November Round-Up!

As we're finishing up the next to last month of the year, I am so thankful for these little round-up posts I've published this year! My goal is the tell the story of our lives, and that includes so much more than just the "big" things. I love all the little details and side-stories that are captured in my monthly round-ups! Here are some of those little things from the month of November.

Brianna and Brenson bring home school papers almost every day. I have a place where I typically keep them for about a week (to give Daddy a chance to look at them), then I throw them out. I just can't keep everything - or even close to everything - and I really don't want to. However, some things I like to take pics of to look back on, and the paper below is one of those things. I love that Bren thinks spiders are good pets, and I'm sure that's due in part to us having a "pet" spider during the summer and early fall *RIP Charlotte . . . sniff*.

The day after Halloween, Brooke, Brecklyn, and I ran to Wal-mart to get a few groceries. While we were there, I let each of the girls pick out a clearanced Halloween costume to use for dress-up. They have been living in these little dresses since they got them!

However, the girls' dress-up drawer was already over crowded and a huge mess, so adding two more dresses to it just caused a big problem. I've never loved their dress-up drawer anyhow because every time they wanted something out of it, they would pull everything out. Then, because it was so full, they really weren't able to pick everything up without help and have the drawer close. I decided it was time for a change! To help with this problem, I purchased two metal hangars with five hooks each from Hobby Lobby. Chris helped me hang them on the wall where their bow holder was (I moved it to the back of the door, and that works great!). I also purchased the cute little sign to kind of tie the area together. Now, the girls can easily access and pick up their dresses, and they love having them on display in their room. WIN!

I'm always a little reluctant to write about things like this because I don't want to advertise our good deeds, but I do want my kids to be able to remember the things like this that we did. The kids' school does a food drive for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and all the food is given to families from the school. Each grade has a list of items to donate, so one day after school I took all the kids to Wal-mart to buy groceries from the list. 

I had set a budget, and we were really able to get quite a bit to donate to the food drive! We are so grateful for our material blessings, and we love being able to pass some of that on to others in our community.

I'm pretty sure this is included in every round-up post I write, but we love our sunrises. LOVE.

We had some beautiful weather this month, so one day I decided to take advantage of it by taking the little girls to the zoo. I had recently changed purses, and half way to the zoo I realized that I may not have my zoo pass in my new purse. I pulled over to check, and sure enough I didn't have it with me. No biggie, I thought, I'll just call the zoo and see if I can get in with my driver's license. I reached for my phone and realized I had also left that at home. Booooo. I debated for a second about what to do, but finally decided to turn around and go back home. When the big kids are at school, I keep my phone close in case the school needs to get a hold of me, so I didn't want to be gone most of the day without it. The girls were really disappointed, and I felt bad about the whole thing. In an attempt to salvage the day, I took them to the park and we did a nature scavenger hunt before playing (after I went home and got my phone, of course). They loved it!

They quickly forgot about the zoo disappointment and embraced the change in activities. On days like these, I'm thankful for grace and flexibility!

 I love looking down and seeing my little people in my hand and by my side 💓.

Brenson has been having a bit of a hard time at school. There's a boy in his class that he's not getting along with too well, and that has resulted in some conversations between the counselor and myself, as well as the principal and myself. I think everything is going to be okay, but I've noticed some out of character behavior from him at home. I think it's all part of him trying to process and work through things. One day, I had to laugh when I saw him reading upside down!

The twins are at an age where they LOVE games. I got them a new game called Yeti in My Spaghetti, and we spent a lazy morning playing it with messy hair in our pjs. I love the leftover Halloween tattoo on Brooke's arm :-).

Brianna reached a big goal she had set when she earned her 50 mile running medal on November 9th! She really wants to get her 100 mile medal this year (she's never done that before), and she's serious about it! Most days, she runs between 1.2 and 1.8 miles at recess. WOW!!!

Mrs. S placing Bri's medal around her neck

Running a victory lap!

Mrs. S (the PE teacher) inspires Brianna and cheers her on!

Ava and Brianna are the first two third graders to earn their 50 mile medal.

Brianna isn't the only one crushing goals this month . . . Brenson reached the 50 point AR club! Whoo-hoo!

Brecklyn has been a toot lately. but I love watching her little personality shine. One day, she put on my boots, and when I tried to take her photo, this series of pics is what I got, haha.

I have heard that this winter is supposed to be cold and wet. This makes me happy as I love snow and winter weather! On November 12th, we had our first snowfall of the season! It snowed big, beautiful flakes for hours, but not much of it stuck. It was still gorgeous, and I hope it's a sign of things to come! The big kids still had school, and the little girls and I enjoyed a day at home. I painted their nails, and of course we had to take a pic outside to show the snow!

Brooke, Brecklyn

After we came inside, they found these wax lips they'd gotten for Halloween. These two keep me laughing all day long!

Brecklyn, Brooke

A few weeks later, we were getting ready to leave the house in the blustery cold so they put on these stocking caps Papa got them for Christmas last year. Cuties!

Brecklyn, Brooke

We decorated most of the inside of the house for Christmas the day before Thanksgiving (except our big tree . . . it still hasn't gone up!). I let the kids get out their Christmas pjs this week, and we're ready to soak up the season!

Bren, Brooke, Brecklyn, Brianna

Yesterday, the little girls and I went shopping (I'm almost finished with all my Christmas shopping, yay!). One store had these precious reindeer dresses for $10 apiece. I couldn't pass them up, and girls can't wait to wear them!

Brecklyn, Brooke

While we were out and about, I took them to Olive Garden for lunch. I'm pretty sure this was their first time to go there, and they ate and ate!

I'll forever cherish these little lunch dates with my babies!

Despite some sickness and things not going according to plan (you can read about it here), this has been a good month! We are all excited for the Christmas season and all the fun that brings!

School Lunch, Another Year Older, and Dickens on the Boulevard!

Hi, Everyone! I hope you all had a good weekend. We had several things planned this past weekend, and we enjoyed it despite the rough start. 

I know some students are out of school this whole week, but mine still have school today and tomorrow before we get to start Thanksgiving Break. This past Friday, our school had a Thanksgiving Lunch for anyone who wanted to join their student at school. Chris took a half day off of work, and we planned to go to lunch as a family. However, early Friday morning (at like 4am), Brenson started throwing up, and he continued to throw up every hour for about 10 hours. Chris was super-dad and took the toddler twins to school by himself to have lunch with Brianna. 

Brooke and Brianna

Brianna and Brecklyn

Daddy and Brianna

Brianna always loves it when we come to school to see her. She adores having her sisters there, and her classmates always give them lots of attention!

While Daddy and the girls were having fun at school, I was home trying to take care of my sick boy. I texted Bren's teacher before school on Friday to let her know he wouldn't be there. She replied that there was something going around the class. I found out later in the day that there were a total of 10 students (half the class!) absent that day with the stomach bug. Yikes!

 
I was lamenting to my Mom about having a pukey kid. Her response to my text cracked me up!

Bren slept on and off most of the afternoon, then had a good night's rest. He woke up feeling fine on Saturday morning, just in time to celebrate my 38th birthday! We had cake and opened gifts at 10:00am . . . I'm not even ashamed, haha!

I was so thankful everyone was feeling good and well on my birthday!

Daddy loves to shoot off a confetti gun when we're celebrating. It made for a cute picture, but it was sure a pain to clean up!!!

We had a leisurely morning at home setting up our small Christmas tree upstairs, ate a late lunch at my favorite local Mexican restaurant, then all took naps that afternoon. My kind of day!!! 

That evening, our town was hosting a festival called Dickens on the Boulevard. We went to this event two years ago and had a great time, so I told Chris that I really wanted to go this year on my birthday. I was happy that it worked out for us to go!

Watching the Blacksmith is a favorite activity!

This year, there was a man making leather goods. I don't remember seeing him before, but it was neat to watch him work. 

Many of the shops downtown were participating in the Living Windows contest, and had real people posed in Victorian-era costumes in the windows. Brecklyn didn't realize the people were living until one winked at her. She took off running faster than I could catch her, lol!

This lady was spinning wool into yarn.

The kids thought this covered wagon was interesting. 

And, of course, everyone enjoyed seeing all the people in costume!

When we were getting ready to leave the house to head to the event, Brecklyn asked me where we were going. I told her Dickens on the Boulevard, and she said, "Chickens on the Boulevard?!? I love chicken!!!" Lol. She was a little disappointed when I told her there wouldn't be any chicken there (and girl-child really does LOVE chicken . . . it's probably her favorite food)!

Even though there wasn't chicken, we did enjoy hot cocoa and the tastiest kettle corn I've ever eaten (and I don't even like kettle corn!). We capped off the outing with a visit to Santa who was set up in one of the antique stores.

I'll admit that I was pretty discouraged Friday morning when Bren woke up so sick. I assumed our whole weekend would be ruined, but thankfully the throwing up didn't last too long. No one else has gotten it yet, and I'm crossing my fingers it stays that way!

Happy Monday!

October Round-Up!

October is probably my favorite month of the year (although I really love every season and month for different reasons), and we had a busy one this year! I did several posts about specific activities, but I still had quite a few photos left for my round-up post. Here are some of the things that I haven't posted about yet. 

I busted out some festive clothing for the kids to wear this month. Between the hand-me-downs and shirts that still fit from last year, I think the little girls had 4 or 5 Halloween shirts apiece . . . and I don't even really like Halloween, lol! At the beginning of the month, we wore Halloween shirts to library story time, and checked out some of our favorite books about pumpkins. 

Bren hit a big goal he had set for himself to reach the 10 point AR club early this month. He loves reading and is very motivated by the point clubs at school!

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but the kids all get monthly chiropractic adjustments. Those typically take place at the beginning of the month, and they all love being adjusted!

Brooke

Brecklyn

Brenson

Brianna

Brecklyn has become very interested in reading and writing lately. She knows all her letter sounds, and I catch her often trying to decode simple words. One evening at church, she wrote her name in her notebook!

Feeding a family of six three meals a day plus snacks all the time is no small task. I don't love to cook, but I do it because it's what's best for my family. Brianna has always been a big help in the kitchen, but lately she's really stepped up her game. One night, we were having breakfast for dinner, and she made all the protein pancakes for us. YAY for help in the kitchen!

The sunrises are still wowing us constantly. I love the autumn sunrises when fog is lifting off the pond in the cool of the morning!

I have been wanting to surprise the big kids by joining them for lunch at school on a random day, but haven't been able to do it yet this year. We finally did it this month! Chris has done this several times, but never taken the little girls because logistically that was a little complicated. I felt like they were finally old enough to do it, so we packed lunches and away we went. They were SO very proud of carrying their own lunches and eating at school! Brooke even said, "Mom, I'm so proud to be eating with the big kids!"

(Don't mind my no-makeup, messy hair self too much :-)

We ate with Bren first, and he and his little friends didn't have a whole lot to say. They were all focused on eating and certainly weren't too interested in Brooke and Brecklyn.

Brianna's lunch immediately follows Bren's lunch, and we drew a crowd of 3rd grade girls :-).

They were all very chatty, had lots of questions about the twins, and wanted to hug and hold them. Of course, the twins didn't mind the attention!

One morning, Chris went to wake Bren for school and snapped this pic of his bedroom floor. Bren has been staying up and reading by flashlight after bedtime lately, but then he's not getting up as easily in the mornings. Chris specifically told him to go right to sleep and not stay up to read. I'm thinking he didn't listen, haha!

Brianna also reached a reading goal this month . . . the 25 point AR club! AR has been a bit of a struggle for her in the past, so I'm very proud of her for persevering this year and hitting this goal early on!

One afternoon, the kids were playing upstairs while I was cooking dinner. I heard a loud thump, followed by Brecklyn crying. From what they told me, she fell off of a chair and landed face-first on the carpet. She got carpet burn on her nose, but I didn't think it looked too bad that night before bed.

However, by the next night, it was definitely looking worse!

And, by day 3, it looked even worse. Poor thing! We doctored it up with neosporin, pure coconut oil, and lavender, and thankfully it healed up nicely.

We've had some beautiful weather days that have allowed us to spend some time playing at the park. Yes please!

Bren can be very competitive, and that really came out this month after Brianna reached the 25 point AR club. Even though he had just made the 10 point club earlier this month, he worked hard so he could get in the 25 point club, too!

We spent Fall Break in Missouri with my parents, and while we were there Brenson discovered a rubber snake that Grampy puts on his back patio to keep the birds and their mess away from his grill where they like to perch. We got home from Missouri on Sunday, and on Monday we were out on our back patio playing when I looked over and saw a snake. I immediately thought it was Grampy's rubber snake that Bren had brought home to scare me. I kind of chuckled to myself, then went over the pick the silly snake up. Y'all. IT WAS A REAL SNAKE!!! I was like, "Oh no. NO NO NO NO NO!" Just NO.

When we signed Bren up for guitar lessons last February, we purchased him a super cheap guitar from a garage sale. We didn't want to invest in a nice guitar before we knew if we was going to like lessons or stick with them. Our plan was to help him buy a new guitar after the first of the year, but plans changed when he left his cheap guitar in a loaner vehicle we had while we were having some maintenance done on the van. After we returned the car, we realized his guitar was in the trunk, but they had already loaned it out to someone else and there was no trace of the guitar :-(. We ordered a new guitar (Bren paid for half of it), and he chose this beautiful blue. He says it's much easier to play, and it certainly sounds much better!

Toward the end of the month, Brooke decided she could also write her own name. These girls are growing up tooooo fast!

Brianna and Brenson both have spelling tests every Friday this year. We practice spelling words at home on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I try to find creative ways to help them practice, and sometimes that means getting a little messy! Shaving cream for the win!

The week before Halloween was Red Ribbon Week. I love the memes that say things like, "Please, let's come up with five more costumes per kid the week right before Halloween!" That is exactly how I feel! However, the kids sure looked cute on "Lei off drugs" day :-).

My kids all love arts and crafts (they come by it honest!). The little girls wanted to paint pictures to hang up for Daddy's birthday, and I was pleasantly surprised at what beautiful work they did!

Brecklyn

Brooke

And finally, we celebrated Daddy's birthday on the 30th since the 31st was full with Halloween activities and bible study. We went really low-key with gifts this year, but the kids and I made a big, yummy meal, his favorite pumpkin cake, and decorated a little bit (you can see the pictures the girls painted in this photo). They all love a reason to celebrate!

Happy 38th birthday, Daddy!

We finished the month with a fun Halloween, but that will get a post all its own. Now it's time to focus on November!