Tate lost a tooth!!!

Tate lost his 3rd tooth today!!! He was working on a popsicle and then came in to show me that his tooth was bloody. Sure enough, a little tug took the tooth right off. He wrote a note to the tooth fairy on "Tooth Lane" and put his tooth in an envelope to make sure it didn't get lost.

Marissa swining

Marissa swinging in our front yard. November has been amazingly warm. It snowed on Ocotber 6th and we thought we were doomed! Yet, the weather over this Thanksgiving week has been in the 60s!!! We have taken full advantage of playing in the yard today.

Football princess

More football pictures

The big football game

Puppet show at the library

Marissa making rolls

Garett making rolls

Rolls

Tate has mastered the art of making homemade crescent rolls. This is a picture of him doing it. He took the dough, made a ball, rolled it out, cut it into pie pieces and rolled it. They were yummy!

Step stool

Marissa gains access via her best friend: the step stool.

Too much work

When Garett went to take a bath last night I realized that he only had pants on, not underwear and pants. I asked him why he didn't have underwear on. He said because it was too much work to have 2 things on to pull up and down all day. His life was WAY simpler if he just had pants on.

Marissa's nightie

Marissa in her new ice cream nightie.

Breakfast Buddies

Garett can't stand to sit far away from Tate. Most mornings he pushes his chair over to sit at the very edge of Tate's seat at breakfast.

Leaves

Marissa was a BIG help raking the leaves and pushing the wheelbarrow!

Upcouraging

The kids were playing in their room. Marissa was apparently doing something less than perfect because Garett was on her case about it. We hear Tate telling Garett, "Garett- don't downcourage her, upcourage her."

Our fears

The YMCA here has a rock wall that Tate and Garett have been dying to do. When we joined the Y, they said that there was no age restriction on climbing. So, we went during one of their Friday night sessions when it was open and saw a big sign that said, "Age 5 and up only". Garett was devastated. He tried not to cry, but he just couldn't help it. I promised I would ask the guy in charge if he would let a 4 1/2 yr old do it. I did ask the guy and he said they had had some bad experiences w/ kids under 5 doing it- mostly getting to the top and being too afraid to come down. I went back and told Garett all this. He said, "Mom, I am afraid of alive scorpions and volcanoes. But rock walls- I am not afraid of." Nonetheless, we had to follow the rule and sit this one out.

Gross

We had Cincinnati style spaghetti tonight for dinner. After a few bites, Tate says, "Mom, I don't know which is grosser- what you packed me for lunch or dinner." He followed that up by writing me a note so I would remember, "Tate does not like Cincinati Chili".

The purse

I told Marissa to put her candy away after she had looked at and inspected every single last piece of candy in her bag. She comes back a few minutes later with the bag over her shoulder. I said, "Marissa, did I just tell you to put your candy away? "Mom" she said, "This is just my purse." :)

The Cowgirl

This cowgirl doesn't "horse" around when it comes to her lollipops!

Samurai

Beware of the Samurai- he is an honorable warrior- he considers a fight for candy a worthy cause!

Spiderman

Spiderman caught a lot of loot in his webbing!

Halloween pics

We had our new neighbors over for Spaghetti on Halloween night. This is a picture of all of them. Garett, Zack, Tate, Marissa and Caroline.

Halloween Party at School

Parents AND siblings were invited to the Halloween party at Tate's school-very cool! ( in Connecticut only a few parents were allowed to go into the classroom at a time and never other siblings.) So, we showed up and they didn't turn us away. This is a picture of Tate, Garett and Marissa in Tate's classroom.

PJ Day for Tate

Tate got to go to school in PJ's for Red Ribbon Week. He was not so sure at first, but then he wanted to be a joiner- so we put him on the bus with pajamas on. Kevin's biggest concern? That I had the date right. He could see Tate being the only one going to school in pajamas. He also required the pajamas have no built-in slippers.

All tied up

Tate learned how to tie his shoelaces today!!! After much effort, he could not be prouder of himself.

"Coming"

Kevin said he was getting ready for work upstairs in the bathroom and Tate was talking to him. I was downstairs and called for Tate to come down and eat breakfast. Kevin said that Tate walked to the bannister, called down to me "Coming, Mom" and then mosied back to Kevin and resumed his conversation. Kevin said, "Tate, why did you tell Mom you were coming and then come back in here when she is expecting you?" Tate said, "Don't worry, Dad. She does the same thing all the time."