What happens when Mom takes a shower a couple days after Halloween -
notice all the empty candy wrappers on the floor under the dinner table.
The culprits
Andy had a conference in Baltimore and we went up to stay with him for a couple nights. I recall my words after doing this last year were, "Never again," but what do you know, one year can make a big difference in how easy it is to manage two young kids in a hotel full of people your husband works with/for. I promised Andy we would stay one night, be we stayed for two and would have happily spent another night, if Philip didn't have school.
While in Baltimore, we enjoyed Mass and lunch out on the Harbor, a fun morning run/breakfast out/visit to the bookstore, and a couple trips to the indoor pool. We discovered a nearby playground and it was hard to tear the kids away from there when it was time to go home. We barely got to see Andy, but the three of us had fun!
When Andy returned home a couple days later, we celebrated his birthday. The kids loved decorating the house and birthday cake for him.
The next week, we departed for Georgia, via Uncle Danny's house in Raleigh. After spending a night there, we went to Milledgeville for our nephew's wedding. We had a great time exploring the town and spending time with family.
A few days later, we were on the road again, heading to Andy's parent's house for Thanksgiving. Uncle Pete was gracious enough to host us all for a big family Thanksgiving dinner. We also got to visit Uncle Matt and all of his animals (dogs, bunnies, chickens, goats) and got to go to one of our nephew's concerts. Lots of fun was packed into our trip, and by the time we returned home it was already December! What a busy, fun month we had!
We had parent-teacher conferences at Philip's school. He is doing well, but is quiet at school which was expected. When we ask him questions, he has started responding with "Of course I did." "Philip, did you wash your hands?" "Of course I did." When we tell him we are doing something he is not fond of he will say slowly and seriously, "Not a good idea." It can be hard to drive at this time of the year because it seems that the sun is always in the kid's eyes. Philip will get really mad at the sun and yell, "Go away sun! 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" hoping that it will magically move when he reaches the end of the countdown.
Wearing every pair of pants he could find.
Just last month, Philip's doctor asked if he was drawing people yet and the answer was no. Suddenly, this month he got really into drawing and is creating all sorts of things - people, houses, cars - anything he can think of. I love seeing the little people he draws with their looong arms sticking out of their heads, no bodies, and a pair of legs. 
Dinosaur Truck
Every turkey he drew this month had this loooong wattle hanging off of it.
The kids started taking dinosaur bites of their food at meals. They will say, "Watch me take a dinosaur bite," and then proceed to take a big bite with sound effects. They take all sorts of bites now - Transformer bites, lion bites, Spider Man bites - it is a good way to get them to eat their meals!
Julia got a new car seat, which she is super proud of. She talks about it daily. She has taken to reading her stories to us and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever!
Happily taking Philip's car seat for a test drive.
