Busy Fall

(Photos taken in the school's parking lot)

 (Photo taken from our bedroom window.)

Life's been pretty busy around our house this Fall. It has been a colorful and fun season around here, and we're glad to be enjoying it this year. Here's a recap and a sampling of our life this Fall in pictures:

Liam's school:
Schlepping Liam to and from school every day, I'm starting to feel like a half day is just too little time for him. I have to drive him everyday because the pre-k that's walking distance from where we live closed after the last school year. I have already told him that next year he will be gone all day. To my surprise, he exclaimed, "Oh yes! I love school! I can't wait to go for all day!" Me, too! Perhaps then, I can get to do a little more around here without having to stop projects at the halfway mark. He is growing so fast and learning in leaps and bounds.

He played a turkey in his very first school play and had two lines. All the children did remarkably well considering all the parents had their cameras out constantly taking pictures. We all looked like paparazzi photographing celebrities. So cute! Bill took lots of photos with his fancy camera while I mostly shot video. Oh and Liam had two Thanksgiving dinners: after the school play and on Thanksgiving Day itself.

On our daily drive home from school, he almost always requests pizza. One day, I tried to get him to try a slice with chicken and broccoli, but he wouldn't hear of such a thing. It's plain pizza or nothing at all. I ordered a chicken marsala slice because it looked so darn good. (When you're really hungry, anything looks great.) He shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth and to my surprise, he really liked it. In fact, he closed his eyes, went "Mmmm!" and said that this was his new favorite. So now, every time we drive past that pizzeria he always requests a slice of chicken marsala pizza. I have to talk fast to get him distracted enough so that he doesn't realize that we're driving past his favorite pizzeria.

The house:
Things are looking better and better in our house. Bill has almost completed the installation of the banister in the basement, so it is no longer "the stairs of death." I can't even begin to tell you how many near falls we have experienced, especially by me hauling the laundry up and down those stairs, and Liam with toys he manages to find down there.
 
The bigger news, though, is our new roof! You may recall that Hurricane Irene dropped a tree on the back of our house. Well, I would love to say that the experience with the insurance company went smoothly, but it didn't. Perhaps if we had suffered severe structural damage like a roof collapse, then the claim would have been cut and dry. We have gone back and forth for months now and we still have some unresolved matters. We are crossing our fingers that they will err on the side of logic and fairness. We are very happy with our new roof. It has created a different feel to our house, making it feel more secure, quieter and somehow warmer. We went with onyx black to match the window framing and white gutters, of course, which will match the "white" siding once we have saved the money to restore them to its original whiteness.

In the kitchen:
I have done some baking, too, from scratch, with good results. Pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin (not out of the can), doughnuts, and my boys made me a birthday cake. The cake picture here is of course from a bakery. My mom brought it over on on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate my birthday again. How sweet of her! Another Thanksgiving feast went by, only this time, I have to say, it was the best turkey I have ever cooked, which is saying a lot since I normally cook a fabulous turkey. This year's though was more flavorful and the leftover turkey made for some very delicious soups. I must mention also that Liam helped me by bagging the last minute groceries for our feast. So darling!

Illness:
As predicted, we have had our share of colds and whatnot. It never fails. At the start of the school year, all the kids go through their rounds of colds and viruses, because, you know, "sharing is caring!" Year after year, it is almost guaranteed that I will fall sick anytime between Halloween and New Year's Eve, and this year has not been the exception. You may recall last year's beast of a flu. This time, despite the mild Autumn, I came down with a cold accompanied by a nasty cough that apparently lingers on for months. This has made my life so uncomfortable, causing me to place many important projects on hold, including the crafty stuff and this blog.

Shared computer time:
I do manage to squeeze in a little time to check out friend's blogs, mostly because Liam really wants to see pictures of his friends, etc., but because I am now sharing my computer with Liam, I get very little time on it. I mostly have to wait until he is fast asleep to get anything done. It really couldn't be helped. It was just a matter of time. He begs to see pbs kids, sesame street, qubo, and some other stuff including vids on you tube. The boy can also google and always yells out for me to spell certain words, mostly Star Wars related. It's pretty hilarious as is his growing vocabulary. He really is learning in leaps and bounds. I can hardly believe that he will turn 5 in January.

Yup! We've been quite busy around here!

Liam's wardrobe:
You may recall me mentioning Liam's wardrobe issues last year. His karate uniform pretty much cured him if it. This year, thanks to the generosity of my family in Texas, we have not had to buy a single article of clothing for Liam (except for underwear, socks and shoes). My cousin's three year old son is so big and tall that he outgrows his clothes at lightening speed. As a result, Liam has inherited so many wonderful clothes! We are humbled by their generosity and feel truly blessed. One more thing... you will notice in the pictures that he is diving into the package, well my aunt and cousin also threw in some hot wheels and matchbox cars.What a lucky little boy!

So there you have it. There are a few more photos I should include, but can't seem to find. I will insert them when I do. If there's one thing I can't stand is not being able to find my photos. Dear tech guy, please stop moving my files around without telling about it first. Thanks.