November Round-Up!

The year is quickly winding down, and I'm happy to report that we had another great month (well, the end was great anyway)! Here are some things we had going on during November.

Chris's birthday is on Halloween, so we typically celebrate it the day before or the day after his actual birthday. This year, we celebrated on November 1st with a few decorations, a nice meal, and pumpkin pie for dessert!

My mom makes the best pumpkin pie, so she brought the dessert and a cute idea for making it fun :-).

Of course, Brianna thought Daddy needed a mouth full of whipped cream as an appetizer!

Happy 39th!

I thought it was so cute that Bri made name cards for each person at the table. I think she has her Momma's heart for hosting.

The little girls and I still read every day before nap time, and I just cherish this time so much. I think often how this is my last year to have them home with me most of the day, and it makes my heart ache. However, it's also a reminder to soak up every moment. 

I wrote here about how we had sick children for the entire first half of this month (as well as the last half of October). It's so hard to see my babies sick, but I'm not complaining about all the extra snuggles I got. This photo was taken after Brecklyn threw up IN MY BED at midnight one night *sigh*.

After the ups and downs (and downs) of having sick children for over a month, I was in dire need of a pick-me-up. I had planned for a few years to put a Christmas tree in the corner of my bedroom, but had never actually done it. Chris's mom and I went shopping together one weekend, and I took the opportunity to purchase a bunch of Christmas decor for my bedroom. On the evening of November 9th, Chris humored me and helped me decorate our bedroom for Christmas!

Yes, it was waaaaay earlier than I've ever decorated before, but it made me so happy! I love that I've already been able to enjoy my new Christmas bedroom decor for several weeks now, and I still have a whole month to go!

I've heard Meme mention often about how she finds Papa's guitar picks all over the house. I guess Brenson is truly a guitar player because I opened the dryer one day to find this, haha!

Brooke got her first black eye this month when she fell off a chair. She looked pitiful for a few days, but it healed quickly!

Chris had to travel for work this month (the week our van broke down . . . I wrote about here), and the kids like to take turns sleeping with me while he's out of town. When it was Brenson's turn, he made sure he had all of his things moved into my room and ready for the next morning :-).

Of course, November is my birthday month and it was so nice this year to celebrate with my dad since we share a birthday! Our birthday was on a Sunday, so Chris invited Mom, Dad, Russ, Lisa, and Chloe to join us for a hibachi dinner on Saturday evening. The girls loved it when they came out singing to us with the dragon hats!

Well, maybe Brecklyn didn't love it so much, haha!

On Sunday, we went out for Mexican food . . . birthdays number 39 and 67!

I really didn't think that I needed to be sang to AGAIN, but someone obviously felt differently!

That evening, Chris and the kids had a few gifts for me, as well as a banner and a cake. My favorite pieces of cake are the ones that have no edge, so Chris cut me a piece straight out of the middle!

I always love the sweet banners my kiddos make for me. They are large so I don't keep them forever, but I do want to remember what they looked like. 

The little girls had their very first big school project this month. They had to disguise a turkey so he wouldn't get eaten for Thanksgiving, and they were so proud of the finished products. They both came up with what they wanted their turkeys to be disguised as, and Chris and I helped them execute their ideas. I remember doing this project with Brianna and Brenson . . . it's crazy to me that Brooke and Brecklyn are old enough to do it now!

Brooke with her turkey disguised as a cactus.

Brecklyn with her turkey disguised as a tree.

For several, several weeks, things were pretty rough around here with sickness, car woes, missing school, Chris travelling, etc. I'm always so encouraged by the amazing sunrises we see from our living room windows. God's mercies are new every morning!

After everyone was finally well enough to go back to school, I was able to resume my volunteer schedule in Bren's classroom. I loved helping all the 2nd grade students do special paintings one day.

The last Friday before Thanksgiving break was a particularly busy one for our family. The day began with Brenson receiving his 25 mile running medal during Rise and Shine!

Very happy for this boy!

Then, Chris and I volunteered to serve Thanksgiving lunch at school. We signed up for three lunch sessions, but ended up being needed for all five. 

Thankfully, my parents were there to watch the little girls and eat with Brianna and Brenson.

Brooke, Brecklyn, and G-Jo

Bren and Grampy

Brianna and Brenson eat at different times, but my parents were troopers and stayed for both sessions!

Brianna and her friend, Abby

The lunching crew :-)

While Chris and I finished up at our kids' school, Grampy and G-Jo took our kids home for the afternoon. Then, Chris and I drove over to the school where my sister works to help distribute bags of groceries to families in need. 

My feet were hurting by the end of all that, but the day still wasn't over! That evening, Bren had his first ever basketball practice. He has wanted to play organized sports for a while, so we finally agreed to let him play basketball through the local Optimist Club. It's a pretty laid back league, and we're hoping for a really good first experience. He has loved his practices so far . . . games will begin after the first of the year. 

I had already made plans to go to dinner with Tia that night (a much needed girls night out!) before we knew that Bren's practices would be on Friday evenings. Thankfully, Chris didn't mind taking all the girls with him, and they all said they had fun helping and watching!

Our friend, RyAnn, from church turned 17 this month, and her family celebrated with a big bonfire on their land. This month was definitely one of birthday celebrations! It was a gorgeous night . . . perfect bonfire weather and a beautiful sunset to boot!

Momma and Brecklyn

Chris and Chelle

Brooke and Brecklyn were there for the food, haha!

Chelle and RyAnn

Raelyn and Brooke

The bonfire was quite large, but so nice and toasty!

Happy 17th, RyAnn!

My Aunt Cindy is so good to think of my kids and send them cards or little trinkets once in a while. For Thanksgiving, she sent them all a handmade card and a two dollar bill. I took the photo below to send to her to thank her for thinking of us. Of course, I also wanted to show her my pretty new Christmas tree in my bedroom!

I mentioned in the post I wrote about our Thanksgiving that we put up our big tree in our living room this past Saturday. All semester, I had taped the twins' school artwork to our book nook door, but I took it all down before we decorated for Christmas. I didn't keep it all, but I wanted to have a photo of the fun projects they did in school. I never thought I'd be one to have this kind of artwork up in my home, but I love it so much!

This month started off really rough, but I am so thankful that it ended better than it began. It felt great to have everyone well and going to school and church after having missed so much. As always, we are blessed!