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!

September Recap

September saw some pretty nice weather this year, like every year. Normally we just assume that the leaves will be falling and the smell of hot cider will fill the air as soon as September first hits. Instead we're generally walking around all sweaty trying to force the season and pretending we like pumpkin spice.


The boys had a lot of fun playing baseball, however, Josie always insists on pitching. While her stance is adorable her accuracy leaves a little something to be desired. The boys want me to pitch but Josie's screams of protest are usually enough for them to humor her at the expense of their own fun.


Like we do most septembers we loaded up the fridge with all manner of garden and farm vegetables, mostly in the form of peeled and diced tomatoes.


Our friends Debbie and Michele came to visit which meant I could cook something nice for one of the three or four times a year I am granted the time to do so. I made a mixed grill with chicken, ribeye steak, and a friend's homemade sausage on a bed of creamy polenta.


We also got to enjoy a drink or two on the deck, something we had hoped to do many times this summer but didn't happen until mid September.


Martin continued his constant goalie practice in the driveway and roped anyone he could into playing with him whether it was a brother, parent, grandparent, neighbor, or someone simply walking past our house.


Elliott spent most of his time riding his bike. Martin has given up on riding his bike. Even though he can do it, he decided that since he fell once that riding bikes is just not for him.


We also got in early on the apple picking this year. Since the kids are in school full time we weren't able to go on a weekday and have the entire orchard to ourselves. We did, however, get a chance to enjoy some cider donuts and have it feel a little less like we were trespassing on someone's private orcahrd after hours.


A few days running I have taken the boys out to play Pokemon after I picked them up for school. I even purchased the Pokemon GO late for them in the only setting where I did not feel embarrassed to order it. It's much less shameful when there are five-year-olds around.


As with any Pokewalk we take Martin manages to convince every dog owner he meets to stop so he can pet their dogs. I'm shocked at how few dog owners are annoyed by this.


At the end of the month my wood plank arrived, a vertical slab from a cedar tree. With a lot of research (and even more luck) I intend to make a charcuterie board to be ready for Christmas this year. If you don't see it in my Christmas pictures this year and I don't mention it you will know that something has gone wrong and that I have spent a lot of time and money effectively ruining a beautiful piece of wood.

Let's hope for a Christmas miracle!

The Zucchini Days of Summer

With July here Josephine was not going to daycare a few times a week for short days. The initial drop offs, predictably, were not smash hits with her. She calmed quickly as we left but seemed unimpressed with her peers. After all, she is used to mixing it up with three and four-year-olds. What was up with this group of children the same size as her?



Nonetheless, she attended school bravely and allowed her mother to have a whopping four hours to get her work done. This was still nowhere near the amount of time she actually required but a vast improvement over no time at all, short naps, or most commonly after everyone is asleep.


Before my parents left we were able to enjoy a few late night pokewalks. We went on a wonderful late night stroll through a nearby park and enjoyed a nice sunset in between catching imaginary creatures with our cell phones.


Seeing the joy on my childrens' faces as they play in their newly constructed playset still does not make it worth the hassel of putting it together. If they didn't love it as much as they do I'm pretty sure I would resent them for the rest of their lives.


The zucchini harvest has been unbearably large, as normal. We've enjoyed (or at least tolerated) zucchini at every meal. One dish was this zucchini carbonara that turned out pretty great.


Josephine has enjoyed Nana's rocking chair. Mostly she's enjoyed standing in it and getting a reaction from her parents.


Martin has been obsessed with sculpting things out of Play-Doh. One creation was this Pikachu.


Jen made zucchini cakes with yogurt sauce one night while I was at work. The children enjoyed them enough so that there were none waiting for me when I got home, a stark departure from most zucchini-based dinners we've made lately.


We surprised the kids with an overnight trip to an indoor/outdoor waterpark which was a huge hit.


Thankfully they had a blast inside, outside, and at the arcade.


It was a ton of fun. The boys are pretty good in the water now but supervising Josephine to make sure she doesn't drown is a fulltime, extremely stressful job.


The boys checked out some books from the library. Elliott picked this seemingly harmless book featuring two children on it dressed like superheroes. We thought nothing of him reading it all the time. One night while I was cleaning up I flipped through the book and discovered it was a graphic novel intended for teens or adults. I learned this by flipping to a part where one of the characters puts on a gas mask and kills his own mother.

Note: pay better attention to what they're checking out of the library.


The only vegetable just as plentiful as the zucchini has been the tomato crop. Tomatoes are a little easier to use and Jen made a delicious tomato sauce by roasting them in the oven.


Jen also made zucchini fritters which we served with a summer vegetable boil with ham to use up most of what we were backing up on.


Elliott has enjoyed Martin's gift perhaps more than Martin and has been regularly shaving in the tub although sometimes he leaves the shaving cream out and Josephine eats it.


Jen was away for a business trip so I took the boys on a bike ride at the park. Martin, who I realize had never really encountered a hill, took off down a steep hill, and went through an underpass as I chased after him. While I ran toward the tunnel he was approaching I had visions of broken limbs but I came to find him startled, but perfectly balanced on his bike having steered clear of any danger. For the rest of the ride he took all hills extremely gingerly.


We also went to the Arboretum. I took this photo of the boys before looking around twenty seconds later to find Elliott was missing. It was a long five minutes before I finally found him. My knees are still a little weak just thinking about it. Luckily the Arboretum serves beer and I had, perhaps for only the second time in my life, a beer before 12:00 PM.


When Jen returned we took the kids to the beach where they both requested to be buried and they wore themselves down leaping into the pool at least one hundred times.


After swim class and the beach I let them watch a movie on the iPad to wind down. It was perhaps the smoothest bedtime in ages.


More zucchini. Grilled with basil balsamic marinade and feta cheese.


We also went to the zoo and I got to see the primate house for the first time which was pretty impressive. Josephine was mesmerized by the monkeys leaping around.


Josie learned a new word, "Cook!" She chants it regularly every night after dinner until I give her a cookie. She then wanders around eating it and leaving surprisingly few crumbs throughout the house.


The boys got medals for soccer. They were already obsessed with medals from pretty much every book and story ever. They think a mayor's main responsibility is handing out medals. That's silly because everyone knows a mayor's main responsibility is cutting ribbons with comically large scissors.


As the summer draws to a close at school they made some nice notes for their teachers and gave them to them at their last day before Pre-K.


Another milestone was their first cousins sleepover. The nighttime chaos was no greater than normal and, surprisingly, they all went to bed with fairly little incident.



We took our second annual trip to the Renaissance Faire. What a difference a year makes. The fact that it was twenty degrees cooler probably also had something to do with it.



We got the jousting in time this year and they were so excited. Every night since then they have grabbed anything they can to make knight costumes and lances. They say to do calming things for your children before bed. What could be more calming than a few rounds of jousting?


Martin has continue his sculpting by making Ninja Turtles and showing them to me.


He also sometimes sneaks up and leaves them right on the side of my bed and, unfortunately, I roll over onto them.


Josie's first days of day care are still a bit of a mixed bag of emotions. Mixed in that her brothers love it and she hates it. She does warm up to it fairly quickly but she now is able to determine earlier and earlier that we are taking her. She does not take kindly to this daily betrayal.


Last night we did "Family Band" which is a common activity before bed where the boys stand on their beds and sing along to Dire Straits songs. First, Elliott arranges the audience on the floor and has us sit down.


Second, they turn off the lights and sing into their sippy cups while jumping on their beds. Josie got into the action by dancing for the entirety of their show and screaming when it was time for her to stop.

Our summer activity list is nearly complete. I feel we've probably made more progress on it this year than in nearly any other year in the past. Certainly better than before we had kids. It doesn't come without a cost and that cost is in pretty much all of our bodies hurting all of the time and in it taking ten minutes to get out of bed in the morning.

I really thought that was going to start up a lot later than this.