trick or treat!

It was Halloween and it didn't rain! Phew! The children's friends Nathan and Diya came over and they went trick-or-treating together all around the townhouses of our neighborhood - maximum haul in minimum time. It was much more fun than last year, when it poured, and it was fun to be part of a pack.

Liesl wore her snow queen costume to parties on Friday and Sunday, and opted for her butterfly costume tonight. Sebastian was Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, of course. (Last year he was Lionel Messi.)

a lovely Saturday

Saturday morning was for a work event - chores - reading - coloring - kids being cozy - but in the afternoon, we went for a lovely muddy hike in Forest Park. The sun was shining, the air was crisp, the leaves were in big piles around us. Afterwards, we went to the Central library, from there to pick up supplies for Liesl's birthday party, out to enjoy a second birthday dinner of pizza at Life of Pie, and then grocery shopping at New Seasons - a typical Saturday in the Avery/Raab family, and so sweet for its mundane happiness.

school party

The school had a Harvest/Halloween party on Friday night - a dj playing music, photo booth, pizza and s'mores, and all the crazy children. It was fun to go and see my two in their element. Sebastian quickly found his crew of boys and they proceeded to simply run around the school, in and outside, pretending to be an army, or a team, or something. There was a lot of laughing and tackling and dodging. Liesl also found her friends - Gracyn, Diya, Nora - and participated in the dancing, including the conga line! - with a whole lot of enthusiasm. It was a little loud and overwhelming, though, and she was done after an hour (as were we!).

 Liesl, our snow queen.

soccer season

We were fully into soccer this fall - Sebastian playing on two teams, and Liesl on her school's kinder soccer team. It's gone by remarkably quickly and has been really fun, for the most part. It helps enormously that one of Sebastian's practices and one of his weekly games is at our school, across the street, so there's no driving time involved. One of Sebastian's teams has won nearly all of their games (the rec team) and the other has lost nearly all (the competitive club team), which are both strange experiences. Liesl thought soccer was fine - not amazing, but fun enough because all of her friends were there - and I loved seeing her run around with all the other little girls.

Next up: basketball season!

Liesl's 6th birthday!

Liesl turned 6 today! We had a wonderful afternoon and evening, as a family, celebrating and eating and playing together.

The day started with challah bread french toast and two birthday presents (the book Sebastian had written for her, and new clothes for the day) - and then off she went to school. She got to wear a birthday crown and all of her classmates drew pictures for her that were assembled into a book.

After school, we called Grandma Raab in New York and Liesl opened up the present she'd sent: an American Girl doll!!! Sebastian held the phone so that Grandma could watch the excitement over Facetime.

I cooked the dinner that Liesl had requested: mac and cheese, chicken, broccoli, and peas. After dinner she opened our presents - various books, a diary, gymnastics gloves, a tile-painting craft kit.

I baked chocolate cupcakes - with sprinkles - we sang happy birthday, she blew out candles, and we all enjoyed the treat.

And then we played a game that Steve had made up, involving a dice roll, funny tricks, answering trivia questions, and hidden treats. Liesl did the splits; Steve pretended to be a fish; I had to tell a joke and whistle; Sebastian had to hold a straight face for 30 seconds; Steve had to lick peanut butter off my face. That was the funniest of all. :) 

 

We read some of Liesl's new books and tucked our sweet children into bed. What a happy birthday day for our sweet Liesl girl.