November

Well how about a little November update at the beginning of February? Why not? Looking back at the pictures from this month brought back a lot of rough memories. The month (besides Thanksgiving) was full of challenges and less than great memories. A combination of a couple different sicknesses, out of sync behavior, it was just rough. 

However, one of the biggest blessings of the past two months has been watching the kids form a better relationship. I still have to watch them very closely, but they are enjoying doing things together more and more. 

A little impromptu tea party

I did a few things off my neglected Pinterest board. It's so fun to see the kids get really into an activity, and I just have to be prepared for some clean up!

The kids caught a seriously nasty virus that left us cooped up for a week or so. We had to be creative and even then we all had some cabin fever, therefore we explored the beautiful leaves in our pjs !

More Pinterest fun.. Pretending to be volcanologists!

We were having a rough morning , so I forced us out of the house to go to a park. Always helps to get some fresh air!

We had our gender/anatomy scan and got to see our little one movin and groovin. I'm not sure why, but I didn't feel like doing a gender reveal this time around. We planned to take the card to a donut shop and put either a blue or pink donut in a bag and open it with the kids, but the kids were having a hard time at the appointment, so Ben and I ended up opening the envelope together and we found out we were having a little boy! I will admit that I was a little disappointed at first because I know this is our last, but over time I've really gotten excited about having another little man in our house.

Maddie gave me a pretty awesome makeover ! Ha!

                                        

I've always loved sneaking into the kids rooms once they're asleep. Little sweet peas. Maddie always sleeps with her lamb on her head and her arms straight up.

Colter had his harvest program at school and Ben came to watch. He wasn't into performing.. I'll always remember watching him trudge in with a silly turkey hat on , then dive to the floor in front of the stage. He just chilled there until the song was done and then came to sit with me. He still had a great time after with his buddy Gideon. 

And thennnn the power went out. Ug. For like 3 days, just our street. It got so cold and we were so done with not having electricity. It did make us realize how unprepared we were so that's a positive! We now have a power outage kit with lots of battries, candles, and flashlights.

                              

We went to breakfast at whole foods a couple times, spent some time at my moms, and even had a fun breakfast out before school, where the kids got whipped cream on their pancakes! 

Maddie got to go with nana and the girl cousins to frozen on ice. Oh man was she in heaven!! She still talks about it all the time. That girl loves her princesses!

I took colter on a little date to the kids museum, then around random places in Everett like this awesome equipment store, and then down to a beach. It was such a beautiful day after lots of rain. So good for the soul. 

We put maddie in a big girl bed and she rocked it, no surprise! 

We kicked off the Christmas season even before Thanskgiving by visiting the beautiful fairmont hotel to look at the different Christmas trees.

I was very brave and let maddie use a little cart at trader joes the day before thanksgiving. Wowee! She did pretty well and didn't bash anyone's heels. 

We stopped off at the trolley park for some leaf throwing. Basically any day we got sun, I forced us outside. 

Gigi and grandpa arrived for thanksgiving and we had all kinds of fun! I'll post about the long weekend in a separate post. 

We went downtown with bens cousins family, as well as Gigi and grandpa for the Macy's parade. It was sooooo cold, but the kids loved it. 

We tried out a new tree lot and I think this ones a keeper! It was called farmer Browns, and they have a huge 40 acre lot you can drive around and park in different spots. It was again freezing and colter loved trying to smash a hole in the ice pond. They had a lovely fire and kettle corn, which was a perfect end . 

We tried out a new art/play space in greenwood. We were the only ones there for a while and it was really fun. The kids loved playing trains, puppets, and dress up.

And then the month was done!