all the Thanksgiving stuff put away. Do some laundry. Turn in my completed application so I can get finger printed and start subbing. Wrap some Christmas presents. Also I have a very important decision to make. Send Christmas cards or not. We always do...but I'm kind of feeling like not this year. I do love getting cards but...

a few notes

Our trip to Ohio was super fun. I forgot to get my camera out very much so we don't have too many pictures. We ate. A lot. We played with Tatum. We visited. We shopped. We ate some more. The boys played a lot of x box & watched Ohio State cream Michigan. The women cooked & ate & and baked & and cooked some more. We went to the movies and the AF museum. That's it in a nutshell. It was really nice just to be together and enjoy each others company.

Home!

It's always good to get home. No matter the trouble it takes to get there.

We got to enjoy a long drive yesterday. We made sure to anesthetize the children with a constant stream of DVD's and joined all the other "going home from grandma's, thanksgiving week traffic" on the road. The weather was sunny and the roads dry which was wonderful. We didn't make great time, due in part to the fact that we were pulling a u-haul, however now we have a couch for the basement! and I am thrilled about that:) Most of the drive was pretty good. We did hit a lot of traffic at one point and after impatiently driving in it for a half hour or so Big B hit the abort button and we found a new, picturesque, route through the back roads. We drove by Antietam and although slow, and windy, we were moving so he was happy and the scenery was lovely. The homes were pretty and were mostly decorated. It was funny. Some obviously were anxious to start Christmas and had lights and yard ornaments all around announcing the season. Others were hanging on to the last days of fall, with pumpkins and Halloween banners. It was humorously eclectic. We passed by little stones walls, that I have come to associate with civil war era battle fields, and beautiful churches and streams and trees. If I wasn't tired of driving it would have been quite lovely.

Now we are home, and today I get to clean up and put away.

Thanksgiving

What seemed like a great idea a couple months ago, seemed far less appealing this morning at 7am, when it was rainy and dark and we headed out to turkey trot. We meet 5000 of our closest friends and "ran" 5 miles. It turned out to be kind of fun and the rain wasn't that bad.

After we came home and started to cook. Dinner was delicious and plentiful, like Thanksgiving dinner should be :)

After the dinner we checked out the black Friday ads, watched some futball, and then went to see Harry Potter (a few of us).

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ohio

We drove to Ohio yesterday. It was a fairly pleasant drive. Someone wanted to take an alternate route, that added two hours to our travel time. Which made the rest of the someones unhappy, but other than that it was fine. We watched movies, had time to visit, and made it before bedtime.

Dani and Tate flew and they also had a pleasant journey, despite some worry about an incoming winter storm and the possibility of full body pat downs all went well.

Today we went to visit Great-great grandpa Tom. We went to lunch at his favorite place and took a 5 generation picture. We might have to try again tomorrow :)

Tatum was decidedly unimpressed with Santa :) Lu liked him though. Abba and Lu sitting on the bench together, her hat matched her dress, randomly and so cutely!

After lunch we divided into two groups. Half went to the National Air Force museum. The other half went grocery shopping. We needed some little candy canes so J scoured the store aisles looking for the cutest worker she could find to help her. Mission accomplished. He didn't know where they were but came running up when we were in the check out with a gift for J. 5 large candy canes! He was a cutie.

Tonight some of the gang went to see Harry Potter. Nana and I stayed home with the little ones. Tate loves her Aunt H.

It was a lovely day.

countdown

tidy the house
do the laundry
make dinner
have FHE
put kids to bed
clean out the car
finish packing
walmarting for car stuff
go to the library
piano lessons
sleep
(not in that order)
and then we're off over the river and through the woods!

2 more days!

I'm coming Mimi!!!!

I am confused.

Hi. My name is Lana and I belong to a cult. Some people call it soccer, but I recognize it's true form.
What is up with this? We have run into this problem before. Our first experience with "cults" was SYA cheerleading. Where our then 8 year old and 11 year old daughters wanted to be cheerleaders for the little football players. Not being from Texas originally I had NO idea what was involved. What was involved was hundreds of dollars, two practices a week, a Friday night pep rally and then travelling to two games on Saturday. It also involved a little girl crying, every week, because she couldn't take the stress and a grumpy family because as much as we love, like, tolerate football we certainly didn't want to live and breathe it.
I don't understand why when kids get involved in an activity it has to consume the entire family. And frankly, soccer is kind of bugging me right now. Up until this year little b has played on regular recreational teams. This has meant we have 1 or 2 practices a week and then a game on Saturday morning. Really when you have a lot of kids that can add up to a lot, but no one forced us to have a lot of kids and so we solider on and try and let each kid learn and grow and try stuff out. It seemed reasonable.
This year, for some reason, we thought our 8 year old soccer prodigy needed something more. So we tried out for rec +. And he made it. And the whole feeling has been much more intense. We have 1 coach and 4 assistant coaches, who all wear matching coach shirts and stand on the side line, arms folded, faces serious, clip boards in hand, as if they were playing pro ball (and don't even ask me how ludicrous I think that whole thing is). We have practices, and now that it's dark rent fields with lights, at the expense of the families. Coaches get yellow cards, and sometimes yell at each other or kids on teams. Boys get VERY competitive. Last night we went to a soccer party, at a fancy restaurant, with glass goblets and table clothes (to the tune of $15 a person) and ate spaghetti (something I made the night before to the tune of $1.75 a person). There were speeches and toasts and the boys shared their highlights which sounded something like "I liked it best when I scored a goal", "I liked it best when Aaron hit that other kid", "I liked it best when Justin "shut down" Ulysses". Repeat. Repeat.
Today the boys are at an all day Kohls cup event. They are excited. I am sure it will be fun. E had to leave his friend Eric here to play with the girls while he went though, and was too tired to happily get ready.
As I packed his little backpack with 7 Gatorade bottles, and a bunch of snacks, and his back up jersey, and crocs for between games, and shorts in case it warms up, and a hat in case it gets colder I thought to myself that this was a little obsessive.
And you know the craziest part. Even with all that we are looked down on for not being involved enough. We won't play on Sunday. We don't want to travel to VA, or PA to play. We don't go to the extra "goalie clinic", and we complain about the cost and want to keep it down. The other families pity our poor boy and his non committed family. They are very nice, as they consider us freaks.
I know there are kids out there somewhere who meet on a dirt lot near their "houses" and with bare feet and a ball play a game of soccer. Are they having less fun than our boys, who groan when they get assigned to play at a field that is less than manicured (edited to keep my blog rating in the family range). I doubt it.

My kids lack meaningful work. They miss out on doing without, sacrificing for the good of the family, or community, and selfless service and we replace it with overindulgence, and all the fancy trappings of the world. (When I say my I don't meant just the ones I gave birth to, but the generation that they share) At whose feet do we worship?

I don't know what to do to fix it either. I have no field to plow, cows to milk, or community well to dig. We live in luxury, which Big B works hard to provide, and I work hard to keep clean. I want my kids to be happy, well rounded and contributing but when I look around I don't see that many kids really taking advantage of their many opportunities and rising to greatness. Maybe like a little chick coming out of it's egg kids need adversity to rise above in order to become extraordinary? Are they learning to work hard? To be creative and ingenious?To be content? To help others??

I am already dreading Christmas, which I love, because I know it will be a let down. H wants "a cell phone but she is not greedy, she will be happy with one that doesn't have a data plan; a lap top, real Uggs, and custom converse...only 4 things and she will be perfectly happy" she tells me. Lu wants an $80 dog that walks by remote control. She is 5. Come on. And the list goes on. When you have everything you need the things you want become ridiculous.

The inner conflict, I want them to have. I want them to appreciate. I want them to have their priorities straight...but do I teach them that?? do we live that? Can we have it both ways? Am I trying to serve God and Mammon?

and lastly, why do I have so much laundry all the time??

Harry Potter marathon

see Lu, behind Millie, she fell asleep during the opening credits.

Elms Beach

Today was field trip day! We had a very fun outdoor field trip to Elm's beach. The kids learned all about the inhabitants of the wetlands.

We did some bird watching, and some hiking.

It was cool but dry and not freezing and we had a fun time. E's class has 16 boys in it. They are very energetic :)

Tonight Chelsea, Ellie and Hannah are at a birthday party. E is at soccer and then after that the rest of us will join him for his soccer party. Busy Busy Fun Fun

morning rush

I thought our morning would be hectic, and it kind of was, but.....

this was the sight that greeted me at 6am. The boys were up an playing army in the basement. Getting up is the hardest part. After that we had a couple hours to filter them through the shower, and past the plates of pancakes, and into the shoes. Since I didn't have to wake them up it was cake.

The middle school had spirit week this week. Every day was a theme. H did a good job dressing up. Last night she and Chelsea wanted to make "I heart LMS" shirts. So we did. They looked cute and took permanent markers to school and had their friends sign their shirts.

So it was busy from 5:30 to 9:00 am, from the time I got up, until I got the last kid dropped off at school, but it went smoothly.

We have the Martines kids for the weekend, my kids are thrilled to have a 2 night sleep over and friends to play with!

a smile to start the day

I saw this on my sister's blog this morning and it just cracked me up. This is my sweet little nephew Reggie, who I hear is actually very good natured and always happy. I hope I'll get to meet him soon. In the meantime, enjoy your first holiday season ever precious boy.

coming soon!

a little thought

Now behold, it came to pass, that I, Jacob, having ministered much to my people in the word,(and I can not write but a little of my words,because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain;
But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates; which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers-
Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engrave these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.
For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

Jacob 4: 1-4 (bold added by me)

This was our spiritual thought at the beginning of ward council on Sunday. Laura shared it with us and then said. "We will learn the lessons of life. We can choose to learn with joy, or we can choose to learn the hard way and learn in sorrow". I loved that, and found it so powerful. Indeed we can choose the hard way but how wonderful that we have a loving Father in Heaven that has given us the tools and shown us the way that we have the option of learning with joy. I really love all of this chapter in Jacob.

Sunday was a nice day. Calm and lovely. I particularly enjoyed my drive to church in solitude as Big B had the kids and I was headed off to an earlier meeting. The trees were beautiful (and I was the only car on the road) and it was just peaceful. A sharp contrast to our weekend jaunt to NYC. Our Bishop spoke in sacrament meeting. His talk was about being rescuers and bringing our brothers and sisters unto Christ. He was a US Navy Rescue Swimmer and spoke with powerful and poignant imagery of that experience and the successes and failures he experienced and compared it to our call to rescue now. I really love our Bishop, he is so kind and wise and Godly.

In the evening we had a very nice BYD.

Sunday set a good tone for me. Yesterday we had our YW presidency meeting and that went well. Then in the evening we had friends over for FHE and dinner and our lesson went well and we had a great time.

I am sure grateful for the peace the Gospel brings and the many, many, countless blessings it brings into my life.

NY report

What to say about NYC? I am almost at a loss of words to describe the experience. First off, we had a great weekend. The drive up was nice, it didn't get crazy until we hit the Lincoln tunnel. I wasn't planning on the $27 in tolls to get up there but other than that it was pleasant. Big worked on the phone and we chatted. The second we were in the city we knew it. It was crazy. I have never seen such driving. Not even in DC.
We got to our hotel, which was nice. The buildings were so tall they blocked the sun light. Our hotel was squished in between two others, everything is super crowded. I was so surprised how many people there were. I was expecting crowds. I thought it might be like Chicago, or Disneyland. It wasn't. It was wall to wall people. Honestly I have never seen so many people, it was crazy.

We started with a walk through Times Square. We ate food on the street, and I bought a purse, also on the street. We ate and took in the sights then went back to our hotel to change. When we were dressed we headed back out to see "the Lion King". I really liked it, the costumes and music were amazing. Big didn't like it.

We saw the M&M store and I really enjoyed it, I wanted to buy everything, it was so cute and chocolatey. We saw tons of shops and walked down 5th Ave. and walked around Broadway and Times Square.

The only bad thing on the trip was the hotel. We had noisy neighbors that partied until 2am so we didn't get much sleep. We had booked an early morning tour so still had to get up, even though we were tired. Plus we didn't want to waste time sleeping since we were only there for a day and a half.

Once we were up and ready we walked to our tour and met up with the tour guide. He was funny and knew a lot of history about NY and was interesting.

There were three couples doing the tour. Us, a young dating couple, and an engaged couple. He was recently back from Afghanistan, and was injured. He was in a hummer and was hit by a RPG that blew up in his face. He's been in DC having reconstructive surgeries and healing and was scarred but happy to talk about it. Very brave.

We went first to Ground Zero, and having him there made the experience more poignant. There is a lot of reconstruction going on and we stopped at three memorials and watched the work and heard the stories. Our lives sure changed on that day, and we are still fighting that battle. I am so grateful for all the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend freedom and liberty.

Riding the subway was interesting. I saw a "track rabbit" (rat) running around and it was big. The subway was gross, DC's is nicer.

After ground zero we went on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, which was a great experience. It was neat to see it up close and to go to the museum and to walk up the million steps. We also rode to Ellis Island.

Next we headed to Central Park. I enjoyed seeing all the movie spots that I have seen before in countless movies. We saw lots of iconic images all through out the city, and lots of famous locations. The park was also packed.

The shopping was amazing. Here I am at FAO Shwartz wishing I could bring this giant stuffed elephant home for Lu's herd. I had to stand in line for 12 min in this store to use the bathroom. Packed packed packed.

After shopping we headed to Mesa Grill for dinner. We both love Bobby Flay and were really looking forward to eating his food.

I was not disappointed at all, it may be the best food I have ever eaten, so delicious. We were very impressed and enjoyed the whole thing.

We had blue corn pancakes with BBQ duck in a habenero chili star anise sauce for an appetizer. It was exquisite.

For dinner I had New Mexican Spiced Pork Tenderloin w/ bourbon ancho chili sauce and sweet potato tamale with pecan butter. Big had pan roasted venison with cranberries and a pumpkin tamale with allspice butter. So melt in your mouth delicious.

We also had dessert which was lovely. While we were eating we saw Maneet Chauhan, which was fun. Our only celebrity sighting :)

By time dinner was over we were exhausted. We had walked 7 miles on Friday, and 13.4 on Saturday and I was overwhelmed with all the things to see and do and eat and notice. All the people and the festive atmosphere, it was not like anything else. How do people live there? Anyway, we didn't want to walk the couple miles back to the hotel to pick up our stuff so we rented a rickshaw and that was wild. Finally I had to just close my eyes.

I also had to close them on the drive out of the city. It was WILD and I couldn't take it. Big thought he was a native and swerved in and out of traffic and I just couldn't watch. I covered my eyes with my hands and screamed (on the inside). It was a relief to make it out alive!

Our drive home was good and long. We were so tired. I couldn't keep my eyes open. Poor Big B had to do most of the driving. We stopped several times to sleep and I took a shift and we finally made it home safely at 2am.

I had so much fun. I would go back in a second, there is so much to see and do. I don't think I will ever talk my sweet husband into going back though. I would love to eat more, shop more, see more shows so fun!

Tomorrow morning Big B and I are leaving for a little weekend trip to NYC!!! I am super excited. It's been on my "list" forever. I wish I could spend a week but am really glad we get to go at all. We are going to see Lion King on Broadway and eat at Bobby Flay's place ;) Yeah!

In other news, the weather has been delightful this week. Cool and crisp and lovely. Tuesday morning my friend Amy and I walked to the wharf and enjoyed the autumn air so much.

The kids have been playing outside a lot and it's been just lovely.

Today is Veteran's Day. The three little ones went to a birthday party this morning and ran through the woods and jumped on the trampoline to their hearts content.

We also had some dental visits. J and H got clean bills of oral health and new tooth brushes. Now just the big guy is left and he goes in a few weeks.

Report cards came out this week. J has all A's, as does E. H is mostly on the A side with a couple of B's and little Lu is "proficient" in each area. Good all around. J got her ACT score back this week too, a 27. Not too bad. Hopefully good enough!

and I am so excited! only 2 weeks until I see little Tate and have a great family Thanksgiving!! and 1 week until Harry Potter comes out! and 6 days until Bobby Flay throws down with the Pioneer Woman. I have my DVR ready to go :)

lentil and bulgur soup

Yesterday was an interesting day. First thing in the morning I had a camp meeting. Tanya (our new camp leader) and I met and just talked about how we wanted camp to go, and discussed fund raising (the worst part of the whole thing) and how camp was last year and just had a good visit.
Then I went shopping.
Then came home to straighten up.
Then went to piano lessons, Hannah and Jenna are both doing so well, and it's wonderful to listen to them practicing.
When I got home I only had a short time to make dinner, and we had invited Sister Gupta over for FHE and dinner. She is a vegetarian and I wondered what to make. Finally I decided on this delicious soup, beet salad and rolls with apple dumplings for FHE treat. There is a lot of chopping and grating involved and I have been wanting a food pro for a really long time so I decided that this was a great time to get one. When we got home I got it out of the box and couldn't get it to work. Time was ticking by. I tried and tried and finally called Big in to help me. (he was outside staining the deck) He got it working and then it broke before we had even finished the beets :( I was bummed. And behind schedule. I broke out my knife and began using my mad chopping skillz when Lu came by and picked up the blade to the food pro and cut her finger. We had to stop and get her bandaged up (because someone always bleeds when you are running behind). J and H both stepped in to help get things ready and it wasn't too long before we had soup simmering, rolls baking, and salad ready to go.

We love to have friends over and this weekend was a particularly busy one for us, with the EQ social on Friday, and then on Sunday we had the missionaries and the Oakes over and then yesterday w/ Sister G. It was so interesting to me, normally we invite people who have kids around our kids ages and the kids play and run around and have a good time while the adults talk and eat. Last night the children asked me why we were inviting someone without kids. I told them she had a son who lived in Chicago and was living her by herself and I thought she'd enjoy joining us. They agreed. It was lovely to watch them. All of the kids sat at the table nicely and ate the food (which they normally would have complained about but I told them we were making something our guest would like and that really helped them). They talked and laughed with us and we had a quiet, civilized dinner. Lucy had prepared a very nice lesson and after dinner we came into the living room and sang and had the lesson. I was really impressed with how nicely they behaved and with how pleasant an evening we had. It gave me an opportunity to see them (my little ones) in a new light and to be very proud of their nice behavior.

wolf cub

Look at my handsome little wolf! Today is our first "scouting for food day" so he got to wear his full uniform to church. He really enjoys scouts, which I am so glad about.

It promises to be a lovely Sunday. The sun is shining and the trees are beautiful in their fall splendor. Maybe we'll take a little walk after church. And today is "fall back" day, I love that day!

Yesterday we had a stake youth activity. We took the kids to Upper Marlboro for a corn maze. They had great time, it was dark so they had to use flashlights and we had a fire and food and marshmallows. They had twice as many youth as expected, which was a challenge for the stake leaders I am sure, but it was so fun for the youth and there was a lots of running around and laughing. We only "lost" one group! in the maze but even they eventually emerged. Amy and her giant van drove up so I rode with her and it was so fun to visit with her.

Big had to work so the little kids went to the McCombs and after Lu's flying fit when I left things settled down and they had a great time. Laura ended up feeding the kids and the Big kid and then they had a fire and ran around in the woods. It was a good night for everyone!

Our official soccer season is over. We had our tournament weekend, and here's the surprising and sad news. E's team won all their games, except for 3 which they tied. No losses. They were ranked first in the league until the last game where their third tie pushed them down to 2nd. We'll we went to the tournament and they had their first loss and were eliminated in their first game. We had some sad and disappointed little boys (and big boys, read: coaches)

Friday night we had an Elder's Quorum social at our house. I cleaned and shopped all day. 60 of our closest friends showed up. We ate. And ate. And visited. The kids ran amok. Everyone had a wonderful time. It's just nice to have a place to sit and chat and relax together. Everyone brought delish food to share and even some of the neighborhood kids joined in. I call that a success.

thursday

Today I am grateful for my big umbrella. It's raining outside and my big umbrella kept me dry all the way to the bus stop and back, twice this morning.

I am inside playing hi ho hi ho it's off to clean I go..really wouldn't you think with the amount of effort I make it would actually be clean at some point.

Everyone is back to school. E, who threw up the night before, had to stay home yesterday...even though he wasn't really sick and felt fine. We went out to lunch with Big, then did some Christmas shopping. He picked thoughtful gifts for his grandmothers and Uncle Brian. We also saw some wild life, some of us up close and personal others (me) from the car. On our way out of the neighborhood we spotted a dead deer in the field with a bald eagle sitting on it snacking and many vultures circling waiting for their turn. On the way back we saw a large brown bird sitting on it and E really wanted a closer look. I pulled the car over and he ran up. He got pretty close before, what he identified as an Osprey, but I am not too sure because I think they are gone for the season and I think it may be a female eagle (do they have white heads too?), flew off. Then he found a stick and did some poking. He said the eyes were eaten out, and there was a lot of blood and mess and the deer was hard, he was expecting soft muscle. When he got back he said he wished the deer had died in our yard so he could watch it get eaten, and he wondered for a long time how it died and went through many possible scenarios.

Dani and Tate have their tickets!!! Yeah!!!! Can't wait to see them.

photography by the boy

He loves my camera and I love to see what catches his eye.

marco polo mom

Today is election day, so of course that means no school. I took the kids voting with me and then we headed to DC to spend the day. It was very nice. Fallish weather, no crowds, happy getting along children. It was great.

The only bad parts were a)Jenna wanted to go to IKEA and I wanted to go with her, but I would have had to get a sitter for the kids. I tried to sell her on the idea of coming with us, but she wasn't buying. I often feel torn, and often feel like the big kids get the short end of the stick because the little ones take more time and attention. There is a cost to every choice you make in life. I am glad for the choice of having three more sweet babies and wouldn't trade them for anything, there is a cost though and that is that I am busy with little kids and the big kids have to baby sit from time to time and learn to be less selfish. They get a big fun family and the opportunity to serve and nurture (that's the up side), mom is less available for late night movies, and big kid outings (the down side). Every choice has a price. b) I kind of didn't feel great this morning, and considered staying home. But I figured I wasn't dieing so I should go...and on the off chance that I was dieing I might as well spend one last fun day with the kids anyway. So I didn't feel good the first couple of hours and wondered if I had made a good choice, then I felt better and in the end I was glad that 1) I was still alive at the end of the day and 2) we had gone.

c) we lost track of H for a minute. I was worried, then we found her, I was glad. Really everyone was cooperative and stayed mostly with me. I am just a worrier.

which leads me to d) the marco polo problem. I am an attachment parenting style mom for sure. I love the kids in my bed, on my hip, in my skin and by my side. I don't really feel confident that they will even keep breathing without me there to supervise for the first few years and I don't like to leave them. Now they are all bigger so it's better but I still like to know where they are, what they are doing, who they are with and when we go places I want them in sight. For years little has gone to the women's rest room with me. This works great for me. I think he should still come. He does not. Has not for awhile but until recently I could convince him. Now he puts his foot down and would rather hold it until we get home. Urgh! (I can not) So I place him right outside the door and tell him not to move a muscle. Then I take the stall closest to the door and we play marco polo.
Me: "E"
Him: "I'm here"
Me: "okay"
one minute later
Me: "still there?"
Him: "yes mom"
Me: "E???"
Him: "sigh"
I know, I need help....

So we rode the metro, the only way I will go to the mall. It costs but is worth every penny and the kids LOVE it.

Then we went to the Native American Museum. Very nice, lots of fun. We ate in the food court, delish but we won't do that again. We shared a buffalo burger, a Navajo taco, pumpkin salad, chicken nuggets and dessert ($70) Rip off. The kids loved it and it was fun, next time we will go next door to the McD cafe' and enjoy some gourmet mc'nuggets instead.

Then we went to the Air and Space Museum, a favorite.

Then the sculpture garden and the Smithsonian Castle, both delightful. Then rode the carousel and the metro back to the car.

On the way home we stopped for some new shoes for little. His "old" ones (two months old) were a disgrace. His sock poked out of the toe on both feet, his laces were frayed and they were in every way falling apart. What does he do to them?? I have tennis shoes that I have been wearing for 6 years that look better than his 6 week old ones.

I am growing to love our nation's lovely capital. Especially now that I've figured out how not to drive there.

Halloween night

We ate dinner in a pumpkin, and the girls made mummies out of hot dogs and crescent rolls. We had some friends over. We handed out 500+ pieces of candy. It was good.

a month of thanks!

I love November, it is such a lovely month. I love to visit family for Thanksgiving, it's got none of the pressure of Christmas and all of the holiday fun. Plus who doesn't love pumpkin pie and turkey!!

• Today I am thankful for the beautiful fall leaves, the trees look like they are on fire!
• I am thankful I got a start on Christmas shopping ( shh! I got Tate the fabulous fisher price nativity that I love love love for my littles, I should buy 5 more so I can give them to each child when they start having their own children, it is just that delightful!)
• and I am THANKFUL that Dani and Tate might be able to join us in Ohio for turkey day! We're looking at tickets right now.