November went by in a blur. We started the month with a long weekend exploring Iowa and ended it by decorating for Christmas. In between those two events, we explored, baked, through an event, gathered with family, got three new kittens, and gave thanks for yet another year in this beautiful thing called life. As my middle child says, "we really lifed it up this month." From what I've gathered, that means we lived a lot, so I'd say it's pretty accurate.
We've done many Trader Joe's runs for the holiday goodies.
It got cold out. I refuse to give up my flip flops though, so I sported this look when my toes got too cold. No shame over here.
I can't think of a better picture that shows what having kids is like. These mini sweet peppers were supposed to be a side with dinner. I went take the bag out of the refrigerator, only to find them all bitten with only the tops left. Somehow they made it back into the fridge and not the trash. It was a real "WTF?" moment. Also, the guilty child acted as if this was totally normal.
Last of the leaf crafts for the year. Do A Dot markers are perfect for this. Below, the kids crumpled up leaves into small pieces, outlined their leaf in glue (I helped with that, by doing hand over hand with a bottle of glue), and then sprinkled the leaf pieces onto it.
The boys and I went to the downtown Winter Farmers Market. There aren't as many vendors as the summer market, and this was one cold day, so we got what we needed/wanted and got out. Our favorite syrup is from Great River Maple. We love the cinnamon, but we had to try the coffee this time around and it has such a unique flavor. The best part is that we can bring this bottles up to their maple farm in NE Iowa and they'll refill the bottles. The boys got to pick mini macarons and brought them home for their dad and sister to try. They were delicious!
We got chilly while shopping outside, so we got Pho Real to go. The bibimbap was phenomenal and the pho had really great flavor too. We'll definitely order it again.
The youngest and I went to Flix to finally see Ticket To Paradise, while the boys went to see Wakonda Forever. We had planned to see it as a family, but the youngest decided she did not want to see it because "Marvel movies always give me headaches because they're loud." I still have not seen the latest Black Panther movie, but I enjoyed Ticket To Paradise and time with my girl. We also did some shopping afterwards. It was a fun evening.
Then the kids played with friends, Hubs was off doing something (I don't even remember at this point), which left me and the dog, who was thrilled with the selfies I made him take.
We had a birthday party to attend and provided our usual Sunday charcuterie board for an appetizer. We've been having a blast this fall creating our own boards. The oldest and middle minis have asked to put together our Christmas board for Christmas Day.
Going through our storage bins earlier in the fall, I came across art kits that were half used. I made sure we used them up, even if the turkeys were missing beaks. The kids also made their annual turkey handprints. Since my own kids are too old to get into doing these types of art and crafts, I made the dog participate with his paw print. He now runs every time I bring paint supplies up from the basement storage.
Daycare kid sets up the Ana doll so that she's watching me. I was thoroughly creeped out at the way this doll was staring at me. It made me jump every time I looked in that direction.
We got a chocolate peppermint cookie (or bread) mix from TJ's. The minis loved them, although making them with the middle schooler and fifth grader was all kinds of fun. When I told them to take the balls and roll them in the powdered sugar, they busted out laughing and couldn't stop.
Our November event at the Museum was less crazy than October's and I loved it! I was able to chat with visitors and fellow board members. Although, by the end, the middle and youngest were tired and ready to go.
While cleaning after the November event, we came across sticky eyeballs from October's. It provided a good laugh.
These three have provided lots of laughs the last couple of weeks! Read about our unexpected adventure with them.
We have a stuffed turkey plush that the kids play Find The Turkey with.
Daycare made cherry pies. As it turns out, zero kids like the cherry pie filling, but they all loved the crust.
Elizabeth used my nicest, most expensive scarf as a cat sling, so she can hold her cat and have her hands free. Unfortunately, her kitten loved it, so now my scarf is the official cat sling. Just another day in the mom life.
So many kitten snuggles the last two weeks.
Our Thanksgiving and all of November was perfect. Crazy, kind of like us, but perfect.