September life! A busy month, as usual.
Enjoy the pictures!
We'll start with a Hannah visit! I even got to watch her eat (she had just started on this journey), and I helped, too. She's just too cute!
Our library announced that they now had a game collection for check out!! We were SO excited about this and of course I immediately put a BUNCH on hold. We have had fun trying out a few games this month. Some were hits and some were misses. This was a fun way to build our Christmas list!
Ben and I finally bought, or rather- ordered, a new couch!! We went in specifically for a couch we had decided on back in like May, before we had to buy a new car (thus putting a new couch low on the radar), but then we saw this other couch and while it's far lighter in color than I might have preferred (my only reservation about this couch), I think it's a going to be a much better fit for our family. It's cozier, not nearly as wide as the one we'd had our eye on (that one was reallllly wide), and this one has not only a chaise (high on my list!), but also a cozy snuggle corner on the other end which is set up exactly how Daniel likes to hunker down, both kids will enjoy their corners while Ben and I in the middle will enjoy the ottoman we also ordered. It's a winner all around and I CANNOT wait till it's in our house. In about 12 weeks. Which puts delivery right around Thankgiving. Just in time to squeeze the new couch in with our Christmas tree. We may have to rework how things get set up, as this couch is much bigger than our current one. The current one will then end up in the basement for our movie viewing down there and then I can finally get the loveseat that's down there now back outside where it belongs! Yay all around!! We just have to wait...(although 12 weeks is nothing compared to what I've heard some people have waited, knock on wood, what with all the shortages of staff and materials and so on, yikes)
Drapey cat.
The kids were in need of some new chairs in the office where they play on their computers. They kept stealing Ben's. So we took a trip to the local Staples where they were having a sale on gaming chairs and they each found one they like! I don't think I'll ever see them again, these chairs are so comfy! Hmph. I kept joking I'd rather buy a cement chair! Oh well. These chairs are pretty awesome!
Daniel helped build his chair (so did the cats) and then of course he started using it right away. Annabel had to wait a day or so for her to chair to arrive- she was so excited it came earlier than expected one day while she was in school! We now have a pretty awesome set up in the office for the kids. Home improvement fun!
The cats sure love their new toys from Great-Great Aunt Cletis!
I thought this picture Jason made of Hannah was too cute!! 6 months old already! HOW?!
The same weekend we ordered the couch, bought the gaming chairs, we also bought these two gray cabinets I'd had my eye on at IKEA. The open shelf we were using for games just wasn't ideal in the dining room and we were truly running out of space. I wanted a more polished look in addition to space and found these really nice deep cabinets. They look great in there! After we built the two, we realized we had space for a third (the tan cabinet was a stand-in while we tried the look and the space out)- so a couple days later Ben went and got another one. I LOVE how it all came together! The top of the cabinets will feature Lego displays, which we also needed more space for, ahem.
Daniel is back at work on more stop motion!
Annabel and her friend Aggie took a badminton class together every Tuesday night (still are- it goes through October and then they will probably continue in November as well, hopefully with Daniel and his friend Manny, too). Anyway, this particular night, it was foggy when they came home and they asked to run in the field in the fog, so Ben stopped and let them. How fun! I love fog.
Trying out a game from the library. This is Bears vs. Babies. Such a fun game! Winner!!
Annabel and Ben, and their friends Zeynep and Baris, went camping at Knoch Knolls again this fall. They had a fun night out together! There's a sunflower field across the street from the park they were at and they took some pictures there- so cute. They had s'mores, did a nighttime hike, and played on the playground, too. And it didn't rain this time! (Every. Single. Time Ben wants to go camping, it rains. Not this time- yay!)
Ben and Daniel hit up this cool car show the morning after Ben got back from the campout. They had a good time and saw fun cars.
Cosmo is just helping me fold laundry. He's super helpful.
I saw this announcement for a Netflix movie one day and immediately showed Annabel because we'd read the book together. I thought it would be a perfect fall movie night outdoors with our friends Zeynep and Esra. It was a fun movie!
This happened...I was a "close contact" for COVID. First time ever for me, for any of us actually (the kids have gotten "low risk letters" but that's it, no action needed for those). I went to Daniel's school for my first in-person school meeting in a year and a half. I was so excited. I enjoy hearing what Home & School has to share, so I really wanted to go. I knew we'd be masked, I did also know I might have a harder time hearing, but I wanted to give it a try (the meeting was also Zoomed, but I really didn't want to do that). Welllll, by 4:00 that afternoon, I had a phone call from the principal saying she was sending me "the letter." Cue much stress on my part! I'm vaccinated, but oh my goodness, was this still stressful. This was my first time ever being a "close contact." I cancelled a few plans I had, I no longer planned to go see Hannah, etc. etc. I was very careful for a few days, and then I relaxed with the knowledge that I was masked and vaxxed. And of course I got tested a few days later just to be super safe (it came back negative) and then the very next day I went to see Hannah, yay. All was well! But, phew, reality. The next two pictures (after the email clip) are of some cuteness I desperately needed that afternoon!
Spontaneous family snuggle! These always make my favorite pictures.
Annabel's Owl Crate arrived mid-month as usual- she was SO excited as always! I love it!
Annabel and I were at the library one night and really needed the list of Battle Books, so I texted Ben to ask him to send a picture of the list please. This is what he sent me. What a nut! Thanks, hon, super helpful. (Don't worry, he soon sent a better picture, after teasing us.)
Shortages of just about everything are making headlines all over the place. Closer to home, it's hit substitutes, busses, restaurants (we've started calling before going somewhere just to make sure they're open!) and so on. It's really something else. What a pandemic side effect, sheesh. Anyway, it had recently hit cousin Kaleb, such that his bus never showed up to take him to school one day. A couple days after I heard about that incident, I saw this post on Instagram...Pigeon is finally allowed to drive the bus! This cracked me up! For those that don't know the context here...there is a series of Pigeon books, by Mo Willems (a fave author of mine), where Pigeon desperately wants to do or have something and we, the reader, are not supposed to let him no matter how Pigeon tries to convince us. The bus is one such example: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! I sent this to Amelia and said maybe the Pigeon ought to drive Kaleb's bus, haha.
Kitty snuggles. Also a Halloween shirt sneak peek- it says, "Provide a Sweet or Face Mild Harassment" which is a Strange Planet play on "Trick or Treat." (Daniel's teachers all loved this shirt!)
Cosmo is loving our new ottoman for the family room (this one will end up with this couch in the basement...we just desperately needed something bigger than the sad-looking floppy loose ones we were using). Belly up!
That belly is simply irresistible. Also seen in this picture is a Netflix TV show that Annabel and I had recently discovered- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which featured a fantastic cast (Neil Patrick Harris played Count Olaf and he was just awesome) and had some serious quirk and charm going, and a very witty script. We LOVED it and watched it every chance we got, with even Daniel joining the fun, too- he couldn't resist it either! Such a fun show! It reminded me of the show we all loved this summer, The Mysterious Benedict Society, with it's fun and quirk factor. Both shows are based on books, too. We had never gotten into the Lemony Snicket books (nor do we want to read them actually), but the Benedict Society books are so fun and now I'm reminded we need to finish the series off before the show catches up! Anyway, fun times. I love when we find something everybody wants to watch!
Cosmo has stolen Daniel's new chair.
While Annabel and Aggie are in badminton class, which is at a school way north in town, Ben walks around and explores a different neighborhood- he likes this quiet time away from home. And this area has several Little Free Libraries, one of which features Stitch! So cute!
Not one but TWO kitties keeping me company in the library!
I was reading this book, The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore, for an online book club, and one of the earlier points in the book was a list of what women were commonly institutionalized for...among them "novel reading." Sheesh, glad I don't live in those times or I'd have been long gone with all the reading I do!!
Phew- negative COVID test for me! I wasn't worried, but I did want to be certain. So now I've experienced that test, along with Annabel and Daniel. Bound to happen.
I got a fancy new library card. Just because I could. It was cuter than my other one!
Yay for another visit to see Hannah and Christina! I needed it.
Ben took Annabel camping one more time at the forest preserve nearby that they enjoy. It rained. As per usual when Ben wants to go camping. Oh well. They had a good time, just the two of them. Annabel got many mosquito bites which I heard allllll about the next day, poor kid. Daniel and I watched Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2, which are such fun movies! Love a late night with my boy!
Christina and Hannah came to one of Annabel's soccer games! So fun!
Stolen chair again.
Daniel spotted his blue Powerade at Target one day, after weeks and weeks of us not being able to find it, so we grabbed a whole bunch of it! I had not gotten a cart...well, I sure needed one after all!
New toy courtesy of Daniel's school's magazine drive prize drawing! It worked about as well as expected, but was still fun to try out! It has some sensor in the bottom of it and so is supposed to hover and fly and not touch things. The curtain rod was too much for it, clearly. Oh well. Still, fun!
Annabel's Girl Scout troop did a field trip to a dance studio and learned a routine during their time there, which they showed off for the parents at the end. So fun! Enjoy the video, too! You may not want the sound up too loud though!
