Mommy's Blog: Mid-November

Daylight Savings Time and shorter days, cold temperatures, thunderstorms and tornado warnings, our first snow... November has come to Cleveland, full force. It may be my birth month but November is never my favorite time of year...

These past couple of weeks have felt liminal and a little empty... a slice of time between holidays, endings before the next beginnings have come to tide us over... Daily gratitude journaling has been a necessary thing to keep the grey of early November from getting to me.

Our October routine has come to a close with the end of both my radiation treatments and fall swim team for the kids..

They are sure going to miss swimming.

It gave us a great structure for the week, and great exercise for the kids. Also, bonding time with friends. These girls loved their "spa day" shower time after practice-- 45 minutes of giggling and shampoo and independence in the locker room while they waited for their brothers to finish swimming. So cute.

This boy loved pushing himself to excel, so proud he got moved up to a lane with older kids. He can't wait for the spring session to start up again.

I'll miss the chance to sit and relax/crochet/check Facebook and chat with friends in a climate controlled environment on Saturday mornings-- and sneak in time for running and being alone for a bit at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays...

As for being done with radiation-- I'm happy and relieved and surprised at just how quickly that month went by. And though I am not going to miss the reality of treatment-- disrobing, discomfort, being bombarded with dangerous radiation-- I may in fact be missing something about treatment. Strange, right? but as long as I was going, it meant I was DOING something about my disease, taking action, taking care of things. Now, I'm just .... done. Take a little pill and check in every few months and just hope against hope that this did the trick and nothing comes back. Not the most comfortable feeling.... Also, the people taking care of me were super nice. And valet parking is something I could get used to. And the sunshine and leaves on those October afternoons, driving past the mansions on my way to the Clinic. Of course, as soon as I get my afternoons back, the sunshine disappears. Murphy's law, right?

And yet-- November has had a few things to recommend it.
Like our lovely weekend of being treated to kid-free time in pretty places! A celebratory weekend, a time-out from real life. Rain and cold and storms and time changes be damned-- we enjoyed ourselves.
Friday: Mix at CMA-- Jazz age.

We dressed up pretty... but couldn't compete with these...

A great show...

... music and dancing...

Tons of people in Jazz Age costume (who doesn't love dressing up like a flapper?) and of course beer an crafting with friends.

The museum never disappoints. And, often provides fun photo ops...

Picked up our kids from their Friday night playdates and finished the evening with them-- and ice cream! Check out the two ten-year old sharing earbuds to bond over youtube. Classic.

Saturday, we woke up not feeling like making our kids do their chores. So instead we drove to Columbus to go to COSI.

Which the kids loved. Jack argued vehemently that it COULDN'T be a museum, it was too much fun.

Little miss got to participate in a research study on language learning in the elementary years.

Of course, one does not go to Columbus without visiting the new IKEA. Where we ran into, randomly, neighbors from Cleveland Heights.

...and had a great time lounging in pretend living rooms, drinking free lattes (thanks, Ikea Family card!) and picking out new beds for both kids. Which we did not get that day as we had (foolishly) taken the car and not the van. Which led, later in the week, to the insanity of Nat taking both kids on BACK to Columbus on Thursday night (while I had parent-teacher conferences), to get said beds because the kids simply could not WAIT to get them....

Meanwhile-- a great day on Sunday, sans kids.... we headed to Oberlin with our friends so that we could stand outside under threatening skies for two hours with hundreds of other architecture buffs so we could tour the world's smallest Frank Lloyd Wright house...

It was more fun than this description might lead you to believe.

We are so lucky to have friends that can make waiting in a 2 hour line into a great day.

Also, we got to SIT on the FURNITURE inside this house! or, at least, no one told us not to. Worth the wait, absolutely.

Also, tater tots and beer afterwards weren't too bad.

The rest of the week was a blur of busy work days, booked-solid evenings, conferences and making it through. Not to mention random school-night trips to Ikea. By the time Friday rolled around we were needed some time at home. Cue building block fortresses for our Tsum Tsums (the toy obsesssion du jour around here).

The rabbit was sure we had created a wonderful playland just for him. Look at him, pleased as punch. Rubbing his chin on everything and nibbling on the old cardboard blocks...

We also put together new bed #1 (and rearranged little girl's room). Ivy picked out the cheapest bedframe in Ikea-- and she is pleased as punch with it. After he first night on her own in her room she reported, "I slept great! I think I'll sleep in my new bed again tonight!" good plan, as we've already dismantled the old bunk bed (an emotional moment... I remember how excited we were to get that bed for Jack... it has served us well for 7 years...). It is the end of an era around here. Those were some sweet years, with our two littles voluntarily sharing a room. But our big boy is pleased to have his personal space.

And I do love seeing the pretty pink room back in regular use.

Ivy's "new" desk was made by her grandfather, 37 years ago....

After an evening at home to recover, it's been nonstop partying for our crew. Keeping November at bay by surrounding ourselves with friends and joy..

Happy 8th birthday to our friends Lillian and Naomi!

(how have 8 years gone so fast???)

Their amazing mama threw the party to end all parties, Hogwarts themed complete with magical candles in the great hall, potion lessons, wand making, a working sorting hat, and a whole passel of very excited second grade girls.

We love these crazy-fun people so much.

Today-- not one, not two but three parties! A pajama movie party at church for Ivy while I enjoyed a book group with other parents, a birthday party for a college friend (also in attendance: gobs of children from 5 months to 10 years old), and Second Sunday Soup.