November

Sasha spends the night with grandma and grandpa down in Albuquerque at least once a month. She has her own bed there and all her little routines which she loves. Jack relishes the undivided attention he gets from Phil and I on those evenings when Sasha is away. These pictures were from one of those times when he was hamming it up as an "only child" for a day. He trots more than he walks these days and is very coordinated. We are on the verge of taking down the baby gate once and for all since he is very good on the stairs now.

We went down to my parents house for Thanksgiving. It was a lovely late fall day so we were able to go to the park and go fishing after the big meal.

Jack is content to just wander around these days. After a morning in the house he will often bring me my shoes and his coat, his way of telling me he'd like to go outside for some fresh air.

Later that weekend we went to get our tree and spent the rest of the day decorating the house. Sasha was so into it this year especially all of the little ornaments, setting up the angel chimes, and doing the advent calendar (3 different ones). Phil found out Thanksgiving weekend that he passed his neurosurgery oral boards! Did I ever doubt he would? No, but it is so wonderful to have that huge looming test behind him. The letter that came said that he is not up for re-certification until 2021. Sasha will be 13 and Jack 11. Crazy.