Meet Frankie!

Surprise, the Deterdings actually got an interactive pet!

When Mom's not a cat person, and Dad's not a dog person, a cockatiel seemed like a good option.  I had some cockatiels as a kid (one coincidentally shared a name with our nephew Gus) and they were a lot of fun-- easy to take care of, and able to learn whistles and words and tricks.

We picked up Frankie in Lancaster yesterday morning, and today he seemed well enough adjusted that we all held him for the first time.  He warmed up to Steve first (I don't blame him).

 He's super cute.  He's not very vocal yet, and we're hoping we have a talkative birdie-- talkative between the hours of 8am and 8pm, that is!

OCTOBER

October came and went so quickly-- it always does; I think because it's my favorite month and there's too much we try to squeeze in.  We didn't manage to visit a pumpkin patch, carve jack-o-lanterns, have a bonfire every weekend, or make caramel apples, BUT we all went trick or treating for the first time as a family (not sure how we didn't manage it before now, eight years in) which was very exciting for the Deterding girlies.

Jane Elizabeth turned three!  More on that later.  Here is our birthday morning tradition of Carlson's donuts and gifts from our family:

That night we had friends over for a bonfire:

Jane and her little twinsie-friend, Jordan:

Halloween was an exciting day!  I went apartment-shopping with Aunt April, and then Mom Mom and Poppy came down for a birthday dinner (for Mom Mom) and then trick or treating in our friends' town home neighborhood, where you get a completely full McDonald's bucket after doing only one pass of one street.  We're all about getting the most bang for our buck.

I present to you, a pumpkin, a sheriff, a colonial girl, an explorer, and a bat.  All but the bat are courtesy of the dress-up bin in Avery's closet. Awesome.

This is sweet-- Grace bought Mom Mom a box of new, sharp, glorious, Crayola crayons because Grace remembered her mentioning that it was her favorite thing to get as a girl.

A Decade of Camping Adventures

Last weekend we joined up with the Sanders family at Deep Creek Lake State Park for our tenth annual Deterding-Sanders Camping adventure!  Alison, are you impressed that I managed to post these pictures so soon after our weekend together?! (Alison is a much more consistent blogger mama than I am).  

It took us five hours to get to Deep Creek thanks to traffic and a flat tire, but much to Grace's relief, the Sanders girls were still awake and a campfire-- and s'mores-- were waiting for us!  Steve and Kevin set up the camper in the dark, bless them.

Saturday was the day for the usual Daddy-Kid hike.  We moms always encourage a nice long daddy-kid hike, *wink *wink*

Peter and Evie!

A triathalon was happening during our stay, and the athletes ran right past our campsites.  This created hours of entertainment for all six of the kids who are over the age of one!  They even came up with this clever cheer:

"C'mon person you can do it, just put a little power to it!"

Leah's Seventh / Evie's Golden First Birthday Party

Your "golden" birthday is the birthday when your age matches the date of your birth.  Evelyn turned one on the first, so this year was her golden birthday!  (Grace is miffed that she has to wait until she's THIRTY to have her golden birthday). We had our usual big family party in the back yard, and Leah was excited to have a shared party with a sister, since Grace and Avery always have a party together, too.

The Birthday girls:

Jane and cousin Leanna:

Lots of overly-helpful sisters to open gifts:

Leah with cousin Kip presiding:

Our family with our two new electronic dogs (the dogs are girls, too!)

Every kid in the family gets one of Aunt Candy's bear cakes to smash on their first birthday!

What a twenty-first century cake smash looks like… complete cell phone documentation:

Jane got impatient and decided to show Evie how it's done:

Leah got Frozen stick-on nails that made her feel like Aunt Becki!