October's Special Events!

October has been such a rainy month, and far more gloomy than we like to remember.  But somewhere towards the middle of the month the skies cleared enough to show that rain had turned to snow up in the mountains, leaving us with this beautiful morning view!  (and then it continued to rain for the rest of the month - mostly!)

 

 We had a number of special events to celebrate in October.  One of th early ones was Lauren's baby shower.  Lauren is a new TASIS mom who arrived this August with a 13 month old and was 7 months pregnant.  Very brave!  We had a sweet little get together for her at Carolyn's house to celebrate the new baby coming, and it was just in time, because she had the baby the next day!

Eowyn adores Jamison (or baby, as she likes to call him) and she equally loves Carolyn.  She won't sit on just anyone's lap!

Lauren, Cassidy, Carolyn and Eowyn

 Oct 11th was a busy day.  First a baby shower in the morning, and then Drake's birthday Party in the evening.  It was definitely full on!  Drake's party had to be at McDonalds this year, which caused quite a stir, since most of us have never ventured into fast food places with our young ones.  Poor Kat had such trouble finding a venue, and being 5 or 6 months pregnant at the time, couldn't handle the idea of hosting and cleaning up after, so she bit the bullet and went with what was available.  The kids were wild and wacky in that small room, and I can't say the woman in charge got their full attention for the activities and games planned, but Liam says he had a great time, so it all works out in the end.  We were careful not to highlight and advertise the name so he can quickly forget the details and just remember the overall good time had.

noise makers and party hats - Birthday Boy Drake and Liam

The party scene

 Our dear Jen has been sorely missed this semester.  I can't believe she's not here and we are!  We were so glad to see her for a quick weekend visit in mid October.  The kids still remembered her too, which was awesome.  Honestly, when she walked in for dinner it was like good old times, and it was hard to really remember that she wasn't here anymore.  We had a fun an easy pizza dinner night with the Dibberts, Josh, Jen and ourselves.  Plenty of time to catch up and hang out at our house.  I also got to spend some of Monday morning with her before her flight out.  She came with me to take Liam to school, which he LOVED!

Heading to school on Monday morning! 

The school parking lot

Leigh has managed to sneak around her birthday many years, but this year we weren't going to let it slip by us.  We decided to have a girls afternoon without kids (woohee!) and do a fancy High Tea for Leigh.  After volunteering to host, I realized just how unprepared I was for such an event.  We don't have cloth napkins and table clothes, or teacups and saucers.  Never mind the tiered cake stand, tea pots and all the rest that goes into it.  What I did know, was that the food itself was pretty easy to do, so I went with it.  Thankfully, and with a lot of help from my friends, I managed to procure all the essential items to transform our boring dining room into an elegant tea room.  And so the credits go to: Courtenay - napkins and runner and tiered cake stand, Kat - tablecloth, Alessandra - cups and saucers, and Celia for the silver spoons, cream and sugar jugs, cake platter, cake cutter, teapots.  I think it turned out really well, and we had a chance to see Christina with her new baby Emeline for the first time too!

Christina, Alison, Kat, Leigh and Carolyn (missing: Courtenay and myself!)

 I was thrilled to take mims to visit my hairdresser Deborah, and I think Mims agrees, she did a fabulous job.  Here's the before and after!

Where did all that frizz come from?

All gone! Her hair was shiny soft and smooth by the end of the hour and half!

We enjoyed another visit with grandma (Eowyn calls her Gramgram or Grandma GAIL!) I'm only sorry for poor mims to come in the rain yet again!  Still, it's always fun to see the new ways these kids interact with her, and it keeps their relationship with her really alive and familiar.  We are grateful for her comings and goings to Europe each year!  Eowyn was happy to hang out and play with her when I wasn't around, but of course if I was, she'd make a big fuss!  Liam loved his time getting hugs, and reading and playing with his grandma too.  

Trying to get a picture of the three of them wasn't easy!

A sweet one of Liam and Mims

A trip down town gave Eowyn some extra attention and a chance to play with the toys SHE likes in manor.  She was thrilled about this horse!

Of course the big event for the month was Halloween.  Since TASIS wasn't doing anything formal we decided to join up with some of our expat friends on the hill and take the littles for a little version of the event.  It was perfect because they are so young and just beginning to understand what's happening.  Liam loved his costume - handmade by me using various things found around the house, and Eowyn was stuck with a Jets cheerleader outfit for lack of more inspiration!  

The best part of the whole thing was that they were thrilled to trick or treat for about half an hour at 4 or 5 houses in the little nucleo and then we went to Alison and Fords for some dinner and hanging out, and we were back home by 7:30pm.  AND, after collecting the candy and being excited by the whole process, Liam hasn't asked me once for some.  The bag got hung up on our coat rack and I think it's still there!  He didn't eat a single piece!  WOO HOO!

Costumes! Look at Liam's Knightly face!

Knight and Cheerleader!

Sassy chearleader

Surprised Knight!

Trying to assemble the group of Trick or Treaters!  Eowyn was terrified of the girl in the ghost outfit and kept crying!
Back row: James with Eowyn, Alison with Elle, Ford with Neve
Front row: Grayson, Liam, Stirling, Isla, Sam (don't know the two on the end)

Liam wasn't sure what to do with the Trick or Treating bag - this was his idea!

Motley Crew!  Stirling, Grayson and Liam

Excited about ringing the door bell!

It took a few tries, but they started to get the hang of it (we only did about 5 houses in total and all close to one another so it was really painless!)

After party at Elle's house - the kids tuck in to dinner.