Christmas is coming!

Louis and his continued thuggery. He literally refuses to play with anything that is designated as a toy, and, instead, prefers things like pipe wrenches.

Last night an Eastern screech owl moved into our backyard! The previous owners had left an owl box, but I didn't dare hope that one would actually move in. He is SO cute. Or should I say "she" -- Rosemary says her name is "Flora," presumably after her friend Flora (pictured below).


We had friends over for Christmas cookie making today:

Rosemary's preschool class at a special "Christmas chapel":

Thanksgiving

Below is Rosemary's personally-selected outfit this morning. I got her the scarf with the coins on it at the Greek Festival in Dallas last summer because she was **entranced** by the children doing traditional dances. Once she put on this outfit this morning she started stamping her feet and pointing her toes, just like the kids did in the Greek dances. Guess she remembered it!
Our Thanksgiving table:
My parents and Mamo came down from Dallas for a wonderful first Thanksgiving in our new house. It was a really fun weekend (other than a few meltdowns from various over-tired children -- Rosemary stayed in our room so we had enough room for everyone and did *not* sleep well. She serenaded us with every song she knew at 4AM + went into bed with us. She is officially the *worst* snuggler).
We took Mamo to McKinney falls:





And made our first gingerbread house:

Louis has a widely expanded set of skills that includes some new words or proto-words ('mango' has been our favorite -- he said it loud and clear one time after James asked him if he wanted any mango). He says "yay" and "bye bye" and signs "all done," but mostly he screeches. A lot. I think he is one frustrated little guy -- becoming aware of the injustices of the world (e.g. Rosemary takes his stuff and knows how to get our attention). Still, he is mega-affectionate and WAY more snugg-ly than Rosemary so we'll keep him.

Louis can walk and teddy bear's picnic

Louis can walk! This week he has gone from a cautious step or two here and there to walking several steps at a time. He likes it! He is not totally steady yet, but the funny thing is that he (like cousin Beatrice) is a climber. He climbs onto ottomans, headfirst into the bathtub and/or toilet, stools, and the blue table in his room.



I also wanted to post Rosemary's school pictures
If you go into the woods today, you're in for a big surprise... If you go into the woods today, you'd better go in disguise. For every bear that ever there was has gathered here because because, today's the day for the teddy bear picnic!


For Rosemary's birthday, we had seven of her classmates and their siblings and parents over. The kids each got a picnic basket to decorate with stickers and markers















Then we had a treasure hunt for some bear food































Then we had a teddy bear picnic both with real and scavenged pretend food




Aunt Mo baked the delicious orange chocolate cake w/ buttercream icing. I decorated (the fun part!)

Cake 2 was with gummy bears. A big mistake as now Rosemary is obsessed with gummy bears

Each kid got a bumblebee, frog, or ladybug castanet, a kazoo, some beads for their teddy bear, gummy bears and their own picnic basket

We all took our instruments, loaded the bears into the wagon, and had a parade to the "Teddy Bear Picnic" song. The kids really liked the parade.

Halloween!