November

Thankfully, November was much less stressful/ busy than October.

I started the month by going to Portland for the Time Out For Women conference.  I was able to connect with a friend/ former roommate and had a great time - listening to the speakers, catching up on everything, and being kid free for over 24-hrs.

The girls learned a new song at school for Veteran's Day, and I thought it was too cute not to share.

I love it when babysitters come prepared to play.  Maddi made turkey headbands with the girls; Ken is modeling Maddi's that she made and left behind.

I spent the month posting things I am grateful for on Instagram.  Two of my favorite things are Amelia

 and Sophia.

And the girls helped me decorate the wall all month with things we were all thankful for.

Thanksgiving is always a quiet affair at our house and this year Ken had to work, so dinner wasn't until later, but it was all good.  Ken made his "caterpillar" again this year, otherwise known as turkey porchetta.  It was great, especially because I didn't have to cook it.

We followed our family tradition of getting a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  I love living in the Pacific NW where fresh trees are abundant and cheap.  Who wouldn't love that?

And even better, we found one that we all liked, without too much whining!

When it comes to decorating, we each have our own style.  Thank goodness, Ken's style is "patience" because he let the girls not only help him decorate but put the lights on too.  I tried a new technique too - let the girls decorate, and then re-shuffle ornaments when they were done to make sure the entire tree had ornaments, not just the bottom half that they could reach.

And it turned out really well. 

The girls also decorated "their" tree in the playroom.

I love that Amelia put her favorite seashell on top for the star.

On Saturday, we went to Portland to visit Ken's mom.  The girls were worried that they would be bored, but Diane was prepared with crafts and the girls were in heaven.  They crafted almost the whole time we were there.

I've slowly been putting up the rest of our Christmas decorations.  My favorite ones are always the nativities, including this one, that is tiny, but kid-friendly.  I had it arranged the way I typically do, but Sophie came home that afternoon and arranged it the way she likes it.  I think I'll leave it that way - to remind myself to keep Christ at the center of my focus.

Birthday, Field Trip, and Halloween

October just flew by . . . kind of like this duck . . . Amelia drew this picture in art class and her teacher selected it as one of the 5 from her school that was submit to the nationwide Junior Duck Stamp Contest.  Go Amelia!  She didn't get her drawing talent from me.

Sophia's 5th birthday was a fun event, even if I took horrible pictures and didn't even get one of her by herself.  The girls colored, played games, ate brownies, opened presents, and broke open a piñata - the true hit of the party ;)

Almost before we knew it, it was the night before Halloween and we didn't have our pumpkins carved yet.  The girls each drew a picture of what they wanted their pumpkins to look like, Sophia helped clean out the "guts" . . 

  . . . Amelia supervised, and Ken carved all 3 pumpkins!  Yeah!

 Yes - there really were 3 pumpkins - I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of the 3rd one.

On Halloween, I got to be a chaperone with Amelia's class for a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  It wasn't as organized as Sophia's pumpkin patch field trip (not the school's fault), but we were all grateful that we got a break from the rain and had a windy, but dry event.

 Me and my girl eating our lunch together!

And then after school, it was time to get ready for Trunk-or-Treat.  Sophia wanted to be a ghost - a simple costume, I thought, but I spent much more time on it than I expected trying to make sure it fit just right . . . and stayed on.  Cutting the holes was the scariest part - I was so afraid she'd end up looking like Charlie Brown's ghost costume :)  And of course, Amelia wanted to be Elsa - super easy costume, since she already had the dress - yeah!

I hope there are no tricks in November - just plenty of time to eat all the Halloween treats!