November 2017

Lukas is Six!
Our boy Lukas turned six this month! The big day was on a Saturday, so we had his party at Pump It Up in the morning — tons of little maniacs running around, caroming off the inflatables, screaming — and then in the afternoon, made him the chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate glaze that has now become the family go-to for birthdays and special occasions generally (although the dinner we had, hilariously, was pasta for three, and a PB for one — his birthday, his choice! LOL). He made out like a bandit, present-wise — stuffed animals, marbles, Star Wars shirts, transformers, Legos, Captain Underpants books [sigh], etc. Hard to believe he wasn’t even born when we moved into this house, and now he’s a half-grown tasmanian devil in the form of the sweetest boy in the wide world. 

All-Around Annika
—Girl Scouts: This month, the big event with GS was her troop’s hike to the top of Mt. Umunhum, which is a place you can see from everywhere around here but not that many people have ever been to (including me). She really enjoyed it, even though she has started to say she wants to quit GS …
—iPad time: Annika’s been saving for over a year to buy herself her own iPad mini, and this was the month she finally had enough $$ to do it. R. ordered it to get his discount, and threw in a cover and the AppleCare insurance. We made it clear that the family rules about when and how it is used still apply, and that we would always know its password, and so far, she’s been conscientious about that. She’s very proud of herself for reaching her goal, and so are we.
—Fun outing: Her BFF Raina won the teacher raffle for Mr. Dinh’s class at Dandy Day, which was a trip to a restaurant in the mall with Mr. Dinh and a friend for an item called a “Pizzookie” — a cookie the size of a pizza, with ice cream and stuff on top. Raina invited Annika as her plus-one, and they went on a Friday afternoon to get their treat. 

Lukas Life
—Lukas loses his first tooth! The Tooth Fairy made her first visit for Lukas this month. He lost one of his bottom front teeth, which had been wiggly for weeks — so exciting! He was thrilled, of course, and very surprised that though there was a tiny little bit of blood, it didn’t hurt. In the morning, the tooth was gone, and three shiny gold dollar coins had taken its place — pure magic! He looked extra adorable in all his birthday pics, with the little gap where the tooth used to be …
—Birthday party month: Since Lukas was in TK and all those kids have their birthdays in October and November, we had a flurry of parties to attend, including: Brayden’s, at Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl (a bowling alley and bar, with an undersea theme, inside Bass Pro Shops); Samantha’s, at a gymnastics school (Lukas had an absolute blast at this one!); and Dylan M.’s (at Cucina Bambini, a cooking school for kids, where they made their own pizzas and ice cream treats).
—The TK/Kinder musical performance: On the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, the TK/Kinder classes performed a half-dozen songs in the cafeteria (the same ones from last year). Coincidentally, Lukas’s class were Pilgrims again; he was so flippin’ cute in his little Pilgrim hat and collar!!! And he knew all the songs already, so this was all showmanship … heh. 

Family Time
—Parent-Teacher Conference week: We managed to get both conferences on the same day, one right after the other, so we put the kids on their iPads and got ‘er done. Mr. Dinh, of course, had high praise for Annika academically (she scored in the 99th percentile on a statewide verbal/English assessment and 97th percentile on the math portion, yay!), and mostly socially, with the minor exception of her extreme anxiety around being wrong or being challenged by him or (especially) by peers, which manifests in tears and lashing-out (with which we are already familiar; we just have to keep working on her developing the skills to handle those situations). Mrs. Goldman said Lukas was one of the best readers in his class, knows all the sight words and more, and is doing great with the math skills (again, one of the top kids); it was not news to us that he occasionally is an ungovernable little turkey in class (my phrasing, not hers, lol).
—More painting: We went back to Color Me Mine on Veteran’s Day, since the kids were out of school. Lukas painted an Iron Man head in a variety of fun colors, and Annika painted a set of four coasters, each with a completely unique design. I made a mug for R.’s xmas present that said “I don’t have to outlast Dunder Mifflin. I just have to outlast you.”
—We got a house for Grandma & Grandpa! This month, we actually closed on the condo in the Villages — a 2/1, 913 sq. ft., in need of a total remodel but definitely priced to allow it. The first step to moving them out here! Wooooo!!!!

Thanksgiving
This was the most chill, pleasant Thanksgiving in recent memory — everyone was for the most part calm, happy and mellow; we were able to watch the entirety of the Macy Day Parade without incident, the turkey was FABULOUS, all the sides came out great, Annika made a rich & wonderful dessert almost entirely by herself (chocolate pots, from a Jamie Oliver recipe), everyone ate (even Mister PB had a full plate that he ate … some of), and we had time for a family movie night (Despicable Me 3) before bedtime. Exactly what we all needed! 

Quotable
Annika's response to a crossword clue: "Noah's ___” … ”Bagels?”