Catch-up: November and December

November began with a great Providence weekend with my playgroup moms; I didn't get many pictures because we were all basically hiding inside our jackets to stay somewhat warm/dry, but we did a winery tour, a private banquet, and then some continued to dance and karaoke...I wish I could say I was one of them, but I chose door #2, which was a bed and hotel room to myself for the night.

Bridget's personality seems to amp up every twenty-four hours these days.

Hadley joined Anders in her cruising capabilities, which increased both of their fun:

We had our first hot cocoa when the timing was right:

Then December came, and with it a truly epic stocking display in our home:

And a great night making bows for our preschool fundraiser!

(I promise my basement looked a lot nicer/dimmer/more festive in real life--I had Elf playing muted on the TV, Christmas songs playing, and everyone brought way too much wine and food--it was lovely.)

Bridget went skating with the boys and Dave for the first time:

Will's cold-weather routine after he gets off the bus: race me to the house, eat a snack while he reads Highlights or Sports Illustrated for Kids.

I know why the caged tree sings--it's saying "Why must you cover up my lush, symmetrical beauty with this pet gate?" Hopefully that was the last time we had to baby-proof it!

"Hadley is my BEST sister."

Finny performed in his final preschool holiday show,

and the whole family came to watch.

And Bella came on the 23rd to celebrate the start of Christmas vacation!

Thanksgiving 2014

These laps are crowded!

Halloween 2014 (Yep, belated again)

First we journeyed to Volante to pick out our pumpkin:

The pumpkin-carving got rather solemn:

 Getting ready for trick-or-treating:

We had an Eagles football player, Iron Man, Tinkerbell, a gorilla and a jack-o'-lantern. A motley gang, but as I'm resolved to never buy a Halloween costume again, it'll be that way for the foreseeable future!

We went to our friends' house to meet up and then walk around their neighborhood. I think it will be our last year doing so, which is bittersweet, but the truth is that Will has amassed a lot of close friends in his short time in kindergarten, and next year Finn will join him at the elementary school. These school friends live even closer to us, and it'll probably be a natural transition to trick-or-treat in our/their neck of the woods next year. But this was still a fun last blast!

Finn and Bridget: The Preschool Kids

Finn started his last year of preschool in September, and Bridget started two toddler programs so she wouldn't have to spend every morning in the house with me and two napping babies. It has been great all around. 

Finn and Bridget are my typically-spaced kids. They are two years and six-ish weeks apart, and it shows. They love each other, and then they gripe at each other. Bridget demands that Will (who is kind to her, but often uninterested) be the one to hold her hand/help her with her jacket/unbuckle her seatbelt; five minutes later, she's whimpering because Finny didn't give her a hug. Likewise, Finn adores Bridget...until she dares to act more like an equal than a baby, at which point he grabs things out of her hands, barks orders at her, and expresses dismay at her not following his bossy directions to a T.

 Finny's preschool class is the same as last year, and they get along like magical, possessed pod people. They are all so loving and kind to each other. When they reunited the other day after winter break at a birthday party, the mom of the birthday girl reported that "They would have just kept sitting there, catching up for hours." They all act like they've been friends for decades--they honestly seem like people who've retired to the same nursing home and we (the parents) are their grown children whose visits they appreciate, but we're going to get back to bingo now, thanks for stopping by!

 Bridget is in a phase where she says "_______ is my best friend EVER!" about a new person every day, sometimes more. It's actually adorable, since all these people are her school friends and she does really enjoy their company. She comes from a long line of people who don't just want to have friends, they want to talk about their friendships as if it's riveting intel. But again: very cute.

Hopefully I'll catch up and be somewhat current with these posts in 2015!