G is the hardest kid to buy things for, or do something special for, because we have no idea what he likes. His Christmas list is still whatever his sibling gets. He plays with what everyone else plays with. And the only thing he really, really wants is baa baas. We’ve already done a sheep birthday party, though, and wanted to do something new and fun. So since G couldn’t decide, we said we’d plan something fun and he trusted us.

It didn’t end up on the Christmas card this year (no one was really feeling it) but I still think it’s worth sharing the annual PJ photo. Merry Christmas everyone!

You always are completely and uniquely you, and will never go along with something just because everyone else does (which I will be more thankful for as you get older). For now that means refusing to take a birthday picture until you’re ready, not wanting a birthday theme, and doing things completely your own way (down to picking your outfit head to toe for your birthday party).

You are sweet and hesitant but also bold and demanding. You spend a lot of time worrying about life and friends and things, but you won’t tell many people or let just anyone see that. You put on a big and brave act and entertain everyone in the room. The loudest, the silliest, the least likely to do anything without a fight.

Just keep trick or treating… just keep trick or treating…

Is there anything better than a group costume? As you might have noticed from F’s birthday, she’s a bit obsessed with fishies and the Finding Nemo/Dory movies. So it didn’t take much to convince the rest of the family that we should dress up as characters from the movies.

There was no question that F gets Dory, the blue fish. I love my fuzzy nemo costume and am going to need to find a way to make this my costume every year. If you haven’t seen Finding Dory, you might not know E’s character Hank. Tom is Bruce the shark, and Gideon is either Squirt or Crush (one of the turtles).

I think it’s finally starting to feel like fall here. The leaves have been changing and falling for a while, and pumpkins have been out, but when everyone’s still wearing shorts, it’s hard to get in the mood. But finally we looked at the calendar and said it was time. Saturday was our town’s 2nd annual fall fest. We’re still trying to get the hang of it, and always leave feeling like we were a bit confused and not sure we made the most of the day. We ate some food that was not as great as we were expecting, and tried the bounce houses but found them too crowded and aggressive, and waited in a line for far too long for a train ride (that at least everyone said was fun!) We saw a lot of people that we knew, but the whole thing was so crowded and frenzied, that it felt hard to actually hold a conversation. We rushed by booths and were constantly trying to get to one place or another.

It’s back to school season!

I’m not going to lie, this back to school period was hard. The calendar was very full, even without the fun celebrations for a birthday and vacation. We had three children starting school on three different days, and each had an orientation day and back to school night on top of that. Two of the children were starting completely new schools, which only added to the stress.

You know me, I love when a kid gives me a theme to work with. F has been very clear for a while now that she expected her birthday to have a blue cake, goodie bags, and everyone to sing to her. But the actual theme she wasn’t super sure on.

You have been counting down to this day for MONTHS. Constantly asking when your day would come. When would you get your blue cake and have everyone sing Happy Birthday to F. And somehow it’s finally here. I’ve been calling you a two year old every day leading up to this, savoring these last bits when you’re still so little. Because in many ways you are so big.

Life got busy as it does, and one of the things that disappeared around here was blog updates. There was also a period where I debated if I wanted to continue it, but I’ve decided that the benefits of tracking memories makes it worth it. You will see some changes - making things a bit more generic, for example, to keep some privacy while still documenting life.

So what did we miss in the last 6 months or so?