Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2021 November

I turned on some holiday music today, but in the middle of the first song, Sienna asked me why all the good people (Santa, Jesus) are men. So I had to turn it off to rage against the patriarchy. I went with “God is not male” and “men wrote history and left out the important women” and told her about a couple important women in history.

My kids have invented a game where they throw something, and if it hits someone else, they yell “turtle” and get a point. I imagine this came from Arthur’s random exclamations.

This morning as we walked to school, Arthur was naming each section of grass as we passed. “Hill forest” and “grassy snowman” etc. He called the pedestrian bridge “Golden Plate Bridge”. “That’s a real place, isn’t it?”

This afternoon, he was thinking of an activity to do and asked to play with butter. “You know, you make food with it, and it’s really soft”. Turns out he meant flour, and spent a happy hour playing with tsum tsum toys, dominoes, and a half cup of flour.

Arthur’s 6th birthday! We got him a little lefthanders baseball glove and ball, and a volcano science kit. He also got Mario stickers and a dinosaur nightlight from his aunties. Dalton and I secretly put together one of our old Ninjago Lego sets for him, and he spent almost the whole day playing with it. He doesn’t play much - just wants to do screens - so that was really great. I also took him and Sienna to wetzels pretzels and Yogurtland. Then for dinner he requested beef stroganoff, and store bought lemon cake.

Arthur is a ball of silliness. He wakes up way too early and complains that he’s bored a lot, and is a terrible eater, but he also loves to read stories (non fiction animal books are his favorite), is a great snuggler, and enjoys walking to school every morning. He loves school and his friends.

This Thanksgiving, we divided and conquered. John took Maggie, Dalton and Wally to Utah for Wally’s first airplane trip. He did great! They got to visit grandma for her birthday, attend John’s cousin’s funeral, and have a big family thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, Maggie came home sick, but other than that, they had a nice relaxing time with family.

I spent Thanksgiving with Arthur and Sienna. Our main project was switching their room with Maggie’s. I also put together an IKEA desk for Maggie’s room. We also went to the beach for a sunset sea glass hunt, and celebrating Arthur’s birthday with some fun at the Spectrum.

For actual Thanksgiving, I drove out to stay with my cousin Shannon. We had pizza on Wednesday, and thanksgiving food Thursday. We did an early morning sea glass hunt at Scooner’s Cove, and took a long walk after the meal. Sienna and Arthur had a great time with their cousin Jack. The kids and I stopped at Ostrichland on the way up, and Pea Soup Andersen’s and the Natural History Museum on the way down. But mainly, Sienna and Arthur played with Shannon’s dogs. Obsessed.

John got home in time to celebrate Arthur’s birthday today, and we’re ready for a relaxing Sunday of Christmas decorating and birthday toy playing, before Monday.

Sunday night, we had friends over to celebrate Arthur’s birthday. The kids were running around inside and Arthur was jumping on the ottoman when it tipped over. He overextended his elbow and broke it. Now we get another four weeks in a cast, just in time for our cruise. Kids are the worst! Meanwhile, a yucky tummy- sore throat bug was brought home from Utah. Long day of doctors yesterday.