November was a wonderful month for our family! The holidays are always such a fun and magical time with young kids. We also had family visit from out of town and had many small moments together.
One of the first things this month was Ashtyn's baptism. It is so wonderful and bittersweet to see her growing up.
Donovan and Jessica did these beautiful pictures for us. This picture is one that Ashtyn really wanted, holding this origami flower that she made.
I recently was looking through old photos for something and found this one of me.
Same age and same dress as Ashtyn 😃
It was a beautiful day, and we are proud of Ashtyn and the decisions she is making in her life.
Grandma Dee and Grandpa Luke and (not pictured) Uncle Jon came out to visit for the weekend. Ashtyn loved having them at her baptism and we loved visiting with them while they were here.
Oliver even warmed up to Grandma Dee before she went home!
Grandpa Luke telling stories to the girls 💗
A date night that Ben and I had last month was oil painting while the kids were in bed. Ben has done oil painting quite a bit, so he taught me. It was really fun! Because oil paints take forever to dry, we are going to finish touching them up this month for a date.
Ben is amazing 😍
I was happy with how mine turned out! I am going to do some work with the mouth next month as well as making the blacks blacker.
We had so much fun with the painting date, we decided to do another. This time, we tried acrylic paints. This is something Ben has less experience with. We had fun again, though Ben prefers oil paints.
I did a lot better at making it look like Mickey my second time. I think with the touch ups we're going to do, I can improve my first one quite a bit. That's one of the nice things about painting.
Once again, Ben is amazing 😍
A little later in the month, Jessica and Donovan and Kolson came to visit! We loved seeing all of them, though I think we miss Kolson the most.
Oliver watched Rylee tickle Kolson toes and tummy (our attempt to help her not touch Kolson's face) and then he copied her 😍
Watching Donovan play a video game.
We loved snuggling Kolson!
Oliver has hit his climbing phase. This was Halloween, so he was getting the candy trash haha but we now move our chairs into the laundry room between meals.
The girls making a picnic of their Halloween candy (these pictures are slightly out of order).
Before it got too cold, the girls loved playing in the leaves at Grandma and Grandpa's house!
Even though it can sometimes be hard, I love when they need me so much.
I think I especially appreciate this time, because I could be at the tail end of it.
Snuggles with Mom, because it was a little chilly.
Can you spy the children XD
Jumping from the tramp into the giant leaf pile!
There's no one in this leaf pile ...
And then a couple days later, we had the first snow of the year! It wasn't good snowman snow, but the kids had fun in it nonetheless. Oliver had zero tolerance for snow 😂
We also did a little homeschool activity where we made a tiny snowman and then measured it each hour as it melted.
Rylee also used the snow to make a potion ... I'm not even sure what exactly was in this cup ...
In November, we have a tradition of doing a gratitude tree. Each day, we each write something we're grateful for on a leaf and add it to the leaf.
The finished tree! We did a different color for each family member, so it was easy to tell at a glance whose was whose (the falling leaves have our names on them). Rylee drew some lines on the tree, Oliver tore off some of the grass, and Ashtyn added a bat 😂 we truly have so much to be grateful for.
We did lots of gratitude "homeschool activities".
And other Thanksgiving activities. Ashtyn colored this one and it took us an embarrassingly long time to realize what it is supposed to be. Can you tell what it is?
More time with cousins! We love that Ben's cousins live in Vernal and love the time we spend with them.
And the time we spend at Grandma's house! With the cold weather, the blocks get used a lot!
We only did one science experiment during Thanksgiving this year, but it's the kids' favorite--dancing corn. You put popcorn in a jar with baking soda and vinegar. The reaction creates bubbles around the corn, which makes it go up until the bubbles pop. This creates the illusion of the corn dancing up and down in the jar.
The kids love putting more baking soda in and they think the corn going up and down is so funny.
Digging at Grandma's in only slightly cold weather.
Looks cold! I'm always grateful for the slightly warmer days in November and also for the snowier days as it gets closer to December.
Thanksgiving! I always mix up my crusts on Tuesday night and then spend Wednesday making pies and rolls. This year, I made two apple, two pumpkin, and one chocolate cream.
Thanksgiving morning, it is becoming a tradition for us to make a blanket fort and color inside it while we watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
For dinner, we went over to Ben's family's party. It was yummy and fun to spend time with them! Even though we live in Vernal, we don't see his extended family as often as his family grows. After, we spent the evening with some of Ben's family on his mom's side who visited from out of town. It was a great day.
Oliver was pretty tuckered out. He only had a thirty minute nap because of going down early (since dinner was during his regular nap time) and then he got a pretty bad diaper rash. After I brushed his teeth, he just lay down next to me and I knew he was ready for bed.
The kids were super excited for Thanksgiving to be over so they could decorate. The first thing they did when I got out the decorations was reenact their own Nativity 💗
Pie for breakfast, of course!
They loved "decorating" while I put up the actual decorations.
We took a break from decorating to go to Holly Days (we left during Oliver's nap and Ben stayed home with him). It was such a warm, suny day. Holly Days always has so much to do! We did a train ride, a swing ride, and bounce house slide, got hot chocolate and cotton candy and kettle corn and donuts, did a carriage ride, and checked out the gingerbread houses. At this point, it was getting colder and we were getting tired, so we went home for movie night.
Oliver is ready to be baby Jesus!
Rylee's drawing of a snowman 😍
Mommy snuggles 💗
I love hearing him talk!
I had to get a selfie with him after he took a 30 minute nap after church.
He looks so grown up now. 💗
Oliver finding his bellybutton.
Oliver learned to slide while sitting (as opposed to on his tummy, which is what he did before).
I don't even remember why he was struggling here, the poor kid.
Trying to write while Oliver wanted on my lap.
I love that I can be both a writer and a mom.
Raising readers 💗
We still love getting out the kinetic sand! It was well worth the money.
Ashtyn's favorite way to practice piano!
We started listening to some songs from Hunger Games. Now, Rylee's favorite song is The Hanging Tree and she wants a Hunger Games themed birthday ... and also, The Hanging Tree song scares her (even though she doesn't understand what it means), so now she doesn't want to go anywhere in our house alone ...
Oliver loves playing with our light switches, though he has a hard time figuring out how to turn the light on again after he turns it off.
The girls were sitting down to watch a show and Oliver came over to sit like them 😍
Ashtyn reading to her sisters 💗 I came out from getting dressed, a little worried because of how quiet it was, to this scene.
Parker loves playing Ben's guitar!
Oliver wants to be a writer too!
Oliver can be such a ham 😍
Rylee and Oliver snuggling on the couch together next to me.
It wasn't a great picture, but I had to document it.
Oliver will use anything to climb 😂
Oliver also loves playing the piano.
Oliver is my buddy!
I love watching Oliver play.
An Oliver-sized chair!
Oliver eating a lemon.
Oliver is going to make himself some food!
(the stove was not on)
When you wake up early from your nap, it's hard.
Rylee loves to sing as she works. I love hearing her voice 💗
Ashtyn has loved doing her hair recently and this is her favorite hairdo to do.
Just like Dad 😍
Christmas pajamas! A few years ago, we started getting blankets on Christmas Eve and doing Christmas pajamas right after Thanksgiving, so that they can wear their holiday pajamas all month long.
Oliver's pajamas 😍
Christmas decorations, especially in the morning when I'm the only one up and the house is clean, are my favorite 💗
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