My birthday

Jojo and I went to Sweetwater for donuts to start out my birthday

Yum! Pumpkin caramel cheesecake. We had a pre-Thanksgiving potluck dinner the night of my birthday, and I volunteered to make dessert. I'd found this recipe and wanted to try it out. It was as good as it looks here.

My beautiful birthday flowers:

Benjamin turns 3 months!

Sweet little Ben turned 3 months old! He continues to be such a smiley kid who just goes with the flow. He loves his big brothers, giving them big grins every time he sees them.

The boys always want to be in these photos.

A little stingy on the smiles in the photos...

Monkey love!

And some extra pictures from during the month:

Asleep in the bumbo...apparently Monday mornings are rough!

Cheering for NU

Another smile in his fuzzy football outfit

His contemplative look

I love the bumbo!

Some brother love!

Snow day!

How often do you get a snow day in November? Last year, the local schools had about 12 snow days. I'm thinking that starting off with the first one in November doesn't bode well for this year. 

We got outside to play a bit:

I love how wintry a snow-covered yard looks!

And of course, fun in the snow ends with hot chocolate back inside!

NU vs. ND - Game of the Year!

We bought tickets to attend the NU-ND football game back in the summer. As the date approached, I was excited, but definitely wondered if the game would be worth all the logistics involved in making it happen (multiple babysitters, pumping while we were gone, etc.). I am SO GLAD we went.

This was the second-best NU game I've ever seen. The only one that still tops it is NU 54, Michigan 52 in 2000 at Ryan Field.

We tailgated with Kelly's family at a house near the stadium and then moved the party to the stadium parking lot closer to the game. Here's Ed and Dustin carrying a bag full of beer to the parking lot tailgate.

Did I mention it was cold? The Cooks and Diane have season tickets and tailgate every game in Evanston. It was fun for us all to get together in South Bend too!

Me and Diane (who was with me for the epic 2000 game I mentioned above).

I ran into both Danny and Lindsay Jagla, also NU alum and student, and whom I used to babysit at least 20 years ago.

Standing in front of Touchdown Jesus!

We had absolutely no expectation of winning this game. In fact, Ed and I took this picture with the scoreboard in the background to commemorate what we expected would be our last lead of the game. NU usually runs out of steam before the game ends.

The scoreboard (and Ed and Dustin) at the end of the game. Did I mention it was really cold? And the game went into overtime? We were so glad to have on as many layers as we did!

Great job Wildcats!

Weekend at Kathy's

The stars aligned in early November; Ed headed up to Traverse City to do the Iceman bike race. Mom and Dad collected the big boys for a train exhibit weekend in Milwaukee. That left... me and Ben. And a weekend to ourselves. Woo hoo!

We headed over to Kathy's house for a girls' weekend of relaxing, sewing and eating well. Between the fluffy duvet-covered bed, the lack of child alarm clocks (Ben ate and went back to sleep), and the meals Kathy made, it was like heaven before we even got to the girl time and the projects!

We left the house once--on Sunday--for a walk along Lake Michigan.

Kathy and Piper

Benji Bear all snuggled up

Monkey bread and egg bake for breakfast

Soup and focaccia with dipping oils for dinner

Ben in a pile of pillows!

Kathy showing off the painting she finished for our family room

Kathy and Ben

We reunited in Kalamazoo just in time to watch the Packer game Sunday night!

Rock wall landscaping

All those leaf jumping videos show off our new rock wall. Now you can see the before and after shots. On the side of our garage was a disintegrating railroad tie retaining wall, right in the path to the swing set. And we were looking to create an extra parking space for when the boat is in the garage. The solution? A new retaining wall with steps that creates an extra parking spot as well.

Before: a view of the retaining wall

Before: The grassy edge that becomes the parking spot

Before: More of the unused area that becomes the parking spot

Before: The line marking where the retaining wall will go

After: The rock wall (and A LOT of leaves!)

After: More rock wall and the steps down to the swing set

After: Rock wall from the back of the house

After: The new parking spot

We love it!

First lost tooth and other random pics

Thomas lost his first tooth in early November. He lost it at school, so the tooth came home in an envelope, plus he got to pick a prize from Mr. DeLille's prize drawer. He chose a 64 crayon box. Not too shabby for a mere tooth! 

He wrote this note for the tooth fairy. I love it.

The tooth fairy left him a gold dollar coin. He thought that Sacajawea on the coin was the tooth fairy until I explained who she was. :)

A cute Ben shot

And another

And another!

I love two things in this photo. First, Jojo's toes. Second, the fact that TJ is waiting patiently for a turn rather than horning in on Jojo's turn.