November

Ivy rarely falls asleep in church anymore.  But three hours is a long time for her to go without napping.  Justin was able to get her to take a short nap one Sunday in Elder's Quorum.

I was really on top of things and put away Halloween/got Thanksgiving out on November first.  Good-bye Halloween!

Here is another peek into everyday life.  Morning scriptures.  Justin usually reads while I get kids firsts and seconds on breakfast and pack lunches for the day.

I think Molly is the only one who really listens.

Ivy loves the tub.  She loves getting splashed on and doesn't even get bothered when her face gets dunked on accident.

Two things I love about this picture: the double chin and the belly hang-over.

Days Market (the grocery store up here) always does a holiday open house the first week in November.  They have lots and lots of free samples so I decided to take the kids and check it out.  Santa was there too so Molly and Stockton saw him.  It was way too early for Santa but this was the one and only time we saw him at all this year.

Brynn was still a little nervous to get too close and I didn't even bother with Ivy.

Justin wanted to take the kids golfing all summer but it just never happened.  Golf is more expensive here in Heber.  The rates went down enough in the late fall so he finally took Molly and Stockton before it snowed.

From the looks of it, they had a good time.

Pre-bedtime.  I love my kids but I sure do love bedtime!

November 10th.  First snowfall of the season.  It was a lot.  Brynn played a little by herself.

Then all the kids went out as soon as they got home.

Stockton, Corbin and Easton Anderson, Molly, Brynn

It is very pretty.  In November.  But I'm afraid we'll have snow until March.

Ivy discovered the piano.  Look at her on her tippy toes.  Molly has adjusted to practicing with Ivy playing the high or low notes.

Ivy sure was happy when Molly lifted her up to the piano bench to play.

November 11th: the start of the basement.  That meant I had to actually finish unpacking boxes.  The night before Justin started downstairs, we carried all the boxes up to the front room and I spent the next week unpacking and finding homes for the remainder of our stuff (mostly stuff that we don't use but don't want to throw away-the majority went in the crawl space under the house).

One thing I found was this doll that my mom made me for Christmas one year.  I texted her a picture of it because I was cloudy on the details.  She said she made it one year when Cabbage Patch Dolls were popular because they couldn't afford to buy them.  After all these years, the doll is still in perfect condition.  This is a treasure.

When Stockton was two he called these head phones/noise blockers "ear muskes."  The name has stuck and that's what our whole family calls them. "Hey Dad, where are the ear muskes" is not an unusual phrase and rarely even elicits giggles anymore.

Gene came up that first day to help Justin frame.

Molly and Stockton are most excited for the basement to be finished because their rooms will be down there.

Look at those chubby thighs!

This is a game that Stockton and Brynn came up with.  I believe the floor was fire or poison or something like that.

Stockton made a math worksheet for me to do.  I especially love the story problem in the upper right-hand corner. (Stantly has 70 and mommy toock 10 and it = __________)

Ivy first found the stairs and I thought we were in trouble.  But she kind of forgot about them for a few weeks.  Look how happy she was when she discovered them again.  For a while she would go up just a couple of stairs and stay there.  Now she likes to go all the way to the loft.

Snug as a bug in a rug...or three bugs in a blanket...or something.

Brynn likes to stand on the heaters in the morning.  Not only is it warm, but it makes her nightgowns puff out like a princess.

The kids thought it was pretty cool that their dad could do a headstand and hold it.

Ivy sneaking a taste of Dad's drink.

Little stinker started standing up in the floating high chair we had.  So we had to give it back to my sister.  Luckily, we hadn't gotten rid of our booster seat yet.  This one keeps her strapped in tight so she can't go anywhere.

She didn't like her lack of mobility at first but has since learned to deal with it.

During November and the first part of December, Molly played futsal (basically indoor soccer) with her club team.

They are a new team with lots of new players and they played a lot of boy teams so they didn't do great.  But Molly still had a ton of fun.

Since that got over, they practice at the rec center about every week.  Molly continues to love soccer and is genuinely excited each and every time she gets to play.

My dad came to help Justin frame the basement bedroom closets.

This is a very unflattering picture of Brynn sleeping on the couch.  She had a cold so her mouth is open.  I also have an equally unflattering video of her snoring.

Justin's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on the 21st.  Rachelle wanted to do something to surprise them and we decided that being together would be what they would enjoy the most.  So we surprised them and took them to dinner at Rodizio Grill in Salt Lake.  Rachelle even flew down from Seattle.  We left all the kids (12 of them!) with three sitters at the Tanner's and Matt and Camille made up a story about taking them to a play just so we could get them to where we wanted them.  The rest of us hid down a side alley at Trolley Square and when we saw the four of them walk by, we snuck up behind them.  They didn't notice us until we got to the front doors and Rachelle quickly stepped up to open the door for them.  When they turned around and saw us all standing there, they were completely surprised.  (They thought the rest of us had forgotten about their anniversary.)  It really couldn't have worked out any better.  We had a delicious meal with no kids and then went back to the Tanner's for cookies and to pick up all the kids.  I am so grateful to have married into this amazing family! 

The "originals": Justin, Brett, Eric, Camille, April, Gene, Rachelle

Brynn and Ivy.  Glad to have these two at home with me each day.  Nov. 24.

I used to do a lot of seasonal crafts with Molly but haven't been as great with the other kids.  For November I just searched for Thanksgiving crafts in Pinterest and let them each choose one they'd like to do.  Brynn chose a dream catcher.

Stockton chose the football turkey.  Brynn made one of those too.

Molly chose a feather headdress.

Ivy is not much help sorting the laundry.  But she's cute! 

Ivy discovered the Tupperware cupboard.  Good thing I have never been good at keeping it organized or I could get angry at all the times she pulls everything out of it.

Post Thanksgiving: Molly helped Justin do some wiring.  I put a few of my Christmas village houses in the cubby's above the stairs but there was no outlet to plug them in.  I put Justin on the case and, handyman that he is, he quickly figured out what he needed to do to wire an outlet there.