McLains Opens and First Snow at New House

Sometimes Juliet loves playing with Patrick so much that she cries when it's bedtime. And clings to him and cries some more. We are all puddles when it comes to Juliet loves. Although heaven help whoever she marries someday. Here is her current criteria, "I will only name a boy named Romeo. Or if he's handsome. If he's ugly I will say no and run away from the wedding!" Honestly she already knows everything one needs to know in order to select a spouse, I'm so proud. And she wants a gem for a ring, not a boring diamond. Very trendy of her.

Katie and Ethan's visit was a blast with a trip to the zoo! It's so nice that Ethan is getting in on the action these days.

And we had a hilarious meal at our house where Ethan was trying to eat pizza and kept shoving Callie away every time she walked by - but he's a toddler and his hands were covered in food. Callie was thrilled and kept coming by to lick his hands and he kept shoving her and hollering. So we moved him up to the island so he could eat in peace. Callie is actually quite wonderful around the table, she just lurks and is quick to clean up any crumbs on the floor and she will also check chairs after kids get up from the table. But I think it's good we got her after Juliet was old enough to be a pretty tidy eater!

Ethan is a champion of facial expressions. He needs some wakeup time from naps and just glares at everyone from the safety of his chosen adult.

He loved our cozy coupe!

His face when I asked him to give me a thumbs up. I was dying, he's so cute.

The girls got in another sleepover! Katie was much more onboard this time around.

Patrick was also there and was an absolute doll and did much of the bedtime reading for the girls.

The next morning Juliet was still gone when a neighbor girl knocked on the door and when I opened it said, "I'm here to play" and walked straight in past me. I explained to her that Juliet wasn't at home yet and she didn't seem overly concerned. It was Stella, our new neighbor who is the same age as Juliet and lives just three doors down the street. A rather bemused Eleanor showed Stella around the upstairs and Stella got straight to work playing with new toys but I convinced her to go home and let her know that Juliet would be home in about an hour and we would go get her then. When Juliet got home she went and got Stella and I met the dad, who I had never spoken to before. It's a bit odd to have kids in your house when you've never met the parents! So Stella was good to go and she and Juliet had an amazing day together and played for six hours straight. Both are lively and opinionated and a lot of fun. They put on costumes and raced around the pool and absolutely destroyed Juliet's play room, so you know it was a good day.

Callie was in on the action and Layla explored the outdoors, which she decided she hated and she came back inside. It probably didn't help that an overexcited dog was bouncing around her trying to sniff her bottom the entire time she was outside.

Katie came over and joined the party in the afternoon. I love having an upstairs playroom. 

Meanwhile, Meg discovered that the area by the master tub is the warmest spot in the house in the afternoon. We've left a few blankets by the tub for the cats now but all three gather to follow the sun around the house over the course of the day.

Callie is dainty and likes to lounge by the pool. She loves this new backyard so much, I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps it's the doggy door and the freedom to come and go as she pleases, perhaps it's because it's on the main level and it's easier to keep tabs on what people are doing inside the house as she hangs out outside, perhaps it's the neighbor cat that occasionally ventures into our yard. It is a happy existence for a sweet little puppy!

She was a great help to the guys from the pool company when they came and closed the pool for the winter. It's good they like dogs, about a minute after this picture was taken the guy had to kneel down to work on something and he got a lot of puppy kisses. I did offer to take her away but they said she was fine and called her their little helper.

I really enjoy my walks on the trail here. I get to see some really pretty sunsets!

Meanwhile, Bradley helped finish up some work on our old house. Taking out the tile on the island was an adventure! The new slab covering the island looks so nice. The entire house looks nice! We really hope someone rents it soon.

And we did manage to fit in some games, thank goodness. Bradley helped me try out Holly Jolly, a new holiday favorite!

And Eleanor is super into The Game of Life Goals because it's mostly funny and has some story telling and you get to name your pet fish and steal someone else's house and it's just really cute and fun. I'm thrilled that she has a game she wants to play with me! I'll take it!

And by the end of Katie's visit both she and Juliet had had quite a lot of time together and were starting to have a few spats here and there so I guided them towards some games during another Katie afternoon.

Katie is amazing at games and Juliet is generally pretty casual about actually playing by the rules but she stepped it up when she was showing off for her cousin.

We had such a good time. Katie then went home and begged for her parents and grandparents to buy all the games we played and if I already didn't think she was pretty awesome this would have sealed the deal.

Then we read some Dr. Seuss! I liked it but apparently it's no Mo Willems.

I asked for some group hug photos with Ethan and it was so ridiculously sweet. 

Juliet's hair is ridiculous in these pictures, she has such great teased out curls after she's slept with braids and then I give her Kelly hair, which is Barbie's little sister. She vain and she's game.

Kitties have been coming downstairs more lately. Here is Sookie getting her nails trimmed.

Callie lives a life of long walks, kid cuddles, belly rubs, and terror/great joy running around sniffing our cats.

Bradley's favorite thing about his room is getting to sleep with Callie.

Naughty Juliet has been really into apples and peanut butter lately. But she's cute, so she gets what she wants!

We had to go by the old house super early one morning for work to be done on it so we ended really early for car line for preschool. We were number one! Juliet was so proud.

I know I'm biased, but I can't believe how pretty she is sometimes.

Eleanor's rock climbing is going well! I wasn't sure how long this rec team would last for her but she wants to keep on going and they keep doing really neat things each class so I'm pretty happy about it.

She also had a swim meet this month as did so well at all three of the races she chose. 25 Fly, 50 Breast, 100 Back.

We took the whole family and Juliet was excited to get to wish Eleanor luck before one of her races.

Well earned pizza and treats at the end of the meet. It's really nice they get a bunch and it's okay for siblings to have some too.

She placed in all her events! The teachers all really like her and she recently moved up to be in the fastest lane. She does such a great job!

Chance from across the street has been coming over a bunch and we had a bit of a situation one day when Callie's toy got stuck in the middle of the pool cover. I watched from inside as they figured things out, it was quite the adventure! A lot of sticks were thrown, other balls were thrown at the original ball, but they eventually sorted it out.

And we had a fun pickle ball afternoon with Vickie Messman and her family! We only took the oldest two kids and I was delighted to discover that both of them were actually pretty good at pickle ball and really wanted to play. 

Juliet's favorite thing in the world is anytime Eleanor invites her into her room to play with her Lego collection.

Juliet had woken up rather early this day and didn't quite make it all the way to the Coterie theatre to see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. To be fair, clearly Katie got a little sleepy as well.

The crew, ready for the show!

I ended up down in the very front with most of the kids because we would be able to see a lot more. They all did great, even Ethan! We love the Coterie.

A fountain picture afterwards. This was the photo where Ethan looked the least menacing.

And we made wishes and threw pennies into the fountain!

Then we went to the nearby ice skating rink!

It was Juliet's first time skating and Nathan was a champ for taking her out on the ice.

Katie's first time too, she got to go with Stephanie.

Ethan rage screamed until a stranger handed him an extra birthday balloon.

Eleanor absolutely loves ice-skating and deemed this the best day ever.

It was nice that it was pretty warm. Sweatshirt weather!

Juliet did way better than I anticipated. It helped that she had such good help.

The ice skating crew. Bradley bailed because he wanted to score extra grandparent time so he went home with them and Ethan.

The girls had to take a break while the Zamboni was on the ice.

Patrick got back out there and promptly crashed for the 100th time and smashed his face. There was a bit of blood and we have instituted a new rule for Patrick that after 10 crashes he is done ice skating from now on. He's been doing it for fun and it's obviously not a good plan.

Both of the little girls were truly tuckered out for the ride home.

Patrick and Nathan hung out for another hour at Crown Center and ate food and watched football because Patrick had a basketball game in the area so it didn't make sense to come home. He was thrilled by this afternoon and I think both he and Nathan had a very nice time.

He's been a champ at basketball! I think it's bonkers to be doing both club basketball, rec basketball, piano lessons, twice per week practices for the church Christmas play, and extra art classes all at once so we're looking at cutting back on Patrick's activities in the spring. It's tricky to have a kid who likes doing everything.

And he really does love basketball. He's so fun to watch.

Callie spent a rare afternoon at Woof's while we were running around at the Coterie and ice skating and she was one tired puppy when we got home. She usually doesn't cuddle but she was happy about Eleanor snuggling next to her on the couch.

Juliet and I played the game Pretty Pretty Princess together the next day.

Guess who won. Of course!

We had a thrilling evening when Patrick lost another tooth! We chose a basketball shot in bedroom method to remove this one.

As ever, tying the floss around the tooth was the most difficult part of the event.

He missed the shot - but the tooth came out! So we're calling it a success. 

Juliet was supposed to do a project for her preschool class where she disguised a turkey with a costume for Thanksgiving. I was a little stressed and thought I was going to have to hand hold her through making something but good news for me, I have a very independent four year old and I handed her scissors, pink paper, and found some cotton balls and she took care of the rest. She cut out the turnkey, cut out pink ears and taped them on, and even taped on some cotton balls and then colored the rest and assured us it was a perfect bunny disguise. She was very excited to share it with her class, most of whom had accepted some parent participation in their homework and had far more elaborate turkey disguises.

Then we did a family trip to the dentist where the kids all did great except Juliet was acting weird and almost fell asleep on the way home and I discovered she was running a fever. Whoops! But at least we didn't have to reschedule the dentist.

More Callie cuddles from Eleanor! This sweet little dog. We all love her.

And she has such joy whenever my dad comes over and has to take shoes on or off. Opportunities for kisses! She hops all over the place and he tells her she's a dumb dog while petting her which definitely does not discourage her from doing it the next time.

Eleanor and I helpfully shout out, "It's Grandpa! It's Grandpa!" which always riles Callie up as well. Lucky Grandpa!

Juliet had a glorious sick day watching shows while cuddled up on my bed.

She wanted to send a picture to cousin Ethan and assured me that this face would make him laugh. Uncle Daniel informed me that she was correct.

Patrick had a dress up day for school. I think this was rock star day. We sprayed his hair pink and purple and then put some glitter spray on top of that. It was dazzling. However, we had both forgotten that he had basketball practice that evening. I assured him that most of the color had gone away by then and people would be busy playing basketball, surely they wouldn't even notice. Apparently the minute Patrick walked in the head coach asked him why his hair was pink. Oops. But Patrick just said rock star day and apparently that was good enough! It's so funny when this kid gets self conscious about something, I'm very not used to it.

Juliet got a hold of my phone and decided it was time to take some pictures so this is one of about 100 she took of me in the kitchen.

We played on the Blue Valley Rec playground before gymnastics - Juliet is so long and lean now. Doesn't look like a squishy little toddler anymore! This is usually when I ask for a new baby but I think we're good. Callie is the baby.

And my mom and Eleanor and I had a fabulous evening shopping at the local holiday mart.

Eleanor got many compliments on her Santa dress.

Snack time!

A non silly snack picture.

And the three of us together. So merry, so festive!

Grandma Colleen had a nice visit this weekend. She enjoyed the new ping pong table and Juliet was basically her shadow!

This was also the weekend the new McLains opened near our house. We were just a little excited!!!

Bakery bliss. We've gone a fair amount since and have ordered a big box of pastries for Christmas morning. I'm also making an egg dish for Nathan so he doesn't have to suffer. We're trying to avoid the meltdowns from when the kids would just eat a plastic candy cane filled with m&m's and call that breakfast and the kids are very onboard with this new plan.

And Bradley and I finally got to play the cooperative version of Unmatched called Tales to Amaze. I don't think we'll ever play the competitive version again, this is just too good.

We won and it was a very big deal. We were a big hyped!

Layla has been coming downstairs and demanding attention more lately.

Please note Eleanor in the background. I love her.

Then Eleanor and I went out for a walk around the trail because she had not yet been out for a walk with me yet! 

She loved it, especially when she got to take over walking Callie. I'm really glad she went out because now she can bike around the loop when she feels like it and she knows the way to go. Although the time she decided to do this she was with Juliet and Bradley neglected to inform me that they had gone out on the main trail together and I thought I had lost my preschooler for the next half hour. I still can't believe that the four year old made it on a 1.5 mile loop walking/precariously balancing on the bike while Eleanor walked beside it. Apparently she yelled a lot and demanded to get down because it was clearly dangerous. They both survived and we're just saying it built character somehow.

Look at this puppy. No wonder she gets so much love. She's so sweet.

Bradley had a board game morning with my folks while I took the rest of the crew rock climbing with Charleigh and Chance, our neighbors. Juliet did so much more than the first time she went in the summer!

We only almost got kicked out once when Patrick got a bit too enthusiastic about using a part of the bouldering area as a slide. Oops. Eleanor had a lot of commentary about my lack of parenting but I am just ready for some things to not require my constant guidance.

But the climbing bit was great. Charleigh and Chance had never been before and they had a great time too.

Chance and Patrick tackling some big walls. We had pizza afterwards in the cafe, it was a very nice day. The kids get the entire week off for Thanksgiving so this was a nice part of our staycation.

We got a nice library afternoon in as well.

The older kids love it when they get to pick their own books. Usually I bring home about 20 books I've put on hold for them every week but that's not the same as picking out your own.

Bradley brought home his baritone and Eleanor had her viola and I said I would really like to hear how they were doing so they practiced a bit simultaneously one afternoon.

Forts! Juliet and Patrick were all about forts over Thanksgiving break.

And we made a trip to McLains with all the kids!

There was great joy.

They had festive balloons up which we rather enjoyed.

Bradley likes cherry danishes the best, Patrick and Eleanor like chocolate croissants, and Juliet likes cinnamon rolls. She actually hates danishes because she doesn't like the fruity bit in the center and we are all concerned about her taste buds.

And Eleanor loves McLains so much that she was willing to get up at 7:30 the next morning to meet a friend there because that's the time the friend's mom said she had available because we had to go before she went to work. Wow! We are working our way through all the flavors of coffee cake, so far it's a toss-up between raspberry and apple cinnamon for the favorite.

That evening we worked in a shopping trip to Walmart because I needed cranberries for Thanksgiving dinner so while we were there we also checked out the toy section. Good news, Juliet likes literally everything. 

We take pictures of her with the toys she likes and I took around 20-30 pictures.

The girls picked out some hula hoops for themselves for Christmas. I keep getting things in front of the kids and telling them to forget them, which is honestly actually working for Juliet because I think it's happened about five times now and she's legitimately losing track of things.

Meanwhile Nathan and the boys played corner pool or something on the fancy poker table in the basement. I'm doing pretty well with the new house although I really miss having the forest in the backyard. Nathan however, is in heaven. It's really nice to have a legitimately fun basement now.

Evening movie time! Why do we have such a big couch, everyone cuddles!

We did a family walk together on Thanksgiving morning.

Bradley agreed to give Eleanor a piggy-back ride and this was the result of the first attempt.

Success!

The Seahawks had a game that evening so our Thanksgiving attire was Seahawks gear.

Patrick made a bunch of art projects as prizes and created a raffle and there was great excitement after dinner as numbers were called out and people were awarded various precious items. It was super cute, although Eleanor was a bit intense about things it seems.

And then we went home to decorate for Christmas and watch football. Juliet dressed up for the occasion but didn't like the dress being tied around her neck so it was very entertaining to watch her pulling it up as it fell down. At least she likes dress-up, most of these outfits were for Eleanor and they were rarely used.

Mom and I went out for some Black Friday shopping at JCrew Factory and sent this cute picture to dad when he messaged Mom about how he was going in to work for a bit. We said, "Good, because we're spending all the money!" He just loves jokes like this.

And Juliet and Patrick scored with fancy friends because they went over to Casey and Timmy Svab's house for the day and ended up getting to go out to Dave & Buster's for dinner and fun in the evening. We very rarely do fancy things like this and our children were properly dazzled.

And the crew got to work decorating the tree the next morning. We used my grandmother's fancy Christmas ornaments we made this year, they're my absolute favorite and I'm really glad we're finally using them.

We tested out a new Monopoly shuffle board type game with a couple of friends during the day.

Everyone was very excited and had a lot of fun.

Stella and Juliet had lunch together, although I think Stella just chose to have hot cocoa.

I really enjoy Maya, she's a very good friend to Eleanor. They have been friends since kindergarten!

That evening it snowed and wimpy people canceled the Luminary Walk we were scheduled to go to that night. At least the kids had a blast playing in the 1/2 inch of snow the next morning!

Please note everyone pictured in this photo is eating snow, both children and dog.

We went over to the neighbor's house and did a little sledding and had a lot of snowball fights.

Callie may not be a water dog but she loves snow very very much and was thrilled to be included in the fun.

Nathan got to break out cute snow items like a miniature snowman maker which were a big hit with the kids.

Patrick and Chance played all morning together. Patrick really likes Chance.

Everyone likes Juliet. I can't believe how long she stayed out in the cold.

Callie made friends with the dog behind our neighbor's house. They said, "She's an alpha, she doesn't do well around other dominant dogs." And I said, "I have such good news about Callie ... she is very willing to be subservient." They played around all morning and Callie was a little shadow to her new friend.

Eleanor and Charleigh. Charleigh is our neighbor who is two years younger than Eleanor but she's very tall and very nice and it's easy to forget that she's younger.

Our very nice neighbor Angela took a bunch of pictures of the kids playing and she said she kept taking pictures of Juliet because of how cute she was. Yep, agreed!

Luca came over for the afternoon. I don't know how it's become a tradition to play Pie Face with him but I like it!

We rarely have whipped cream in the house but somehow we always do when Luca is here.

Charleigh had never played Pie Face. She was a very good sport.

Eleanor was not a fan of the idea of being hit in the face with whipped cream.

But it happened!

That night a very demoralized Juliet faced a couch of three kids reading and I told her, "I can get them to play with you within a minute. Easy." I had just cleaned off the art table and found the play-doh supplies which no one had played with in ages. So I loudly declared, "Secret! Forbidden! Don't tell your siblings!" and got out all the play-doh gear. They came running and Juliet was so happy. They were too. Play-doh is fun!

Look at this face. Who even wants to read a book when they can play with this?

Legitimately found Sookie like this in a bin in Patrick's room one night. She somehow put herself in there, no one helped her. Oh Sookie. She LOVES Patrick's bed. She is very much his kitty these days and we feel privileged when she visits us at night instead of sleeping with him.

I was looking through some writing prompts Patrick brought home from school and he answered the age old question of whether you'd rather be rich or happy. He chose rich ...

But at least his time travel question had an adorable answer. He loves Juliet so much!

Eleanor tried an arial arts class and it was really neat! But also really hard. You have to tie knots with your feet and the instructor acted like it was something one should already know how to do.

Eleanor hung in there though. There was another instructor who was really nice and helped them do some fun things. I love that she is willing to try new things!

Bradley and I played the Grinch Grow Your Heart Card Game. Guess which one of us was the winner and which was the loser?

Juliet made a fort and wanted Callie to be cozy so she wrapped her in a blanket as well. Lucky Callie.

I love my walks with Callie. It's so pretty and the new walk is a little longer than our old one but it's very nice.

Juliet went on a kick of wearing pajamas to school when it was not pajama day. You can't tell here but she's also wearing cowgirl boots. She has a number of sensory issues I don't really understand but she cares deeply about how comfortable clothes are so we're really happy when she had pants, socks, or shoes that she likes. If it's a pajamas and cowgirl boots day then that's just what it is.

I took the younger three to the book fair at Stanley Elementary and Chris Cakes pancakes were a hit for dinner. The girls each had three pancakes for dinner.

Patrick had six plus a fair amount of sausage and then ate a piece of pizza at church play practice following this. He's a skinny kid. I'm not prepared for boy appetites. 

Juliet agreed to practice with everyone for a short while during the church play practice and Patrick helped her by singing song lyrics to her the entire time. It was beyond adorable. He is just the best.

I love doing girl hair so much. We call this Juliet's princess hair style.

Meg is gorgeous and the kitties love the winter blankets on all the bed right now.

We prepped for the Christmas Cookie Swap party by dipping Oreos in melted chocolate chips and then covering them in sprinkles. The kids are so good at helping with this.

Patrick got in on it after he showered after a basketball practice. He has been over-scheduled lately but I'm glad we've still worked in some fun!

Although maybe it's been good to be out of the house because Juliet is truly terrifying at times. Mwuahahahah!

But not as scary as this nutcracker contraption Nathan and I were considering splurging on and which Juliet and Bradley voted a vehement no because it was far too creepy. It looks at you! So fun!