Our oldest is in the double digits!

Mid November is upon us and life has been busy! We had Halloween and harvest parties, Lynsey's birthday, Brian's work trip . . . lots going on!

For Lynsey's birthday present, we decided to get her a hamster. I found a cute one at the pet store and they wouldn't let me put it on hold, so we decided to give it to her early (the Monday before her birthday). She was pretty happy about it to say the least! This hamster (Luna is her name) still won't let anyone hold her and Lynsey is getting a bit discouraged about that, but we are encouraging her to be patient and keep trying gradually to get close to her. Hopefully it pays off soon! 

Halloween went pretty well, Adam went to a few houses again this year. He seems to understand the concept of trick or treating, maybe next year he will have more longevity! The pumpkin carving the night before was a bit of a bust because it was the same day we gave Lynsey her hamster so she wasn't all that interested in the carving. Brian and I ended up doing most of it. I was pretty proud of my Oilers logo (I also did the Seahawks one). I think next year we will just get three pumpkins!

Another interesting thing that happened that week is that Adam lost one of his canine teeth at school! Finally his tooth pain seems to be gone, so strange that he lost that tooth so early. It had a huge root! He was just sitting at his table and suddenly remarks, "Oh your tooth is gone" and there it was in his hand. Such low drama, is he even related to his older sister?? Anyway, so glad his tooth pain is gone for now!

Another one of Lynsey's birthday presents was getting her ears pierced. She had waffled a bit on doing it because she was afraid of it hurting, but she did say on the day I was going to take her (Thursday) that she wanted to go for it so I took her to a tattoo and piercing shop in Bellevue. Let's just say that was a very testing experience. I understand why people get their babies ears pierced before they know what's going on. Or go to those mall kiosks where they have two guns and just get them done at the same time. This place had a great environment, very sterile, very professional, beautiful earrings (pricey but worth it I suppose!). The guy that was doing the piercing was very patient and friendly, much more so than me 45 minutes in, let me tell you. She finally let him do the first one and then started hyperventilating over letting him do the second one. I kept my cool for the most part, but by the end I was practically begging the guy to just do it - I was seriously starting to think we were going to walk out of there with one earring if he was going to wait until SHE told him she was ready! Ugh. Eventually she steeled herself and we got the other one done, thank goodness. The joys of parenthood sometimes!

Lynsey's birthday was on Friday, but we had her party on Saturday (I went to Jen Hatmaker and Nicole Nordeman on Friday which was amazing!). She had 7 friends over for pizza, games and a movie. 4 of them stayed for a sleepover. It all went pretty well considering how many of them there were. The next morning it had snowed so the girls all went outside to play in the snow. Thank goodness for our Canadian preparedness, we were able to get most of the girls suited up with mitts and even boots in some cases! They had breakfast and then they were off. 

Brian was also leaving that morning for his trip to Indonesia so we drove him to the airport. This last week and a half without him had challenging moments, but all in all it went pretty well. All the kids were a bit emotional by the end, Adam was a bit extra repetitive, but we survived! Did a few puzzles (I think I'm getting Lynsey interested, fingers crossed!) but other than that, nothing really out of the ordinary. I did take them out for dinner once and that went pretty well. Tomorrow I get my break by going to Las Vegas until Sunday with 3 of my good friends! I am so looking forward to it! I get back on Sunday and then Brian's parents come out on Tuesday, and then the following Monday, Brian and I leave for Costa Rica! I can't believe it's this close already, time has flown by!