The Day to Day

Hello. Sometimes I forget to just check in and write about our day-to-day stuff. Things are going well this month. Gavin is loving school and has made lots of friends. He even has a girlfriend! Yet, her name changes nearly everyday so I'm not sure how serious things are. One day it's Lyla; the next day it's Angeline. He seems to get along with everyone and has such a joyful demeanor. His teachers told me that they think the world would be a much better place if everyone got to spend one hour with Gavin. I can't think of a better compliment than that. Of course, he saves some of his less pleasant behavior for after school.

Gavin is challenging our patience with back talk and not listening. Communicating with a four year old can be difficult. Many of our conversations go like this, "Gavin, you're not acting nice." "No, you're not acting nice." "Gavin, you need to say you're sorry to Olivia." "No, you need to say you're sorry." It can quickly develop into a downward spiral from there. Before I know it, I'm the one acting like a four year old. The worst part is when I just want to laugh but can't because I'm trying to be a good parent. I'm going to try a new method of dealing with this behavior. I feel like I'd be best to redirect his attention to something else and then later bring up why he needs to talk nicer or why he made me upset. These in the moment behavioral corrections are not working. We'll see... it's funny how many different articles are out there on the best form of discipline. Everyone has a theory and they pretty much all conflict. What I do know is that it's all normal and pretty much annoying! As the saying goes, it's a good thing kids are cute!

Speaking of cute, Olivia is sure coming out of her shell. She held back for quite a long time but now she's laughing and being silly. I don't know if it's just having more experience but she seems to be such an easy toddler. She is just happy! Of course, she absolutely destroys our house. That girl makes more messes than Gavin ever did. She is like pig pen- she makes a mess in one room and then moves on to the next before I've even gotten the first mess cleaned up. Such a trouble maker! Probably the cutest thing she has been doing lately is giving fist bumps. She gives a pound and says, "boom!" Crazy cute.

Adam has been busy. In October, he spent a week in Ecuador on a medical mission. I've asked him to write a blog post about it, so stay tuned. He also had to give an hour-long presentation at what they call grand rounds. It was in front of his whole department- 100+ people. Better him than me! I hate stuff like that. Anyhow, now that he's got that out of the way, he's working on finding a job in the Seattle area. He's got quite a few leads and is starting to send out resumes and explore opportunities. He's counting down the days to graduation. If all goes well, we'll be back in the northwest by early-to-mid summer.

I'm working on getting our house ready to put on the market. It's all tiny detail work. I'm freshening up paint and clearing out clutter. I'm not sure what to expect with the market but I'll do my best to make this house show as well as possible. This is a great house but it has plenty of old-home quirks. I look forward to having our next home be permanent. It gets exhausting working on a house, knowing that we're just going to move. I am going to miss this house quite a lot.

Well, that's all that's going on back here. Now, I better clean up all of Olivia's messes while she is napping or she won't have anything to do when she wakes up! :)

Halloween Superheroes

Let me introduce to you the kids that keep our house safe from all things bad and evil:

 Captain Dangerous

 And his sidekick...

The Evil Genius

For Halloween, I decided to make capes for the kids because of Gavin's recent interest in superheroes. I found a pattern on Etsy and managed to do a pretty decent job making them! I am still very green when it comes to sewing and I didn't realize how hard it is to work with stretchy knit fabrics. But, I managed to get them done well before Halloween. It was pretty easy to put together the rest of their costumes, just needed a few accessories. Although Gavin loved his cape, he was a little bummed that he wasn't going to be Batman. Adam and I loved their originality but I've decided that next year I will just let him be whoever he wants. The last thing I want is a guilt trip when he's all grownup. It amazes me how much stuff like this can come back twenty years later!!! 

Halloween night was a lot of fun. We weren't sure what Olivia would think. We thought she'd be too little to enjoy trick-or-treating. Boy, were we wrong! She strutted along from house to house, dragging her little pumpkin. Her walk is just too funny. We've taken to calling her "little miss thang." Everyone got a kick out of her "evil genius" cape. Gavin told everyone that he was Captain Dangerous and that he had a danger button. So, even though he wasn't the awesome Batman, he did own his character very well! 

The best part of the superhero costume is that they will keep playing with them. I love watching them chase each other around the house, capes flying behind them. It was fun making them and I can't help thinking that I'm a pretty kick-ass mom! (Hey, there can be a lot of self-doubt or guilt as a parent, so you have to celebrate your successes!) Here are just a few more pics: