November

November pictures are here!

Election Day.

The kids really enjoyed going with me to vote.  They mostly read books, but were curious enough to ask questions along the way.  Their enthusiasm helped dispel some of my gloom.

Setting up the Staff and Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at Africa's Child.

Though the store was still gutted from the fire, we had a lovely time.

After a busy fall with the fire at AC and house projects, a little break was in order. So we joined the Koopmans family at Zehnder's Splash Village in Frankenmuth for an overnight getaway.  Which, as is the case with young children, was a lot of fun, but probably not much of a vacation.

Henry is our cautious one.  He steps into a place like Splash Village and is like a turtle retreating into its shell.  He doesn't like a lot of the rides or the water, so I was a little concerned he would have a good time.

Thankfully, there were plenty of options for kids like him who like their rides and water in small doses.

The frog slide, in particular, was a big hit with our boys.

Then there are people like Claire who enjoy the thrill of adventure.  Her favorite was this doozey of a ride.  She could hang right in there with us "big kids". 

A picture of Claire's ride from outside.

And George is like Claire in that regard.  He loved going down this water slide over and over.  Each time we finished, he'd say a quick "more" and then it was up to the top again.

The next morning we took a small break from the water park and ventured out together.  I love that our kids are such good buddies.

Sam and George

We made it over to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, the World's largest Christmas store.  It was just across the parking lot, so we couldn't resist checking it out.  The kids did great in a store full of bright and shiny breakables.  I think we would say it was fun to see, but once was enough for a lifetime.

Walking back to the Splash Village.  

I think Claire had her eyes set on that ride once again.

I love that we can have these adventures with our friends.  

They are great memories for our families, even if it is lights out by 8:00 and potty breaks and making pb&j's by the dozen.  We will look back on these days with smiles and laughter for sure.

The School Harvest Party

Claire with her "BFF", Alaina, and their little siblings.

Henry's school did a teaching night for parents who were interested in learning more about the Montessori method.  The teachers demonstrated what their lessons look like on a typical day.

Henry enjoyed showing us his favorite "works".

I love the variety, everything from folding socks to geometry.

A cozy afternoon, reading with my girl.

Often as parents we try to go the extra mile for our kids, like planning a special movie night for them after a long week of school.  Well....that backfired.  They hated it.  Apparently Finding Dory was just too scary for them.  

We have gutters!  Bring on the rain.

And now another house project.  We had finished the exterior painting, so we were anxious to tackle our basement.  It's an old basement, so we had modest expectations, but something had to be done. Because of flooding we had earlier in the summer, there was a definite mustiness that lingered in the air, and mold that was popping up here and there and everywhere.  

The South Side  - with the doorway to the crawlspace.

We have new windows thanks to QB, and a new furnace, but a fresh coat of paint would do wonders.

First we scrubbed and washed the walls to kill the mold to prepare the surface. Next we used a special primer, then paint to block moisture and mildew.  

Priming the crawl space - or as we have affectionately named it - "The Pit".  

This spring we will hopefully dig up some of the extra dirt on the far end and finish the concrete floor.  Add some shelving, and it will be a great storage room.

And the North Side.

I'm embarrassed to show this picture, but here it is in all its glory.  After moving in March, things that didn't have an immediate need, got tossed in this corner.  And after 9 months of digging through boxes to find random things, we ended up with a bit of a mess.  

Joe prepping half the North side.

And here's the other half of the North side.

Glad we are in this together.  

After one VERY long day (almost 16 hours of painting) and a couple of evenings, we ended up with a brand new basement.  And by "brand new", I mean a very old basement with a fresh coat of paint.

The South Side.  

Oh I feel so giddy!

The mold and mustiness used to be so bad that I would have to hold my breath as I came down the stairs to get something out of the freezer or throw in a load of laundry.  But now I can spend time down here and breath easily.   

We continue to put on some finishing touches, and for some reason I didn't snap any pictures of the North side (I probably collapsed soon after finishing it) so I will make sure to post recent pictures soon.

And in the midst of house projects, we still have plenty of time for fun with the kids.  One lazy day we held a friendly competition to see who could balance the most crayons on their chest.  It doesn't take much to entertain our family.

And on our first snow day of the year, we had fun with glow-in-the-dark balloons.

And now a few short anecdotes about our funny kids.  

I find that I forget these things far too quickly unless I write them down.

Henry: "Mom, if you make me a peanut butter sandwich I will say "I love you."

Mom: "Henry, don't you love me regardless of what I do for you."

Pause

Henry: "Well, you can make me anything I like."

__________________________

An evolving list of things that Henry says "freak him out":

1. Minions - He now likes minions as cousin Andrew has encouraged him in this.

2. Frosty the Snowman, "because a snowman that is alive is freaky".

3. Troll Dolls

4. Elmo, "because that Cookie Monster really freaks me out".

__________________________

George's Speech Therapist, Ms. K., could tell a story or two about our boys.  She has said we are definitely the most eventful family she works with, and she always looks forward to our adventures each week. For example, this morning we had built a cage to hold our imaginary friend "Bob".  We fed him invisible "homemade sandwiches" and gave him toys to play with.  I'm not sure what Ms. K. plays with her other clients, but I think it is safe to say this was a first for her.  But, she was happy that George kept saying "Hi Bob!", and "Yum Bob" as he fed him.

October

Well, it is officially Christmas time in the city!  But before I get too far ahead of myself, I need to catch up on October.  It was a fun Fall with the kids.  There's so much going on in their world that I don't want to forget.  Plenty of pictures, but probably more words in this post than usual.  I just know I will lose these memories unless I write them down.  So here we go...

Claire and Henry's school pictures.

We had Parent-Teacher conferences in October.  This is Claire's second year with Ms. B.  It has been a great year for her.  Ms. B. said Claire is the sweetest girl and she loves having her in class.  She said Claire is still a bit shy, but has shown great care and leadership with her new desk mate, Alena.  Last year, Claire had struggled with friendships, so Ms. B. took her aside at the beginning of this school year and asked if she could take a new 1st grader, who is also shy, under her wing.  This has been such a positive role and wonderful relationship for Claire.   

And Henry...the first words out of his teacher's mouth were, "Henry is perfect!" She loves having him in class and shared how he has become a natural leader. When it is time for "Works", he always starts with his decimal work.  She said it is like his morning coffee; he just has to get it done before moving on.  Then as soon as he is available, he has a group of three pre-schoolers who love to follow him around and sit with him while he teaches them lessons.  

And George is doing great with his speech therapy.   He was officially diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech this summer.  We currently attend a speech group once a week where he works with 4-5 other kids with similar challenges.  And we also have a speech therapist, Ms. K., who comes to our home once a week.  She has been such a gift. Apraxia can be a difficult diagnosis as there is such a range between children and often, an overabundance of information.  Ms. K., is great at providing us with the information we need, as we need it, to best help George with his care.  And after 6 months in the program, he is making significant progress. He has met his goal of 25 words and is beginning to work on his new goal of stringing words together. 

Also in October, we spent a good chunk of our free time painting our house.

We had been chipping away at the old paint throughout the summer, slowly scraping it as needed. But our insurance company was pushing us to complete the project by the end of the year, so we took a couple weeks and buckled down to get the job done.

Dad and Joe were great at getting those hard-to-reach places.  Thanks boys!

After a lot of scraping, more scraping, and scraping some more...we finally started Phase 2 of the project: Priming.  We were ready to get those paint brushes in our hands.

Once we had the house primed, we organized the "Puplis Painting Party", inviting some family and friends over to help us put the finishing coat of paint on before the weather cooled much further.

The kids had to earn their keep by slinging some paint.  And boy, did they literally "sling some paint". Not sure if they got much on the house, but it was good practice for them.

All three of our Dads were involved, which was pretty special.

Sam and Hannah from our church.  We figured if they are brave enough to sit behind us in church, they could handle a morning of painting.  

Don't look too closely at this corner of the house as the painters were pretty squirrelly.

Uncle Ron wasn't afraid to tackle the peeks.

Joe and Casey did just as much chatting as they did painting, but they did a great job.

Claire was in her glory, organizing snacks for the volunteers.  Her sign pictured above reads "Meet Up. Eat Up."  That's my girl.

And now...drum roll please!

Tah-Dah!

We got it done!  I think most people were skeptical that we could do it, yet we remained resilient. But oh man, we are so glad to put that behind us for now.  Some new doors and landscaping may be in order for next year, but for now, we are glad to hang up our paint brush.

Our 2016 "Hart Prize" contribution.

We called it "The Uninvited Guest".  She sat in the corner with her very own contribution to Hart Prize.  We had fun with it, but needless to say, we did not take home the prize.  Maybe next year!

I'm always a little nervous when it has been too quiet in our home for more than 10 minutes.  Okay, 5 minutes.  Our kids have many wonderful qualities, but "playing quietly" is not normally one of them. So I was pleasantly surprised to find them in Henry's bedroom reading books so peacefully.  Look at those perfect little angels.  I had to get a picture, before the moment passed!

And of course, we had to take an afternoon to venture out and pick some pumpkins at "Under the Pines".  

Couldn't resist taking some pictures of my lil' pumpkins.

And in other news, Joe takes home the award for dish stacking.

Way to go, Joe!

Scooping pumpkin seeds with George's speech group.

George doesn't usually like to get his hands dirty, 

but as long as he could use a spoon, he was excited to dig in.

Trick or Treating in our old neighborhood with the Lanser Family.

We had so much fun visiting all our old neighbors!  We do miss them!

We did stop in at some of our new neighbors as well, but it's not as much the Trick or Treating hot spot as our old neighborhood was.

Examining and trading their loot.  

Whew, that was a doozey!  Thanks for hanging in there.  

More to come for November, hopefully sooner rather than later.