Veteran's Day

Pop-Pop, US Navy 1964-1968, Aide and Flag Lieutenant to the Commander Service Group Three.


And here is a proud Addie next to his photo on the Veteran's Wall at her elementary school.

School Portrait

Who is this mature young lady?!

Addie said the photographer didn't give her time to smile before she took the picture. Maybe that's the trick!

BFFs

On November 1, Eliza said bon voyage to her best friend, Sophie, who moved to Maryland. I cried when I heard they were moving because Eliza loves Sophie so so so much. We have promised to let the girls FaceTime each other, and Eliza has already sent Sophie two hand-made cards, one promising to share gum with her if she comes back to visit. I think the transition will be harder on Eliza who is being left behind while Sophie is off on new adventures. The good news? Eliza has a very big heart and will have lots of close friendships her whole life.

Eek!

I haven't had a blog post in so long it is daunting to know where to start, but I'm going jump right in with the present (or very recent past) - Halloween! Addie is Hermione Granger from Harry Potter (as if she needs an introduction), Eliza is Tinkerbell (during the day and decided to be Rapunzel at night) and Xavier is reprising Addie's spider costume. I took thee day off again this year spending the entire morning in Addie's classroom helping with lantern crafts and taking photos. I loved it. Addie and then headed over to Montessori for Eliza's and then Xavier's parades. This is why I take the whole day off! Then we went home for a snack before going over to our friend Danika and Kieran's house for pizza and trick or treating.



This was Xavier's first time, and I was really worried about having him in contact with nuts. It isn't as easy as just removing the Snickers and Almond Joys from his plastic pumpkin. He can't eat most of the regular chocolates either because they may contain nuts. He can't even touch peanut butter and imagine how many sticky-fingered kids are out with their gooey hands in the candy bowls. Luckily we avoided all of this because after 2 houses, Xavier was content to sit in his stroller and just eat allergy-free dum dums and skittles for 2 hours. Everyone had fun - and stayed safe.

Eliza Turns 4!

Happy Birthday Eliza Wren!

I had the chance to go to Eliza's school for her birthday celebration. In montessori tradition, the birthday child holds the earth and circles around the sun one rotation for each year of their life. Eliza was crazy excited and went around enough to be a teenager but then a few laps in reverse so maybe in the end she was still four. Later that evening, we had pizza and cupcakes at home with a few presents with more and more and more to open over the weekend. She has her birthday party on Saturday with 20 of her classmates. We are doing it at her gym class location so there will be lots of jumping, tumbling and bouncing - and I don't have to clean!

Love my little Eliza girl.





Montessori celebration


4!




Eliza's "mad" face. A classic.



Making a wish

2nd Grader!

Addie started 2nd Grade today. She was super excited because her best friend Zoe is in her class. I'm shocked they didn't split them up this year. Their teacher better watch out! When she got home Addie said her day was "very good" which is high accolades from Addie. I'm glad she had a great first day but boy does she look tired in these photos. We came home Saturday from an amazing two weeks in New Mexico (and a little Arizona in between) after 15 hours straight on the road (more photos to come!). This kid is exhausted!

So long summer, hello homework.






Yup, that's Zoe in the background


BFFs