November

At the beginning of November we FINALLY got the kids school pictures back.  Sheesh, that took forever!  Each one captures each kids pretty well.  Lottie's tattoo that I apparently didn't scrub hard enough in the bath the night before, Jack's buck teeth and perpetually overgrown hair and Charlie's......everything.

We also had Jack's first pack meeting.  He earned his Bobcat.  He is getting so big.

Then suddenly our backyard was in full autumn splendor.  The kids had the best time introducing Wren to the leaves.  I have about a hundred pictures on my phone that Jack took of Wren. They would throw the leaves up in the air and take videos of her as they came down and then they would all cheer and laugh and do it again. 

Then BOOM the next day it was snowing.  It was the craziest thing.  Charlie of course threw open the back door and ran out to play in it.  I watched him from the window wondering how long it would take him to decide to come in and try putting on some shoes at least and maybe a hat.  15 minutes is how long it took.  That boy has such joie de vivre.

After the big kids got home from school they got out the real snow stuff and did all the stuff.  The sledding, the snowball fights, the snowman.  This year I have 3 kids who can get themselves dressed and undressed for the snow.  That is huge for me!  I only have to do the gear for 2 people besides me.  I haven't been there since Lottie was a baby.

Then one Monday night John and I read about the Leonid Meteor Shower that was supposed to start around 7 or 8 and so we thought it would be fun to see if we could find them.  We packed everybody up and headed up into the canyon. 

We all bundled as close as we could get in our sleeping bags and watched the sky for about 30 minutes.  Ivy didn't get it and kept asking when we could go home.  Wren cuddled into John under the sleeping bag and fell asleep but everyone else kept their eyes on the skies and saw several shooting stars.  It was so fun when one person would see one and yell "I GOT ONE!"  Then another would shout it out.  One of those memories I hope they'll remember.

Our collective crush on Wreni is still going strong.  She is seriously the most adorable thing that any of us have ever seen.  From her ever expanding vocabulary to her tiny little body to her thick luscious hair.  She's makes us all so happy.  Except maybe for Ivy.  I don't think she makes Ivy all that happy.

Then, Finally, Lottie lost her first tooth.  All of her friends and cousin friends have already lost several teeth.  Even kids younger than her have.  She was pretty thrilled about getting that baby out.  She lost another one the next night and has about 8 more loose ones so we're on a roll now.