November in a Nutshell

After Halloween, as normal, came my birthday. It sneaks up on everyone, including me. Unfortunately a case of food poisoning also snuck up on Jen so it wasn't quite as joyful as we would have hoped. Other than that it was pretty much the perfect birthday.


Except for which one it was.



My dad and I spent a lot of time refinishing the basement after our basement flood almost two years ago. Not only are the rusty carpet tacks no longer poking out of the floor but it's actually extremely comfortable down there and the kids can go play without me being worried about stepping on a rusty nail or smashing their head on cold concrete.



A much simpler project, though just as gratifying, was removing the final baby gate. This simple change provides an obvious aesthetic improvement but the most satisfying bit is how luxurious and wide our staircase feels now. Added bonus: carrying laundry or other items up the stairs is no longer fraught with peril.


Elliott spent much of my birthday party writing "COME ON" on pieces of paper and handing it to Jen. At the end of the night he spelled it out in Halloween glow sticks and called me in.

Jen has made a huge tactical error in sharing how much she hates it when they say this to her so, obviously, they have doubled their efforts. While this isn't unusual for kids it is amplified by the DNA coming specifically from her side of the family tree. Once Jen and her sisters learned how much her mother hated monkeys they have never stopped getting her monkey-themed cards, wines, pictures, or anything else they can get their hands on.

Payback is coming hard for Jen.


The following week Jen and I headed downtown for her to be sworn in as an American citizen. Personally, I think she's making a huge mistake. That being said, she is very excited to get to vote out of pure anger and rage.


We had to bid a sad farewell to our neighbors Mr. Tim and Ms. Anita. They have been absolutely the most perfect neighbors anyone could hope for and we will miss them dearly.


Elliott drew a card of his favorite memory with Mr. Tim. Of course that memory was of the day Tim came over with a giant box of their son's old toys and gave them to the boys. Elliott still gets choked up when he thinks about it but mostly because he knows it will never happen again.


One night when Jen was out we had the inaugural movie night in the basement. The boys actually requested Return of the Jedi. I was more than happy to oblige.


The following day we surprised the kids by bringing them to a live show of the Wild Kratts. The kids were blown away by the show and spent the next few days reenacting scenes and dressing up in their costumes. I've got to say it was a pretty incredible show. I'm not really sure how those guys keep up their enthusiasm levels for ten minutes let alone for an entire live show. They definitely had complete control over the audience. It was like watching a band at the peak of their popularity play a stadium. The kids in the room were in awe.



I also finally got to work on my charcuterie board project, something that is slow going. My complete lack of woodworking skill is certainly contributing to the pace of the project but my hopes are that it will still turn out okay.


This year marks the first time my work schedule has allowed me to go to the Thanksgiving feast at day care. Josie had a really fun time with us there and against all odds did not freak out when we didn't take her home with us after it was over.


We also did our fifth year at the Illuminations at Morton Arboretum. We discovered the secret to doing this after five long, hard years at this event: have children that are five or older.


The boys did great. There was a brief period where they were unhappy about how hot their hot chocolate was but they walked the whole way, were up for viewing the entire display, and in very good spirits. Josephine, on the other hand, melted down about halfway through. It was better than the freezing cold year, and far better than the year it rained on us, but still not quite ideal for the under five set. Cousins Evelyn and Oliver were similarly cranky and it was understandable. It's a tough thing for a kid. When the final cousin is five years old it's going to be an amazing Illuminations experience.


Illuminations 2021 is going to be lit. Literally. Literally. Literally lit.


We also did a family photo shoot. The kids did great but after a solid hour of pictures were pretty done but we rewarded them with lunch downtown. Cousins were sick so they weren't fully into it.


The sickness spread and Josie came down with hand, foot, and mouth for the second time. Third time? I don't know but with the kids we've gone through it about ten times now. Each time gets easier. Each time is still profoundly crappy.


Jen flew out for work and Josie spent a day with daddy decorating our new advent calendar tree which she is obsessed with. Also, we watched Frozen four times before the boys got home from school. Then one more time with them for good measure.

The cold never bothered me anyway.

October Round Up

October

As October dawned we got ready to say goodbye to Auntie Lauren and Uncle Doug's house, a place we've spent a considerable amount of time over the past several years.


Evelyn and Martin got to enjoy their last arguments in the old house, preparing for fresh and new trivial things to get in shouting matches about when they move into their new place.


We also hosted a Canadian Thanksgiving feast for the largest group since we moved here. It still doesn't top thirty-five adults at our old two bedroom apartment but it was pretty close albeit far easier.


Even the turkey, usually not the highlight of any Thanksgiving I prepare, turned out pretty well.


The following day we took Josie to IKEA to pick out a big girl bed. This took her just under two seconds as she ran across the showroom and leapt into her bed of choice. I can only wish that her mother and I could come to decisions at IKEA with that amount of expedience.


So it was that we said goodbye to her crib, a crib that has served us well for over five years and is thoroughly warped, stained, and damaged form hard use.


I spent the afternoon putting the new bed together, a task made much easier when there's a two-year-old assisting you.


And in ushers the era of no cribs. The interesting thing, six weeks later, is that Josie still hasn't figured out that she can get out of her bed on her own. This is actually pretty handy in that we don't have to worry about any surprises. Still she will call for us to come and remove her from bed. I'm not sure how long this will last but I'll enjoy it while there are only two wanderers I need to be concerned about.


We even got a new bed for Baba, something Josie was eager to test out personally before allowing Baba to try it out.


Martin read Josie a bedtime story per her request and she went to sleep really easily. Perhaps not having a twin in the same room to cause trouble with makes the transition to a regular bed a little easier.


I had a brief break as I traveled home to Rhode Island for a family wedding.


I got a chance to see my cousin Rebecca, someone I don't get to see enough. It was a beautiful wedding and the joy of sleeping without children around was not lost on me in the least.


Back home the kids got to do trunk or treat at Josie's day care.


They then did trunk or treat downtown at all the local businesses.


We carved a pumpkin on the night before Halloween and watched some Halloween specials. We've tried about a dozen different Halloween specials this year but the kids were mostly afraid of everything. Even the Garfield Halloween special was too much for them. The Bugs Bunny special gave them nightmares. The only reason I kept trying is because they claim to love spooky things. Apart from The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown special I haven't found much that is in the correct spooky range for these kids.


Finally we concluded the week with Halloween proper where we did trick or treating again. By this time Josie and Martin were done. Elliott had a bit more stamina but Josie and Martin had had enough of the whole process by this point. Martin looked up at me and said, "Okay, Daddy, I think I have enough candy now. Can we go home?"

This is something I don't ever recall saying as a child. I only got to go trick or treating once and I had to be dragged back home.

And so continues my smooth transition into old manhood. Kids today, they don't know how good they have it!

Birthday Cake, Birthday Cake, Friends, and Birthday Cake

July kicked off with a celebration of Canada Day.


The celebration consisted mostly of the boys wearing their Canada shirts to day care. Sadly, we didn't have time for much else.


The day before Canada day we had some pretty nasty tornadoes and 80 mile per hour winds in the area. We spend the next few days preparing our basement emergency kits. Elliott took a great deal of interest in the emergency radio which he carried around with him for the better part of a day.

In these trying times you can never be too safe.


We got our first tomato from the garden which excited Martin greatly. We asked him to share it with his brother.


He did not respect our wishes.


July also marks the beginning of the Tour de France and our ceremonial breakfast of biscuits with cream cheese and jam. Surprisingly the boys took more interest in the bicycles than in the delicious morning biscuits.


In advance of their birthday I went to Home Depot where I purchased 700 pounds of sand for their new sand box along with a wheelbarrow and about 300 pounds of garden soil. This required the rental of a Home Depot truck and several hours of heavy lifting.


On July 4th we went to Eyes to the Skies, a local celebration of hot air balloons, greasy food, and covery bands. The boys had a blast on the big school bus shuttle and checking out the various balloons.


As much as they enjoyed the balloons the highlight, strangely, was the cover band who performed a surprisingly faithful version of Kiss From a Rose.


Over the holiday weekend we also took the boys to the zoo where they got to yell at some peacocks, a wolf, a bald eagle, and some reptiles.


That night we went to a barbecue at some friends' house where Martin discovered a statue in the back yard.


Elliott had fun trying to blend in with the local flora and fauna.


They didn't quite grasp the concept of the beanbag game but they did enjoy it when the neighbor came by and brought them some Tonka trucks to play with.


After I left for work they had a little pool party with Jen and Grandma in the backyard.


Their birthday was on Tuesday and we celebrated by opening a huge box of books in the morning.


They took some of their favorite books to day care to donate them to the school library, but not before making Miss Angie read them.


After school Evelyn came over and the birthday boys took turns, and worked together, to push her unsafely about on their learning zebra.


After cupcakes at school they rounded out the day with a birthday cake made my Jen.


They even got some pre-birthday party presents from Grandma.


Lately they have taken some self-responsibility in putting themselves on time out when they misbehave. The problem is that they really enjoy time out. Above is a video where Martin, who hadn't actually done anything wrong, tried to pretend he was really mad and stood on time out.

He didn't do the world's best job of convincing us he was mad, however.


After all this Evelyn was just about ready to drop. I can relate because I slept well that night.


We attempted to let them sleep in a big boy bed for the night but this went horribly wrong and after a few minutes of shrieking and banging on the door we put them in their cribs for the night. This started the latest trend of them demanding to sleep in the other's crib. For some reason they think it's hilarious to sleep in their brothers' crib.


Later in the week we got a visit form Katherine, Sylvain, and their daughter Maya. The last time we saw them there were no children and Jen was a few weeks away from giving birth. This visit was slightly more chaotic but a heck of a lot of fun.



We all went to the nearby playground where Elliott figured out how to climb ladders and Martin followed a few minutes later. This severely upped the danger factor of going to the park.


Happily they quickly forgot about ladders after discovering how much fun it was to go on the slide by themselves.


Back at home Sylvain attempted to teach Martin proper table manners. This had no effect on him as he continued to shovel pasta in his mouth by hand. Martin did find this exchange to be highly entertaining nonetheless.


They also learned how to say, "Chin chin!"


Elliott mostly avoided this, much preferring to climb in and out of the ottoman where we store our blankets.


Maya also took her first attempts at standing unassisted. She would have had better success if not being occasionally bumped by a rampaging wombat.



On Saturday we had a sad morning as we went to say goodbye to Pete. Pete has not been feeling well for a while and Grandma was going to take him to the vet. Martin and Elliott wanted a chance to give him some goodbye pats and kisses.


Few dogs experience the joy and pampering that Pete has experienced over the years. He will be deeply missed by all.


Especially Elliott.


Later in the day Nana and Grandpa came over to give free wagon rides.


They also brought the world's largest ball with them, an instant hit.


That evening we celebrated Evelyn's first birthday.


The boys worked diligently as a card inspector. They found this automated card with some sort of rotating gopher to be of extremely high quality.


Evelyn was more interested in decimating her cake.


The following morning we had a great breakfast with Nana and Grandpa.



The wombats opened their own cards including a singing farm card which was almost as cool as the spinning gopher card Evelyn got.


While the boys napped we worked diligently to turn the backyard into a makeshift water park.


My parents also brought my old Tonka trucks. They're a little rusted and broken but after our experience the previous weekend we were sure that they would be just fine with that.



They boys got a lot of books for their birthday including personalized alphabet books that Nana drew for them.


The sandbox was also an instant hit which is good because after the back-breaking labor associated with assembly and transport of sand I think I would have forced them to play in against their will if they weren't interested.


All in all it was a very successful, and busy, beginning to July. We've received a second polar vortex so in the past few days the temperature hasn't even gotten into the 70s. As far as I'm concerned this has been a fantastic development. Needing to wear pants and hoodie in July is something I am not opposed to.

It makes pool parties difficult but mowing the lawn is a treat.