I almost had a perfect record of getting each month's phone pics posted in the following month, but leave it to the last month of the year to mess that up! The sad thing is is that I've had the November pictures uploaded and ready to go for a while now, I just couldn't find any time to write the post.
Let's start with this string of photos of my blonde-haired boy. Nothing special about them except that he was so proud of himself for climbing up on the bleachers (we were in our church gym) and just gave me the biggest grins! (You can click over on the right for more pictures to scroll through.)
You know you live in a small town when you get ridiculously excited about a new Ace Hardware opening up. This is HUGE for us! Man, projects will be so much easier without a 30 minute drive (minimum) to get supplies. Of course we had to go check out the new place after dinner one night. You know how they say that as parents you have to pick your battles? Well, Katie Wynn wanted to wear a strainer as a hat to go to the store. I decided it wasn't worth battling over, but I did tell her if she took it with her I would not carry it for her. Well, I didn't have to because she kept it on her head the whole dang time.
Speaking of head wear, she also made an Indian headdress at school that had to be worn a lot.
Let's see, what other random things did we do? Katie Wynn and I snuck out after dinner to watch my nephew Jett's last football game of the season. She had her pj's on underneath her coat and rain boots and thought it was hilarious.
She and her brother got to throw pennies into a fountain while I did some quick shopping.
If you say, "Thomas, where's your belly?" you'll get this:
We actually had a couple brief moments this month where both kids sat still on the couch and watched tv. Photo worthy for sure since it doesn't happen often!
Thomas looked dapper in his bow ties and way too grown up in his big boy clothes.
We had such mild weather during November that my mom's hydrangea bush had gorgeous blooms on it! I really couldn't believe it when I saw them.
We created a "sleep train" as Katie Wynn called it one night. I had all three of my favorite people laying in my lap! The picture on the right is how I found her in her bed later that night. I can't believe she didn't slide right out! And she slept right through me taking her picture and putting her back up on the bed and under the covers.
Turns out I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving except for this one of Matt and the work table he built in our garage! Actually, I think that was the day before Thanksgiving. He built it completely by himself and had it finished before 11am!
The day after Thanksgiving, Katie Wynn and I went on a fun little road trip to visit my friend Sarah and her son, Gus. We let the kids help decorate a small tree for Christmas. These of Katie Wynn are two of my favorites from this Christmas.
So proud of their work!
While there, we also made and decorated Christmas cookies. Sprinkles were everywhere!
And Katie Wynn and I had brought some Christmas window clings with us so she and Gus decorated the windows.
When we got home from our quick trip, Matt and I put up all of our Christmas decorations. We added a train under our tree this year for the kids. I was equal parts excited to see them watch it for the first time and nervous for whether or not they would try to tear it up. They were awesome about just sitting and watching and not trying to touch it too much. Thomas, especially. Turning on the train was a great way to get him to sit still and wind down!
When the kids went to bed I got busy wrapping books. We continued our tradition of having a new Christmas book to open every night after bath. It's actually good motivation to get the kids to act right during dinner and bath!
I couldn't hold off any longer so on the last day of November, I broke out the first set of matching Christmas outfits. Couldn't ask for cuter models!
To wrap up this post, I'll leave you with this little tip: If you're working out in Poppy's wood shop and have an injury that requires an ice pack, you'll just have to use whatever's cold and available.
