Our NOVEMBER Family Memories in 2025!

 November was a crazy month for our family, but we also made wonderful memories through the craziness. Some things that aren't pictured that we did this month include a trip to the candy store (the kids were so excited to take their spending there and keep talking about going back) and my brother Jon coming out to visit for the day. He'd wanted to come in October for Ashtyn's birthday, but we got sick, so he needed to reschedule. We loved visiting with him and also introduced the kids to Doctor Who while he was here, which was super fun. We also spent a lot of time with cousins as we were helping my sister-in-law move out of her apartment and do work on her new house.

Another thing we started was "no screens activity" with Mom and Dad, where once a week, the kids take turn doing a special activity (sans screens) with Mom and Dad after their siblings are in bed. The kids have picked things like Perler beads, drawing contests, baking treats, and playing with Legos. We've loved the new tradition and plan on continuing it each week. 

One thing we love doing as part of school at the holidays is "holiday science". One that is fun for fall is dancing corn. You put corn in water with baking soda and vinegar. The reaction causes little bubbles to form around the corn kernels and they dance up and down in the water.

The kids had so much fun with it.

Another one we often do in November is making butter.

The kids love to learn about why shaking the cream makes it form a ball of butter.

The kids are adamant that the homemade butter tastes better 😂

Oliver learned to draw dinosaurs.

I love seeing all the things he's drawing right now. 

In October, our neighbor had some leftover "haunted house" kits and gifted them to us. The kids got sick with a stomach bug for so long that we never were able to use them in October, so we did them after Halloween. The kids didn't care and had a great time. I was having a hard time getting the houses to stay together, so I told the kids they could just decorate the pieces and then eat them. The kids told me I was the best Mom ever for letting them do that 😂

Leaf hunting! I usually leaf hunt with the kids before Halloween, but it was another activity I didn't get to in October because of how long we were sick and just how crazy things are this year. 

Leah thought it was great fun to be out in the leaves and dirt.

We love playing this "thankful" game with M&M's (the color of M&M you get determines from what category you choose something you are grateful for). The kids love it and the M&M's. 

Making stuff from their clay (from the Switch Witch).

Parker seems to like the clay the most after the first day of having it.

While outside playing, Parker crashed her scooter and got a pretty nasty scrape on her leg. Her siblings made her this out of blocks to help her feel better. 

Oliver's duck 🩷

And Oliver made a cat out of magnet blocks 

(he was trying to make a cat and he did a good job with it).

Rylee and Oliver were both drawing turkeys and handprint turkeys all month.

Parker's face paint -- they have a cousin 

who is really into creepy things, so they did this while he was here.

Voting! 

We got them in at the last minute, but we got them in.

Ashtyn and her cousin love Elf on the Shelf and were making these "elf houses" to take pictures of send to each other all month: 

When you are "babysitting" 🩷

Ashtyn has been really into gymnastics for awhile with her cousin.

And in November, she landed her first ariel!

Playing with siblings 🩷

The kids were very excited to find these baby elves at Walmart when we were shopping for wrapping paper (we didn't buy them, but the kids wanted pictures with them). They loved "window" shopping all the Christmas stuff at Walmart.

Oliver loves when Ben reads to him each night. 

I love seeing all Ben does for our kids.

I also love that our kids will fall asleep with books on them. I love the bookish culture we've developed in our family.

Wrapping and watching Hallmark Christmas movies 🌲

And the kids all came in to watch with me 😂

The funniest part was that they loved the movie.

Poor Leah was having a hard day. This was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I had a house full of kids and a lot to do, which wouldn't have been a big deal, but then Leah was just so grouchy and not napping. We managed but it was a little rough.

I did manage to get all the presents wrapped for our packages though, with Ben's help with the kids after work. 

They could start a band 🩷

Ashtyn's present from Jon 🩷

She wanted to take a picture and show him once it was made.

Fun times at treat night.

Every Sunday, we get together with Ben's family for "Meet for a Treat" and with so many kids now, it can get pretty crazy.

We love visiting Grandma Netta!

We have continued our art class and the kids are doing really well with it.

We love spending time with cousins.

Kolson copying Ben while we were watching him 😂

The little fort that the kids made, complete with Leah's high chair 😂

they love lugging Leah around with them and I think it's so cute.

Getting Christmas up at the end of the month! 

Things were crazy, so their room was a mess and there were literally kids everywhere in our house (I think we had 10 kids while I was putting this up) but they loved it. 

Leah getting more mobile!

Trying to learn to crawl 🩷

She might not be crawling quite yet, but she's getting mobile. 

Rylee started at the couch and moved clear over to the wall 😂

Happy outside!

I love nursing 🩷

Leah's cute jacket! 

Leah eating peas 🩷

Tell me you have siblings without telling me you have siblings 😂

Leah loves to shake her head.

Ben would ask her if it was bedtime and she wouldn't shake her head, but if he asked her something else, she would. It was so funny to us.

Leah loves food.

Playing with Oliver!

Leah's laugh is more of a squeal and it's my favorite.

Ben was watching Leah while the kids and I went to Holly Days and he turned on Wicked music. 

Leah loves to dance 🩷

We had such a wonderful November and we're ready for all things Christmas!

Our Thanksgiving 2025!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays--I love the focus on gratitude and being thankful. I also love making and eating pie and how relaxed the holiday can be. 

Wednesday was our Thanksgiving prep day. I've officially moved from "keep the kids occupied while I make pies and rolls all day" to "kids in the kitchen with me while we all make pies and rolls together" and I love it. 

 

Rylee made one of the pie crusts for apple pie and then she made an Oreo crust and chocolate filling pie. 

Ashtyn made a batch of rolls from beginning to end (including getting them out of the oven even though that part was past her bedtime). 

Oliver helped Ashtyn with her pie crust and then he made a graham cracker crust. I haven't made graham cracker crust in so long, I couldn't remember what I was doing and we made way too much, so he ended up making two pies. He did chocolate pie filling in one pie and then made a banana cream pie with the other crust. His favorite part was that he got to cut up the bananas all by himself. 

This is what the entire kitchen looks like when your four year old insists on doing the graham cracker crusts all by himself 🙃

Parker made a pie crust and then made it into a pumpkin pie.

Ashtyn also made a crust and made it into a pumpkin pie. She did it all herself, including the oven as well, just following the recipe (without me). Both pumpkin pies turned out really yummy.

Oliver's favorite part of pie making was that he got to cut the bananas all himself.

Leah was very grumpy on Tuesday and then on Wednesday morning, she seemed to be doing better. Wednesday afternoon, she was super grumpy. I didn't know what I was going to do, because I spent all morning in the kitchen and getting a package ready for the post office and at the post office with the package (we really wanted to get it sent before Thanksgiving because it was going to Norway). Ben was going to play pickleball and I still had so much to do. We put Leah in a carrier and even that wasn't helping, so I was at a loss. Then I decided to change her diaper and found a messy diaper (Ben and I had both smelled earlier and didn't smell anything) with a little rash. The poor girl! As soon as I changed her and put cream on, she was happy as can be. I was able to get all the pies and rolls finished with the kids and she played happily in her exercauser or on the floor while we did it. 

Pies all ready (except the whipped cream and we made the banana cream on Thursday).

Thursday morning, we let the kids come down early to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade. They loved it. Oliver kept making sure I knew that they were just people dressed up, not real. The kids all got super excited when the baby Elf on the Shelf float came by.

After the parade, we all went to the table to draw handprint turkeys (and Leah got a little snack). Parker got frustrated with tracing her hand, so she decided to draw something different. Oliver had a lot of fun and drew two. 

Thanksgiving dinner! All the food was delicious. Because we hosted, we were able to put Leah down for her nap at the regular time and she miraculously slept through the noise of all the kids running around wild. It was a good time and a good meal.

And pie for dessert! We ended up having more desserts than food, which was perfect for sampling. Oliver loved eating his pie. He got some of both, the chocolate and the banana cream. He kept asking if he was eating the pie he made. Then he told me, "I made good pies." 

After dinner, some of Ben's cousins came over and everyone visited while the kids ran around (mostly outside, despite the cold). Around 5:30, we kicked everyone out and cleaned up a little and watched Miracle on 34th Street. 

Saturday morning, we started the day with pie for breakfast, the best Thanksgiving tradition. 

I also switched out our books for Christmas and the kids were very excited. Ashtyn spent most of the morning reading different Christmas picture books out loud to her siblings.

In the afternoon, we left Leah with Ben and went to Holly Days. 

This was our attempt at a selfie, but Parker didn't like the sun in her eyes.

This is the picture someone took for us when they saw us taking a selfie.

The kids had so much fun! We met Ben's cousin and her kids. The day was super warm, which was really nice. We love Holly Days. We finished off the trip by going to Santa's Workshop (which was not my favorite part of the day, we'll just say that) and then breakfast for dinner while watching Ice Princess for movie night. While the kids watched, I started working on the Christmas decorations in their room. 

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving together and have so much to be grateful for 🩷