November

I always clean out a little file folder I have at the beginning of each month.  Mostly it's pictures the kids have colored or drawn.  I never know if any of them are going to special to them but I figure if it's been a month and they haven't mentioned it, then I can throw them away.  Not without a picture first, of course!

The cabin at Bear Lake by Molly

by Stockton

Book of Mormon FHE lesson by Stockton

Pumpkin pie by Stockton

The First Vision by Stockton

Brynn comes up with the silliest games for us to play while Ivy's napping.  A couple of days ago we played that she was a dog, I was the owner, and I pretty much walked her around the house on a leash/jumprope. This one involved her on the slide, me on a chair, and stickers.  I'm sure she had me take the picture too.

I got out the bin of Thanksgiving stuff and the kids immediately swarmed on it and made up a skit about the first Thanksgiving, complete with costumes.

Molly sat up an art station for her, Stocky, and Brynn in the loft one Saturday.

We got the second Harry Potter in hardback for Stockton.  We usually just use the library but figure these books will get use so we have been buying them.  He was excited to start but lost steam and hasn't finished it.  I think the longer chapters are daunting for him.  Hopefully he will pull it out later and finish it.

Stockton thought that blowing leaves off the deck was hilarious.  This picture did not capture his uncontrollable giggling.

We lucked out with some pretty great fall weather but I knew it wouldn't last forever.  I was going off of 2015 when it snowed after that first weekend in November.  So I knew that first Saturday was going to be my chance to get the leaves taken care of once and for all.  It was a beautiful day!  The kids spent all day outside while I raked leaves and Justin worked on installing a new floor for his shop.

Once I had all the piles made, Justin helped me rake them onto a tarp and put them in the back of the truck.  Then he drove them out to the very back corner of the pasture and that's where we made our leaf pile.  It seemed to work well for us and the kids especially loved riding in the back of the truck and helping to empty the leaves.  I think we made five or six trips back there.

Molly, Stockton, Corbin Anderson, Brynn, Ivy, Easton Anderson, Corbin and Easton's cousin

Here is a view of our property from the very back corner of the pasture.  It is right next to the highway but I love how our house is hidden from view with all the trees surrounding it.

Stockton set up a library on the basement stairs.  He made library cards and had a system for checking out and returning the books.  

Ivy has the smallest room but the biggest closet.  It goes clear back and under the stairs.  It is mostly used to store old toys and the bin of cars but I did decide to organize it a little and pull out some toys I thought she might enjoy.  I also de-junked and got rid of a whole bin of baby toys.  I set up the kitchen, the dollhouse, and the Little People farm right there in the closet.  The closet comes equipped with a light too so she can just go in there and play.  She has had fun playing with the "new" toys.

Brynn was having a snack of nutella and pretzels one afternoon during my piano lesson.  She left the nutella out and Ivy helped herself to the rest of it.  Her fingers were sufficient for getting it out!

Brynn was in need of a haircut and we liked the bob that we did last time so we tried it again.  Brynn wanted it and likes it but I think she's excited for long hair again.  She always wants buns and ponytails but her hair is too short.  I think she's the cutest no matter what length her hair is.

We played at the park during one of Molly's soccer pratices.  Look at that-Nov. 10th and not even a jacket on!  It was so nice!

I took a couple of pictures of Brynn and Corbin walking home from school.  This was one of those days that they wanted some "alone time."  We have lots and lots of tumbleweeds and they would come home with one almost everyday.

Justin and I were able to slip away one Friday night for a session at the Salt Lake Temple (someone Justin has helped through work was receiving her endowment and she invited us).  Just a note: Friday night 6:00 sessions at the Salt Lake Temple are busy, busy, busy!  I tried to count at one point and there was well over 100 sisters in the session.  Just sisters!  But I enjoyed the live session as a change up since I've only ever done it once before.  And it's always amazing to be in that temple and see all the incredible pioneer craftsmanship.  And a date night is always a bonus.

Brynn climbed in Ivy's crib one day after her nap.  Ivy has brought so much extra love into our family...all of her older siblings adore her.  It is so sweet.

I had clipped a recipe out of a magazine for pumpkin spice doughnut holes.  It looked simple enough so we made them one Sunday night after dinner.  Everyone pitched in to help and they tasted so yummy!

Justin had a market manager "retreat" in Las Vegas.  They flew them there one morning, took tours of the branches down there for the day, then treated them to a show and dinner that night at the MGM.  The following day they had some meetings and then flew home late.  It was a short trip but he got home late and was tired (he would have rather stayed home, truthfully) so we made sure there were some welcome home signs to greet him when he did make it home.  Each kid made their own.  I'm pretty sure that seeing those when he got home was the best part of the whole trip!  And the kids had a great time making them and were so excited for him to see them.  They asked me a million times before putting them to bed if I had remembered to turn the big outside light on. (Now that I'm posting this, I am wondering why I didn't have Ivy do one.  Oops.)

Molly's

Stockton's
This one made us laugh the most.  Try to zoom in on it.

Brynn's

Ivy was being so silly one night during prayers and had us all laughing.

Still no snow outside but Brynn wanted to make snowflakes and hang them in her room.  So we did.  For the nice, warm, longer fall we had, the snow has sure hit us hard this last month!

Brynn gets a coupon for a free pizza each month if she turns in her reading calendar.  We make sure to always get that calendar in and go get her pizza as soon as her teacher gives her the coupon.  I remember doing this as a kid in elementary school and loving it, so I get just as excited as Brynn does!

She is always nice to share one of her slices with Ivy.  Not that she would really be able to finish off four slices!  I get the crusts.

Brynn wanted to sleep with all the princesses one night so we tucked her in all snuggled up with the dolls.

Since she falls asleep almost instantly at night, no one had moved much when we went in and checked on her.

Brynn gave me the biggest scare in my entire life around this time too...one afternoon we were sitting at the kitchen counter working on some homework.  She was sucking on a Lemonhead that she had from a birthday party the weekend before.  All of a sudden, she looked at me in a panic and I realized that she was choking on the candy.  I've had kids that have gagged a little on something and it makes my heart stop for half a second, but this time was completely different.  Brynn was literally choking...she couldn't breathe, talk, or even cry.  I could see the panic in her eyes but she was helpless.  She kept gagging but it wasn't getting the candy out.  I rushed her over to the sink and pounded her back over and over but that wasn't doing anything either.  At this point I knew it was serious and I was panicked too and yelling at the other kids to go get some help (I didn't want to take time away from Brynn to call 911).  Poor kids, they were so scared.  I rushed over to the carpet and put her down and started doing a frantic version of the Heimlich but that wasn't doing it either.  In desperation I started to reach down her throat to try to pull it out (logically I knew that wouldn't work but it the frenzied state I was in, I was willing to try anything) and that's when it came out.  We were all shaken up.  We have recovered but I don't think anyone will ever forget it.  Brynn does not like talking about it and is very aware now of what Ivy eats and is always worried when she takes too big of a bite of something or if a piece of candy is too big for her and needs to be cut in half.  She's asked me many times if a person can choke on a certain item of food.  Molly had troubles getting to sleep for a few nights after that.  Stockton's eyes welled up with tears and he wondered out loud who he would play with if anything happened to Brynn.  I held it together well...I cried telling Justin about it and I cried telling my mom about it.  Those are the only two people I told.  I also maybe cried a little each time I checked on her while she was sleeping before going to bed.  Just to see her sleeping peacefully knowing it could have gone drastically different was a little overwhelming and emotional for me. It is not an experience I ever want to repeat but I am just so thankful that it played out the way it did and that I was sitting right there with her rather than her playing in her room or somewhere else.  You see stories on the news about accidents with kids and I realize that she was definitely watched over.  She is such a special girl and this experience reminded me how much our family is better with her in it.

A picture Molly drew for Great-Grandma Goodrich whose birthday is on November 21st.  Grandma April had told her that she likes purple hence the purple flowers.

We watched Corbin and Raylie one night...Easton was sick so he didn't come...this made it so Stockton played with Corbin and Brynn rather that Molly and Easton.  They can get so creative!  On this night they played that they were scuba divers.  I don't know what they actually did in the game but I sure loved the creativity they used in their outfits!

Brynn, Corbin, Stockton

Stockton liked the game so much he woke up the following morning and started playing it some more!

Justin borrowed a log splitter from a friend in the ward and spent yet another day outside with the wood.  Molly was excited to help too and spent a majority of the morning out helping him split wood.

Molly was getting excited for Thanksgiving at the cabin and Christmas so she drew these Grinch puppets with the idea that the cousins would plan and execute a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" play.  Unfortunately, she left the puppets at home so the play never happened.  But they are pretty cute!

Poor Stocky is resigned to the back bench in the Pilot by himself most of the time because Molly gets too carsick in the back.  One day he wanted Justin to ride back there with him on the way to church.

Turkey hat Brynn made at school.

The Kindergarten classes got to make bread on the last day before Thanksgiving break.  I got to go help and watch Brynn.  This is her best friend from her class, Taylee.  It was a fun (and busy!) activity and we got to come home and bake her bread.

School wears Brynn out!  I always try to get her to bed as soon as I can and she is out so quick.

After the wood was all split, it needed to get put back into the barn.  Stockton and Brynn were awesome to help with that.

And that is our stack.  It went a lot faster than we had expected or would have liked.  We burned it through November and December but have only burned a little in January and it is pretty much all gone.  This has been our learning curve year and we have learned that we need more wood and that we need to probably save the burning for December and January and other days as needed in the other months.  

Day before Thanksgiving=no school.  Molly really wanted to make chocolate dipped pretzels so that's what we did.

Justin had four tickets for the Jazz game in the AFCU suite on the night before Thanksgiving.  We weren't planning on heading to the cabin until the morning of Thanksgiving anyway so I sent him with the three oldest kids and Ivy and I stayed home.  They traveled down in a blizzard and the kids had some treacherous stories to tell about getting stuck and Justin getting out of the car to push other people out.  But they had a good time and thankfully the ride home was much better than the ride there.

Post Thanksgiving...

The kids changed their outfits from pilgrims to elves.  Christmas was right around the corner and they were getting excited!

Cute Ivy in sunglasses.

Corbin came over after school one afternoon and they went out to play in the snow.

We got our letters to Santa written.  Stockton asked for a skateboard, night vision goggles, and gel pens.

Brynn made a list of 5 things.  A violin, purple binoculars, a camera, a baby doll, and an ornament.  I made sure she knew that Santa wouldn't bring all of those things but would maybe pick one or two from her list but that she would just have to wait to be surprised.

They put them in the mailbox and sent them to the North Pole.  Molly wrote one too but her picture will be posted later.

Reflections Award Night.  I always did a project for Reflections and I remember it being a big deal back then.  My kids have never entered the contest but Molly wanted to this year.  The theme was "My Story" and she painted a picture of a city-scape during a blizzard to represent the blizzard in Logan on the day she was born.  She ended up getting second place and she was excited and happy about that.

Ivy had to have a picture since Molly did

We decorated the tree on the last day of November.  It seems to get easier and easier as the kids get older.  Or maybe I'm just more relaxed about it.  Whatever it is, it was fun this year to pull all the ornaments out and reminisce about when we got them.  The kids always get to hang their own and since our tree is tall, there are plenty of branches to choose from!

Also, I decided to go a different route for Christmas festivities this year.  Instead of trying to do something every day (which has proved to be more stressful in the last few years) I just asked the kids what they really wanted to do in the season, then I wrote them down, Molly typed up a bucket list for the month, and we tried to check everything off when we had a chance.  It was much more relaxed and if we didn't do something everyday, it was no big deal!  And I think we ended up checking almost everything off the list.  In my opinion, it was my most successful, laid-back, enjoyable December I've ever had as a mom...or at least since I've become a mom of school-aged kids!

Some crazy hair before bathtime!

And some crazy hair before school.  Stockton would never wear his hair this way so it was fixed before heading out the door.