November

The first Saturday in November has become my leaf day.  It is the day that I try to rake up all our leaves.  It is daunting but doable.  This is a before.

Justin was at work all day and Molly had a soccer game at 11 so I got started at about 1:15.  I raked for three hours, pretty much nonstop.  The kids were not motivated to help and, to be honest, I didn't feel up to nagging them to come out and help.  Ivy helped a little in her own way.  I just put some earbuds in and listened to some podcasts and the time when by quickly.  This is an after picture, although it is hard to see all the piles.

After the piles were all made, I did make the kids come out and help because I couldn't do the next step on my own.  They would stretch out a tarp in front of a pile while I would rake all the leaves from that pile on to the tarp.  Then we would haul the tarp into the back of the truck and when we had done that several times and the truck was full, we would drive the leaves to the greenhouse and dump them in there.  It took a couple of hours to do that.  We finished just after 7 so I raked leaves for 6 full hours that day.  Then I turned around and did the same thing on Monday with the front and side yards.  It probably only took three hours.  So, yes, a big job!  I felt pretty good after accomplishing all of that.

Molly, Easton Anderson, Stockton, Corbin Anderson, Brynn

Molly, Stockton, Corbin, Brynn

Molly finished up her fall soccer season.  To be honest, it was a rough season-not for her, I think she played great-but for me.  I haven't been very happy about some of the changes that her club has made recently and it's left a bad taste in my mouth as far as soccer goes.  They are making some more changes for spring so I am hopeful that things will get better.  I love soccer and Molly does too-I just wish she could play the game without all the politics that are involved in competitive sports.

Lucy Miller, Brigitte Ferreyra, Natalia Wagstaff, Kate Giles, Carley Anderson, Caroline Turner, Kylie Bishop, Ron Dummar, Jordan Gibby, Sarah Cope, Molly, Regan Heywood, Aspen Ivie, Hannah Risto

Stockton loved this warm hat that he found when we were shopping one day.

We went to St. George for a baseball tournament with Stockton's team.  They played four games, two on Friday and two on Saturday.  The first game started out pretty bad-the team we played was so, so good and our team was a little shell-shocked.  Stockton wasn't quite as confident in the field because there was an extra ump in the field that he isn't used to having.  The ump stood between 2nd base and shortstop and it messed with his mind a little.  He pitched one inning that game and pitched better than any of his teammates.  The next games were much better and Stockton especially found his stride hitting.  He hit one ball all the way over the left fielder's head and to the fence and after that, he was a hitting machine with most of his hits going far into the outfield.  It was really fun to watch that click for him during this tournament.  We stayed in a house with two other families and that was way nicer than staying in a hotel-and not much more expensive.  My parents drove down and stayed with Uncle Ray so that was fun having them there to support Stockton.  It was a fun tournament and a nice little getaway for our family.

The 4th grade had a family night at the school to help the kids get ready for the upcoming rendezvous.  They made their possibilities bags (what they use to store their prizes) and had some peach cobbler.

This is Justin testing the kids' strength.

This is how Ivy falls asleep most nights...two princesses, her owl flashlight, and a book.  She usually gets so tired while reading that I have to go take the book off her face after she falls asleep.

Stockton directed a Thanksgiving play where Corbin and Brynn starred as a pioneer husband a wife.  He never finished it but what he did have was very funny.

Corbin and Brynn

This is the bucket list Molly made for a class assignment.  I took a picture of it because I loved reading some of her life dreams.

Several months ago, Rachelle arranged for all of the girls to go to Time Out For Women in Sandy.  Lizzy and her flew into town and Camille came from Atlanta.  They also have Time Out For Girls so Molly, Lizzy, and Tiana were able to go to that while the moms went to TOFW.  It was a good time spent together.  While it's not something I think I would do every year (the TOFW not the girls weekend!), it was a fun time.  Molly loved every minute of it-the talks and the music were excellent for her.  I feel lucky to be able to have good relationships with Justin's family.

Tiana, Molly, Lizzy

April, Heidi, Megan, Rachelle, Camille

Megan, Heidi, Tiana, Rachelle, Lizzy, April, Camille, Molly

Hot chocolate mustaches.

With Thanksgiving so early this year, I wasn't sure if we would get the Christmas houses out before like we have in past years.  But Justin made that decision for me when he got them out while Molly and I were at TOFW.  I am always glad they are up because they are done when we bring the tree home and I don't have village mess on top of tree mess.  The kids love to help out!  They each get to pick one to put in their room and that is super fun for them.

I don't do crafts too often anymore but I did find a Thanksgiving craft for Ivy to do one afternoon in lieu of "mom school."  We made it two days before Thanksgiving so I put it in the Thanksgiving bin and we will pull it out next year.

Stockton decided to make rain sticks for his item to trade at the rendezvous.  We bought a big box of coin wrappers, filled them with rice, and closed them off with duct tape.  Molly helped with putting them together.

It was a Moyes Thanksgiving this year so off we went to the cabin for a couple of glorious days.  More about that in another post.

We got home early enough on Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving that Justin was able to hang Christmas lights outside.  It was a family effort-Brynn is especially comfortable helping her dad up on the roof and stayed out the longest.

Our thankful tree, right before I took it down.

We told the kids that we weren't going to get as tall of a tree this year because it's too hard to transport home.  It turns out, once we got our tree home and set up, that it was just as tall as the trees have been in the last few years.  The kids were delighted, of course.  It took me forever to wrap the branches.  I think I used 17 strands of lights.  I had to go to the store two times to get more.  The kids were very anxious for me to get the lights on; finally I finished and they were able to come home from school Monday afternoon and decorate it.  Someday I will try to have a "nice" tree but for now, I am happy with the hodge podge of kid ornaments.

Molly won 2nd place in her school's writing contest!  She was so excited and we were so proud!  She wrote a variation on her original turkey story...turkey travels back in time.  I actually have never read it.  She won a $5 gift card to Quench-It.

Brynn lost one of her front teeth on Thanksgiving Day.  The second front tooth was so ready to come out but she was nervous for it to be pulled.  Finally, a week later, it came out with very little effort.  We were on our way to Plain City for girls night but we had to make a special trip to Justin's branch so he could pull it before we left town.  Her toothless smile is adorable and will make a lot of appearances in December's post.

Ali hosted another Girl's Night for all Moyes girls 8 and older.  We had dinner, made treats, the kids made a movie, we watched a movie, made a craft, talked a lot, and all slept in the basement. Justin was working late so I took all the kids with me and they had fun hanging out with Grandpa, Jeff, Bryce, and other cousins that were either boys or younger than 8.  Each one of these girls are special and I'm so thankful to have them in my life and in my kids' lives.

Grace, Molly, Abby, Tessa, Ali, Chloe

Abby, Grace, Chloe, Molly, Tessa