December

We liked December! I think my summary words would be...

1. Simmer pot- I had one going most days. I dried about a million oranges and apples for a DIY simmer pot bag station for my work holiday party. Rory thought the oranges smelled horrible. 

2. Popular- I hosted all my co-workers and every single one came. When they were leaving I looked outside and there were like 30 cars all up and down the street. I felt very popular. Then I realized the neighbors were also having a party. Ours was surely more fun. I made everyone hunt around the house for mini holiday items, Alice made a cling wrap snowball full of goodies for Pass the Parcel, and there was soup and crafting.  

3. Mice- I went on a crafting spree making little felt mice. It was so fun seeing each one's personality emerge. I felt rather Jillian Jiggsesque.

We did our advent drawers again. It is getting less and less exciting as the boys get older. I think the biggest hits were the Christmas light scavenger hunt, Chick-fil-a peppermint milkshakes, and Rudolpho's Italian Christmas Cafe. (Fancy Christmas dinner at home where everyone dresses up and I pretend that I am a waitress.) Silas joined in the acting as the live music and played Jingle Bells on the violin. The (old) neighbors had us over to celebrate Hannukah with a feast. I'm a big fan of matzah ball soup.

For New Years Eve, the Brouceks celebrated with us and we had a silver vs. gold Minute to Win It competition. We rang in the new year at 9:00. Highly recommend. 

Merry Christmas 2025

Merry Christmas! It was nice not being up late building anything this year!  The boys mostly got money and games. We had fun with Daron's family in the evening. Conor made me the mushroom in the last picture on his lathe! ❤️

 

November

 We all completed my fall bucket list item of catching a leaf in the air!

Silas had his Madrigal dinner and concert he has been practicing for. We filled a table with fans. He hated his outfit but killed it as a squire.  He also came home from church on a Sunday (night) saying he was cooked because he needed supplies for a project the next day. After enduring much ranting, he came up with a pretty good scene from The Tale Tell Heart. I kinda love that middle school projects can include dismemberment.

 

Rory had his school performance of Rock 'n Roll Forever. He would practice at home and I would think how lame the songs were, but the actual show was pretty darling. Silas went to a retreat at Camp Longridge. He gave it a 9 out of 10. I think paintball was a little more painful than he was expecting.

 

Rory was my peanut butter ball roller for Thanksgiving prep. We enjoyed a feast at Julianna's! We hung out with Daron's fam a few days later. Now we are prepped for Christmas! Turns out Food Lion trees are half the price of our usual lot and every bit at beautiful!  

October

This month was a fun one with Missouri and Halloween in the line-up! I got to see Trenton in St. Louis and Kristen. We went to a farmer's market, record shopping, walked around a little Octoberfest right in his neighborhood, and had the best Italian of my life. I also got to meet Rorschach. Then the folks taxied me to Kansas City to see Trevor. Dad and I got to read to his class. Conn and her fam met us there so we could all cheer him on coaching his freshman volleyball team. They did not lose! Also I got to meet up with Megan at the Rabbit Hole (most adorable book themed children's museum ever). It was a dream to be with my bookish friend in a bookish place with her adorable bookish children. They think I am an author because of a book I wrote and gifted to Megan in college. I will live off this high for a very long time. We had lunch delivered by train at Fritz's. Then I made my parents get up at 3:00 AM to take me to the airport. They are very accommodating!

 

 

 

 

  

The neighbors had gotten the boys tickets for the high ropes at the zoo, so we did that one Saturday. Rory got up, gave a big thumbs down, and got right back to the ground. The new skyway safari was open too so we got to ride over the river to the botanical gardens. 

Silas had a Halloween costume concert at school which was pretty fun! He also got recognized for all A Honor Roll. Rory went on a field trip to my nemesis of a museum. The bus broke down on the way because it also thinks that place is dumb.

 

Halloween itself was one of our best despite the fact that neither of my kids wanted to dress up or trick-or-treat. We had the Brouceks over and I did a Monster Diner. They had to feel their food before ordering. Here is the menu. I feel like this is a Halloween childhood must do. Also I made a haunted escape room. We set up a Facetime so we could watch the kids figuring stuff out and provide clues, but they were very distracted by the camera and it was mostly chaos. They did end up unlocking everything, finding the skeletons, and lifting the curse. To give him credit, I think it was 90% Silas.