After a 9mos hiatus over
here due to our little Pippa joining us in September, somehow normal life must ensue, so here I am back on this blog, keeping up. While
I have felt like things have changed in a big way, it's seemed best for the other kids to try to keep things moving along smoothly as normal as possible ... once all of our family left us to have to manage by ourselves, that is. After Pip's Baptism, I had to figure out how to hold a baby while managing the others, school, and meals. Although, I must add that neighbors helped with meals in
such a huge way via a meal train that I'll be forever grateful; it's really so moving to feed my family a meal a neighbor or friend made with love so that my load could be lightened. Part of the managing included a first outing with all 4 by myself: we went to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra kids morning! It was a huge success, and I felt great about it - plus, it's a super fun event. Then it was time for Halloween!
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| This one's special bc of Dylan; Pip's cute, yeah, but Dylan looks a spitting image of his brother, Timshel, here. |
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| 1st day back at school =) |
After Halloween, there was a lull in activity, which gave us a bit of time to find a daily stride. We took mini field trips to check out the construction on the street, we voted, we had backyard lunchtime picnics, Pip started winning our hearts even more with smiles, AND Dylan took the boys on Paul's very first Boy Scout camping trip. It was freezing and yucky, but they still had a ball.
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| 6 weeks! |
Next up was Thanksgiving break! We drove with Peter over to Houston for the whole week, and Dylan met us for Thanksgiving day through the weekend. The whole family was together, and Mom had made these cute little signs to put on our bedroom doors so we knew where to go ... but you don't think we took a picture of us all, huh? *eyeroll* Then it was back to work! And Ada is really stepping up! She loves doing her work and is really good at it. Note: she's not in school ... she's just working on extra (1st grade) Paul worksheets or practicing numbers or letters as she likes, but she's doing awesome. So cute. Then Paul and I made a Titanic cake per his request, of course, for his Boy Scout cake baking contest, and he won 1st! Last up before Advent started was a surprise find of 8 or 9 massive sweet potatoes that'd grown from one lone supermarket one that had sprouted in the kitchen. There had been a vine that grew from it, which was lovely to look at, and when it browned and died off, we went to dig the roots out and - bam - a huge harvest of delicious sweet potatoes! The big 3 were very pleased with themselves.
Advent began on December 2nd, and the kids, Paul and & Ada especially, have begun to expect and look forward to certain traditions - which makes it
way more fun for me! I also got to pull out these beautiful candles from
Toadily Handmade Beeswax that Gin had gotten me for my birthday. The daily tiny treat-filled packages were a huge hit, of course, and we celebrated all the Advent saints feast days the kids love best: St. Nicholas, who fills our shoes on the 6th, Our Lady of Guadalupe, when we have Mexican for dinner on the 12th, and St. Lucy, when we lights our tree and house AND, new this year, have Lussebulle for breakfast ... we makeshifted proper saffron Lussebulle with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls twisted up and with raisins to look like eyes, but they loved it just the same!
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| NOLA kids and beignets |
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| NOVO Christmas concert - now SIX horns! |
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| I actually did a messy craft with them; unheard of! |
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| Morning out to see the Nutcracker; they're all in love now. |
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| Lights in the Roosevelt Hotel |
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| They're "flying" and chanting: follow Mama Duck |
There was also a little miscellaneous fun before heading to Texas for Christmas, like neighbors personalizing cookies for us and bedtime dance parties to the Nutcracker music (I told you the were in love.)
Off to Houston for a week!
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| FULL of smiles + 2 laughs so far = the best! |
Back home on the 5th Day of Christmas to continue our own family Christmas fun: pressies, treats, movies. And take a look at the shot with Ada and Jack; they're amazed and found their favorite gifts in what Paul gave them: M&M holders with a fancy thing on top that either spins a fan or plays the Sugar Plum Fairy ... leave it to a 6yo to best please a 4 & 2yo, wow. Then I went out in the garden just today to find these beauties poking through the otherwise neglected bed; there's been so much rain (yay!) and warmish temps, so they couldn't help themselves.
C'est tout! That's a wrap of the end of our year with our newest tradition. Things aren't a no-brainer yet for me, but as Pip can hold her own more and more, all the regular stuff is starting to figure itself out more. When it comes time to begin the 2nd semester next week, we'll be refreshed and ready to start again with a rearranged classroom and a solid routine schedule; here's hoping for a few dull-ish weeks before Mardi Gras hits!
I'm hearing fireworks right now as I sit on the living room sofa while all 4 kids sleep; here's to a beautiful start to a new year with gratitude for all the blessings and challenges of the previous one.
