rachel's continued ramblings

eeek! that number is getting REALLY close to 52! which means I’m really close to being DONE with this year’s album! I’ve really enjoyed working with the cobalt edition, but I’m super excited to do something new. not that I’ve decided yet what I’ll use. (I know, mary. I know…) I still really want to use clementine, but I’m pretty excited about the new editions too. help! in other news, I FINALLY got my second cobalt binder ordered. I put so much extra stuff in my books that one binder is NOT enough. heck, 2 is barely enough! it should be here in a day or two, and then I can take all of my post june out of the ghetto white binder they’ve been hanging over the edge of and into their real home! sunday: micah has been dying to go and spend his birthday money from gramma jackie. he had $5 and was determined to buy a pack of gum. I love that that’s the #1 item on his shopping list. at any rate, we finally went to the store and he finally remembered his money, so after MUCH deliberation, he f

thanksgiving was fun this year. it was very exciting to host in our new house! my parents came over, and the fixings were a division of labor of sorts. they brought and cooked the turkey, which was stuffed with stuffing that I made. my mom made sweet potatoes, and I made mashed. I made green bean casserole, she made cranberry sauce. my dad made pumpkin pie, and I made apple… the night before, we made our pie. shane helped me with the peeling, slicing, and mixing up the filling. layla helped me with the crust (sorry, it’s from a package). she did the crimping herself. it was quite pretty! the next morning, I got right to work on the stuffing, so when my mom arrived, she got busy stuffing the turkey. layla helped me set the table (our first time using my mom’s china), and made hand turkey place cards for everyone. I showed her how to fold the napkins and she made table tents for everyone. while waiting for dinner to be ready, we had snacks and tea! layla was very excited (as were my

weird week for picture taking… definitely not sunday – saturday POTDs this time. wednesday: layla’s corn teeth. friday: micah and toby snuggled up and enjoying some of the dregs of the halloween bucket. friday: micah discovered that he can make his chin “all bumpy” just like mine. so we had fun making ridiculous faces in the mirror trying to make our chins bumpy. friday: shane rediscovered a map he had drawn of a town he’d desingned in like 3rd grade or something… and then played with it. it has made a couple of appearances since, in his room. saturday: hard to tell, but layla spelled her name with some random items that she used for a scavenger hunt she put together for micah and i. saturday: the jazz band had a performance in the afternoon at the northshore jazz festival. bad, blurry picture, but shane is the second from the right on the top row. micah made a ‘dunk tank’ and layla had to take a turn sitting in it. nice face. and a few instagrams.  {book shots will be added

so, I have a problem. (no, it’s not MY behavior that is the problem.) I am the preschool/kindergarten sunday school teacher. this means that micah is in my class. micah, apparently, is less than thrilled with this arrangement. EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. he is a problem. he is uncooperative. he will not sit like a normal person on the rug when it’s lesson time. he will not participate. basically, he lays on the floor and pouts/whines, the whole time. I could just ignore it, which I do, except that 1) I would like him to actually LEARN the sunday school lesson, and 2) we’re dealing with little kids here who are easily distracted and/or influenced by his bad behavior. I have talked with him about this almost each and every sunday, explaining what I expect from him, etc. it has not helped. so I spoke with his preschool teacher, to find out if this is typical behavior for him. NOPE. at preschool, he’s apparently one of the most ‘with it’ kids in the class. participates, raises his hand

sunday: morning after the luncheon, miina and I having a REAL breakfast at the athenian at pike place, overlooking elliot bay. yummy food, bad coffee! monday: a rare break in the rain for a couple days allowed for what is probably the last mow of the season. shane was ecstatic because he mowed our grass and my parents’, and by the time he was done, it was dark, and he got to use the headlights! seriously. who knew mowing in the dark was such a treat! tuesday: this is layla ALL. THE. TIME. right now. she cannot get enough books. she’s plowing her way through this ‘rainbow magic’ series about fairies and has read probably 25-30 of them in the last several weeks. it is not unusual for her to finish 3 books in a day. wednesday: toby has decided to adopt ginger’s bed. you know, because it would fit about 10 of him… and it’s right in front of the fireplace. thursday: micah’s preschool class had a field trip to the theatre to see a performance of “the 3 little pigs”. it was hilarious, as

sunday: the giants won the world series!!! monday: layla had an ultrasound of her bladder and kidneys. everything looked good! she thought it tickled. tuesday: micah woke up not feeling very well. he had a bad cough and when he got up, he came in and found me in the bathroom, where he promptly laid back down on the floor. I kept him home from preschool that day. wednesday: our front porch all decorated for halloween. and ready to go trick or treating. layla was rapunzel and micah was a pirate. I wore shane’s banana costume since he was staying home to hand out candy instead of going out himself. thursday: micah got his own library card. he was SO excited! saturday: our group at the MOMS Club luncheon. a few littles to stick in the center slots.   and the grid of instagrams: book shots: first half of the week: second half: 1 side of a design G insert: other side of G: a design A cut in half to hold some extra pictures from the luncheon. I think I need to get some of the a