November was a full month!
The first weekend, we got to keep our nieces, Cora and Esme, overnight!
After we picked them up, we went to explore the nature center near our home that Greg and I visited on my birthday. It was fantastic!
It was a nice, sunny, reasonably warm day.
We played on the structures. This one is a metal fish.
Cora is not afraid of huge spiders!
Esme invented the Gregmobile!
We built islands and mountain ranges.
We explored the trails.
We investigated animal tracks.
We saw beautiful intricate fungi!
And we played "keep off the ground" for quite a while. I played, too, and it was tricky! My feet are bigger (though Cora's will be bigger than mine soon) and my center of gravity is higher. My balance is not as good, either, and I have a weaker ankle. But I'm working on it still! It was great fun.
Then we came home and enjoyed inside fun.
Cora investigated in the library.
Esme played with the toys!
I whipped up a batch of doughnuts and Esme made the icing.
Then Cora requested chocolate chip cookie cupcakes . . . so I found a recipe and we made some!
Esme helped put the batter into the liners.
Cora REALLY liked the result!
Cora and I snuggled with Allistair.
Then we made individual pizzas!
Greg's:
Esme's:
It was fun!
Cora's:
And then we watched a Christmas cartoon - one of Greg's and my favorite (Robbie the Reindeer) all cuddled up in the basement:
With popcorn! But Esme has braces and isn't supposed to eat popcorn, but she could have fruit snacks, and she did!
The girls tucked all their animals into bed.
And everyone slept through the night!
These are the best interior design books I've read lately.
Allistair also approves!
Also, I've intermittently had some weird swallowing/breathing sensations, and we wanted to check to make sure I wasn't having an esophagus problem, so I had an upper endoscopy. I'm happy to report that everything looks great in there!
Sweet Claude
I found this beautiful dragon-skin lamp at Goodwill and it works great!
Happy to have more table-height lighting in this room!
I also decided that our table needed a windowpane plaid runner and I LOVE the one I found!
The pumpin placemats are gone now because it's December and Christmas time, but the table runner remains!
Our sweet friends and ex-neighbors (they lived across the street from us in Arizona) now live in Idaho and grow a lot of their own food. They grew spicy peppers and sent Greg a special care package! A dried powdered spice, some spicy sauce, and some tomato sauce for me!
And my parents came over to help us start refurbishing the basement dining chairs. My Mom and I worked on making patterns, cutting foam, cutting batting, cutting the fabric, and recovering ONE chair. My Dad and Greg rescreened the basement screen door so now it WORKS and it doesn't have a huge hole in it! It looks great!
Fall over the pond:
And then I found a beautiful rug for under the table (thank you, FB Marketplace!)
Here you can see the rug plus the new chair fabric (gold, almost a faux leather!)
We still have piles of boxes, but there are little improvements happening all the time!
I got another runner like the upstairs one and it looks great here, too!
In the chilly fall weather, I was craving a sweet chili with cornbread, so I made one! It turned out delicious and I'll definitely add this to the regular meal rotation.
MMMMmmmmmmm!
Greg has been able to take a lot of Fridays off at the end of the year due to comp time he has built up from being on call. We like to get out and explore around our new home when we can.
We poked around a new nature center and learned about Tamarack trees - they look like pine trees, but their needles turn yellow and fall off like a deciduous tree! This nature center is named after them.
It was a chilly day, but the sky was bright blue.
There was a nice little lake in the middle of the park!
There are some tamarack trees!
We went over to Mark's and Jillian's to celebrate Mark's birthday. Esme made place cards at the table for everyone.
Cora
reading girl
Tom
tickle person
birthday boy (Mark)
happy birthday
Mom
helpful person
Esme (herself)
cat lady
Greg
funny person
Dory
teacher
Christie
joyful person
It means a lot to me that Esme sees me this way.
I feel like I fight hard to be grateful and joyful!
Greg put in quite a bit of effort and was able to fix the broken and mis-wired candelabras I bought secondhand! His skills are amazing and useful!
Look how great they look!
We have lights all round but not up high! The house is very tall - too tall for me to put lights up high safely. But it still looks festive.
Tree in the library:
It's cold out there, we have to cozy up!
My dear friend Paige bought me these adorable owl glasses for my birthday!
The pond keeps freezing over, then melting, then freezing again and the patterns are intricate and beautiful.
I finally found the perfect little pot for the aloe my Dad gave me and she's happy in there, growing new arms and everything!
And then it was Thanksgiving!
My Mom had some early holiday entertaining to do and decorated for Christmas early, so everything looked festive and beautiful!
I made vegan scalloped potatoes, and had them with baked beans and guacamole with tortilla chips. Not the most festive meal ever, but it was tasty! I do feel a bit cheated on holidays, missing the typical holiday fare, but then I remember that that's only one day and my health is much more important! Holidays are about loved ones and gratitude, not food.
And there are some loved ones!
Then it was time to decorate for Christmas!
Allistair and Greg helped me and they also made sure to fit in some time for snuggles.
Small trees:
Candles and little ceramic figurines my Mom painted many years ago. In the most perfect color of light BLUE, even!
They are all festive and wintery.
This is the first year I've put up TWO Christmas trees!
I wanted to be able to see one from the couch, where I spend a lot of time.
I wanted to be able to see one from the couch, where I spend a lot of time.
I've continued rearranging the mantle (we have never had a mantle or a fireplace before, so it's super fun to decorate it!) Because there is a tree where a chair used to be, that chair came over here by the fireplace and we have a little game area.
Kitchen:
I've found some good stuff thrifting lately.
I love drippy glaze and chunky ceramics.
These are my two newest acquisitions.
I also found this hand-made wooden Santa!
He is magnificent!
Look at his hat and his hair and his beard!
Curled up - wonderful!
I also found dishes in the same pattern we got when we got married and they are in great shape! Much less expensive than buying replacements anywhere else! I still love the color and pattern.
Sweet baby Claude under the tree.
Whole family snuggling!
Good night!
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