Belated Late November

After several weeks of blog silence, I figured it was time to get back into it.

Damon and I have birthdays a week apart, so this year we decided to have a large joint birthday party. It was the day after my birthday and the week before his. We had about 50 people (including nearly 20 children) at our house for a soup buffet and birthday cake.

"Twenty children?!" you ask. "How did you possibly have a good time with so many kids running around?" Enter the Kids' Movie Theater:

Moving our TV out to our garage-turned-utility/guestroom was Damon's idea, but Adah really ran with it by creating tickets and the sign. After the kids ate in the kitchen it was out to the "theater," a little Monsters, Inc., and they were content and occupied for the duration of the party.

For Thanksgiving, we celebrated with several other friends who didn't have family nearby. After a last-minute addition to the group, we moved dinner to our house because we had a bigger table than the previous hosts--but they still took care of the turkey. We didn't get any photos of the feast or the guests, but I have several shots of some pre-dinner preparations:

Adah helps Dad peel apples for the pie.

Maggie & Gunnar wash the living room window.

Damon fixes the sink after we discovered it leaking just before guests arrived! (My family has a history of Thanksgiving Day plumbing problems, so this just felt traditional to me.)

We are grateful for a clean house, good helpers, and working plumbing--among all the other wonderful blessings of friends, family, health, a job, and all that usual stuff.

Growing-Up Gunnar

In the weeks since Gunnar turned two, he has gone through a couple of transitions. First, he left his highchair to join us at the table in a booster seat. He seemed pretty dissatisfied during meals and being right with the rest of the family seems to have helped.

Right on the heels of departing his highchair, Gunnar left his crib. (Well, he'd actually been leaving his crib for quite some time. That was the problem!) I took apart his crib and moved in the toddler bed. He looks quite happy in this photo, but I think the bed kind of scared him the first few nights. Maybe he felt more secure with those crib bars surrounding him. We're all still adjusting to the new bed and sleeping routine, but are slowly seeing progress and hoping to get a full night's sleep soon. At least the new bed makes the picket fence look great.

Halloween Spookers, Stingers, and Spellers

Here are our scary Trick-or-Treaters before venturing out Saturday night:

Adah went as a vampire, Gunnar a bee, and Maggie a witch. In the post title I was thinking “spellers” as in, Maggie’s a witch; witches cast spells. But, since Gunnar was a bee, I guess it could apply to him, too!

After a few false starts at other Halloween events I was unsure about how Gunnar would do, but he happily put on his costume and enjoyed walking from house to house with his sisters. He even said, "Trick-or-Treat!" (Or, maybe it was "thank you." They sound a lot alike.) At one house Gunnar even appropriately stopped to smell the flowers.

This year, instead of handing out candy, I decided to give out glow-in-the-dark bouncy balls. Damon didn't think it was a good idea, but all the Trick-or-Treaters exclaiming "cool!" let me know that I'd made a good choice. I ordered 144 balls and we RAN OUT! Luckily, we had anticipated that and bought some candy Saturday morning. I bet we had 175 Trick-or-Treaters.

Once our kids were finished, we left the house and headed up to "Pumpkin Lane" where some people from our church carve about 100 intricate Jack-o-lanterns. We didn't take our camera this year, so sadly have no record of the funny Dwight Schrute, John Wayne, Hannah Montana, or other impressive pumpkins.

This year even Damon and I dressed up. We went to a party the week before Halloween. Damon went as swine flu and I was a battery. A wise young man told me a made a good AA. I told him he was smart to not call me a size D. I got lots of mileage out of my costume at all the events for the kids (storytime, school parade, etc.). I even wore it Trick-or-Treating. It didn't get me much candy, but I know where the kids' bags are. ha ha

We had a fun Halloween and were very grateful that the rainy weather dried up in time for Trick-or-Treating.

Adah Dusts Off Her Acting Shoes

Adah again participated in her school's annual Missoula Children's Theater production. This year the elementary and middle school kids put on "The Princess and the Pea." Adah was cast as a dust bunny and enjoyed hopping around stage and getting to know her fellow actors and actresses. "I really love those silly leprechauns," she said. "I liked it when they danced and said Riverdom wrong. (They said Riverdance and started dancing.)"

Auditions were Monday afternoon, and after a couple of rehearsals the cast was ready to perform twice on Friday to their schoolmates and once on Saturday for parents and the community. Adah spent much of her birthday afternoon at rehearsal, but didn't mind a bit. She can't wait for the MCT truck to return for next year's play.

Lucky Seven

Adah had a birthday on Thursday. She is seven now! (I can hardly believe she's that old.) She had a busy, fun-filled birthday that started with opening presents before she even ate breakfast.

Mom & Dad gave her Snap Circuits Jr., an electronic circuit board kit with a workbook for creating all kinds of projects. Adah had asked for "something science-y" for her birthday. (Whose child is she, anyway? Oh, right. Her dad's.) The first project she put together played music and the preset song was, appropriately, "Happy Birthday!"

Adah enjoyed lots of attention at school. At the end of the day, Maggie, Gunnar, and I showed up with treats for her to hand out to her classmates. The lollipop cookies were a hit.

Immediately after school, I took Adah to a local beauty salon for her to get her EARS PIERCED! Several months ago she began asking to have them pierced and we decided her birthday would be a good time. Here she is, pre-piercing, with the earrings she chose (and her new birthday sweatshirt from Nana & Gumpin). She was excited, but also a little nervous and kept asking the ear piercer to pinch her and show her how much it would hurt.

1-2-3, go!

As soon as they were pierced, Adah opened her eyes and said, "That wasn't so bad." Then the shock of her stinging ears set in and she covered both ears with her hands. Still, she didn't cry!

Ta-da!

After a full afternoon at play rehearsal (see future post), Adah came home for a birthday dinner and piano cake with the family. And there were more presents to open from Grandma & Grandpa (after my trip to the post office after school).

Adah completed her birthday festivities on Friday afternoon by going ice skating in Portland. We brought along one of her friends and had a great time. Her favorite part: "playing with my new toy and getting my ears pierced and going ice skating!"

More about Gunnar

Just thought I'd show off some of Gunnar's latest activities...and antics.

He helped Dad mow the lawn:

Since Gunnar has learned to climb out of his crib, he doesn't sleep in quite as late. Our biggest worry when we hear him get up in the morning is that he'll go into his sisters' room, turn on the light, and climb up to top bunk to see Adah. (She hates that--the bright light waking her up, not her brother.) One morning Damon found him on the kitchen counter with a picture of Adah and Maggie in his hands:

The next photo is also related to Gunnar climbing out of his crib. At bedtime, he used to stay in his bed and quietly go to sleep. Now he climbs out, turns on the light, plays, and then frequently falls asleep on the floor. One night when we went to check on him before we went to bed, we couldn't get the door open. Gunnar had fallen asleep right by the door, with his head next to it, of course. When Damon finally nudged and squeezed his way inside, he found Gunnar sleeping facedown on the floor, but with this bee hat on backwards--so it smiled up at us! Too funny.

The Birthday Boy

Much to the bewilderment of our many friends and neighbors who swear he was just born yesterday, Gunnar is two! His birthday was on Saturday. He enjoyed the day, even though I don't think he really knew what all the fuss was about.

Gunnar opened his presents first thing, with the solicitious help of his two sisters. He got a plane (identical, except in color, to a plane Adah received on her 2nd birthday), a front-end loader, and a small stuffed dog from Mom & Dad.

Nana & Gumpin (my parents) gave him the new Disney Earth DVD--very cool nature movie. Grandma & Grandpa (Damon's parents) gave him a very cool The Very Hungry Caterpillar pop-up book and a train bank.

Much of the day was spent indoors watching the semi-annual General Conference of our church or outdoors helping Damon re-seed our patchy, recovering lawn. Lucky for us, Gunnar is young enough that he doesn't know about parties, balloons, or other exciting birthday things.

For this year's cake, we opted for a farm theme since Gunnar is very much into animals lately. (And I couldn't make a cake shaped like a ball, book, airplane, or any of his other interests.) The animals were a hit and the cake, with my mom's killer chocolate frosting, was delicious!

Happy Birthday to you, Gunnar!!