I made the kids finish their schoolwork before ANYONE could go out to play in it.
Merrick waited so patiently for them to finish that he fell asleep.
But it was worth the wait!
We have these adorable hermit thrushes that hang out on our porch when it's snowy.
They leave their tiny, hopping footprints on the edges of the snow.
One tragically ran into the sliding glass door and concussed himself so badly that he died awhile later. We brought him into the warm to be comfortable and safe for his last hours.
It was a big snow! We really need to get a rain barrel. The fluffy stuff had all melted two days later, and it made me sad to watch the gallons of water pour off our roof and away into the sandy soil.
Here's just a picture of Mr. Angelface.
(I can't say that without hearing Ursula say, "Well, Angelfish," while she squishes her lipstick clam in Little Mermaid...)
I was a little bit sad that we had our first snow so early, because the leaves in the Bosque were unbelievably golden before they all got frozen and I was looking forward to showing them to our very, very special Halloween visitors who arrived late one night...
...and sat so dutifully while Isaac and Melanie brought in all the stuff. They had to bring their own pack and play, because the kids took a seam ripper to mine and rendered it useless.
Drew made New Mexican breakfast burritos in the morning with his special chili potatoes from The Salty Cocina.
Then we went for a stroll to see the petroglyphs, but really to play in the sand.
That afternoon Isaac helped me rip out all the dead things from the garden and turned all the beds while Melanie kept us company and our back wall neighbor boy kept up a constant stream of questions, observations, and encouragement. (He said he loves the ducks, except when they wake him up at night... heh heh)
The kids enjoyed their cousin + Allen time.
That night we ate a Mushroom Wellington I had made earlier and stashed in the freezer, then we exposed the Foxy girls to Nightmare Before Christmas.
It was a late night for the Bug.
Goodnight, all the children.
The next morning was Halloween! We made green monster waffles for breakfast, and topped them with blood (a gorgeous prickly pear syrup Drew's coworker made).
In the picture above the kids are watching Isaac go up the stairs in a very silly way.
Comedy gold with a well-timed slide down the entire staircase when he was almost to the top.
I went and voted after breakfast, and that afternoon the Kona Ice truck came by.
We all indulged in a tasty treat in the sunshine.
Then it was time to carve allll the pumpkins! Pumpkin guts are the worst.
We let Vivien and Rafe draw their designs on the actual pumpkins this year (instead of just on paper). Annie helped me cut out the design she chose.
Viera helped her Daddy.
Isaac spent a lot of time on a detailed Mickey Mouse face that ended up falling out at the last minute, but it still looked cool, there in the front. Merrick made a spider, Viera made a cat, Melanie made a winky face, Rafe made an abstract pumpkin face, I did a Jack Skellington, Vivien also did a cat with cute cheeks, Annie chose a rabbit, and Drew went for a Balrog. We may need to invest in some better carving tools. Later, later.
Costumes this year were pretty fun. Vivien wanted to be Appa from Avatar.
I used the sweatsuit pattern that I made her soft clothes out of last Christmas and embellished them with horns and ears. The markings are a plush fabric with a beautiful design that I just top-stitched on, and the belly creases are just lines sewn across. The tail is attached to a separate band of sweatshirt ribbing she wears around her waist.
She likes to wear it while she cuddles her Appa toy.
Annie wanted to be a rabbit.
We gave her a little face paint. Black face paint + white clothing + child hands = stressed mom.
Rafe wanted to be Darth Maul. Drew took him upstairs...
...and shaved off his mop.
He really should've been Aang to Vivien's Appa. Oh well.
We used Drew's old horns, but they were not made for Rafe's head and we didn't have the right glue, so we made do with Elmer's and lots of pressure.
It turned out pretty good.
Merrick wanted to be Darth Maul's brother.
I didn't even get a picture of him in his costume by himself! Sorry, baby.
Here is all the fancy dress. Elliot and Allen came by as well. Please enjoy Viera's cheese.
Rafe's makeup took me longer than I was expecting, as always, but we did finally get spooky eye tacos, clementine pumpkins, mummy jalapeño poppers, and deviled eggs on the table.
Krista also made many, many Halloweeny treats...
...like these cute ghostly cupcakes.
Oh, what fun to have a seester and her family in my house!
Isaac took one for the team and polished off the rest of the jalapeño poppers.
And then, twas the witching hour!
"It's time to go!"
Melanie and I danced to Danse Macabre while the kids were gone getting their treats (she tried to teach me real ballet things, but I could not do them. I prefer to watch her be amazing anyway!). The spoils had to be inspected when the kids returned.
There were these horrible sticky toys in all of their bags. They were fun the first day, when you could hurl them onto the ceiling and they would stick there, but when you accidentally stepped on one days later and it was cold and squishy and unexpected they were much less pleasant.
The next day was Sunday. We took Isaac and Melanie with us to church and sat in the back. Everyone in our ward tried their hardest to convince them to move to Albuquerque while we chatted outside in the sunshine afterwards. When we got home we tried introducing Jet (who had come with the Foxes from Kate) to Bella. I don't know that Bella has seen another rabbit in her whole life. She was not impressed.
She felt safer to be curious with a barrier.
In a few days all was well between the two of them and now they are best snuggle bunnies. They even hosted a squirrel guest for brunch one day.
Back to the Foxy visit. Sunday evening we celebrated Miles Morgan's birthday with a potluck. Spencer's parents came, too. (We are not good COVID people.)
Isaac did some throat singing for everyone, then we all sat around and visited in the warm, cozy atmosphere. It was so rewarding to introduce my family to my family!
When everyone else had gone but Bo and Jordan, we sang! Mel and Bo slayed "In His Eyes." I can't remember what Jordan and Isaac are singing here, but I am happy the walls of my music room have been imbued with their sound.
In the morning we went to the Richardson's to do Spanish and the Foxes went for a morning walk. Please note Vivien's Appa tail, worn as a tabard.
We whiled away the afternoon nap time playing fun games while Isaac helpfully moved our compost piles off the retaining wall and onto the ground so we don't have to hate taking our can of scraps out there so much.
Melanie taught us some of the games she played with her high school students on days when most of her class was traveling for sports and it wasn't worth teaching anything new. She is freakishly good at the fingersword match.
When we were all ready we drove across town to see the temple...
...and get a different view of the valley.
Lettie ate raisins.
Sometimes they were sandy raisins.
Isaac did very well keeping the reins on his Father Anxiety, watching Viera navigate all the hazards.
Here's a view of all those turtles.
We swung by the ancestral home on our way back and picked up Sadies for a spicy farewell dinner. I love you, this sister. Thanks for coming to visit me!
I forgot to plug this in where it goes, but watch Isaac throw a credit card blindingly fast!
I'm glad the Foxes came when they did, because the week after they left we received some pretty terrible news. Joel broke up with us all by text at 9:42 on a Wednesday morning, telling us they are moving to Idaho before Christmas. I responded with a quick
trying to keep it light for myself, then went up to tell Drew the news in his "office." Saying the words aloud made them very real, and I ended up crying in Drew's arms like a baby. It was a difficult day. The next time we saw them was at the McEwen girls' joint birthday party. I felt a little like Merrick when it was time to go in:
How do you handle the time remaining with someone, when you know it's going to end and it hurts so much?
You hit things!
We went from youngest to oldest. It was a bit of a wakeup call--our children are sadly lacking in baseball skills.
The kids were chanting, "SLAUGHTER IT! SLAUGHTER IT!"
Awww, look. Drew and I are married.
The kids did their best...
...but the piñata survived to the adult round. Hillary finished it off with violence.
That night I went home and cried some more. Here is a tear splotch:
Since then we have just been soaking up every last bit of the Richardsons that we can. Rafe has spent much time wrestling rambunctiously.
I got to watch the boys one day while McKenzie did the projects she needed to do for her house to be ready to list (which she didn't end up having to do because they found someone in a neighboring ward who wanted to buy it!).
Here are all these beloved children eating dirt pudding.
We played some Go Fish too.
It's a good thing they still think it's fun when they have to give one of their cards to their friends, because there is a lot of unbelievable guessing going on in these 4-year old Go Fish games!
We had one last cook-out for Hillary's birthday.
I asked Drew to take a picture of us, and he took this one.
But then he took this. I like how it looks like that big baby hand is Spencer's.
What else has been happening? Here's some pre-Thanksgiving-break school:
This is how Vivien looks for most of her math lessons.
This is Annie's thinking face.
Here is a pleased Vivien, who CAN!
Here are the cedar waxwings that were eating fruits outside of the building where I did my ACLS renewal.
Here is our floor's message of assurance to the community.
Here is the funniest car freshener I have ever seen.
Here I am frantically knitting a scarf for mein bruder.
Oh brioche knit. You feel so nice, but you are so unforgiving. There are a couple mistakes in it that bother me, but not enough to start all the way over! The i-cord edges are my favorite part of this one.
I got Thanksgiving off (by waiting so long to request my schedule that Thanksgiving filled up with the other assigned people and the day after was left somewhat bare), and since the Richardsons were in the middle of packing up, we hosted. Drew brined and roasted a beautiful turkey.
The kids and I made pinecone turkey place cards (the names were written on the backs of the tail feathers.
And the only other thing I had to do was make stuffing! I know, right? So easy!
Hello, wondrous feast.
Here is the little kids' table with two thumbs up from all.
The big girls and Brock sat at the counter.
And the boys tucked into the school desks.
I slid a folding table next to our regular table to make one enormous square table for the adults.
It was a happy dinner!
We ate early in the day, so there would be plenty of time for relaxing together afterwards.
Bo and Jordan always watch The Blind Side for Thanksgiving.
We worked on dishes for a bit and then Hillary and I went for a walk. Our cul-de-sac would've been caught red-handed for gathering size.
When we got back we did an abbreviated Thanksgiving program.
I don't know if any Thanksgiving will be complete now without a rousing chorus of Turkeyland. Here's a recording of Joel's grandpa singing it:
Our dinner was nothing but pie.
I think my favorite this year was the French silk. Holy moly!
I was making this face McKenzie makes when things are too yummy for words.
Drew may not take many pictures, but he makes up for it with the memes.
Here is sweet Miles entertaining Brock.
After pie we did a puzzle...
...while we watched Spencer and Hillary's old BYU Folk Dance Ensemble videos. It made me super jealous--I certainly never did anything that fun at BYU! I guess you kind of have to be able to dance though...
Here is the finished puzzle. Bo wanted to glue it to keep as a Christmas decoration. We had quite a bit of trouble transferring it and ended up having to do a large portion of the snow again, but that was alright (for me; it gave Bo a migraine and she kept making noises like a dying baby bird).
There was also a Thanksgiving play, Vivien's favorite thing to do with everyone, even squirrely boys who don't cooperate.
A group picture, before everyone went home.
The day after Thanksgiving I did a penance 10K out on the mesa.
The wind styled my sweaty hair into fantastical shapes.
And with that Thanksgiving was over. We smooshed our newest decorations into the Fall bin.
They are wonderfully smooshy. I still have two more to make... Next year!
One of the things I am most grateful for this year is that our truck is paid off! We saved about $4,000 paying it off as aggressively as we could manage. I had to turn in the last check at the bank in person, and as I walked away the lady congratulated me. I accepted her congratulations wholeheartedly. Now to save for the minivan replacement!
