Here’s what we were up to in October. Phoebe turned one on September 24th. We were out of town at the VRBO while our floors got refinished that week so Phoebe was spent her birthday getting spoiled by our friends. We made her eggs with cheese the following week to celebrate.

“I’m one!”

Jonathan saved us some money and replaced the laundry room floor that was damaged by the laundry room flood. There may have been some child labor involved.

All done! (Btw, notice the custom cat door for the litter box?! It’s amazing and keeps Phoebe out!)

Jonathan has been hiking with a couple of buddies recently.

Voting for Biden! We LOVE mail-in ballots and getting to share this with our children!

Service project for Boy Scouts

Another hiking trip for Jonathan and his buddies. This time it was Mount Si.

The birds are quite tame there!

I saved us some money and decided to refinish our existing kitchen table rather than replace it. Jonathan did the sanding and I stained it. I don’t think I finished it until November though so you can check there for the finished product! I’ve never worked with stain before and learned a lot along the way. It’s always fun picking up a new skill.

Playdate with Maggie

Horsing around

We had a late night at the Christians and let the kids run a-mock. Layla and Clare dressed up as masked super heroes and tried to fly.

Practicing monkey bars

Another puzzle in 2020

Halloween crafts

The current Lego situation

Frenchie snuggles

Master chef Kieron takes on a chicken

Making gnocci

Layla and Silas decided to have a Lego wedding. Here are the pics from the event.

The kids made Lego models of our entire family, all of whom attended the ceremony.

Practicing her name

Kieron made Tres Leches, my new favorite dessert!

Painting her toenails (pretend)

The Club decided to heat the pool and offer open swim year-round during Covid. We couldn’t be happier!

This girl loves shoes more than I do. I think she gets it from her dad.

Halloween was a bit different this year, but we pulled it off. This year we had Clark Kent, a chef, a Top Gun pilot and Rapunzel.

Oh the teenage drama. Avery decided to wait until Halloween to make plans and decide what to be. I threw a few ideas out there the day of telling him he could trick or treat as long as he wanted, but he did need to dress up if he was going to walk door-to-door asking for candy. I realized Jonathan had a Superman tee that would probably fit Avery, along with a white button-up shirt. I had an extra pair of black-rimmed blue light glasses lying around and Avery could probably fit into my pants. (thirteen-year-old Avery doesn’t wear long pants, let alone slacks). All was well until he realized he was wearing his mom’s pants. I think I scarred him. He threw the most epic teenage fit. Clothes were flying. There were tears in the bathroom. I was pretty sure I’d screwed up Halloween. Long story short, he took some time, calmed down, decided to wear a pair of his own pants (which were way too tight, if you ask me) and he pulled off Clark Kent like a champ and came home with a bag full of candy. Whew! Here he is with Wonder Mom!

Who wore it better? Is it weird to dress like your cat? In all fairness, I had the shirt first and found hers on the local buy-sell-trade.

Wonder kitty and Bat dog

Phoebe tried it on too but it was a little tight.

I don’t know why Jonathan refused to wear Chad’s seahorse costume around the neighborhood?

Zoom Halloween with the Avery’s

Candy chute

Testing it out first
 

Charlotte and Silas

Silas, Mason & Savannah

Checking out their loot

Layla was excited to resume ballet and tap classes this fall. She is in a small class with four other girls, two of whom are close friends, and they all wear masks and social distance. It’s such a small world, her teacher, Ms. Brittany, and I grew up dancing together at The Dance Studio in Sammamish. Layla got a kick out of going through my old dance album and seeing us in pictures together!

With Maggie

With Clare and Maggie