Nov 21, 2018

Life Lately {October - November}

We had a fun family pumpkin patch outing in October! The girls especially enjoyed the playground and cow train, and Cora was enamored with all the "so big, heavy" pumpkins. We never did get around to carving our pumpkin but we made some good memories. :)



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Evie had another ER visit in October for breathing issues. She's had some good weeks but more recently we've been trying to keep on top of her symptoms- prayers appreciated!

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On Halloween Heidi's pre-k class had Storybook Day and she dressed as Olivia. She was a cute little pig, if I do say so myself. :)


Later that day we went to my parents' for dinner and trick-or-treating with cousins. Evie dressed as a cook (YouTube to the rescue for her hat!), the dress was a lot big on her (my oversight) but Audrey went as Alice in Wonderland, Heidi went as Princess Anna(third year running!), and Cora refused each and every costume option, so subsequently went as a two-year-old. It was a lovely, mild night, and good to see neighbors.


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On All Saints' Day we attended mass at the girls' school and then went to Evie's classroom for the 2nd grade Saint presentations.
Halloween through All Souls' Day is always such a special time of year!

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After a hiatus since our beach trip, Cora once again began climbing out of her crib during nap time AND climbing over the gate we put in front of her door. After a few insane days of no-napping, Tim converted her crib into a toddler bed. That ameliorated the situation for a bit but some days she still rebels when I put her down for a nap. I ordered a monkey lock, which my sister told me about, and that has helped! When I need to use it she cries for some minutes and tries to open the door but eventually falls asleep in her bed.
Crazy toddler years!

One cute thing about her bed, though, is how proud she is of it. Whenever we're in sight of it she points to it and proudly says, "SEE?".
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A few weeks ago Tim and I watched the Mr. Rogers documentary.(Side note- I fondly remember watching his show on "channel two six" before PM Kindergarten when I was little.) We both really liked it a lot; there was one remark I thought was very poignant- I can't quite recall the exact words but the interviewee said something like: people feel the need to categorize others into specific categories and when someone doesn't fit in one of those we become suspect of them. 

The movie relayed how poorly some people perceived him and his work, and how it affected him. It reminded me SO much of part of a documentary about Hollywood Directors and WWII Tim and I watched that involved Frank Capra. Apparently the initial negative reception of "It's a Wonderful Life" stayed with him until his death, and that breaks my heart!
I just wish I could hug them both, tell them how much they matter, and thank them for their work!


On that note- have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Nov 8, 2018

A Moment in the Life

Just gonna lay this one out there...


Things you never want to hear your toddler say when they have a stinky diaper:

"Is it, dirty fingers?"

Nov 6, 2018

Let's Talk Christmas Books!

I think my Christmas love language is picture books. I love perusing Christmas book lists and pulling out ours- sometimes bit by bit, some years all at once- when Advent arrives. A few years ago I was a library requesting fiend and used up all the hold space I had for Christmas picture books (um, starting in October). Seriously, though, the whole of December is like Black Friday lines when it comes to certain library Christmas books.
Over the years we've added to our home collection- a handful from Amazon or as gifts, but most through thrift store finds and library book sales, little by little. Another place we've struck gold (usually in the "off" season) has been a large used book store in our area with a specific Holiday section in the kids' area.
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I absolutely love Barbara Cooney's illustrations and I feel like you can't go wrong with books illustrated by her. Also, Tomie dePaolo has approximately 1,000 Christmas related books- I feel like his are great for gifts or a great place to start for a home collection.

So, here are our favorites:

Board books:

The Legend of the Candy Cane (abbreviated since it's in board book form)
The Nutcracker  (the BabyLit version also looks great)
The Nutcracker (These needle-felted illustrated books are too cute)
My First Christmas Carols


Picture Books:
 The Little Drummer Boy
Christmas in the Barn (thanks to Ellen who recommended the Barbara Cooney illustrated version a while back!)
The Cobweb Curtain (just heard about this last year via Stephanie's instagram and found it for sale at our library)
The Night Before Christmas

Christmas Versions of Books:
 The Jolly Christmas Postman (haha, I found this second hand and kudos to the previous family because it had all the little inserts!)

and 

More Tomie dePaola:

The Clown of God (can't NOT tear up every time)
The Legend of Old Befana

Saints + Traditions:

Saint Nicholas (I also love the Demi version)
Candy Canes in Bethlehem (the author was a client of Tim's so she gave us a copy!)


Aaannd that's where we are Christmas book-wise (for now). :)

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