I'm Back

I apologize to my loyal fans (aka sisters in law) that I have been absent for nearly the entire month of November.  It's because I hate giving thanks.  Kidding.  It's really because I was kind of depressed about my health recently and just didn't see blogging as a priority.  I was still present on facebook so everyone knew I was alive, but blogging just seemed like too much effort.
This whole health thing is just a mystery.  At the end of September I started getting a general feeling of illness, stomach aches, etc. and it went in cycles of a few days.  Well, around the 12th, I felt horrible and it lasted for a full week.  I have had all kinds of medical tests done, all come out fine.  I have been to a chiropractor twice (who was a friend in high school.  Awkward?  A little.) with no real obvious reason for my malaise there either.  But.  I have been feeling fine for the past week so I'm holding out hope that I'm done feeling bad.  I've cut caffeine from my diet and had cut out a bit more for the two weeks after I started feeling bad too.  I'm also taking probiotics and drinking lots of herbal tea.  Interestingly enough, the thing that has obviously helped me the most?  Drinking lemon water before breakfast.  Don't ask me why.  ANYWAY.  Since I know no one reads to hear about me, that's that!

We had a nice thanksgiving, splitting the day between my parents and Brian's.  The boys loved spending time with Auntie Christy for a few days.  We also celebrated Everett's birthday with Brian's side of the family since Christy was visiting.  He got some awesome presents, including a giant rc construction site and a Tag reader, complete with books and carrying case.  We'll be having a friend party for him this Saturday and hopefully I'll get a little tutorial up on how we did the invitations before then.

Callum just transitioned to a toddler bed this week.  He's done great!  We tried it once this summer and he wasn't ready, so we went back to the crib.  This time, he was fine.  The first night, he woke up and needed some snuggling, but since then it's been smooth sailing.  Even for naps, he's stayed put.  He doesn't flop down and go right to sleep like he did in the crib.  He's generally sitting up as I shut the door now, but maybe that's somewhat just the newness of the bed.  We'll see.

We have snow!!!!  The boys love the snow (except falling in it with bare hands and having a mean tree dump it on your head.).  We played outside a bit today and they had a great time.  I'll try to get pictures up soon!

TAT: Christmas Wish List

This time of year/Christmas shopping lists are nearly IMPOSSIBLE for me since we all have our birthdays around this time of year too.  So I just shop and then I have to figure out how to distribute presents among the right dates.  I've accumulated some shirts for Everett's birthday and a stuffed owl for Callum's, and then I've gathered combo gifts for Christmas.  We're not going to go crazy this year since we're trying to save more money and really, we have too much stuff.  I plan to get Everett one new "toy" for his birthday; likely some more Trios or spelling games and I might get/make Callum a Jakey (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates) for his birthday.

1. Crayola Kid's Art Club and Tunnel Play Tent : around $43 on amazon.  I got it on sale on kids.woot for $25 with shipping and it includes dry erase crayons!

2. Thomas Wooden Railway Emily with Coal Tender : around $15 on amazon.  I got it for $10 on woot.

3. Thomas Wooden Railway Straight And Curved Expansion Pack : around $24 on amazon.  I got it for $12 on woot.

4. I got these Sugarbooger Silverware Sets for stocking stuffers for the boys at a local store for under $7 each.  Amazon has them for $8.50.  They come in a plastic case that will be awesome for picnic lunches!

5. I'm considering this Melissa & Doug See & Spell  for Everett's birthday, but we might get the Trios for the birthday and do this for Christmas so he has his own present to open.  It's $14.00 on amazon.

6. We won't be buying this LeapFrog Tag Learn And Love To Read Set for Everett since it's over $80, but I think he'd like it.

7. I've been debating getting this OK to Wake! Children's Alarm Clock and Nightlight for a long time, but I just can't bring myself to spend $30 on an alarm clock.

8. My boys would flip for this Jake and the Neverland Pirates 7 Pc Figurine Set for around $20 on amazon.

9. I'm almost done with these socks for Callum and I'll probably knit/crochet up some more things for them so they get to open more.

And me?  I just want this:

Lodge Dutch Oven
and this:

Weelicious cookbook

Halloween!

We had a fantastic Halloween!  The boys went trick-or-treating until we couldn't move our frozen fingers anymore and I promptly stole all good chocolates from their buckets.

Thomas the tank-o-lantern

Nemo and Everett's version of Jake and the Neverland Pirates

One woman ran to her kitchen to get our little monkey a banana!

Monkey butt

Me and my monkey

My zoo animals

Happy Halloweeeeeen!

Keweenaw Cup

This past weekend, we headed up to Brian's favorite place in the world, Copper Harbor, MI.  We were there for him to participate in the Keweenaw Cup cyclocross race.  He had a good time.  Although he apparently should have entered in the B class initially, he figured that out for the second day.  :)  Oh, and I think this weekend was the most beautiful weather I've ever experienced in Copper Harbor excluding one camping trip in the summer.

Start of the A race on day 1.  Those guys are crazy fast.

Day 1 Sand pit

We prettified Nora.  Have I mentioned we're dog-sitting for ten days?

The boys down on Lake Superior on Sunday morning

Day 2 race

Day 2

You know you're cool when you have a "num!" while riding your bike.

Here are a couple videos:




Everett's "race":

Preschool: Letter F

Last week, we worked on the letter F, and I think it's safe to say that Everett picked up on it faster than any of the other letters (except maybe E).  He was even explaining to me yesterday that F has two lines and E has three.  Nice!

Here is one from the week before when he was making his letter E for the wall.  (I'll take an updated pic of the wall when we do our letter G.)

He had fun using his workbook to make squares.  Regarding the pencil holding, when I hand him the pencil, I help him put it between his thumb and index finger but he invariably changes the position while working and I don't correct him.  I want him to get used to using a pencil before I harass him about how he's holding it.

And this is what I do during preschool work time:

Here's our updated flashcard display:

And here's one of our newest items.  Auntie C brought fun new dry erase markers, crayons, workbooks, and flashcards when she came up for the Whistlestop (I've added some of them to our amazon link on the side there).  Can you tell he's a little serious about his schooling?

I also got a little braver and did something we'd normally do during school time (aka Callum's nap time) while Callum was awake.  They had so much fun with their sensory bin: