November 2019

This sweet thing turned seven in November, and I can hardly believe that my baby is seven.

And because I love her so much, I broke my personal ban on trampoline parks and we went to one for her birthday.

...because if she wants to crack her head open, she's going to do it one way or another. So might as well let her do it while she's doing what she loves.

 

So she got together her best buds and her sisters (and this is Annika's new thing so bear with us) and went to Get Air.

Afterwards we went back to the house for cake and presents.

Someday she'll realize that her birthday party cupcakes are always clearance Halloween cupcakes, but until then I'll just keep telling her that everyone wants orange and purple and green frosting.

For her actual birthday we went to Red Robin where the girls tried to see how bottomless the bottomless kid entrees are. They made a respectable effort. They're no Hartemink kids at Mrs. Appletons in the 1980s. But still respectable.

She's seven now. She needs her readers.

Luna's totally digging Sarah's science fair in which she got to pick her favorite treat flavor.

Turns out, she likes all treats equally.

Annika had the idea to figure out what substance would get rid of the taste of jalapeno fastest. We ate so many pieces of jalapeno for this experiment. 

The answer is vegetable oil, so next time you go to a restaurant and get food that is too spicy just ask for a tall glass of vegetable oil. Both girls won first place for their grade. I think it was the pepper lights.

If you're going to sit in cold weather and watch soccer, there couldn't be a better backdrop.

In November, I spent a weekend in Chicago visiting my dear med school friend, Shannon, and (let's be honest) spending as much time as possible holding this sweet addition to her life. 

We strolled around Chicago, adorable sleeping baby in stroller, through the Lincoln Park zoo where we came across one of my favorite quotes.

So our dog likes to dig. She's not even sorry. She'll do it again tomorrow. Just wait.

Jack stayed with us for a week. Luna stopped torturing him long enough to take this picture.

Every other month Dave and Val watch our kids overnight, so we used our afternoon to take a kidless winter hike.

...and dinner out at a dinner theater seeing Mama Mia.

 

Over Thanksgiving break Naomi performed as Clara at an outreach at the local library.

There was such a great turn out -- a couple hundred people -- and a good way to get her jitters out before the real show.

At the end of Waltz of the Flowers

The crew who performed that morning.

Before you go thinking that you don't know where she got this dancing talent, I present to you Clifton Railsback, party boy, Nutcracker 1985.

We had 14 inches of snow Thanksgiving week. It was beautiful.

And heavy. Thank goodness for this man. That's what happens when his work gets cancelled and mine doesn't. At least it got me out of shoveling.

Luna loves snow so much. She would live outside if she could.

The roads were bad enough that we couldn't go to a sledding hill, so the kids built one in the back yard. It kept them busy for quite some time.

Jack looks like he's pleading with me. Begging for protection from Luna who just loves him too much.

Too much snow for a turkey trot Thanksgiving morning, so it was changed to a turkey walk. 

So much to be thankful for, starting right here.