October

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. 

- Lucy Maud Montgomery

October was a month of adventure for us. We welcomed friends whenever possible, and we flew across the country to see another dear friend marry her beloved. Our trip to New Jersey was filled with, well, lots of praying Daniel would make it on flights (he was flying standby), entertaining our darling third wheel, and soaking in time with my college roommates. We are so lucky to get time with almost all of them (one of our honorary roommates lives many countries away). We've all changed, but stayed the same even more.

Then came our first snow of the year! It was heavy and wet, and Mlada refuses to wear gloves. We had 95% of the necessary snow gear... so really not too bad! 

In the proper Colorado way, the weather almost immediately became lovely again... at least lovely enough to go wandering out in the almost-melted snow in jammies.

Our reading and snuggling time has also ramped up in a perfectly wonderful way. Emílie's quilt gets pulled off the back of the couch a hundred times a day, and I love it. 

 Oh, and of course: dance parties. Mlada has been breaking out the moves. The time change and lack of light in our day puts us all in a mood at least a few times a day, so books and music are our go-to mood lifters. If all else fails, it's naptime or an episode of Little Bear.

We also said good-bye, or rather, see you as soon as physically possible, to one of our favorite families. As hard as it always is to see friends move away, they are going somewhere so wonderful that makes it a bit easier. 

We attempted the traditional pumpkin patch visit, but oh my, it was cold! We waited a bit too late in the month, our early freeze had destroyed most of the poor pumpkins, and the wind went right through these little sweeties. We came home with one lovely misshapen guy and a little one for each kiddo.

Anni had a two day "autumn intermission", so Daniel took the same days off to give us some extra family time. We made it to the zoo and it was really the best time I've had there in a long time! We explored some areas we hadn't been to, and with Mlada's newfound recognition of animals, it was just all joy. 

And finally, the month closed out with Halloween. Anni gets to dress up for school as anything they had studied, so she was autumn. The tattoos were probably a poor choice since we are still trying to scrub them off a week later, but it was such fun at the time!

Miss Mlada spent the day dressed up as her Aunt Tinie in one of  her namesake's shirts from her own toddlerhood, which was just fun.

The crowning jewel! Our little Moana (dressed for a chilly evening in Colorado rather than a tropical climate), a wee little elephant, and our very own Space Cadette Colette. 

And that. is that. Here's to the next month of adventure!

Surprising Aunt Tinie

A month or so ago, I started messaging my brother-in-law to see if it was feasible to surprise my dear sister with a visit. Anni has been missing her godparents something awful, so we made our secret plan, and tried not to spill the beans. Anni did let it slip that she had a secret earlier in the week, and Chuck (Tinie's husband) told her that there was a surprise coming, so she had an inkling, but didn't think it would really happen.

Buuuuuut... it did! 

We had the best weekend. The first evening, Anni jumped right into playing with her cousin, whom she adores.

Then we headed to Stations of the Cross, where I didn't take any photos, but, luckily, Anni drew pictures of her favorite things from the trip, so we have her representation of Stations below:

We also had some rather fabulously creamy mac n' cheese in the church hall afterwards. In fact, our tummies were rather well fed the entire weekend.

The next morning, the kids got up, erm, early, and made everyone pretend breakfast, and continued on their lego-playing way quite happily.

Then we headed out to Iguana Grill for some very yummy mexican food. My enchiladas were good, but the absolute best thing we had were the empanadas. Ohhh my goodness, smoky chicken filling and a creamy avocado sauce... just delish.

Then we headed right next door to Sara Sara Cupcakes, where we picked out four lovely cupcakes to have after Mass and dinner later that evening.

We also stopped at the Route 66 Park in OKC, where the kids played their hearts out, and us adults rotated walking the path. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out while we were there, but I highly recommend it if you're in the area! After a bit of a rest, we headed off to Mass, except for Tinie who had RCIA duties the next day.

During Mass, there was a bit of a tired meltdown when a certain younger cousin couldn't watch her older cousin receive Communion, and then because she missed her sister. Poor girl definitely needed a nap! That night we had some amazing minestrone, because my sister is a fabulous cook.

She also made a cream cheese filled lemon and almond coffee cake for Sunday breakfast. Oh. my. That is one way to celebrate a Sunday for sure! It was the best coffee cake I have tasted in my entire life.

Then we all lazed about while Millie got dolled up and headed off to herd her wonderful class toward holiness.

Then, after another round of tears, and the strong suspicion that the early mornings were taking a toll on our girl, she snuggled up with Aunt Tinie for a long winter's nap, after which she was briefly confused and stoic, and then incredibly chipper and excited about everything.

Before long, it was time to head off to catch our plane. I'm so grateful for a weekend of sweet memories, not only for myself, but for my Anni, that she got this time to connect with her "god-family" and have a little adventure of her own.