Laowai

Is is too early to make six little Christmas houses and get out all the rest of our mini Christmas village?

I don’t think so.

I might need to edit as it looks like a big pile of junk in the photos. But I just love to see how excited the girls get when I pull out the box of putz houses and trinkets. Each little house gets placed on a base of leftover cotton batting and then they place the santas and trees and animals all around the diminutive village. Claire likes to play a game where I close my eyes and then I have to guess which items she has rearranged.

Here are the new additions that I made this weekend.

And here are the girls setting up the whole village.

I didn’t really take any pictures on Halloween night but I took a few of our pumpkin carving and of the girls before school. We finally had some nice Halloween weather. Before we headed out I invited everyone over for pizza and it was fantastic not to be cringing at the state of my kitchen like I did before the remodel. Bea and her friends were ready to trick-or-treat all by themselves but we parents followed along because it was nice to be out. Claire got to go with a friend instead of tagging along with Bea’s gang this year. They are getting so big.

Our neighborhood is a Halloween hotbed because the houses are close together and people do lots of decorating. I drove home with the pizza and saw the early young kids starting to trick or treat. It looked so iconic American Halloween – a line of kids crossing the road in the distance under colorful trees. Little girls in long dresses and tiny kids being pulled in wagons. Parents holding their kids hands as they gingerly climbed front steps to get their first taste of Halloween. It was a beautiful night buzzing with that special childhood excitement in the air.

Wow, Brian was quoted in the New York Times! Take a look: 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/02/business/also-ran-to-epipen-reaches-for-a-closing-window-of-opportunity.html

Back to 2011

It’s the time of year when I can’t help but get crafty. Look at the pretty colors!

Mom and Jennifer and Jenna came to visit last weekend. As always – we had lots of fun. Seems like we did a lot of eating. Starting with raclette.

I love my raclette maker and its little pans.

Brian made pumpkin pancakes for us.

So nice to have everyone gathered together in my new kitchen.

We went to a church rummage sale and found some treasures. We made a craft. And we played in the leaves!

Bea invited her best friend Mabel over – she was so happy to have Jenna and Mabel together.

Here are mom and Brian working on a puzzle – it’s addictive.

A fun weekend!