Last of our News from November

Puddle Jumping, Family Movie Night, and Mud Play

Warning: if you get squeamish even thinking about messy, sticky situations--especially those involving kids--you'll want to quit reading now and avoid looking at the pictures as they may be hazardous to your mental health! : >

We finished out the month of November rather wet, but we hadn't seen rain 'round these parts in quite some time so it was very refreshing! Since boys will be boys and I like to think that I'm still a bit of a kid myself, (and most importantly because Big J--our resident "can't stand sticky/messy kids"--was still at work that last day of November when it not only rained but poured,) after picking M up from school I took the boys outside to puddle jump! We put on our raincoats and boots, I grabbed up my camera and out we went. As expected we got soaking wet, but it was totally worth it because we had so-o much fun together!!

After puddle jumping we dried off, got into our warm and comfy jammies, gathered up our pillows and fuzzy blankets, and headed off to M's school for a family movie night. We gathered with friends, neighbors, and classmates in the gym where we sat on our blankets and had a picnic dinner of all sorts of traditional movie fare: hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, nachos, soda pop, and candy. M had fun hanging out with friends, J took a good long nap, and I had a good time hanging out with my boys while watching a cute movie--Disney's Ratatouille.

Even though Big J was home the next morning, the boys wanted to go play in our mud pit (oh, I mean our still un-landscaped backyard.) I had them change into old play clothes and rain boots and followed them out with my camera. I had no intention of joining them, I just wanted to "capture the moment." Well, hee, hee. After a while Lil' J got a bit stuck so I ventured out to help him, lost my footing, and down we all went...Lil' J, me, and my beloved camera!!! On the way down I managed to make sure Lil' J and the camera had a safe landing, however, I wasn't so lucky--I was most definately stuck!! The boys and I were laughing so hard, Big J came out to see what was going on and once he saw my predicament, he was not impressed! Of course this just made me and the boys laugh even more. : )

Once the giggles subsided, I worked on ensuring Big J that the camera was okay (just a little bit of mud on the strap) and that no one had broken any bones. To his relief I handed over the camera and told him that I would get myself and then Lil' J unstuck...I could tell he wanted not part in this experience at all! M made his way over very carefully so as to avoid a fate similar to mine, helped me back up, and then helped me get Lil' J back up...and not a moment too soon!! When we first went out back the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue, by the time Lil' J and I got unstuck it had begun to rain again...a sure sign that it was time to go back inside!