Family Pictures, William's First Dentist Visit, and Thanksgiving

The second half of our November was nothing short of crazy and busy.  I scheduled our family pictures/Penelope's newborn picture session, we had our day-to-day goings on, and had guests come at the end of the month for Thanksgiving.  We had lots to do on our plate but I wouldn't have had it any other way.  :-)

On November 14, the very talented Kathy Jackson of The Mirrored Image came to our house to take our pictures.  We loved her professionalism, flexibility, patience, and preparedness when it came to taking our family's pictures.  She brought the backdrop, props, and even had some Star Wars bribes for the boys to cooperate.  We had a fantastic experience with her and the boys actually had a fun time!
Below are a few candids that I took while Kathy was taking the professional ones:

William wearing his "fancy clothes" and was ready
for his picture to be taken.

Little Miss P was sleepy that morning but allowed
us to get ready.  She's such a good baby.

The boys playing around with the backdrop.  I totally
forgot to have Alex take off his Chewbacca slippers....
so yes, he has his slippers on in a lot of the pictures.  :-/

Love these guys!

This is one of my favorite pictures because Oscar
walked up to Alex to make sure that Penelope was okay.
I love that Oscar protects all of our children and loves them
like family.

Our beautiful children.  We're so blessed.

Penelope didn't care to have William hold her in his lap.

Our sleeping angel

The boys were so good and quiet when they posed for
this picture.

I love that William has a toy in his lap while this
picture was taken.

Our darlings :-)

At the end of our picture session as the photographer was cleaning up her props and backdrop, I noticed that our beloved dog Oscar was crouching down.  I looked more closely and he seemed to be suffering.  We're not entirely sure, but we think he suffered from a stroke that day.
Joseph immediately scooped him up and took him to the animal hospital.  I held down the fort while Joseph gave me a play-by-play of what the veterinarian was telling him about Oscar.  We had to leave Oscar at the animal hospital for a total of three days.  We found out that Oscar was suffering from pancreatitis and was lacking protein in his blood. 
Oscar thankfully was reacting well to his treatments and we were able to bring him home.  Unfortunately we had to drastically change his diet to a primarily plant-based diet (which was rough because this dog looooooves meat and cheese).  We were able to give him eggs and a little bit of parmesan cheese on his food though, so he liked that. 
Our darling dog is currently taking medicine twice a day, has to have B12 injections once a week (I'm so glad that Joseph can do them and not me!), and can only have special food and treats that are hypoallergenic.  If that's what we need to do to keep our little fur baby healthy and alive, then it's all worth it.  We love our little Oscar and want to keep him in our family for as long as we can.

Alex and I decided to have a little fun and flipped my
camera phone around so that we could see ourselves.
We were trying our best to make the same face that Penelope
was making. 

We're a bunch of goofballs in this house.

Miss P

Mr. Weewum

A friend of mine from college named Lindsay gave Penelope
this adorable outfit!  I just had to snap a picture of her in it.
I love all of the ruffles.  Thanks Lindsay!

Our lounging little chunker

Time for her one month check up.

Me and Penelope at her one month check up.  I love
our little cuddle bug.

I love all of her rolls.  :-p

Chit chatting with Penelope on November 16

Our chatty little girl

William had an art project in which he had to decorate
a picture with decorations of his choice.  I found some
adhesive foam decorations and he chose to add leaves as well.
One afternoon while Alex was at school, William and I
worked on this project together.  He worked so hard and did
a great job.  He was so proud of himself.

William working on his fall art project.

I love her focus. 

She has the cutest grin.

Penelope on her changing table on November 17.

Our fuzzy little bear sporting her goofy grin.

Oscar was so happy to be home after being hospitalized for
three days.  We were so happy to have him back.  Here's our
"Booja bear" riding in the car which is one of his favorite
things to do.  He seemed to be in better spirits.

On November 17, it was time for the kiddos to have a dental check up.  This was William's first visit.  Even though he's a pretty tough kid, he can also be quite sensitive and shy at times.  William wasn't scared of visiting the dentist, but he was definitely apprehensive.

William brushing a dragon's teeth while he waited
for Alex to get his teeth cleaned.

William watching Alex get his teeth cleaned.

Woo hoo!  No cavities!  Congrats, big guy!

This big boy was ready for his first teeth cleaning.

Cool dude William

He handled the cleaning like a champ!

William cleaning a gorilla's teeth.

I took the kids to the check up while wearing Penelope at the same time.  She slept the whole time and both boys did so well.  Woo hoo!

Here's a few pictures that William's teachers took of our big boy at school:  

This boy loves to line things up.

I love how he alternated the block size.

I love her smooshy face.

Oscar was starting to feel a little bit better but wanted
to snuggle with me while I was feeding Penelope one day.

Here's Oscar snuggling with Joseph and William as well.

Love this little girl

Penelope on November 19

I looooooove to nibble on her cheeks...a little too much.  :-)

In the hallway of Alex's school, his teacher displayed some of the students' work on a bulletin board outside of the classroom.  Alex drew a picture about something that his family does together and that was "To bake cookies."  I love how he labeled the picture and added speech bubbles.  We're so proud of how far he's come.

Alex drew a picture of himself baking cookies with William.
I like how he drew speech bubbles of the cookies saying, "Eat me!"

One afternoon the boys said they wanted pizza for lunch and that coincided with one of Penelope's feedings, so I improvised.  I laid down a tortilla for each of the boys and topped them with marinara sauce.  Then, I laid out chopped red peppers, uncured turkey pepperoni, cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder and let the boys have at it.  They LOVED "making" their own pizzas.

William and Alex, thoroughly excited to make their own pizzas.

Our little chefs hard at work.  Yes, William was wearing
his backpack.  It's seriously his pride and joy.  He loves
stuffing it full of random things and carrying it wherever
he goes.

The boys were finished with their pizzas and ready to
put them in the oven.

Alex was so proud of his work that he actually asked
me to take a picture of him with it.  Lol!

William loved his pizza as well.  :-)

At William's school, they were learning about how to put on and take off clothing and what they were called in French.  Below are a few hilarious pictures of William and his classmates as they modeled their clothing for the morning:

This kiddo cracks me up!

A teacher brought in some dress up clothes and
let the kids have at it.  :-)

Our little William has such a personality.  :-)

Our darling boys on a walk in the afternoon.
They held hands themselves!  I had to capture the moment.

These kiddos keep us on our toes, but boy oh boy are
they adorable.

On November 21, we met our friends Ai-ris, Ian, and their adorable daughters Yoshimi and Koharu out for brunch.  The boys were excited to introduce Yoshimi and Koharu to their new sister Penelope.  It was so great to catch up with Ai-ris and Ian and to see our kiddos connect and have kid conversations with one another.  They were seriously so cute together.

William giving Koharu a hug good bye, and Alex giving
Yoshimi a hug good bye.  They had such a fun time together.

Yoshimi was Alex's first play date when he was 4 months
old.  We're so glad this family is back in Boston!!

Night time snuggles with Joseph, Oscar, and Alex.

Lol!!  This is what happens when Joseph dresses the baby girl;
her headband is backwards and she ends up looking like a sushi chef.
HAHAHAHAHA! 

Joseph was very disappointed when the headband was turned
around the correct way.  :-)
Major brownie points for dressing her in a cute outfit though.  :-)

Lol!!  Oscar fell asleep like this with his ear up!
(And yes, he tucked himself under the covers like
this on our bed.)  He's got such a personality.

Alex's principal sends out a weekly e-mail to all families on the weekend.  This particular week, Kindergarten was highlighted and Alex was in a bunch of the pictures!

Here's Alex measuring his pumpkin that
he picked from his apple orchard field trip.
He was using objects to measure the height
of the pumpkin.

Alex in the upper right portion of the screen
as he was recording observations of a leaf that
he brought into school.

Little Miss P all cozy during her stroller ride.

Alex and William holding hands with Alex's fellow
Kindergarten buddies as we walked home from school one day.
So precious!

Our sassy babe-a-rito

This red onesie was Alex's and then William and Penelope
wore it.  It's so cozy and perfect for fall weather.

On November 25, Alex's school had a fall concert.  They sang a few songs for the families.  It was very cute and Alex was so excited!  Joseph's aunt Roula and uncle Simakis came from Greece to visit and Joseph's parents were visiting for Thanksgiving.  Alex had quite the posse to cheer him on as he and his classmates sang proudly in the school's gym.

Alex (in the front) with his classmates.

Alex and his classmates walking into the gym

The program for that morning's performance had the Kindergarten
singing at the end.  The Kindergartners sang the following songs:

No More Pie
Catch a Falling Star
All I Really Need

This little guy was so excited to see us in the gym.

I love this kid a little too much.  :-)

William was such a trooper that morning, so
he was rewarded with some apple sauce and a Dum Dum
sucker for holding his stuff together and sitting so nicely
during the performance.

Alex singing, "Catch a Falling Star."

Later that evening, we met Joseph's cousin Ilias out for dinner with Joseph's parents and his aunt and uncle.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, EVOO.  It was so great to get everyone together to catch up and enjoy a great dinner together.

Cheers everyone!

A happy group of people sharing a lovely meal together.

We were so happy to have so much family around.

Later that evening, a fussy little Penelope had her bath.

I love her smooshy face.

She's so delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!  I was so thankful that Joseph had the day off and was able to be with us during the day to celebrate this holiday. 

Little Miss P on her first Thanksgiving.  I love the sass
she's giving in this picture.

Oscar singing the song of his people.

While I was simultaneously cooking and nursing the baby, I managed to have a project for the kids to do during the day.  I asked Joseph to set it up for them so that Joseph's mother could work on it with the boys.

Here's Joseph setting up the gingerbread turkey centerpiece.

Linda piped the frosting while the boys put on the candy decorations.

Oscar found Joseph's aunt and uncle's luggage and
decided to make it his own that day.

Woo hoo!  Dinner's ready!  I took it easy this year and out sourced our feast quite a bit.  I cooked a casserole, made stuffing, and made gravy, cranberry sauce, and a pie.  The rest of it I pre-ordered from Whole Foods because let's be honest, I can do most things, but I can't do everything.  I wanted to enjoy this holiday and not be completely stressed out.  The food was great, we had plenty of leftovers, and everyone was happy.  I'm calling this a win-win situation!

Joseph, Alex, Simakis, Roula, Ilias, Linda, Elias,
William, and Penelope at our Thanksgiving meal.

Happy Thanksgiving 2015!!
We had a lot to be thankful for and were so happy to share it with family.
It was exciting to be able to teach Roula and Simakis about this tradition.

Joseph and Penelope bonding.

The next morning Roula and Simakis were headed back to Greece and Linda and Elias were headed back to Indiana.  We had them over for breakfast before they left.

Roula enjoyed some snuggle time with Penelope.

Roula was so good with Penelope.  Penelope loved her!

Simakis enjoyed playing around with the boys.  Here
he is reading some books with Alex.

Elias, William, Roula, Penelope, Linda, Alex,
and Simakis snuggling on the couch before they left.

Penelope on November 28

One afternoon, I decided to make an independent "snack lunch" as we call it at our house.  I decided to give the boys some plastic knives so that they could spread peanut butter on their own celery.  I know it sounds so simple but the boys were beyond thrilled to do this for themselves.

Alex spreading the peanut butter on his celery.

William was ultra-focused on this as well.

Then Alex got excited and was using his knife to cut
his uncured turkey pepperoni.

William started peeling his own clementine.
He was so proud of himself.

The boys posing with their gingerbread turkey before
they started to eat it.  :-p

Penelope on November 28

Our little cutie

Joseph playing with Penelope while Oscar took a
nap on Joseph's legs.  Lol!

That morning Alex felt it necessary to educate Penelope
about Star Wars.  You can't move in this house without
bumping into something that is Star Wars related.  I've
learned quite a bit.  Lol!

Penelope doing some tummy time on my chest.
Gotta build up that baby core!  :-)

Little girl busted out of her swaddle and was ready to eat.

We had lots of activity in the second half of November.  We were very happy to welcome so many people into our home and to have Joseph's aunt Roula and uncle Simakis meet our children for the first time.  Being thankful was what this month was all about and we were thankful to celebrate this holiday with some of our loved ones.
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki