November catch up

My attempts at better blogging clearly did not happen.  So here is a quick November recap!

Every year Kinkaid plays St. John's in a big football game at Rice Stadium.  Both schools make a big deal of it -- pep rallys, shirts, cheerleading outfits, a huge family tailgate, etc.  Until about 6 months ago she didn't even know what St. John's was.  Today she knows their school colors are red/black and she knows they are Kinkaid's biggest rival.  Accordingly, anything red or black can never be worn.  She had a mini meltdown at my parent's house recently bc she forgot and accidentally colored a picture of herself in a red dress.

Needless to say, between the excitement at school and the fact that I bought her this cheerleading uniform, she could NOT have been more excited for the game.  Unfortunately, she came down with a bad stomach bug that day and had to miss it.  We were so sad for her!

This little shark continues to be a happy, smiley guy...

Olivia's class made a thankful chain at school and were able to come up with a collective 235 things they were thankful for!

And in the spirit of being thankful, I found this note for me the day before Thanksgiving: "To my mom.  I couldn't have a better mom than you.  XOXO Olivia."  Cue all the tears...

Cuddly in matching PJs...

It takes a village....to get a good picture of this baby.  At our holiday photo shoot, Matt was on stand-by in case he fell backwards, I was clapping and singing, and Olivia was waving a huge balloon.  This kid isn't doted on at all ;)

Fall finally hit Houston so we have been spending lots of time outside - also, dressing a baby boy is a lot more fun than I thought!  (Matt might disagree with my styling of him, but I love it...)

Of course lots to be thankful for this year - having Eric here made the day very special.  Though my favorite part was probably the 3 minutes captured here where both kids snuggled on the couch with me to watch the Macy's parade...

 

And we were happy to celebrate Thanksgiving with Popo & Tutu first, and then the Kaltenbachers and Grandpa (poor Mimi had to go out of town for a funeral)!

 

 And on Friday we continued the tradition of setting up the Christmas tree.  It was also Eric's 6-month birthday and he was happy to show off his latest skill -- sitting up unassisted!

Per usual, Olivia had very specific ideas about the tree and ornament placement.  I let her have free reign this year!

 

Every ornament is categorized and grouped togther

 

I think she did such a great job!  We were both so happy to curl up on Saturday night with the tree lit, a fire going and watch a movie!

And big sister lost her SECOND tooth!  Matt actually pulled this one out.  She begged him to do it all day, when he finally did she burst into tears because she was sad she was getting bigger...

 Poor little Eric got another ear infection, so he was super snuggly.  And luckily my firstborn wanted in on the snuggles too!

 

It was a fun November with our little dino and his big sister!  We are excited for some Christmas fun in December!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year.  Olivia was a mermaid.  The night before Halloween she told us she needed a red wig.  I said no, but Matt said yes and off they went to a local Halloween pop up shop.  She came home with the cutest red wig and I was once again reminded that basically Olivia knows best ;)

On the weekend before Halloween we enjoyed the Rodriguez's annual Halloween party

And a Fall Festival at Westside

On Halloween, Olivia had a little parade at her school.  I was so happy we were able to attend and take Eric!

After we left, her class had a Halloween party

That night was unfortunately pretty rainy, but we packed up and found a perfect little window between the rain (and the big Astros game) for a little trick-or-treating

And once the rain started (and the Astros) we came home and put our little pumpkin to bed. 

Meanwhile, the mermaid was happy to just hand out candy to all kids - though she was very adamant that we needed a note over the doorbell to protect her sleeping brother...

Fall Fun

We have been having lots of fun this month.  

Olivia went on her first Field Trip - to see the play Click Clack Moo.  She was super excited and had a GREAT TIME!

Many years ago when the McGuires moved back to Texas we vowed to try and see each other monthly.  It hasn't always worked out, but we try our best.  For our October get together, Aunt Jennie suggested the State Fair - something we have never been to, but always wanted to check out.  It was a HOT day, but the kids all had fun.  I think we will definitely be back!

And, I couldn't resist matching jams for the group.  These 5 hold such a special place in my heart and this picture just fills me up with joy!  I love the babies' faces - they have no idea what they've gotten themselves into!

We felt our first taste of Fall weather, which was really just an excuse for Olivia to sport her new fleece!

And...probably the most exciting development....our FIRST LOST TOOTH!   We discovered it was loose on our way home from Dallas.  And she lost it exactly 1 week later.  She was really curious all week about it and kept asking me to feel it and predict when it would come out.  She was VERY nervous it would fall out at school, such that I had to write her teacher a note to let her know about the loose tooth!  My favorite line however was when I picked her up on Monday afternoon and she told me her tooth was "18% wigglier than it was yesterday."  If you know Matt Dean, you know this is exactly something that he would say.  I just loved that her little brain seems to think the same way as his!

It came out one Sunday evening during dinner.  Matt happened to be out of town, so Olivia was sleeping with me.  She was VERY concerned that the toothfairy wouldn't know where to find her, so she dictated a note for me to write.  And then she FaceTime'd with our entire family to show them the hole in her mouth!

The next morning she woke up to find 5 golden coins.  She wasn't super excited about them at first (she later told me she thought they were pennies!).  But once I explained it was the same as $5, she got pretty excited.

 The 2-5 hours are a little harried for us some days.  Olivia is pretty wiped when she gets home from school and I'm trying to cook dinner and of course it's the witching hour for Eric.  So, given the nice weather, we have been heading up to the local elementary school nightly for some playtime.  To date, Olivia has never been a kid that needed/wanted to get outside and run around.  That just wasn't part of our play.  But, all of a sudden it has really become a life saver for us.  She is really into the monkey bars and seeing how far she can get across.  So, she gets out some of her energy and Eric/I get to enjoy the nice weather.  Its a good win that I hope we can continue.

And...her school got a sports spirit dress day to celebrate our WORLD SERIES BOUND Astros!