I give love to all of my people, all of my people need love

 October 2021-Part 2 

The rest of October had a surprising amount of stuff going on. We had Michael's 5th birthday, my niece's early and exciting arrival, a school trip to the pumpkin patch, primary girls activities, Halloween, and a James Taylor concert to name a few of the highlights. 

Gearing up for costume day at school

Andrew did it again with the birthday cake. Last year Michael wanted a cake that looked like his stuffed dinosaur, and this year he wanted one to match his teddy bear. I should have taken a picture with the real bear next to the cake, because Andrew nailed it. 

Michael is 5! Michael loves playing pretend with Alex. The two of them have become such good friends now that Adaline and Matthew are at school all day. I'm so glad I kept Michael home this year instead of sending him to TK because I think their relationship will forever be better because of this time their getting together. Michael loves being read to, making perler bead creations, color-by-numbers and dot-to-dots. He likes doing tricks on the trampoline and playing in the mud. He is my most sound sleeper it can be like trying to wake the dead getting him up to take the other kids to school in the morning. He is great at solving problems for Alex and helping him when they disagree during a game they're playing. Michael and Alex convinced me to buy them these matching spiderman PJs and they wear them and pretend to be spiderman basically all day every day. In fact, if you live near us, you've likely seen my kids in them because they are far from being only night time attire. We feel really lucky to have our silly and sweet Michael in our family. Happy Birthday, bud!

The first school field trip for any of my kids! Covid delayed so many things, and regular field trips was another one of them. It was super fun for me to chaperone so I could tag along and meet more of the kids' friends/watch them interact. 

Meanwhile, Alex and Michael have been at home doing more dress-up and more cooking/baking. Michael's been doing a Raddish Kids subscription box with his homeschooling and he's made some pretty fun and tasty stuff. For October there was bruschetta eyeballs (with broccoli pesto), spiderweb ice cream pie, and ghoulish goulash. 

Our sweet new niece/cousin came into this world almost 3 weeks early and in a hurry! We are, naturally, obsessed with her.

Completely drenched after my run. The forecast said it wasn't supposed to rain anymore, so I was a bit underdressed. All I can say is at least it isn't snow or sleet.

Twin day at school

scavenger hunt for primary girls activity

Temple craft night 

See what great pals they are? I just love it

Andrew and I aren't great about celebrating specific milestones besides birthdays, but when I saw that James Taylor was performing in San Francisco on our 10 year engage-iversary, it seemed like a no brainer. We took BART into the mission district so that we could get some delicious tacos and guac before the concert. Then we got lucky and walked right outside and onto the exact bus we needed to take to the Chase Center and made it to our seats with time to spare. The concert was so good! I couldn't believe how much energy James Taylor has-he's not exactly in his 30s anymore. His son was one of his back up singers and they sang together at the very end. The whole thing was just amazing. 

Oh and funny story: we were waiting on the BART platform in Pittsburg and we noticed some friends from church walking down the stairs. We asked where they were headed and they said oh a concert for James Taylor, you've probably never heard of him. Ha! Well we chatted the whole way into the city and then got off at different stops since Andrew and I were going to go eat first. Then, a few minutes into the concert, we saw the same two friends come up the stairs and sit just a few rows in front of us. For a venue that seats almost 20,000 people, the odds of that were just unreal. Well the concert ended and we went separate ways outside to catch different buses back to different BART stops. It was late and Andrew and I ran down the stairs to try to catch the BART before it left, but we just barely missed it. While waiting the 20 minutes for the next one, our friends came down the stairs and ran into us once more. We got to chat about the concert the whole ride back to Pittsburg. Seriously, what are the odds of that happening??

And, Happy Halloween! I wish I had gotten a picture of our kids in their MARVELous costumes. They were Black Widow, Miles Morales, Captain American, and Spiderman. I think it must have been the first year I bought everyone new costumes specifically for Halloween. They were adorable and spent many hours before and after Halloween dressing up and saving the day together. And shout out to Andrew for decorating our trunk. I gave him the idea and told him to run with it (we did something similar a few years ago before we had a van). I think he pulled it off great!