Week 50: December, please slow down

We are trying to enjoy the holiday season, still speeding along, with what seems like never enough time and too much day-to-day crabbiness. I'm trying to teach the boys to be kinder to each other and more patient in general, and I know I'm at the start of a long process. The thought of them being home for two weeks straight doesn't scare me at this point, which probably signals how tired I am and don't even realize it :) Okay, gotta get back to ordering gifts and figuring out our Christmas card situation!

We put up the tree, complete with the baby fence. Note to me and Frank: in the future we absolutely have to do all the steps leading up to putting on ornaments while the kids are sleeping. If I had to hear one more question about when it would be time for that...

She was awfully cute helping get out the ornaments.

We had to get to the breakable ones before she did!

The boys hung ornaments, and needed to coordinate that via walkie-talkie, obviously.

We decorated a little outside.

Her hair is getting longer.

And she can reach all sorts of things now.

Frank took the day off for his birthday.

I'm trying to see if I have any usable pics to throw in the Christmas card, but I'm pretty sure it won't be one of these!

Week 49: This great big little one

Charlotte is pulling up at every opportunity, has started cruising, and is even standing on her own sometimes. And she's so happy about it!

Thanksgiving adventures

We feel very thankful for our little family, our huge extended family, and our friends. We are thankful for being able to travel. And now we are thankful to be back at home, resting from our recent adventures and decorating for Christmas. Most importantly, I am thankful for Curious George on Netflix, especially A Very Monkey Christmas, without which no planning, packing, housework, going through photos, etc. would have been possible. (We are talking dozens of hours over the past month or so!)
So much has happened the last few weeks, and here are the photo highlights! I hope to be back with some captions for you :)

Date night.

The bistro movie theater served Starbucks. We saw The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1.

We introduced Charlotte to G&R's.

Three-car caravan to Loving.

Breakfast at the house.

Dinners at the reunion.

Girls in cute shoes.

Larry and Mary's travel trailer. This is where we stayed.

The boys loved their bunks.

Larry and his sister Ruby threw the kids a birthday party.

The boys loved running around in the back yard, finding marbles, baseball cards, and bits of old junk.

Frank's aunt and uncle celebrated their 60th anniversary by renewing their vows.

And we had a big reception.

With mariachis.

Week 46: Chilly and uneventful

Nothing exciting happened last week. I took Gabe to the doctor for a cough that has since pretty much disappeared. Zach's cub scout den got to climb around in a humvee during their meeting. And Charlotte was happy to stay in fuzzy sleepers and watch Curious George all week. Also, I think her top middle teeth are starting to come in, and we finally had to install cabinet locks. Tuesday was nice with all of us home, and Zach made Frank a card that says "Thanks for being a veteran." It was really sweet. I continued working on some knitted stuff for Donovan and Avery...photos coming soon. We are just hanging out, making good use of our fireplace, and looking forward to Thanksgiving.