The pictures wouldn't be appropriate

I'm pretty certain that Santa is bringing Avery some underwear for Christmas.

Cuz lately, I keep finding her with no diaper on.

Pants, and no diaper.

A skirt, and no diaper.

A shirt and sneakers, and no diaper.

And, my personal favorite, a shirt and legwarmers...and no diaper.

(Like I said, the pictures wouldn't be appropriate.)

She's been asking to wear "Unnies"

and she's about to get her wish.

I really wasn't quite ready for this Avery, but you've left me no choice.

As for being done with diapers for.ev.er? Now that, I'm ready for!

The Entire month of NOVEMBER

Paul working crazy (night shift) hours in the ICU (hate).

Thanksgiving, Noah's 8th Birthday, Noah's baptism and visits from the Grandparents (love).

{Because I'm never going to get to all these things individually...but I'm not ready to give up on this blog yet.}

Thanksgiving:

Great food,

great friends,

the kids had a blast (Noah says it was his best Thanksgiving ever),

Avery was a ham,

and the Bumans were amazing hosts!!

Thanks guys :)

A few days later...

Noah turned 8 years old.

We celebrated by taking Noah and Alex and 2 of their friends to the Mall of America to ride the rides. That's my kind of birthday party. Kids had a blast, Paul and I did a little shopping (not at the same time) and Avery had fun at home with a babysitter. Win win win.

We also had a family party on his actual birthday, with presents and lemon cake with lemon frosting.

A few days later...

Noah got baptized.

It was such an important day for Noah and our family. Everything went beautifully and we're so grateful that both sets of grandparents were there to share the day with us and be a part of it. We also had the love and support of many, many dear friends. We are so proud of Noah and we feel so blessed.

We also got the first (real) snow of the year that day, the kids could not have been happier.

And Paul surprised the kids with a tree. Not the best surprise ever, but they sure had fun decorating it.

November was busy. I'm not gonna lie, I got stressed out at times, I thought it was too hard some days. But there was also a lot of love, laughter, friends, family, and good food.

It's a wonderful life. And I am happy and grateful.

It ended on a High

MY crew

THE crew

Thanks Carolyn and Katy! SO FUN.

Just being silly.

Or serious.

And this little bee...

she might have made my whole life with her cuteness.

Trick-or-treating with Avery might be one of the funnest (not a word) things I have ever done.

For. Reals.

You weren't there so you wouldn't know.

She loooooooooved it. No stroller necessary, she walked (read: ran) on her own for over an hour - bee wand in one hand, candy bag (or purse, as she called it) in the other.

Laughing. Running. Laughing. Falling. Laughing. Yelling.

Yes yelling. You know, things like

"MORE CANDY!"

or

"THEY NOT HOME!"

and

"CHOCOLATE!"

Thank you Avery. Halloween was worth it : )

Also noteworthy:

Alex picked out her and Avery's costumes - all her idea to match. Cutest ever.

When I was ready to bail with Avery, Paul made it home just in time to keep going with the big kids. He saved the day.

Noah outlasted everyone (as in he was trick-or-treating his way home with his friends dad, minus his friend. Thank you Kevin). Never seen such a haul.

Happy Halloween!

Now I can even say that and mean it : )

Avery would say it like this: I doe yike it

I don't like Halloween all that much.

My husband hates it.

Our first problem this year was finding Noah a costume - because he wanted to be something creepy or gross, which I just wasn't having. We finally decided on a black ninja costume, I ordered it, and was glad to be done. I had to pay extra for shipping at that point to guarantee it would arrive the day before his costume parade at school.

The day before his costume parade at school the package arrived. I opened the box. When I saw a bunch of bright colors I knew we had a problem. When I lifted out the most hideous clown costume you have ever seen - I was just pissed.

I immediately called the company, the representative was neither very nice or helpful, and I was informed that the black ninja costume I'd ordered and paid for was completely out of stock, but would I like to choose something else??

Um NO.

So that night Paul and Noah were hitting up every Halloween store in town (pretty much Paul's worst nightmare) and having the same battle with Noah all over again.

There were gone for what seemed like forever. I got one text from Paul while they were out:

"I hate halloween."

Noah came home with a pirate costume - the same exact one I told him before he left that he could borrow from a friend. He insists it's not the same (it is).

Friday I got to haul my 2-year-old to not one but two costume parades at school.

Alex's was first. It wasn't too bad - just the morning kindergarten classes which meant it wasn't too crowded, and Avery only cried a little bit.

But I didn't get very good pictures on my cell phone:

We were back in the afternoon for Noah's parade. A lot more kids, a lot more parents - it's always a madhouse. We got there 15 minutes early and still had to park way too far away. We went to Noah's classroom to snap a few pics beforehand - Avery was screaming her head off and once again I didn't get any good pics on my cell phone:

Then we went outside to wait for the parade to go by. Avery was still screaming so I let her out of the stroller. The parade was passing and I had my phone in hand, watching for Noah's class. Next thing I knew there was a big commotion - and it took me a minute to realize my child was the cause of it. Avery had run into the middle of the pack of kids parading by and basically got trampled, slamming her head pretty hard into the asphalt. As I ran into the mass of swarming and confused children to scoop up my screaming and injured 2-year-old I heard another parent say (loudly) "Whose kid is that??"

I headed to the back of the crowd to calm Avery down - where she passed out in my arms (used to that by now). She came too really quickly and continued to cry. By the time I had her under control...the parade was over. I had missed Noah.

Luckily, a friend of mine was also there, saw what had happened and snapped a picture of Noah for me as he went by.

I also have to mention that just before Noah got trampled I was chatting with the mom standing next to me, it came up in conversation that I was a Mormon, and it seemed to me that she acted awkward. Was it just in my head, because of everything in the media right now? Maybe. I don't know.

Either way, I came home from the school costume parade wanting to cry.

Instead, I laid down on the couch, closed my eyes, and ignored my kids for awhile.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. As we were leaving, I saw another parent using her iphone to take pics of her kid...and zooming in.

what?? my iphone camera can zoom??

I. am. an idiot.

And.

I don't much like Halloween.

In case anyone still reads this blog

We are moving here:

Medford, Oregon

: )

: )

: )

We couldn't be happier.

Best job, best place for our family.

Still doesn't seem quite real, been wishing/hoping for it for so long.

But in June, when Paul graduates from residency, that's where you'll find us.

Paul interviewed out there last summer.

Let me tell you, it was rough.

He took some nice country drives,

visited a farm,

did some bee-keeping,

and went salmon fishing!??

And spent time with our friends the Sykes.

Yeah, it was quite the interview.

While he was texting me pictures like that I was texting him pictures like this:

Avery causing all kinds of (usual) trouble and chaos

and Avery busting her chin open (of course when the Dr. is not in the house - or even the state).

But he also sent me pictures like this:

the hospital

the library (per my request)

and the temple.

Yes Medford has a temple.

And an airport.

This is pretty much the whole thing you see here, which is awesome : )

It also has a Costco and a Great Harvest Bread Co.

AND we just got official word that REI and Trader Joe's are coming soon!

Seriously, we were meant for this place.

Within driving distance to both of our families.

And did I already mention our friends the Sykes??

: )

But while we were waiting to hear back from Medford Paul also interviewed in Reno, Nevada.

Where he golfed with my dad my 2 brothers and both of my brothers-in-law.

Yeah, these interviews were rough.

Avery did not bust her chin open while he was gone this time but I did have a little incident with a "gas leak" and a barbie. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Ok, but really, thanks for showing him a good time dad.

He deserved it.

And thanks for landing us the job we wanted Paul!

I really am so proud. You work so hard and are dedicated to what you do. One of the reasons I married you : )

(Paul likes to tease me that I married him for the money - my response to that is I probably could have thought of a faster way...)

And so...we're going to be west coasters!

Hurray!

I went here:

I went with my husband, who went for a conference.

He was pretty busy during the day but we got to do:

a 6 hour road trip, both ways - one way included a stop at the outlets (I scored)

dinner together every evening (so good)

Second City (hilarious)

and a lazy Sunday together (much needed).

And anyways, my sister Tiffany lives in Chicago which only made the trip even better.

We spent 2 entire days together WITHOUT. ANY. KIDS. It's only been like, ooooohhh, 5 years or so since we've been together without kids.

Saying it was awesome is like the understatement of the year. It makes me happy just thinking about it.

So we:

Shopped

Ate

saw a movie (Footloose, which, embarrassingly, was so much fun).

And that pretty much covers it.

That and talking talking talking and laughing till we cried and wondering how the time was going by so fast.

Thank you thank you Tiffany - for clearing your schedule to spend so much time with me, making arrangements for Madden, and hosting us on Sunday.

I did of course get to see my nephew Madden on Sunday and Monday - he was as cute, funny, and easy going as I remembered.

I also got to do some very important things like:

sleep uninterrupted every night

Wake up when I felt like it

Take my time getting ready

Wear cute clothes

and read a book while soaking in the bath in the middle of the afternoon.

And I can't talk about the trip without talking about the food. My favorites of the trip:

Seafood Salad

Lobster Bisque

Bread Pudding Pancakes

Sprinkles Cupcake

and

White Chocolate Salted Caramel Pretzel Pancakes (those alone might have been worth the drive)

Best. Trip. Ever.

Or at least what I needed most right now.

All while my children were in the capable hands of my mother-in-law, who so kindly offered to come out and stay with them.

They had the time of their lives and were pretty heartbroken (as in sobbing) when she had to leave.

We can't thank you enough Lezli!

Paul - thanks for doing a research project, presenting a poster, and giving a talk at the conference so we could go on this lovely trip : )

And. As lovely as it was, it's always lovely to come home to my 3 kids. My real life here with them is pretty good.