November

WOW, this month has gotten away from me! It actually hasn't been as busy in terms of activities, but it hasn't helped that I've been sick. Anyway... let me catch up!

The last post I shared was on the morning of Niko's birthday. He had a pretty relaxing day at home. We went out to breakfast at his favorite local diner, he opened his presents, and he spent the rest of the day playing with his new stuff and watching the Patriots game on TV. My parents came over in the afternoon and then stayed for pizza and cake. He is officially 8!

And before I go on, check out his big present from us... he was a very happy little Cub Scout! :)

With his birthday out of the way, it was on to the next holiday for us-- Halloween! We had already selected all our pumpkins, but we needed to carve them, of course! This was the first year where the kids really carved their pumpkins all by themselves. I still had to scoop out all of the pumpkin guts, though. Maybe next year...

And then it actually WAS Halloween, which meant costumes and trick-or-treating (naturally!). The kids had a good time trick-or-treating with Evan and Paige for the fourth year in a row, and we were especially impressed that Niko kept his cardboard head on for most of the time. He had TERRIBLE visibility in that thing, so it took some dedication!

And ever since then, with soccer ending and things just generally quieting down, I haven't taken many pictures! The leaves have all fallen, and the unusually warm fall we've had is starting to turn cold (how it's supposed to be-- we've been spoiled!). Maya enjoyed jumping in the leaves on one of the warmer days a few weeks ago...

Now we are in holiday mode again. Today is the last day of school for the kids this week, and we will be spending Thanksgiving at my parents' house. I'm done with grocery shopping for the week, and have already dragged down all the Christmas decorations so that we can put them up on Friday (confession: some are already up. Niko has chastised me repeatedly for "disrespecting the turkey," haha!). I am 99.9% done with Christmas shopping AND wrapping already. I am ready!! :) We just need a little snow, and it will be perfect!

One final random picture: Maya and the cat. We are entering the time of year where the vast majority of my pictures will be taken indoors. sigh. But it is what it is!