Thanksgiving 2013:

You know, for the last year at least, Jonas and I have often remarked on a striking thing for us whenever we are at my parent's house:  We can just SIT THERE, and eat a full meal, and never worry about our kids.  It's so fantastic.  This is just in contrast to the infant years, when you have to be feeding/burping/holding them, or the toddler years, when you still have to be feeding them, then keeping things out of their mouths, plants away from their grasp, making sure outlets are covered, guarding them as they go up and down the stairs, etc.  Now?  Nothing!  We are free and clear the entire time we're there!  It's great.  :)  We LOVE this stage of our kids lives, that's for sure.

So, that above scenario is sort of what we were expecting for Thanksgiving this year.  My Mom has an awesome room upstairs, dedicated to all things grandchildren.  There are toys and books for every age.  My kids love that room.  PLUS, they had my cousin's kids to play with--Jack and Leah.  Leah is just 3 months older than Layla.  

This mental picture did not really work out.  Leah and Layla really did get along well, but Finn?  Finn had no one to play with.  And Finn had a ROUGH day.  :(  We knew we were eating at 2:00 p.m., which is a no-go for little kids, so we made sure our kids ate a good breakfast and lunch before going over to my parent's house.  However, the candy.  Oh, my, the candy this year.  My kids did NOT do well with being told "no" to all of the candy and cookies sitting around, especially Finn.  (I brought some Oreos as substitutes for the kids, and Layla did okay with that, but Finn just couldn't get it into his head why everyone else got to eat all the fun stuff and not him.  Ranting and raving.)  On top of that, Finn just had a hard day, in general!  He seemed totally overwhelmed with the people, the noise, the activity.  I get that--that comes from me, sorry buddy.  At least three separate times he came up to me and said something like, "Mama, I sleep with you???" and then brought me upstairs to my parent's room where we would cuddle on the bed for a while, then he would play out "Fireman Sam" dramas for me--alone in the room.  Poor kid.  It was just a rough day for him, especially considering how it normally is there, so because of that it was a rather rough day for myself and Jonas.  We took turns being on "kid duty," something we thought we had gotten out of a year ago...

THEN, on top of the rough afternoon, we got home, got the kids to bed, and they BOTH woke up that night, sick.  Clearly they had gotten "some" dairy products, or other things they are allergic to, during the day.  While none of their allergies will kill them, THIS is exactly why we are normally so strict and careful:  They can seem okay for a while if they get some dairy, and then they are up at night, throwing up, screaming, or itching skin, etc.  It's just awful.  I mean, I'm glad that they don't go into anaphylactic shock or anything like that for sure, but this just confirms once again how careful we have to be with them and their food...unless we want to be up all night.  Which was also no fun.  For anyone.  Thankfully today they seem totally fine, although still cranky--emotional ups and downs are also a classic response to allergy exposure.  We're pushing stomach-friendly, healthy foods today and hoping to be back on track very soon.  

Here are a few pictures Renee took at Thanksgiving.  I was too shot to care about photos/videos this year. 

Deera, the wife of Mursil (a Saudi student who lived with us for a while), and their daughter Alleen.
Mursil, Deera, and Alleen stayed with us last night in our guest room.
Alleen had heart surgery 1 month ago at the Mayo Clinic, and we are so thankful she is doing great!

Jonas, doing the beard thing.  

Renee made sugar cookies shaped like pumpkin pies.  :)  They were GOOD.  

Jonas and I always miss the game of settlers because the kids go to bed so early.  Some day!  (In fact, we've started putting Finn to bed at 6:30 now.  It's so awesome.  Layla is still 7:00.)

Dad, gathering everyone for prayer before the meal.  

Jonas and Jon lead the charge to hold hands while praying.  

Mom and Dad, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Duane. At the reversed kids table.  ;)

A view of trying to get everyone to take a seat...and the food was FANTASTIC again, as usual.
My Brussles sprouts and bacon were a big hit, even though it was touch-and-go cooking at home!

Two anniversaries:

 November is anniversary month in our house, it seems!

November 16th was our 6th wedding anniversary.  :)  Those have been six hard years (just being honest here!  You know how I feel about that, and not romanticizing things...), guys, but they've been great too--wonderful.  The best years ever.  It's amazing how many high "highs" of life and low "lows" of life we've been on, together, in these last 6 years.

Each year, our celebration of our anniversary becomes less and less..."formal/dramatic."  I'm kind of liking that trend.  :)  This year the Horsmans and us traded "Anniversary days out," so we took their kids on their anniversary, and they took our kids on our anniversary.  Gotta love living by family that is in the same position of life you are, huh??  Broke, but still needing to celebrate, dang it! ;)  So, we dropped off our kids, then went out to Potbelly's for a quick lunch before doing to see "Ender's Game."  Headed back to our house to watch another movie I had not yet seen:  "Star Trek: Into Darkness" (is that the name?) on iTunes via the ever handy apple TV.  Then we made a fire and talked--because nothing is better than owning a home with two working fireplaces, AND making fires all the time.  :)  I think the fireplace might be J's favorite part of our house, hands-down.  We then went to "Everest on Grand," our favorite restaurant (probably).  It's Tibetan/Nepali food, and it's just outstanding.  Every.single.time.  We started a tradition a few years back of getting take-out from there on our anniversary, and I think it's a FIRM tradition now.  :)  So we picked up our food, headed to the Horsmans to grab our kids, quick put them to bed, and then enjoyed our dinner in front of the fire.  Really, a GREAT day, and pretty darn cheap too.  Go us.  :)

A week after getting engaged.  At Renee and Jon's house, J meeting them for the first time.  I was a tad bit nervous, considering our fun history, but he was cool and calm.  Dork.  He should have been just a BIT nervous.  ;)

The morning after getting my engagement ring in St. Paul.  

At my aunt's house--the extended family (local) meeting J for the first time.

At Mike and Anthula's wedding in Montreal, just two weeks before our own wedding.

Our chilly, yet sunny, November wedding day.  We looked pretty good.

Mr. and Mrs.  :)

Christmas in Nebraska

Jamaica

6 weeks after having Layla
After this point our "couples only" pictures seriously died down... ;)

From then on our pictures were family pictures!

Add caption

1st St. Patrick's Day as a family of 3.

A pirate family of 3.  

And the family of 4.

 Anniversary #2:  Home-ownership!  November 20th marked 1 year since we moved into our new home.  It's been such a wonderful year here.  Seriously, though--I can't imagine still being in that apartment.  I'm SO grateful to have had the opportunities to be caretakers and have free rent, in a great area of town that we loved...but we were so done with it by the time we left.  It's great to just BE in this house, and have our kids be able to be as loud as they want and not stress about that.  :)  We love owning a home!!

THIS was the picture that the website used to sell the house (their main house picture).  It sold ME on the house, that's for sure!  We talk all the time about how blessed we are by this house.  The fact that it has 5 bedrooms alone...LOVE it.  

MOA today:

I went to "Once Upon A Child" a few weeks back to find some shoes for Finn...because, while Layla has many a pair, Finn had outgrown his few loaned pairs and had...none.  Not a ONE that fit him, poor kid.  :(  I found some great shoes there, and when I was checking out they gave us two free tickets to Nick Universe at MOA.  The tickets were either worth one ride, a day of rides, or a year of rides.  You had to scan them there to find out.  

Our tickets were each worth 6 points (the most expensive ride there), so the kids went on a few rides.  This turned out to not be such a hot thing.  Layla cried the entire time through her first ride, and as she was starting to cry at the second one I quick asked the lady if I could swap her for Finn.  So this video below is of Finn loving Layla's ride on the merry-go-round.  :)   (The kid right next to Finn was being forced on the ride by her poor parents, so that is the screaming you hear the whole time...)

We went and walked around the mall then, and who should we happen upon but Santa!!  Layla ran right up to him and gave him a big hug...good thing there was no line!  I couldn't get my camera out in time to catch that, but it was very sweet.  He posed for a few pictures with them (which we did not take, nor buy...)...and boy are my kids awful posers.  ;)  Hah!  He then gave them each a carton of 3 Christmas tree peeps as a parting gift.  The kids were SO excited about this, but after 1 bite they decided to lick them for a while...then throw them away.  Yes.  My sentiments exactly.  Gross.  I'm sure they give them out because they are so allergen friendly, though, so it makes sense.  Still gross.

We then stopped at Lego Land on our way out.  The kids don't really "get" building things yet.  They just liked scooping out piles of legos from the bins.  

Her dream a reality:

A few posts below this one I took a few videos of us at the park on a nice sunny day.  Soon after I stopped taking vidoes at the park another mom there made a big pile of leaves at the bottom of the slide and ALL the kids had the time of their lives sliding down into the leaves.  Layla had talked of NOTHING ELSE, pretty much (other than a pet...) since that day, so on Friday night Jonas raked a few leaves and let her dream become reality in our backyard.  :)

17

We'll call these pictures "17 weeks," even though it's a day shy. 

 Heck, I have a few hours of child-free time right now, so this WILL be 17 weeks.   

I do not promise regular pictures at all.  Regular pictures are for a first pregnancy, when you're watching your normal body become "cute pregnant."  Regular pictures are NOT made for a body after multiple pregnancies.  It's just not super...cute.  ;)

 Guys, this is my fifth pregnancy.  My body is not exactly "bouncing back," shall we say?  I swear, the moment I got pregnant I could practically hear my uterus saying "Oh!  We're doing THIS again?  Got it!  Let's GOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  And then BAM.  I looked 20 weeks pregnant almost instantly.  Or, at 12 weeks at least.  These pictures--this shirt--do a rather good job of hiding that, so that makes me feel a little bit better.  

I don't think I looked any bigger with Finn at 39 weeks than with Layla at 39 weeks, but my body sure got to that "large" point much faster (in fact, I gained 36 lbs with Layla, but only 24 lbs with Finn...and it didn't matter.  I looked exactly as big.)...and here we go again.  It's happening so much faster, so my only real body-image hope is that it happens fast, but I don't surpass the other pregnancies in size at least.  ;)

17 weeks.

Getting the right angle is hard.  

Here is a close -up of part of my dresser top, UN-EDITED, UN-CLEANED.  Those stacks and stacks of boxes?  Those are a box or two shy of my one-month supply of shots.  

Twice a day (every 12 hours), every day, from 6 weeks pregnant until 6 weeks AFTER I give birth, I have to give myself these shots.  So, that's a full 40 weeks of shots.  Blech.  Our insurance this time around is not as good as it was for Layla (teacher insurance--the one big perk of being a teacher), and Finn (thank you, America/MN), but these $1,500 a month shots are still covered with only my co-pay.  Other parts of this long process will not be covered, but at least THIS is covered.  So I'm thankful for that!

They really sting.  I've got great black and blue bruises on each side from them, should I even need them for some sort of dramatic show and tell.  ;)

Pregnant.

So, I'm pregnant.

Most of you already know this, so it's not like I haven't been "announcing it" to keep things a surprise.  I don't know...I just have a hard time announcing pregnancy these days.  I probably always will.

It doesn't feel fun and exciting for me, that announcement.  It feels a bit scary.  (Don't misunderstand me here...I'm not living in fear or anything.  I guess I just don't leap at the chance to do scary things?  Especially when they are unnecessary.  I would never, ever announce a pregnancy at 6 weeks pregnant again--lesson learned.  So I just wait until I HAVE to tell the people who live with/near me, because I'm starting to get funny looks usually.  :)  And I wait to tell people who live far away until it makes sense to ME, or feels right to ME/US.  I guess that's just the way things will be.)

On Saturday I will be 17 weeks pregnant.

On December 11th we'll find out if the baby is healthy, viable, and the gender.  It is very much a NEED for me to know the gender of my child.  Until then, it's too easy for this pregnancy to feel exactly like my first two, and I try to avoid those associations at all costs.  I need to know a gender.  I need to be able to start picturing a child, even if my mental pictures are almost always 100% wrong when it comes to how they look physically.  :)  Choosing a name is never even remotely easy for Jonas and myself, so knowing the gender helps us cut out 50% of the stress of name choosing.  We don't even talk about names until the 20 week ultrasound--that's how tough it can be for us, sometimes. :)  (And, this time around I have NO name inklings.  Not one name I personally like and wish for, even if J might really dislike it, etc.  Nothing.  Nada.  Uh-oh...)

Some people talk about how there are "so few surprises in life," so why wouldn't you want the gender of your child to be a surprise to you when you give birth?  This makes me laugh.  Inside--not at them out loud.  :)  Um...where to begin?  Parenting is the ONE thing in life that has been FULL of complete surprises!  And I think it's sort of designed to always be that way!  Every stage a child goes through is so different, and then every child in and of themselves is so different!  Surprises, surprises, surprises galore!  So, please tell me their gender pronto.  It's one surprise I don't need.  

There is also another reason I need to know the gender.  I have a very, very hard time connecting emotionally with a baby growing inside me.  Obviously, this is part of living and being pregnant after having two children die.  However, I would prefer to connect as much as I can.   Knowing the gender helps that immensely for me.  The baby goes from being an "it," a "he/she" and feeling rather parasitical, frankly, to being a BABY for me then.  It's a small step, but when we can choose a name it's even more helpful.  There are no guarantees in pregnancy.  Your child can die, randomly, at any moment.  (This sounds paranoid to those of you who haven't experienced your children die inside of you, I know...that's okay.  But it's still true.) My mom had a stillbirth at 39 weeks.  So, for me, as hard as it is, I'd rather be able to connect with the baby I am carrying as soon as I can...because you never know if that is all the time in the world you will get with your child.

My due date is technically May 3rd, but I'll never get to that date.  Likely I'll be induced on or around April 26th, unless I go into labor before then.

I know this is feeling like a downer of a post.  :)   But friends, that's sort of the reality of pregnancy for me.  That's the real, honest TRUTH of pregnancy for me:  it's really hard, and there is nothing "warm and fuzzy," or "magical" or "mysteriously feminine" about it for me.  It's just awful.

Again, please don't read into that statement.  Pregnancy is awful for me, but our children are wonderful.  Our children are total delights in our life.  I am so looking forward to having another living CHILD, especially one that is living well outside of my body, but I am not really looking forward to the whole process of growing that child for the next 5-6 months or so.  You might laugh and think I was being highly dramatic if I listed out all of the crazy, annoying, painful, awkward things that happen to me when I'm pregnant.  I know many women deal with some of them when they are pregnant, but I seem to get the extra special blessing of dealing with ALL of them, EVERY pregnancy.  ;)

 That's totally going to be another post down the road, I'm sure--my list of pregnancy woes.  And if you are kind, you'll just smile and let me write it, and keep any "judgy" thoughts to yourself...because it really IS helpful for me to be real, open, and honest about this, and any, part of my life.  I am drawn to people who are not very guarded, who share openly and truthfully about all aspects of life, and so I feel like I have become more and more like that as time goes on.  I am delighted with the real, deep connections that form over truth-sharing, and truth-telling, and truth-embracing.  :)  And I'm very, very thankful for those of you who have never been scared off by me sharing my honest thoughts on life.  You are good friends.

(And I should also mention:  with each pregnancy, Jonas just gets better and better at being a calm, loving, supporting help to me as I muscle/puke my way through the pregnancy.  He has been completely awesome this time around, too.  I'm very, very grateful for his help in all of this for sure!!)

So, let me sum up:

I am pregnant.

Pregnancy is hard for me.

But children are very much worth it, and I look forward to 6 months from now, and growing to know and love our 5th child.  :)  I look forward to a lazy, slow summer at home, and all the small joys that will bring.  I feel that I might even be able to relax sooner and enjoy this baby even more in the "trying times," because we've been through this twice now, and we've seen the end result.  We know things work out.  We know kids sleep when they should, eat when they should, learn when they should, etc.  So we can take a little bit more of a deep breath this time, and just relax--no need to try and control everything, especially things that simply should not be controlled.  Just enjoy.  :)  At least, this is my hope.  And I won't flip out at all if it doesn't end up this way, but for now, this is my hope.

See?  I ended with hope.  ;)

The end.

Dairy-free baking:

Edit update:  I swear, keeping track of my kids allergies is rather tricky sometimes, despite the fact that I think about it every day, 3 times a day, for years.  :(  I was so thrilled they could taste the dough because it was dairy free that I totally forgot there were RAW EGGS in there, which Layla is allergic to, of course.  She didn't eat much at all, so I'm thankful for that, but now I'm thinking back on crazy emotional ups and downs of the past few days.  You just NEVER know what is related to allergies like this, if you know they were exposed to something.  Grrrrrrrrrr.  So much fun.  

I brought a meal to a couple from our church who just had a baby, and I simply didn't have time on this particular day to make a home-made dessert, so I grabbed a very cheap box of brownies from the store.

Layla is REALLY getting into helping me bake these days.  It's pretty sweet for me.  :)  I mean, don't get me wrong, she makes a MESS, but it's fun to have her want to be a part of the very activity that seems to take up 1/2 of my waking time.  

The kids normally never get to sample much of my baking for other people because it usually involves dairy, but this particular brand of brownies had no dairy!  Thank you, Duncan Hines.  The kids LOVED licking the cooking utensils.  

Side note:  I now know why Duncan Hines brownies are so cheap, and maybe diary free??  They are bad.  ;)  Blech.  But, nice to know it's an option for the kids, should I need it!

A day out at the park:

For mid-November, the weather was simply too amazing to pass up outside time.  We headed over to our local lake playground for some fun.  

YES, Layla did, in fact, do her own hair this day.  :)

Horror.

Yesterday I threw up so hard it went up and out my nose.

No lie.

It was, for SURE, one of the top 3 most disgusting moments of my life.  I'm still trying to rank the top 5 appropriately, but that experience is, hands down, in the top 3.

And now I'm out of words for this disgusting horror.

Fire man Finn:

Finn is extremely into fire trucks, fire men, fire anything these days.

He loves it when Jonas makes a fire.

He loves finding pictures of fire in books.

His favorite show these days is "Fireman Sam" on Netflix, which has THE most annoying British voices in the world for character voices.  No lie.

He loves walking around with lighters (he can't work them yet, so we let him.  Yes, he's a second child, clearly...).

He carries around a plastic fire truck all day, pretty much every day.  Who knows how long this phase will last, but while he's in it, he's ALL IN.

Before I forget: Cute kid stories.

1.  Right when Layla turned 4 she started being afraid of things at night.  We had to leave lights on in closets, convince her that dragons and monsters weren't real, etc.  Well, about a month later Jonas solved THAT problem in one 2 minute story:  He went into the closets and pretended to tickle and tickle the monsters, and they all were laughing so much they had to go home.  To their OWN houses.  This TOTALLY worked for Layla!  She told me about it that night, laughing, and since then is back to her normal self!  Almost no night wakings or talk of being afraid when she had to go to sleep, and we don't need to have any lights on in her room anymore--all closet lights are off.  Why would they be on??  The monsters are gone.  :)

A few days ago I was listening to the kids playing upstairs.  Finn has started being "afraid" and "scared" of lots of random stuff...things that are NOT in the least bit scary, in my humble opinion...and it was big sister Layla to the rescue this time.  She was protecting him by going into each room before him (Layla:  "You stay here Finn!  I will go and tickle the monsters first!!"), pretending to tickle monsters, and then coming back out to tell Finn it was safe.  Adorable.  Melted my heart.  :)


2.  Today in the car Layla said to me, "Mama?  I fink my nose is melting.  What kind of snow is it?"  Turns out it was snot.  Poor kid...not quite as glamorous as snow.  But it totally makes sense! :)

3.  Finn is obsessed with BEING HAPPY.  If he is crying he'll say to me over and over: "I need to be happy!  I need to be happy!!!!" until he snaps himself out of crying, and then is happy.  It doesn't matter WHAT you ask Finn--if he can, he will answer "No, I happy!!"  I love it.  :)

What a day.

WOW I'm pretty tired right now...and the day isn't even close to being over yet.  :)

This morning, a very rare thing happened around here:  I wasn't feeling like total crap, and my calendar was almost completely empty.  We slowly got ready for the day, did breakfast, then headed off to the Children's Museum.  It's such a great place, and I really love going there with the kids, but man Finn stressed me out there.  He is just NOT trained well, clearly! ;)  He runs, runs, runs everywhere.  Can't stop running to save his life.  I am constantly on stress level 2, trying to make sure Layla has a somewhat fun time while keeping an eye on Finn.  But, it still works out--I just need a Tylenol or two when we're done.  ;)

Videos from the Children's Museum:

Finn loves the hats and dress-up section, but he soon ran off to join Layla in HER favorite spot:  the music studio where she just dances her little heart out.  Until the big kids crowd her out.  

In the "forest" section, playing around as turtles:

There was a new exhibit that just opened, all about creative play.  It's VERY cool, but we arrived at the perfectly wrong time:  just when 3 buses of kids from a school showed up.  Sooooo, we'll head back another time when we can explore in a bit more peace and quiet.  But man do my kids love glue.  And sticking things to glue.  ;)

We left the Children's Museum around 11:15 and headed right out to Brooklyn Park to pick up Jonas for Lunch.  I had mistakenly told Layla we were going to the Zoo after the Children's Museum, so ordinarily she would have been thrilled to see Jonas (in fact, she was asking for him that morning when she woke up...we even called him at work so she could say hello...), but the fact that he was taking her away from animals was not okay.  She regularly asked me when we were going to "Put papa back" and go to the zoo, while we were with Jonas.  ;)  We picked him up at work and headed out to 5 Guys.  It's been forever since I have been to one of those places!  We try to not go to sit-down dinner places with the kids too often, mostly because it just feels like a waste of time and money to use at this point, but we've actually talked about starting to do that a little more intentionally these coming days--not because we want to spend the money on going out to eat, that's for sure, but because they just need the practice.  We'll be hitting up some of those lame restaurants where "kids eat free" on Mondays/Tuesdays/Wednesdays, etc.  ;)  I'm rambling, I know, but all this to say we weren't expecting a ton out of the kids, and I didn't come very prepared to keep them entertained at the table, but they did just fine, so that's a good sign to me:  they might be closer to "ready" now than I had previously thought.  I guess I'd just SO much rather go out to eat with Jonas ALONE than with the kids.  ;)  Ah, well.  "Family bonding" I guess.  We "put Papa back" after a nice lunch and then headed back into St. Paul to go to the Zoo.  

It was a PERFECT day for the Zoo, IF you have to go to an outdoor zoo in mid-November in Minnesota.  The sun was shining in a way it hasn't shined for 4 weeks at least, and the temperatures were very mild--windy, but mild.  Layla kept asking to see animals that this zoo does not have, but she still enjoyed herself a lot.  The seals swimming so close to the glass, and the monkeys/chimps/gorillas were a big hit as well.  Finn's scream of excited surprise always makes me laugh.  :)

Videos from Como Zoo:

Checking out the monkey/gorilla house:

The seals were endless entertainment.  I don't know why they had them penned up in such a tiny cage/pool when they have a much larger pool right across the room...

Playing in the Polar Bear habitat...but sadly, no bears could be seen today.  I guess they sleep in the afternoons...unlike my children... ;)

By this time BOTH kids were "so done" with the jackets...

Finn wasn't as sold on the bronze turtle as he had been last time...

Now we're home, in time for a little "rest time" and a snack...and a blog update.  

Around 4:30 we'll head over to my parent's house.  My Dad is in Brazil right now, and my Mom is on a three week writing break in WI, so what do their children do?  That's right.  What ANY group of loving children would do:  head over to their parent's house to rake their mountains of leaves, and to winter-proof the back yard.  :)  Renee is bringing enchiladas, and I'll stay nice and warm in the house watching all the kids while the rest of them (Renee, Jon, Jonas, Lauren, maybe Dan) rake.  Sounds like a good trade off to me.

First official school picture:

Layla

2013-2014 Preschool

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, again, I'm going to have to dock communication points from Layla's preschool for NOT telling me they were going to be taking professional pictures of the kids on a certain day!  I might have, say, done her hair that day...or something.  ;)

The picture is grainy because I blew it up (the tiny one they sent me in the online receipt), but if you are a grandparent you will be getting a hard copy, 3X5, because preschool year 1 only deserves a 3X5 I think.  ;)

But she's still pretty cute, eh?  Hair barely done and all?

Hamster watch:

I'm officially putting us on Hamster Watch.

While I love the idea of having NO pets--no other living things for Mama to take care of, no other living things to drain our already tight budget with random vet visits, etc.--I think Layla has officially put us on "I want a pet" notice.

Rather, she wants a hamster. 

She's asked about it 4 separate times now--the most recent being 1 hour ago, when she came up to me and asked if we could get in the car and go get a hamster.  Being the strong Mama I am, we ended up calling Jonas on the phone and asking HIM this question over speaker phone.  ;)  He passed the buck right back to me.  Spineless, I tell you!  ;)

I have no idea where she gets this idea, and why she keeps remembering it, but it has officially stuck in her brain.  Drat.

My guess is we'll likely get one...sometime....NOT now.  Plus we have to figure out the allergies thing.  It would be do delightfully convenient if my kids were allergic to all animals, but alas, I don't think this is true.  :) 

Having had MANY, many pets in my young life (fish, ducks, rabbit, dogs, hamsters, birds, lizards, etc), including a hamster, I can officially say the following things:

Pros:

1.  They are QUIET.  This is so key, I can't even tell you.  

2.  They are small and take up almost no space.

3.  If you have to go travel they are the least inconvenient pet to try to pawn off on a friend to watch.

4.  Their food is cheap.

5.  They rarely, if ever, need a vet (or require you to spend big bucks on them).  They live, they die.  End of story.

6.  They are cheap.  Their stuff is cheap/free.

Cons:

1.  They are animals.  Living in your house.  As someone who rarely remembers to water her house plants more than once a week, MAX, this concerns me.

2.  Who knows about allergies??  Guess I'll have to research.

3.  They can bite sometimes.  

4.  Cleaning a cage.  Sigh.  

5.  They are rodents.  They can be ugly.  Who wants ugly living in your house?? ;)

6.  I am sure there are more.  Give me time...  

Sunday night fire:

Sunday evenings we normally spend at my parent's house (weekly dinner together as an extended family), but as they are often gone/out of the country these days, we have a few more lazy Sunday nights alone at home.  :)  It was a chilly, gray November day...so we didn't need much more of an excuse than that to make a fire.  It was lovely.  

No better vantage point than right on Papa.

Telling silly stories together.  

Layla was pretty sure she was wicked funny.  

I WENT somewhere!

Last night I went out to eat some Italian food with 7 other ladies who used to attend CCC with me.  :)  It was great fun!  We met at 7:00 and I didn't get home until well after 11:30 p.m.  Oh...MERCY.  Coming from the lady who has been going to bed around 8:00 every night these days, that was the end of my rope.  But it was worth it.  So many fun stories to tell and remember.

So, that was Saturday night, and right now I'm making a veggie frittata to bring to a brunch with 4 other high school friends.  I am very much looking forward to this, but it also makes me laugh.  When my social calendar fills up, it seems to be all at once I guess!  

This introvert is going to need some ALONE time sometime soon, in order to recharge.  ;)  

Chemicals:

So here is the deal.  In general, I love chemicals.  They do such a great job at what I ask them to do in my daily life, namely, cleaning.

However, I'm also a human being who reads, and researches, so I've learned a lot in the past 6 years or so on chemicals, and I'm trying to eliminate all but the most essential ones in my life.

"Fewer" rather than "none" is probably a better way to say it, because I for SURE am not that Pinterest / Facebook lady always posting about what thing she just made home-made, from scratch, just like the pioneers did.  Yeeeeah, no.

So, I've landed on a company that I like in general, The Honest Company.  I guess they had a naming legal battle with a blog called The Honest Toddler a while back, and lots of people don't like the company now because they went after a blogger with their name, etc.  Lame.  Either you like their products, or you don't.  The fact that they handled a legal matter, where both parties were happy at the end, has no influence on my opinion of their products.

Anyway, I started off getting lots of different products that they sell and just trying them out.  I began with a bundle, but now that I know a lot of their products I will likely just get a few specific ones every now and then, rather than have a regular shipment.

Here is the thing...I've liked almost everything I've tried:  sunscreen, lip balm, body wash and shampoo combo for the kids, hand wash, floor cleaner, bathroom cleaner, counter cleaner, lotion, etc.

My one big exception to this is their dish products.  MAN they just don't work for me.  My dishes have never looked worse.  I'm sure it's much healthier for us to eat off of them, in general, but I don't care.  (To be fair, the dish soap for the sink is okay--but not amazing.  It's the dishwasher soap that I'm really not impressed with.  And if I'm going to take the time to wash a dish by hand I want it to freakin' SHINE when I'm done!!)

I AM GOING BACK TO DISH CHEMICALS, BABY!!!!

My loves:

The one other product they make that I don't "adore," but I'm going to stick with, is their laundry detergent.  It's no Tide--nothing can be better than that--but it works fine for us.  Just fine.  My kids aren't in the "staining everything" phase of life right now, so we can get by, and frankly a big reason I do this is for Finn and his crazy sensitive skin.  So, laundry soap in general is a place where I'm willing to sacrifice a little.  I mean, I guess I could always separate the kids clothes from our clothes and wash our stuff in the good chemicals, but...let's be honest...that's just too much work for me right now.  Getting ANY laundry done seems to be a chore I had never thought possible, so let's just eliminate that extra step right now.

If you're interested in trying something from this company, you can click on this link from me and I get a "credit" towards my next purchase:  http://honest.com/accept_invitation/295556  Don't get me wrong.  This is not a multi-level marketing company or anything, I promise!  :)  I don't make any money from them...just get a bit of money taken off my next order if someone new orders through me their first time.

But if you're going to stick with chemicals I totally understand.  Because I love them too.  And I miss them, sometimes.  Sigh.  :)

First Snow:

Layla has been waiting and WAITING for the snow to fall.

Today, she got her wish.  Sort of.  It was rather a sad little snow, so no sledding or snow men yet, and those snow angels needed a bit of interpretation.  :)

I don't know why the color was so off for these next two videos.  It switches back to normal 1/2 way through the last one...

The progression of Finn's Daylight Savings Day nap. :)

Winter prep:

Jonas is in full-on "Winter prep" mode around here.  I think he really loves being a home owner and doing all of these little upkeep chores, and for that, I am very grateful.  :)

Saturday was a beautiful fall day around these parts, so Jonas spent a good portion of the day outside, working in the yard and on the exterior of the house.

Our bedroom windows look out over our backyard, the garage, and over the roof of our 3-season-porch.  Layla had the thrill of her young life when she was allowed to go UP ON THE ROOF with Papa and help him install a new window.  She had to just sit still and hold screws, but still--she loved it.  :)

Getting ready to hold the screws.  

Taking her job seriously.  

It was rather bright...

The view from inside one of our bedroom windows.