First let’s talk about teeth and mouthes and stuff.

November 20th, marks the first day that our family of four have all eaten the same thing at the same time! See this image larger.

It was beef stew, and it looks to me like Nina is more than happy to be able to sink her teeth into some of the most solid food she’s had so far! See this image larger.

And speaking of teeth… See this image larger.

What are these two doing up here? See this image larger.

Ian still have all of his? Yup. See this image larger.

Nope, don’t even need the flashlight, we can see them all, thanks. See this image larger.

*Oh, another photoshoot? How’s my hair?!* See this image larger.

There is a song from my (Daddy’s) younger years that feels appropriate to quote here… See this image larger.

…Baby’s Got Back. (In this case a cloth diaper and a pair of leggings seemingly optimized for the situation have caused this illusion.) See this image larger.

November 14th wasn’t just the “Nina tells a story” day… although she can spin quite a yarn, can’t she?

As the final leg of my month-long birthday extravaganza, Melissa and I hosted all of our work-buddies together for a party with all the kids, and then out to eat — it was awesome! We had a number of things to celebrate – our little gang has had a lot of grown-up stuff to deal with, literally each family dealing with at least one conflict of some kind. And we’re all keeping our chins up and fighting the good fight. I love all of these people.

But before we start those pictures, here’s one of Ian…

Hangover. See this image larger.

Ok, now on to the party!

Mr. Brandon gives Nina a little hug. He held her for probably a half hour before I remembered to take over… See this image larger.

Brandon’s son Max was present and he and Ian played together a lot as other people started to show. See this image larger.

Scott and Elena’s daughter Rowen plays with Nina’s baby-fine hair and said “It’s so soft!!” See this image larger.

I like this shot because of the stairs and where Max is looking. I probably didn’t need to include it here, but whatever. See this image larger.

These two look like a couple of teenagers sitting there don’t they? See this image larger.

Hilarious! See this image larger.

Nina goes into all wheel drive. See this image larger.

This is Elena and the Carmichael twins, Natalie and Vivian! I’m sorry I didn’t get more shots of everybody, but eventually we had eight kids running all over our house, so I was all over the place! See this image larger.

Here’s the whole gang! Grant was not here because he was sick, but everybody else is pretty much in this shot except for me and Nina, who is right out of frame below the crop. See this image larger.

Other side of the table… still can’t see me or Nina, sorry! The whole night was awesome and it was fantastic seeing everybody again. See this image larger.

BONUS VIDEO!!! – In this video, I do a quick 360° view of the gang at Cinqo De Mayo. What is hilarious to watch is Ian shoveling food in his face. What makes that even more amusing is that he’d already finished HIS food… the food you see him eating here is Elena’s!!! Click here to watch the video.

Ian’s food shoveling was humorous, but Nina was also none-too-shy about stuffing her face… Mommy was talking to another person when Daddy cried out “Is she supposed to be eating a nacho?!?” Sure enough, little girl had ninja’d a nacho chip off of a plate and was silently trying to nibble away. And while Nina has been moving up the solid-food-chain, she’s not up to nacho yet.

Another highlight of the evening was having (pretty much) everybody follow me in their cars… so a line of four cars… driving up to the restaurant and having there be four empty parallel parking spots. It must have looked like a presidential convoy the way we all pulled up at the same time!

November 9th showed up and we celebrated Grandma Sue’s birthday by having Ian sing her the full song, with gusto. It was awesome, and he did so without any form of practice. I was caught by surprise at how well he did, and wished I could have recorded it. He had Grandma Sue smiling ear-to-ear, she said.

Here’s some pictures taken on November 9th!

Bathtime!!! See this image larger.

Awesome!!! See this image larger.

My favorite from this set… I like to mix it up a little bit! See this image larger.

There’s two toofies! See this image larger.

Have fun with the rest of your bath, Nina! See this image larger.

Ian built this entirely and proclaimed that it is his camera. Pretty inventive, really. See this image larger.

And here’s Ian taking “pictures” with one of his favorite books! See this image larger.

November 13th, I wish I could have taken a shot a little faster — Ian’s expression while watching this series of shorts was priceless. See this image larger.

In this particular short, Mater from Cars was in a space shuttle, going to the moon… This is a combination of about four favorite things, so he was in seventh heaven! See this image larger.

Nina tries on Daddy’s new hat! See this image larger.

My old one blew away after I left it on my car and drove off with it up there… you know… while dealing with getting kids in the back of my little Honda. Peekaboo Nina! See this image larger.

I personally find it funny that my old video game themed hat said “role model” and my new video game themed hat says “game over.” A fitting change for 40 and 2 kids, no? See this image larger.

From my notes:

The William Tell Overture started playing from one of Nina’s toys. As the name of that song was a topic of discussion in one of the shows Ian watches regularly, I asked him if he knew what that song was called. He said “The Bumpy Ride Song.”

I didn’t get to hear this one, but apparently while looking for a birthday gift for Daddy or just looking through catalogs for Christmas, Ian got to the video game page of a toy circular and said “Daddy already has all that.”

Ian said “Awwww” in a “awww shucks!” kind of way for the first time on the 14th.