November happenings

November is wrapping up (I can't believe it!), and I've gotten behind on my blogging. I'm going to try to write a couple of posts about Thanksgiving and my baby sprinkle in the next couple of days. I also have TWO giveaways coming up this week! But for now - here is a quick recap of the month of November :) It's been a great one!

At the beginning of the month, the Cubbies won the World Series!! What an amazing season!

My mom told me that when I was little, my dad used to raise my arms up and say, "Cubs win! Cubs win!" He would have been so happy to see them as champs this year.

Nolan built "Lego Mommy" out of his Duplos. The resemblance is uncanny, right? ;)

Steve defended his doctoral dissertation on November 4th. He passed! He worked for the following week on some revisions and touch-ups, and then he submitted it and applied for a December graduation!

I am SO SO proud of Dr. Zimm! It's been five years in the making, and we are ready for him to take the next step! He would like to get a full-time job teaching English at the college level.

I am not a huge fan of the time change with little kids - we had some super early mornings! I decided that next year, we're not going to change times at our house, we'll just convert everyone else's times to ours. ;)  While the leaves were still on the trees, the golden hour around dinnertime was beautiful, and we got a couple of cute pictures of the boys.

Ephraim Luke = 80% sweet, 20% fiery. I'm curious what his personality will be like when he's out of the twos!

 I want to frame this one, banana and all :)

 My favorite sign in town :) Why don't all stores have this?

My cousin Dayna and her family announced that they are moving back to Houston after living in Pennsylvania for two years. We are pretty bummed they are leaving, but knew all along that Pennsylvania might not be their permanent home. We had a fun afternoon of shopping at the outlet mall! And by shopping, I mean playing on the playground and eating mini donuts :)

 We tried "Peace, Love, and Little Donuts". Pretty good - they have a nice variety of flavors.

6 years, 5 years, 4 years, 2 years, and 10 months!

My cute little fireman dressed up at a playdate with friends.

Ephraim went through a week or two of fighting naps, but he still crashes hard in the afternoons. Love this peaceful little face, his luscious eyelashes, and the Anna bandaid he insisted on putting on his neck after a toy-feud with his big brother.

I was not a very good photographer on this little trip, but two weeks ago we drove to Chicago and back in less than two days! My aunt and uncle in Minnesota wanted to pass on my great-grandfather's Shopsmith, and Steve was very interested. On Friday night, we drove from PA, they drove from MN, and we met at my other aunt and uncle's house in suburban Chicago. We had some great conversations and a Lou Malnati's feast, and then we headed back home after breakfast on Saturday. It went very smoothly, even with two little guys in the car!

My Aunt Meg makes a praline french toast casserole that is absolutely delicious!

Nolan continues to breeze through his schoolbooks. He loves to write and I end up with stacks and stacks of papers and doodles that he's made and doesn't want to throw away :)

This was my 33 week photo. (I'm now at 35.) Baby kicks all the time and has hiccups at least once a day. I am so very excited to see what he looks like after all this time!

This is how I feel most days, too, Ivy. :)  Pregnancy is still going well, though I am constantly tired. I want to be able to do more things and be more active, but it's not happening. Five more weeks!! I can't believe it!

Out on a walk with me and their little black dogs, Hammie and Miami. :)

After six weeks, the kitchen is almost put back together now! We are still waiting on countertop from Lowe's. Steve has lots of finishing touches to do, like a tile backsplash, a sink structure, and pantry shelving. But our cabinets are painted, the doors and windows have trim, and the oven and dishwasher are back in action :)

Steve has done the whole project by himself, but he does accept "help" from little hands :)

Winter is definitely here. We had one last 70 degree day, and then it dropped below freezing and snowed the next day. I can't wait to start decorating for Christmas this week!

Thanks for checking in with us :) :) Again, come back for a couple more updates and giveaways later this week!

Robin & Robin

I'm writing this on Monday night, and I cannot believe that tomorrow is NOVEMBER! I always like the switching over of a new month because it feels like a clean slate and a new beginning.

And guess what? On Friday, Steve defends his dissertation! He is so close to being done with his PhD! This is a HUGE week for us, and prayers are welcome :)

Part of me wishes October and all of its beautiful colors could stay around forever, but then we wouldn't get to Christmas and the new baby's arrival! :)

We aren't big into Halloween around here, but we did do a few small things to celebrate the occasion. I made a "Bat Hotel" math activity, and Nolan worked on some simple addition equations. I really need to do more stuff like this. He eats it up!

I ordered a dozen orange and white pumpkin donuts for breakfast last week. They were delicious, and the boys were SO happy to see them.

We made some pumpkin handprint art, which turned out super cute. I was surprised that Nolan knew how to spell "Happy Halloween" all by himself!

We also made Frankenstein monsters out of the boys' footprints ;)

Nolan, Ephraim, and I got our flu shots the other morning, so hopefully we'll be having a healthy winter!

Speaking of shots, Ivy made it through her 3-year rabies vaccine and bloodwork the other day, which is always an answer to prayer. For those of you who know her medical saga, we weaned her off of one of her anti-seizure meds, and she has turned from the most lethargic and depressed dog back into normal Ivy!

Saturday marked 9 weeks until baby! I sold some clothes and toys at a mommy market to make room for a few cute things for Baby #3. A few weeks ago, I picked up these little outfits for $2 :)

And then Saturday night, we were off to our friends Amy and Brent's annual Halloween party! Nolan was so excited to dress as Robin Hood! He and Ephraim have been watching the VeggieTales version, called "Robin Good", so technically he was going as Larry the Cucumber dressed as Robin Hood ;)

Ephraim wore Steve's vintage Robin costume, handmade by Steve's great-aunts, with crocheted green gloves and shoes. He was so cute! We thought it was fitting that they could be Robin and Robin.

I took a few pictures of the amazingness that is the annual Halloween party. Walking into Amy and Brent's garage, there was the Ghostbuster vehicle (a decked out white Mini Cooper)!

And a maze of glowing noodles.

Plus there was a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow man illuminated in black lights. It was so impressive! The Ghostbusters theme was carried throughout the house. There were 126 people who came to the party, and everyones' costumes were incredible and creative.

Just a portion of the fun food spread :)

The night was really memorable for these guys!



I'm not looking forward to the time change and the extra darkness, but I do like the coziness of the season, and I'm hoping it will encourage all of us to go to bed a little earlier.

The state of our kitchen! In the past couple of days, Steve has laid all of the tile! It looks BEAUTIFUL!!

 
 I do miss having a stove/oven, but I have started a list of everything I want to cook and bake once this renovation is complete. It is totally worth it to have to eat cereal and sandwiches for a few weeks!

Hope your Halloween was festive! Enjoy this first day of November!