November 2015

Everyday happenings
—This month, the kids were STILL bunking together (and Lukas was, frankly, being an a-hole, what with the all-night jumping around, flopping around, bothering Annika, not going to sleep, etc.), until — on his birthday! — the little guy finally moved back into his own (85%-finished) room! Yaaaaaaaaay! He was still sleeping on the futon mattress, but at least, it was on his own floor …
—A brief Yo Gabba Gabba renaissance: Lukas found some old Gabbas on Annika’s phone, and they both started watching them, which led to watching them on TV for like two solid weeks. It was nice while it lasted!
—Annika gets her ears pierced: Years ago, I said she could do it when she was eight … and she remembered! A few of her friends are starting to get their ears pierced, too, so it was time. I did some research, but we ended up going to Claire’s in the mall, where we got ‘em done with the ol’ piercing gun (with one person on each side of her, so it was over quickly). She was a champ up in that chair, picked her earrings out, and squeezed her eyes shut - boom! Pierced! She looks adorable, of course, and loved picking out a bunch of earrings to wear when the 6-week trial period is over. 

Lukas’s birthday
—Pump It Up!: The Saturday before his actual birthday, we invited his preschool friends, plus Grace and Sean and Lawson & Niamh, and ended up with about 12 kids for his party at Pump It Up (bouncy houses & whatnot). He had an absolute blast, except for when he was told to sit in the birthday throne for the presentation of the Spider-Man cake he chose from Lucky — at that, he wept, thinking he had to sit there the whole time instead of sitting at a table to eat with his friends! Poor kid — once we figured out what was wrong, he went back to having a blast. :-) The next day, same time, we went back for Sean’s party at the same venue; Lukas was pretty wiped out, but the allure of PIU is strong, and he had a great time for the most part (minus a small overtired meltdown or two, heh).
—The glorious 18th: We had a family birthday dinner for the little guy on his actual bday, with his favorite meal (PB!) for him and regular food for us, plus a vegan cake I’d baked and Annika decorated (with red icing, his favorite color). He got a ton of presents, mostly superhero and/or action-based, plus some books and Pixar merch). Hard to believe he’s actually FOUR YEARS OLD!!! Sweet boy, habitual line-stepper — that’s our precious little Lukas-man. 

School days
—Lukas’s school Thanksgiving: The preschool had a potluck Thanksgiving party, which I went to; it was adorable, with all the kids in either Pilgrim or Indian construction-paper hats. Lukas of course wanted to come home after the party, so we made an early day of it.
—Annika’s first solo field trip: The second grade went to see a play at the Campbell Heritage Theater, and since so many parents want to chaperone, there’s a one-field-trip-per-parent policy; Annika preferred I come on the trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the spring, so I sat this one out. She had a great time; it’s really fun to see her gain independence as she gets older!
—Annika gets into the Titanic: Browsing the shelves at the school library, Annika came across a section on the Titanic, and immediately became almost as fascinated with it as I had been at about her age. She made her favorite of the books the subject of her November book report, and asked me repeatedly to look up pictures on the internet. I did explain that it was a terrible tragedy, and kind of walk her through that part of it — Tragedy 101, I guess? — but I think she’s mainly into the grandeur and the hero/villain narrative, which sounds about right to me.
—Lukas goes to Cole's Pump It Up birthday: I think we started a trend among the preschool set! Back to PIU for another session of bouncing till he can’t bounce no more …
—Dandy Day honors: Annika, it turns out, raised the most money by any individual in the whole school at the walk-a-thon: $1250.00!!! Fully $500 was from Uncle Jake and Aunt Jill, who pledged $10 per lap (she walked 50 laps! hahaha!). Her prize was an iPod Nano, engraved for the occasion, and she was presented it at an assembly in front of the entire TK-K-1st-2nd grades — what a thrill!

Thanksgiving
We woke up Thanksgiving day to a cool frosty morning (there was so much frost on the neighborhood’s roofs that the kids thought it had snowed!) with a crazy full moon still in view. We all watched the Macy Day Parade while the turkey roasted, and everything came together on time for a great Thanksgiving dinner for the four of us. Truly one of our better turkey days — good times all around! 

Social stuff
—The city and P-Town: We were invited to a first birthday party for Mike & Angie’s daughter Viv, so we made a Saturday of it — first the party, then a leisurely drive down to Pacifica to walk the old neighborhood (it was a gorgeous sunny day, with whales visible not far offshore as we strolled the ocean walk), then an early dinner at Celia’s (with plenty of takeout for the next couple of days). It was fun to see the old places and point them out to the kids; Annika remembered some of it, but of course, Lukas had never been there. Great day!
—Play dates: We had a couple of get-togethers with newish friends: A surprise/impromptu play date at Sydney’s, and a Thanksgiving-week after-school play date at Anna and Ella’s. We’re getting to be better friends with each of these families, and looking forward to getting to know them.

Quotable
—"The Minion Bunch” (Lukas’s conflation of two new things in his life: the minions, from the Despicable Me movies, and the Brady Bunch, one episode of which we screened for the kids, to much appreciation (the one where “mom always said don’t play ball in the house!”)
—"Let's have a band for the birds!” (Lukas making a happy suggestion, while I practiced bass and he banged around on the keyboard, and a bunch of birds were flying around just outside our window)