We took the kids back to Fall City Farms to pick out pumpkins. It was a slightly different experience Covid-style. When we arrived we realized we were supposed to have an appointment but it didn’t end up mattering because they had openings so we got in fine. There were no fresh donuts, but they did have some prepackaged, so the kids weren’t disappointed. We wore our masks, social distanced, and picked out some pumpkins.


 

The Club has an annual swimming for pumpkins event. They crank up the heat in the pool and let the kids jump in and pick out free pumpkins then warm up with hot cocoa. They loved it!

Time to carve:

Between the pandemic and election stress we decided to put our tree up pretty early in November. Here are a few pics of us getting in the Christmas spirit.

Opening their Christmas ornaments

Earmuffs from Grammy

The family room tree

Phoebe barely squeezed into Commodus’ old Santa suit for a photo op. We passed it on to her friend, Honey Lott, who is a bit slimmer and fits into it better. I’m sure she really appreciated it.

Modeling her cute snowman outfit

The election was something else this year. We had the Lotts over for an election night “redo”. We spent election night 2016 together and we all know how sad that turned out. We had a conversation ahead of time about whether it would be bad luck to get together or an opportunity to create a new happier memory together and decided we were more hopeful than superstitious.

Later in the night things got a bit stressful. Honestly I think we were all starting to feel sick. No bad news, but no good news and things were too close to feel anything but nervous. We decided to play some games and watch ASMR on TV.

At one point I said I needed a paper bag to breathe into. Layla heard me and brought this.

“Go! Bi! Den!”

A few days later…

Celebrating with the Christians

Watching Kamala with our daughters was memorable

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