The tragic news headlines from the last few weeks connected to terrorist attacks and gun violence has shaken me. Shaken me in the way I sit by the window of a restaurant and get both choked up thinking about the innocent victims and scared by anyone catching me off guard walking by the window. I hug my kids tighter before I say goodbye to them in the morning because I'm a bit scared. I am reading more news stories than I've ever had trying to make sense of it when all it does is the opposite. I read the ways I can help make my voice heard yet still feel helpless. We're no closer to being in a country that can figure out how to prevent gun violence and give us a greater chance of feeling safer again - damn it! I will continue to live in my small world doing my best to raise my kids to be smart and ambassadors of good. I would like them to look back and say their childhood was full of love and that they felt safe. I hope they become adults in a world where they feel like they can make an impact for the better, and that they have the perspective to keep this crazy world in check and not let it get to them. I am personally struggling with that right now.
Anyway, the love was definitely in our house in November. We had a few minor hiccups - a 2nd lice outbreak, a broken washer, and Elise cutting her own hair (bye bye curls) - that kept us on our toes. Oma and Opa left for Chicago for the rest of the year. It'll be just us in Portland this year for the Holidays and it'll be our 2nd Christmas in the Beast. Looking forward to it.
Zoo lights - thanks Intel
Decorating Gingerbread cookies with Oma and Lolo
Loved having our good friend from Munich, Tamara, visiting with Paul's look-a-like E.
Silly Elise on Thanksgiving Day
Bedtime story time with Oma and Opa
Paul getting treated for lice at Lice Knowing You Spa.
Elise prefers to create her own forts and sleep on the floor.
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