November 2016

November 5

November 17

November 19

Phoebe went to read in our bed before dinner, and when I went to see what she was up to, I found that Benjamin had put himself to bed next to her, complete with his blanket and a lovey.

November 20

After church we participated in Cranksgiving, a really cool way to donate food to charity before the Thanksgiving holiday. You start at Boulder CycleSports, where they pass out a scavenger hunt: a list of food and a list of grocery stores where you have to go to buy it. Many people do it as a race, but we treated it as a fun family ride. Phoebe ended up riding 8.5 miles, including up and down The Hill by the university! Dave put on more miles; he went to a few grocery stores by himself while the kids and I were making our way across town. Afterward, Dave had to go to band practice, so the kids and I went to Southern Sun for free drinks. We ordered some fries, too.

That evening, Phoebe got a piece of paper and started doubling 3. We had a quick reminder lesson about carrying. Then she kept going for ages—pretty soon she was adding two five-digit numbers!

November 21

Phoebe lost her second tooth, the one on the bottom next to the first lost tooth! She wouldn’t let me take a photo, but here’s the note the Tooth Fairy left.

November 22

Benjamin woke up screaming, and when I touched his face near his ear to see if he might have an ear infection, he recoiled as though I was pricking him with a pin. A trip to the doctor told us he had a virus similar to the mumps. He got a sick day out of it; he felt pretty good during the day, but I made him take a nap anyway.

Thanksgiving weekend:

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. No friends or relatives were available to join us, but we made the most of the four days off together. On Thanksgiving morning, we ran/walked in the Louisville turkey trot and then had a cup of hot chocolate to fortify us for the long day of cooking and eating.

I made enough food for ten people. There are certain Thanksgiving items that can’t be left out—never mind that I’m the only one who eats them.

Phoebe made the deviled eggs all by herself this year, from start to finish. They were delicious!

Friday morning I slept in until 8:36—an extremely rare treat. We had burritos at the coffee shop. (On Friday! Mixing it up!) The kids couldn’t decide what they wanted to do, so we ended up at the playground for a while. Dave went for a bike ride and then picked us up to go swimming. Everyone was a bit crabby, so we were glad to have two more days off after that.

Saturday I went for a run and then we all ate cereal together for breakfast. We headed into Boulder, got some coffee, and walked around on Pearl Street for a little while. Then we went to the climbing gym. The kids were great! Benjamin loved jumping around on the mats, and Phoebe particularly liked the slack line. Dave and I tired ourselves out. We had lunch at Chipotle and went to see Moana—our first movie in the theater together as a family. Benjamin ate three quarters of a medium tub of popcorn. (Where did he fit it all in?) We all liked the movie a lot—the graphics were wonderful, and the story was carefully crafted. That evening, we played Ticket to Ride, and we managed to keep Benjamin from destroying all our routes, so it was a success. Except that I lost to Dave and Phoebe. 🙂

Sunday we went to church, as usual, and then came home for some lunch. Dave went for a bike ride and got home in time for ice skating with Andrew, Maggie, Tilley, Whit, and Milam. Phoebe’s rented skates had single blades, so she had to relearn some of her technique. Benjamin got pulled around in a sled most of the time. He looked terrified but kept saying how much fun he was having. We had some hot chocolate afterward, and the Wilensky Berzanskises came over for homemade mac and cheese for dinner. It was the perfect ending to a lovely long weekend.