Hey Grandma. I mean Gang. So. We’re gonna try this whole blog thing again. I know, I know, you’ve heard that before. And I know, too that video is all the rage, or tik toks, or the gram or whatever. But I like the blog format. Basically, I want it to be like you all found my diary and read it out loud. I miss it — this basic little life update, which motivates me to do fun stuff with my kids and document when we create something cool. And let’s face it: I have a lot to say. So, although life is hectic and this blog won’t ever be the showcase of perfection some of my favorite blogs are, we’re going to try to fit it back into our lives. It’ll look a lot more like a semi-regular journal entry than anything else, but hey — maybe you’ll dig it. Let’s find out together!

One of the things that’s so nuts about living in these nutso times is the passage of time itself. It seems like we were in March for about seven months, and now we’re listening to Christmas music. It’s wild. Both of our older kids (we had another kid since I last posted here) are in remote-only schooling, and both Bret and I work from home. This means that the days can have a tendency to blur into one another — a phenomenon exacerbated by the feeling that a lot of the good, fun stuff we used to use as not only time markers, but things to look forward to, are put on hold. One way we’re trying to counterbalance all that is to really play up the changing of the seasons and any and all reasons to celebrate.

I like November because it so neatly delineates a new season. Yesterday was Halloween, and right up until the end we were reading books about Halloween and listening the Monster Mash and planning our costumes and going all in on our candy chute. And now today, From jack-o-lanterns to plain old pumpkins, it’s a lovely segue. And because it’s the first of the month, I get enormous satisfaction out of flipping the calendar page as I’m sweeping away the cobwebs. It was particularly delightful to have it fall on a Sunday, which is the day we plan our week. So, we spent the day today getting in the groove for a new week and a new month.

First, we updated our “command center” to reflect our new month, along with this months goals and checklists. I sorta hate the term command center, but whatever. We use the magnetic fire door that randomly divides our apartment into two sections. It is dead useful to have a giant magnetic board in a place right by the kitchen table. When we move, (more on that another time) I’m going to have to figure something else out.

Lou was in charge of updating October to November in our magnet letters, and she helped me organize the door. We also took this time to discuss our monthly goals and jot them down for everyone. We have also been working on a checklist for moving out, and I like to have it front and center so that we’re all on the same page about what needs to be done, and we can add and subtract easily. Finally, I have a daily reminder list where we keep track of our work calls and anything else we need to remember or plan for. It makes sense to that close to our calendar and the kids’ school schedules, so that’s where it is!

As for our command center’s lovely seasonal decor, the kids are really, really into coloring pages. We find free printables and print them out, and today popped them into a binder. This was a very good idea, actually, because we had a lot of Halloween color pages floating about for the past few weeks. We store the binders and crayons on the kids’ craft table, where they also eat breakfast and lunch. I absolutely cannot overstate, and am not overstating, how much they love these simple coloring pages. We print multiples of each sheet, and they really get a kick out of coloring them all slightly differently. The simple, bold outlines we choose mean that the 5 year old and 9 year old are both happy with their finished products. And the end result is a bunch of festively colored cornucopias and turkeys and apple barrels, which the kids can cut out and use to festoon every surface. For today, we switched from trick-or-treating pages to non-creepy fall themes, and I’m telling you, several times throughout the day, one, two or three children can be found quietly coloring. It’s a wonder.

For this month, we also added some gratitude journals to our craft table basket. I always want to be more intentional about giving thanks, and a friend mentioned gratitude journals today, so we made these little gratitude journals using some blank storybooks. (These blank books were planned as a party favor for our last pre-covid birthday, but I couldn’t find them the day of the party. Once I did find them, we have used them for a bunch of projects, and I wish I had more!). The kids decorated the covers, and tonight, we each wrote or drew what we were thankful for. (Bret and I are sharing a pretty journal). Lou wrote a beautiful mini essay on how thankful she is for the technology that allows her to go to school during a pandemic and have conference calls with her aunts and grandparents. I wrote about the bowl of homemade caramel I was looking forward to diving into after dinner. She is a slightly better person than I am. (West wrote about number blocks, which I am also thankful for! And Bret, very sweetly, my cooking! So it was a nice first day of writing down what we’re grateful for. And you know, I suspect we’ll be really happy to have the keepsakes that result from our efforts, especially in light of **gestures vaguely all around**).

Finally, while Lou was doing the command center, West was working on the letter board that greets us when we walk in the door. I enjoy this letter board a great deal, and we have a lot of fun choosing the expression. Last month, it was Lou’s turn (while West did the command center) but this time, West got a say, and he went with a classic. We added some fall-y flowers and it’s a lovely way to greet our apartment when we come home.

And that’s what we did to welcome November! It was a rainy day and it felt just right to be inside embracing late fall. Can’t wait to talk your ear off about whatever else we’re up to!