November 2018 Happenings

November started with a lot of the norm, including Kieran and I running a few errands on my day off and him tagging along to work with me once in awhile.

Reed's school hosts a Veteran's Day Assembly each year. He was insistent that the two veterans we are friends with, Mikael and Julio, attend the assembly. He was so excited that they both came and I managed to volunteer at the event so I could spy on him performing a poem during the assembly. He recited it perfectly and it really was a neat event honoring veterans.

We spent a long weekend in Avila leading up to Thanksgiving. The Rodriguez Family was able to join us again and all of the kids got along so well and we had a great time!!!

We couldn't forget Dodger's 11th Birthday and we celebrated with pumpkin cookies for all.

The day after Thanksgiving Kingsburg has their Christmas tree lighting. It includes lighting a tree in the park, then singing Christmas songs as we walk to the Christmas tree in downtown that then gets lit. After the second lighting there is Swedish Folk song singing and dancing, a visit with Santa, and other festivities. I love it so much and it always reminds me what an adorable small town we live in, To finish kicking off the Christmas season we let the boys watch a  Christmas movie, broke out the Santa pajamas, and let the decorating begin!

Kieran Says . . . Fall 2018 Edition

Kieran continues to be a comedian and is constantly coming up with the funniest things to say. His current catch phrase is "it actually, is!" He's always making up ridiculous stories and then when we call him out he just starts saying "it actually, is!" and then you start doubting yourself and thinking maybe you should believe him!!! In the last couple months he's also taken to calling super disgusting things "gus-gusting" and so, of course, now we are all doing it.

We were in a hurry and Kieran was taking his sweet time getting buckled into his car seat. I told him he needed to speed up and he informed me that that he was getting buckled in sloth mode.

Kieran broke a glow stick in his room and it exploded glow in the dark stuff EVERYWHERE. When I asked what happened he said I was just trying to be fancy.

While snacking at a Fresno Foxes game K informed me that he is a sour patch kid - I'm sour and a kid and I have a patch (squinting like a pirate).

The Bug is full of fun facts like that "when I look at stuff it usually goes in my memories"

Some mornings are better than others, but Kieran is not a fan of being woken in the morning. One morning he informed me that he felt like he had just gone to bed and would not be getting up anytime soon.

"Down to the dots" - Kieran describing how short he wants his hair buzzed

After hiking with Grandma and Grandpa K was covered in dirt. When I pointed this out he told me that "this dirt is no match for me."

We spotted Reed's good friend Faith and K started waving like crazy to her. When I asked what was going on he said "maybe Faith will wave at me since I'm wearing Reed's old sweatshirt. She might wave if she thinks it's him."

Right after Reed's birthday we were out to dinner and Kieran noticed they had soda. Kier immediately told Reed that he could "drink 7 and Up because you are 7 now!!!"

Thanksgiving 2018

Our Thanksgiving began with a puddle jumping walk with Dodger. The boys were pretty wet and muddy by the time we were done, but they had a blast in the process. We did our usual double celebration by starting at Aunt Penny and Uncle Mark's and then ending up at Pepe and Nonna's.
To be honest, we were in a bit of a daze this Thanksgiving. The day before, Jon's cousin had passed away and we were all reeling from the shock. Bryan was only a few years older than us and Jon and C grew up close to all of their cousins. Watching Auntie P by his side in and out of the hospital all summer long and then having to say goodbye to him was, and still is, absolutely heartbreaking. Originally Pepe's side of family wasn't planning on getting together this Thanksgiving but without anyone really talking about it his two other sisters, all of their kids, and all of their grandkids all showed up after dinner. We played our usual game of trivial pursuit (even though I have no pictures to prove it) and there was just an unspoken understanding that we all wanted to be together. It is hard to be thankful when there are things you are horribly sad about but we did our best to remind the boys of how much we have to be thankful for and how lucky we are to have each other.