Well we made it through Halloween, including a school party for Dempsey and a night of trick-or-treating with my parents and both kiddos — Dempsey was most interested in everyone’s front porch decorations and Lydia was having the time of her life walking and singing with a package of gummy bears in her hand 😅 — and then we woke up to one sick kid and had two sick kids by the end of the weekend. Noooooo! So, here we go again!

Poor Lydi Bitty was not feeling well on Friday, so we kept her home. I had a manicure appointment, so she and Joey hung until I got back and then I tried putting her down for a nap but the poor thing couldn’t breathe from her nose, so I ended up holding her upright for few hours. I honestly haven’t held her for a nap since May when we sleep trained her and it was giving me slight PTSD but I also felt like she really needed the rest to get better quicker. We picked Dempsey up from school then played at home until Joey arrived with Park Burger take out. Lydia was straight up losing her mind waiting for food to come, so we got it on the table as quickly as possible. Got them both in bed and whew, some days you just barely make it through! We watched GBBO after and I’m going to miss Nelly!

We let the kids sleep in on Saturday and then it backfired because once they were finally up, they were hungry and wrecking havoc and it was way harder to get breakfast made! I made apple cider donut pancakes and Dempsey told me I “ruined his breakfast” by putting cinnamon sugar on it 🙄 They continued to act completely unhinged while we tried to clean up our Halloween decor, so I suggested we go build our craft at Home Depot. Lydia seemed well enough and Dempsey wasn’t sick yet, so off we went! Getting out of the house really improved all of our moods. Dempsey blows me away with how easily he builds these crafts and Lydia was too cute with her mini hammer. We finished up and took a peek at the Christmas decoration section before heading back home.

Lydia took a good nap and Dempsey put up our Thanksgiving window decals before helping Joey take down the Halloween yard decorations and putting up “the big turkey.” We left Miguel up for Dia De Los Muertos, but now he’s back in the backyard. We had planned to have the kids sleep over at Grandma Lori’s that night but wanted to see how Lydia was during the day and if she napped okay before making a final decision. She seemed okay, so we took them over around 4:30 then headed back into Denver for dinner at A5, which I thought was so so good! They sat us at a four top that faced the rest of the dining room, so that felt weird but otherwise the food, drinks and service were great. We saw Venom: The Last Dance afterward and it was good good fun! In a Marvel world that feels so weighed down by all the multi-versal, multi-layered storylines, the Venom strand seems way more streamlined and less self-serious. We made it home and through all of SNL, who are we??

Was so excited to sleep in on Sunday but then I checked the clock and it was 6:15 (which was really 7:15, but still!) 😅 Joey and I walked over to Coffeegraph for lattes and pastries and I swear I wasn’t posing for that photo that Joey took to send to the kids 😂 I had been wanting to make that seven-strand braided bread from the Bread Week episode of GBBO, so I got to work on it when we got back from coffee. While it rose, we went to pick up the kids and then I finished it when we all got back. It turned out so pretty! I was really happy with it. Now why can’t I braid hair like that?? 🤔 Unfortunately, Dempsey seemed to have come down with the cold and was sniffling like crazy the rest of the day 😞

The rest of the day was a mix of chaos and fun. Not proud of how much TV the kids have been watching, but sometimes it is the only way to calm them down. Lydia sat me down at the table and gave me her lunch plate then ran away to play 😂 She had a really hard time napping again and Joey had to hold her, ugh. I feel like it took me the rest of the day to get salads made but I did it and Joey made us a really good dinner to eat with our bread! They were both so tired and Lydia was a MESS, so bath and bedtime was nice and early. Every time they are sick, I live in terror of their nighttime sleep, but they slept from 7 PM to 7 AM, hallelujah! So I guess the way to avoid Daylight Saving Time issues is to just have it coincide with your children’s monthly cold 😅 After they went to bed, Joey and I watched Dìdi and though it was a lot sadder than I had expected, it was wonderful as well.

Sick kiddos + Election Week has me feeling anxious, but what can you do? Happy Monday!