Thanksgiving

For the first time ever, I was in charge of the Thanksgiving turkey. It felt like an important milestone. I got a 20 lb turkey, defrosted it, salted it, stuffed it, and put it in an oven bag. Five hours later, we had a delicious, super moist turkey. It turned out really well! And Aaron carved it like a pro. He even came back after the meal and got every last bit of meat off that turkey carcass. Like a true Dennis--waste not, want not; there's a depression on!

We were glad to share our turkey with the Brimleys. They brought pies and rolls and sides that were all amazing. One of our best Thanksgiving moments was when we realized they had left the rest of the berry pie with us! We had 9 pies which was 1 pie per person (if you don't count the baby). We should have counted the baby!

 During the morning, my family was texting back and forth about the glorious pie-ness that was happening across the country. We made a pie pledge: "I pledge allegiance to the pies of the United Pie Eaters of America and to the calories for which they stand, one pie, per person, irresistibly delectable, with ice cream and leftovers for all." We took the pledge seriously. There was some dedicated pie-eating over here.

The weather was lovely. Fall colors have started appearing here in Texas. Naturally, we visited the park. And Amanda and I discovered that great moms dress alike.

This year I am grateful for so many things. I am still so grateful that Aaron finished his PhD and that we're here with a good job. I love our house. May sound weird, but I'm grateful for our budgeting spreadsheet and our credit union app that makes tracking our expenses so delightful. I'm grateful that I get to homeschool my kids. I love it! I'm grateful that I've been learning to play the organ. I'm grateful there are so many good books in the world. I'm grateful for mild Texas winters. I'm grateful to have siblings and a soul sister in Texas with me. I love that my sisters and my mom and I have been texting each other so much. I'm extremely grateful for Aaron and my interesting, funny, happy, healthy kids. I'm grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ. Yay for Thanksgiving! 

Family Pictures

We had a photographer friend in our ward take our family pictures. It was a quick, 15 minute session which was perfect. The kids easily lasted that long, and we got some actual smiles out of Scotty. Miraculous! This was the first time in a long time that I've paid to have pictures taken. I think I was waiting for our family to change (by having another baby) before I spent time and energy on family pictures. But I've been trying on a new attitude lately by accepting and cherishing this family that I've got right now. And that has been really good. I like us!

Birthday, Halloween, Birthday

It's that time of year again. Where we make ourselves sick with sugar. First with Aaron's birthday:

Then Halloween, then Annie's birthday. Cake, candy, then more cake. The kids got so much candy. We had our ward trunk-or-treat. Then it was raining on actual Halloween, so there were fewer trick-or-treaters, so they were getting handfuls of candy from each house. And I've been listening to this podcast that's all about food freedom--give yourself permission to eat anything you want and you'll find that you actually don't always want to eat stuff that's bad for you. Your body will actually crave good things. That's the philosophy. I'm digging it...but I'm really not sure if it applies to kids. I've given Annie and Scotty their food freedom, and I think they're skipping meals because they are already full of candy.

Anyway, we had a pretty great Astrid costume for Annie this year. And Scotty was a ninja which was great because it was a $4 costume from Saver's. It's a good thing his was easy so we could devote all of our energy to Astrid. We made it ourselves with minimal sewing and some hot-gluing and some hope-it-stays-on-for two-hours-ing. The kids are trying to look sophisticated in this picture. Astrid doesn't smile on demand! Ninjas aren't happy.

Until their mom arrives with the scariest/funniest costume ever! (Running Out of Toilet Paper) Get it? I can count on one hand the number of people who got it at our ward party. But I'm in my thirties now. I can do embarrassing things without getting embarrassed. Scotty was only a little bit embarrassed.

The kids also carved pumpkins for our pre-Halloween FHE. I had to include this picture because look at their legs. Those are teenager legs! How can my little babies have such long, lanky legs?!

We didn't have any friend party for Annie this year. I needed a break after years 7 and 8. Her birthday was on Sunday, so we had cake and ice cream that day and then went to Rudy's on Monday. At Rudy's there were a couple of guys right behind us visiting from Massachusetts. So it was their first time. It was fun to be the old, experienced Texans at the BBQ. Annie even requested Texas sheet cake. But when I recently said, "You're a Texan," she said, "No I'm not!" She still considers herself a Utah girl, through and through.

She wanted a momma and baby turtle with a tank. That was more expensive than I thought it should be. But we also got her a new alarm clock since her old one didn't actually keep time.

Annie is 9 years old. Doesn't that seem old to you? She's getting so smart and mature and interesting. And she finished reading the Book of Mormon for her first time ever on her birthday. She started when she was probably 7 years old. But she got more motivated last year when she got scriptures from Grandma and Grandpa Dennis for her baptism. We were proud of her for finishing! She didn't report any particular spiritual feelings, but she was happy to be able to say she'd done it.

It was good to get through our six weeks of sugar. Now we'll take a five minute break and be right back at it with pie fest and Christmas. Food freedom!!

Serpinski Pyramid

Three years after dreaming up this idea, Aaron finally finished his grand pyramid project. Here it is in all its sticky tack, toothpicks, glue, and glory. 1704 triangles, 1536 toothpicks, 514 toothpick joints, 341 pyramids.

It is now hanging up very high on our wall. Aaron actually reached over our balcony with a hammer and nail and hung it up there. It's cool! I like looking at it. From different angles it looks like a totally different structure. Now that it's up on the wall, there's on angle that make it look like it's built out of a bunch of squares. The pictures don't quite capture its coolness. You'll have to come see it in person.

Visitors

I just wanted to report that in September we had some wonderful visitors--Brad and Amanda and Joe and Anya. We ate, chatted, played, went to the park, and went swimming with Brad and Amanda. We saw the bats, played with a puppy, went to the creek, ate, chatted, got ice cream with Joe and Anya. I was having too much fun to take a bunch of pictures, but here are a few:

Homeschool Stuff

This year with both kids being solidly elementary school aged (Scotty 1st, Annie 3rd), we have had to step up our homeschool game. We joined a co-op, and the kids are doing a one day a week enrichment school. It's been fun to have more interactions with more homeschoolers. We definitely feel busier, but it's in a good way. Annie is also doing another play before Christmas, and she has piano lessons.

Our co-op is small with some friends from our book club. The kids in this group really get along and have a good vibe. They decided to name themselves the Kid Tribe. We are studying geography and music this semester. Me and another mom are teaching first then we'll switch to the other two moms at the end of this month. In spite of our amazing educational activities, the kids' favorite part of co-op is definitely playing together in the backyard. And they learn so much by doing that! Hopefully they're picking up some stuff about life and the world along the way.

The other one day a week school is a drop-off thing that I pay for. I'm usually all about the cheap, right? But I felt like Scotty really needed to be pushed out of his comfort zone a little. I wanted him to have something where he could go, on his own, to gain some independence. The first day was really hard and scary for them, but I only stayed with him for about an hour and then he was fine. Every week when I drop him off, he says he doesn't want to go. But he always ends up going and has a great time. I think it has increased his confidence to be off doing his own thing. And Annie of course loves it as well and isn't scared at all. She made a cool pinata which we busted open at co-op on our Mexico day.

And I just need to record somewhere that every time Aaron or I leave, the kids hug and kiss us goodbye multiple times and then run out the front door to meet our car as it rounds the corner. They stand there and wave frantically and blow kisses to us. I'm not sure why they feel compelled to do this, but it's sweet. It will be a sad day when they stop. 

Also, we had a great time swimming at our pool this summer. We sneaked in one last swim near the end of September. It was warm but raining on a school day, and we were the only ones there. The kids have spent many a happy hour. We're very grateful for a community pool!