The first Saturday of November we got to watch our niece, A., play in the state high school volleyball finals. It was great to see her young team take 3rd Place and really fun to watch my husband watch her play. That night Hubby took M to a Girl Scout Me and My Guy dance. She had so much fun and was asking if we could put on a dance like that for the Activity Day girls. We definitely need to get more date nights on the calendar! The next day my mom watched the girls while my dad and I went to the regional broadcast and Hubby took D to his double header flag football games. So great for D to have one on one time with with his dad doing very manly things.
Thanks to my friend, E, having N over for a play date, I got to help chaperone K’s field trip to Ameritowne. It was great to see every 5th grader having a job and watching the community run. K was a doctor in the health clinic and my assignment was to help in Towne Hall. The three hours went by really fast, especially lunch. I’m glad I got to go.
The day before K’s field trip was the annual Turkey Trot at K and N’s school. It was so fun to see N try her best and later when it was K’s turn to see N run up and give her a hug every time she came around the school. It’s the school’s biggest fundraiser and what a great surprise to see how much was donated this year. Let’s just say the school exceeded their goal!
November also had Girl Scouts, Activity Days, birthday parties to attend, lots of play dates, D’s rain gutter regatta and Scouting for Food, having friends and the missionaries over for dinner, S substituting in primary almost every week and having family come into town. We loved having B drive out C and A and have them spend the weekend with us before Thanksgiving. The guys went to the CU vs. Utah game in the snow while us girls did nails, colored, ate at Noodles and watched Hotel Transylvania 3. I got to introduce them to the Midwest tradition of eating cinnamon rolls with chili for dinner before we played games like the spray bottle game the J. family taught us when they had us over for FHE the Sunday before. We were sad to see them go but so glad they came!
We had quite the surprise in November when a huge box arrived on our doorstep. It was from the neighbors of my grandparents when they lived in River Falls. D had mailed us dolls that my grandparents had given her children over the years as an early Christmas present. I was so grateful she was willing to track us down and pay for the shipping so that my children can have souvenirs from my grandparents' world travels. They each found something (D found boats) to put in their rooms. When I tell people that my grandparents' generosity continues to bless my life long after they are gone, I am not exaggerating!
The children have the entire week off school for Thanksgiving and at first I was worried how I would keep them entertained but we found lots to do. On Monday M went to horse camp and I got to take K and her friend Q and D and his friend Z to jump on trampolines for 2 hours at Get Air. N was more than happy to watch them and have me read her library books. In the afternoon my parents babysat so I could take K to the dentist and attend D and M’s parent teacher conferences before taking all the children to Ashley’s and out to eat.
On Tuesday M had the next and final day of horse camp while the rest of the children had play dates with the O. family. The children had such a good time playing it was hard to tell them I had to take them home before D’s cello lesson. On Wednesday poor K had to go to the orthodontist and chiropractor before she got to play at C’s house. She hasn’t been to the chiropractor before but we are hoping it will help with her wrist that bothers her when she does gymnastics tricks. M got to play at Z’s house and D had Grandpa take him back to Get Air. N was happy to just be with me. I love this kindergarten age! After dinner we got to have our neighbors, J and P, over for a double header of Teen Beach Movie. We laughed so much we ended up watching Teen Beach Movie 2. Laughter is definitely something I am grateful for! On Thanksgiving M, N and I went to R's baptism -- such a lovely way to start the day -- and we had a wonderful meal and Hubby smoking the turkey worked out great. I was so happy to have my parents over for our dinner and surprised they were willing to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them with the older children while M and N & I frosted sugar cookies while watching Nailed It on Netflix. (These were using my grandmother's cookie cutters.)
On Black Friday Hubby took D to a snowboarding lesson and they spent the day together on the slopes. They said it wasn't crowded at all due to the cold and wind. I've got tough men in my family! Meanwhile, the girls and I went to Crackpots and painted ceramics and ate at Dickey's BBQ where, it turns out, the free ice cream is dairy free. Who knew? We also looked around Hobby Towne before heading home to do more girly things while the boys were away. Saturday there was absolutely zero fuss about picking out a live Christmas tree. The very first one Hubby suggested we all loved and that was the end of that. I think the cold and wind and the fact we weren't dressed well for winter (and our tummies were full of yummy Cafe Rio) helped. We have all the indoor decorations up and will try to put up the outdoor ones on Tuesday when the weather is supposed to be nicer. Our last day of vacation we spent at church in the morning (I love subbing in primary) and were overjoyed to hear that our idea of having church from 9:30-11:30am is what our ward is doing for 2019! Just a few more weeks to hang in there with our 9-12 schedule! The children were really good all afternoon and we had fun doing things like playing an elaborate version of tag indoors and an epic Uno game. We all knew that screen time was going to happen at 7pm sharp when the girls would watch Dancing with the Stars Juniors downstairs and the boys would play Splatoon upstairs. Having a set time in place plus all those Christmas books out helped a lot with our usual screen time struggles. Today, Monday morning, all 4 of them did NOT want to go back to school. I took it as a good sign they enjoyed their week off school. I love them so much!
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