Other November

In anticipation of how we'll spend the extra hour on Sunday, we took a hike to see how it'd go. It went great. The trailhead was only 15 minutes from the church, so we changed clothes in the car and headed out.








And then, of course, there was Thanksgiving. Here's our Thanksgiving Eve dinner. Sadly I have no pictures of the actual day. We enjoyed the company of two other families and had a good, looooong day.


On the day after Thanksgiving we tried another hike. The section of Billy Goat trail that my boys like was closed due to flooding, so we tried another trail. I love these two pictures showcasing a huge difference between my boys. Ollie is walking confidently while Rhett is slowly and carefully making his way.

Field Trip to Mount Vernon

Back in November I got to go with Rhett to Mount Vernon for a field trip. We won't talk about the horrible traffic we experienced both ways. Thank goodness for in-bus DVD players.

We did all the things you should do: churn butter, weave, put flowers on Washington's grave. It was a gorgeous day, and I was lucky to go. Especially because Rhett still thinks it's cool for me to go.











Haha. Kids.

Crafty Bastards

A couple of weeks ago Rhett and I went to the Crafty Bastards show again. This year was interesting because we had a big rainstorm the night before and the show took place on a dirt parking lot. So, um, it was a bit muddy. Had we known (I knew parking lot, but I figured asphalt), we would have not worn leather clogs and breathable sneakers. But we didn't know. And had we known we parked in a private lot and had to nearly beg the concierge to let us out of the parking lot, we would have picked a different place to park. But we didn't know. Regardless, we had a good time. Hopefully next year will be better. Here's what we saw:

These super cute wire art pieces from The Colorful Berry. They are wire covered in crochet!


I loved these pretty little pouches from Leah Quilts.


This interesting style of art from Brian Gubicza. So geometric! And they're similar to this fun sticker-by-number book Rhett won at church (don't ask).


Some super cute rubber stamps from Felicette.


I thought these were clever: fabric embellished with embroidery. From the Merriweather Council.


UGH! My favorite jewelry (jewelry I'd consider buying) doesn't have a place to view it! The Lost Time Collective website is under construction. Tears.


How cool is this bracelet from the Treeline and Tide? They get two pictures because I also love their men's stuff, like the tie clip.




Of course we love anything pug, like this fancy guy from Ryan Berkley Illustration.


Oh, and these Brainstorm guys were back. I wish I had an empty wall for one of their prints!

Halloween

We did Halloween in three parts. First, ward Trunk or Treat. Second, carve the pumpkins. Third, Trick or Treating. This year, Ollie was a ghost (classic), and Rhett was a vending machine (classic Rhett).

Part 1: Trunk or Treat. I have to be honest: I hate these. The kids just walk around the loop about 20 times, getting far more candy than they'll ever eat. Oh well. But even I dressed up as Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby. It was HARD to eat candy with that beard, but I managed. Rhett won "Best Kid's Costume" and he was beyond excited to get the prize: a Cold Stone Oreo ice cream cake. Because, you know, we all need more sugar.






Part 2: Carving Pumpkins. It's so nice that the kids can (mostly) do these on their own. Don't ask me about Chuck's. Apparently it's some crying video game thing?!




Part 3: Trick or Treating. Finally. Chuck stayed home and scared the trick-or-treaters at our house, while I took the boys around with Rhett's friend's family. Fun was had by all!

What Else We've Been Doing

As it finally decided to be fall two weeks ago (seriously--we had the air conditioning going until October 10--doing quite a number on our electricity bill) we were finally able to break out the projector for some outdoor movies. It's amazing how cold 55 degrees can feel when the sun goes down! But we've had a fun couple of nights and even had some friends join us.

File this Under "Why Didn't I Do This 10 Years Ago"

We moved into the house to these tiles with fruit on them. While I don't think they're hideous, exactly, I do not like them. At all. I'm the biggest fan of symmetry there is, but even I can see it just doesn't work here. Plus, fruit? Really?! I think I always thought that I'd have to redo the entire backsplash or rip out the offending tiles, but one day I saw something that said you could just paint them. So I did. And now I'm mad I didn't think of doing it ten years ago. I love it so much.

Before


After

Weekend Camping

We FINALLY got to get out of town for a short trip. The boys had an early release on Friday and Chuck had a morning dental appointment, so we were able to head out early Friday afternoon. We met some friends up there and spent the evening hanging out. Saturday morning we hiked to the falls and then went to a pumpkin patch.



We've been to a LOT of pumpkin patches around here, but this was the first time we experienced these. So much fun!


Also zip lines!


Tug of War: Chuck v. some of the kids.








Sunday morning we took the kayaks out for a bit before heading home. We were happy to have cousins come join us too!


It felt so good to get out of town and into the woods. If only temperatures would reflect the fact that it's actually fall...

Actual Picture Collages

I meant to add these to Monday's post, but totally spaced it. Rhett is still begging me to print more pictures so we can do this again.