November

November means Fall Back in Daylight Savings Time.  It always feels so sad and...dark.  The weeks leading up to DST, Syd had been having a streak of weird sleep where she was getting up at 3am to play and had no idea what time it was.  So knowing that DST was coming, I ordered another green clock to help her (us) out.  The very first night, she waited patiently for Mella (the clock's brand name) to turn green at 6am.  In the meantime, she drew a picture of the clock...and I think it's spot on!

See?  Here's the actual clock.  Well done Syd!  And good job staying in bed until she turns green.  It's been working - phew!

JKK has been doing some house touch-ups lately, and the cats love to make his life easier.

Midge sent us these hilarious coasters ;)

Dad!

JKK's is so great.  I crack up every time I see this pic.

Breakfast at the Waffle Hut with Papa

Syd's been learning a bit of piano at school!

Syd was queen for the day at school.  She said she likes purple, raccoons, and pickles.  All true.  Her teacher sent home this great little book where every kid in the class drew Syd being queen for the day and some of the stuff she likes.  It's adorable.

Some of the pictures in it were quite impressive!  Good job, Buddy!

More beautiful Syd art - sunflowers and strawberries

Typical weekend rest time = cozy TV time while eating lunch and usually a cat is nearby.  Heaven ;)

Bradley's bday party was super fun, and Syd scored a ride on the rollercoaster with the BDAY BOY!

Sweetest little morning moment: I heard Millie get up and go potty upstairs (they share a Jack and Jill style bathroom), and while Millie was tinkling, I heard Syd say "hey Millie".  And then I heard Mills say "hey Syd".  She finished up and then went in to snuggle with Syd for a bit.  I enjoyed every second of this little moment. <3

Sweet new ride!  Millie left her scooter out on a neighbor's driveway and it got ran over.  She used the rest of her bday money to buy a new one.  It was a good lesson, I think!

Break out the parkas...winter is here! :(

Syd is really loving her ballet and tap class!  She also loves gymnastics! Video: Syd gymnastics
Another Video: Syd doing couch tricks

Family outing to the theater!  I love to do this periodically.  It's so awesome to see their faces and how it holds their interest, and the kid actors in the productions always do such a great job.  Good inspiration for our little ladies.  This time we got to see Peter Pan, and it was great!

Syd's sticking with this face for photos lately - hardcore cheese

Time to mail those letters to Santa!  Millie is full of questions this year about how it all works and "is it fiction?".

Syd is in love with our elves, and we can often hear her talking to them or waving at them.  It's the sweetest.

Syd proudly posing with her scarecrow up top, and I accidentally cut its head off.

So here ya go...nice work, Syd!  Love the flowers on the face!

I love how cats curl their little feet in like this

Millie's book report on Stellaluna

She really enjoyed learning about the day of the dead also!

She's soooo old now :(

still my baby <3

Christie came to visit!  She was only here 24 hours, but thankfully, she managed to give Millie a massage in that time.  Millie has been curious about massages since I've been giving her silly little ones at bedtime.  I figured Christie could show her what a real one feels like, since it's her job!  Mills loved it, of course.

Backwards Bill, Backwards Bill... Video: christie reads

Breakfast at Susan's and she hit the road...

great pic of these three

Piddy's half-birthday was on a friday, so we headed to the donut shop before school! She says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up, she talks with her hands ALL THE TIME, and she loves her mommy a whole bunch.  She requests Bohemian Rhapsody to listen to on the way to school every day.  She still says words wrong, but we don't correct her:

silencely = silently

sanzitizer = hand sanitizer

liberry = library

froggy = foggy

Her first half bday and the cutest thing ever

The girls' school put on a hoedown!  Their drama teacher taught them line dances, and the parents got to come and watch.  It was so fun!

Syd and Zaelynn, her dance partner - swing your partner round and round...

oh hai - this is how Lily waits for JKK to come to bed.  He usually stays up later than I do, and he said he always finds her in the closet like this.  And when he goes to pick her up, she goes all boneless.  Hahahaha, he loves those damn cats, even if he won't admit it.

Our little neighbor up the street, also a Sydney, plays with the girls a lot.  Her mom sent these pics.  So cute!

Their cat is right in the middle of it!

Elf is probably our favorite Christmas movie at this point in time.  The girls love quoting lines from it all year long! "The best way to spread christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear"

Tis the season...for humidifiers!  Jasper loves his own little kitty spa treatments

Thanksgiving education at school for Mills class - lots of little Native Americans

Rock Star waiting for her frappacino.  I'm not kidding.

The girls were out of school the whole week of Thanksgiving, so we shook things up a bit with the sleeping arrangements.  Some nights the girls slept together in the sunroom on the sofa bed...

Some nights they slept with one of us...great memories, they loved it!

Thanksgiving day was super low key!  Our little family of four ate our traditional dinner at a local restaurant.

Then we met Nana at the movies to see the new Grinch movie!  Poor Nana had surgery on her esophagus, so she wasn't able to eat solid foods. :/

A fun day!  Later that evening, we went to a friends house for pie and wine.  The perfect holiday, actually.  Off to St. Louis early the next morn...