november 2012

my sweet boy began november by melting my heart

when he offered his "$5" to go to the store and

buy new monkey slippers when i had mentioned

that i wanted new slippers.

he is so giving and it seriously does 

my heart good.

i made my first mocha meringue pie

and it was every bit as delicious as it looks.

max decided he wanted to potty train,

 

much to my despair delight,

he turned 2

and by doing so, i hit a milestone never
before reached in my childbearing years:

i was not pregnant.
i did not have a newborn.

and i am proud to say i have upheld my record ever since. ;)

sometimes i get all wistful and sad
thinking about how fast my babies are
growing up...and then we go walk trails
and none of the children are carried or
pushed in a stroller...or we send them all 
off overnight for our anniversary...and
i realize how beautiful this new chapter is.
very different, but very good.
 i really think each new phase is a gift,
though we are not even close to teenage years
and for that i am thankful because my heart
is too frail and my mind is still too close to
the teenage years i had...lord, have mercy.

***

moving on, 
sydney lost her first 
top tooth and forever
changed that grin i've 
known for 7.5 years.
 
if you can't tell, 
her eyes were still a bit red from crying.
for some reason, her teeth are hard to get out.
daddy has had to help her every time.

we don't actually "do" santa, tooth fairy, etc,
but we will play along with it...
as in, we say the tooth fairy 
is coming, but the kids know it
is just a game we play and we all have 
fun with it.
i try to make it special,
so each time they lose a tooth,
i look up dollar bill origami online.
this is a pixie shoe...
syd really didn't want to give up
her first top tooth, so the 
"tooth fairy" gave her something
special in return for the tooth--
her shoe. =)
 



***
in mid-november, the small town our kids
go to school in hosted a christmas tree lighting.
there was free hot cocoa, kettle corn and
lots of activities for the kids.
it was such a good time. 
 


(please ignore the fact that max looks like he's about
to throw up everywhere. he wasn't.)


 




 ***
we celebrated thanksgiving with jason's family
and had a lot of fun shooting his dad's guns.
i hadn't shot a gun since i was 18 and
i'm not sure if i had ever shot a hand gun.
it was great. 



i think we had 3 thanksgiving
celebration days in a row
and this was max waiting to leave
after our last one.

i think we all felt that way and that was just the
start of the holiday season!