Life in November...

November came, and my van FINALLY was done. Like a month later. I was really sad to be done using my dad's avalanche, it's so nice! I took it through a carwash thinking that Jackson would think it was cool; apparently he hadn't been through one before, because this was his reaction:

I will also miss this very much; having a movie player in the car. It was so nice while waiting for the bigger siblings to do their things...

This funny lady was a bunny one day. We had stopped by Kathryn's house to do something, and there were some carrots on the counter and for some reason she was desperate for one. Like big huge full on carrots. Kathryn gave her one and then made her some whiskers. She loved them! :)

Taylor wanted to match one day. She put on her jean jacket and told me to go put mine one. I can't argue with a girl who wants to match! :)

This little baby boy was sick one day and we spent the day in my bed watching movies. It was so nice, but so sad to have him sick! :(

And somehow when I take just one day off from motherly duties, the laundry turns into this:

I offered my instagram friends a dollar to anyone who wanted to come and fold it for me, but no one accepted the offer! :)

But then I discovered these, and my life was good again:

For Veterans day at Sunrise, they had us parents send in pics to make a big wall of photos as you walked into the school. It was really cool to see all the pictures, and I wish that I had more pictures of all our Veteran ancestors, but I did have a lot of Grandpa Elmer, so I sent in a few. Here is Tucker next to his Great Grandpa Elmer's photos:

This little man got his very FIRST haircut. I loved the curls, but it was starting to look a little shabby. I like a clean cut boy. He wasn't sure what to think of the whole thing, but he sat there and did well, for the most part. I had to go and stand right by him, but he did it, which is WAY more that Tucker would do at this age! :)

Just enjoying some evening sun coming through my window and lighting up my vases from Grandma!

So, at the beginning of the year, I signed up to be the Little Red Easel teacher in Tuckers class. The Little Red Easel program is an art program, in addition to the art they do with their teacher, where a parent comes in once a month and highlights an artist and his or her style of art. Then the kids get to try their hand at it. It's just once a month for like an hour and a half. I thought I could handle that with getting babysitters etc. After I signed up, I learned that 3 other moms from our classroom also signed up, which has been a huge blessing because I haven't had to go in every month, which is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I always feel bad asking my friends. Anyway...I finally got the chance to go in in November and help. Usually we tag team so we have a helper. This particular one, was making prints. They got to glue yarn in shapes, then paint the pieces of yarn and use them as like stamps to make prints. It's really fun and right up my alley, I love fun artsy and crafty things like this and I love being in Tucker's class with him.

I told him to smile and this is what I got:

I always have to threaten and use my mean mom voice to get pictures like this: :)

Who knows what these weirdos are doing here, but just being themselves. (which I happen to love) I love the moments that they seem to all be getting along just fine together; it does happen sometimes!:)

One thing my dad asked me to do while he was gone was get his yard all cleaned up. His yard is awful in the fall with the leaves. I asked a few guys from our branch, but they didn't have time, so I was kind of getting worried about it. One day while I was driving to his house to check his mail and pay his bills, I saw this dirty old ratty truck in his neighbor's driveway, with a few older, weathered gentlemen working away on their lawn. The truck had a homemade yard service sign on it. I was getting desperate, so I just stopped and asked them if they had time to do my dad's yard. They immediately walked over to assess it:

It's definitely a lot of work, and I knew my dad was willing to pay some to get it done. Well, they told me $75 an hour and that it would take like 5 hours, and I said, SOLD. So, they came over the next day and spent the entire day working on it. Then I got the $700 bill!!! I couldn't believe it and I was in shock, but I was too nervous to question them about it. He said they had to work longer than planned, and had to make three trips to the dump, which they added into the price etc... And, I don't know if they were just taking advantage of a dumb naive girl, or what, but they got me good if that was the case! I was a little nervous to show that receipt to my dad! :)

And, luckily I had them come, because literally, the very next day it looked like this:

For the life of me, I can't remember all of these Chuck E Cheese trips, but I keep on finding all of these random CEC photos, so, apparently we went there a time or two during the fall! :)

As I was changing out Tuckers school picture in the frame, I found his older photos. Sometimes I don't realize how much he's changed, but looking at all of these together makes me realize just how much of a big boy he is starting to look like. Don't grow up too fast, buddy!!!

It's been a good month, and we've got a BIG surprise for the kids in store!!! Can't wait for Tucker's birthday at the end of the month!!!

Taylors Toys...

Little lady has such a great imagination, I love it! She is the one I never have to entertain, I can find her on her own in her bedroom, in an imaginary world talking and singing and playing with her toys and animals and dolls.

I love to go into her room after she has been playing, too, just to see how everything is arranged. I wish I would have thought to take pictures sooner, because there have been some pretty great set ups! :) Here are a few that I've captured:

These are a pair of her underwear on the dinosaur:

I also love to see how she is sleeping and with what she is sleeping when I go and check on her at night. She loves her animals so very much and usually has them all around her:

She also has my quad in her room. I have tried to recover it and put it back on my night stand and she always sneaks in and grabs it and puts it back on her night stand. Well, lately when I've gone in to check on her, she has the book out like she's been reading it!!! (She doesn't know how to read!) :) But I love this girl so much, and love her fun personality and imagination!

And whenever she creates a masterpiece, she makes sure that I get a picture of it:

I love this girl of mine!

The Kanooths...

Out of the Campbell's and Maughans (my cousins) who grew up in Spokane, I'm the only one who still lives in the area. BUT, my cousin, Rachel and her family just moved back up to Clarkston, WA. It's only like an hour or two south. So, every time her and her husband come to Spokane to go to the temple, they asked me if I'd be willing to watch their kids. Of course, I am! My kids love her kids, and they love getting to play with cousins. She has twins, a boy and a girl that are Taylors age and then a baby that is just over a year old. Needless to say, they have fun!

When they came up in November, we made a fort. It was a pretty rad fort, too, if I do say so myself!

And with the toys we have in the living room, the kids were under there playing the whole time. It was great for them and great for me! :)

I told Micah to hop on the ottoman to send a picture to his mom...

They were seriously having so much fun!

I'm glad that my kids will have some cousins to play with since we have no more here in the area!!! :(

Jackson...

This boy keeps me on my toes and keeps me laughing all freaking day! His little personality is totally coming out now, and he is such a ham. Definitely doesn't hide his emotions well, and loves to make faces!

Still loves my sink and loves toothbrushes:

Sunday afternoon lounging, hence the battleship game and the plate of salami and crackers and cheese, and I look over and Jackson has the block container on his head like an astronaut. I love this silly boy!

He had crawled into the office and shut the door behind him, but then got pissed because he couldn't get out! This face kills me every time!

November Crafting...

I realized, and have for many years, that I have so much Halloween decor, and a ton of Christmas decor, but hardly any for Thanksgiving. So, Taylor and I decided to try our hand at crafting some. I found a fun one using coffee filters, and paint, which my girl LOVES to do!

And really, all you have to do is water color the filters in fall colors and let them dry...

Then I cut them out in leaf shapes and strung them on a piece of yarn. It was really so very easy. And Taylor loved doing it. I added it to our window frame along with our gratitude poster that we filled out every night at dinner. This was at the beginning of the month:

Another craft day, Taylor's favorite thing:

And, while she gets her craft on, I get my bake on and it's a win-win. These things go like gold around here. This plate was empty within like 5 hours!

I love stay at home fall days of crafting and baking!

Sunrise Party...

I'm not sure what to think every time we go to a Sunrise family night at the school. It's always just a big mixer. And, don't get me wrong, I love me a good dance and some good music, but I would like a little change every now and then. This is right after 'Let it go' came on and Taylor got into her performance/groove. And she wasn't the only one. All the little girls started screaming!

This boy testing out his stability. He's getting more and more daring every day and I think he'll be walking here in no time! I think the music moves him, because once he was stable, he started bending his knees trying to dance! :)

Daddy surprising Taylor on the dance floor:

And one last big group dance: (this was after we all did the chicken dance!) :)

I suppose I better get used to it, because we still have many more years to come at Sunrise Elementary! :)

Why we love being in the branch...

We love being in the Spanish Branch. I can't believe it's been 2 and a half years already. The sister missionaries asked us if there was a service they could do for us. And they had told me that they had really wanted to rake some leaves. I had no desire to rake our leaves. I'm not much of a green thumb, take care of our lawn type of person, so I jumped on that and granted them their desires! :) I just felt bad because the day and time they could do it ended up being really wet and cold! But, the amazing Hermana's Walton and Robles raked and bagged all of this:

It was super amazing of them and so very helpful. I paid them in yummy hot chocolate, and great company, of course! :)

Another bonus of being in a small branch is just how close everyone is. We really are like one big family. With FHE's being held periodically at each others homes. Tonight it was at our house. WIth the Petersons, Lopez's and Kristina and her family. I love these families so much and will be so sad if and when they leave the branch!

I watched Odalis one afternoon while Maria had a Dr. appointment (found out after that she had the flu!) :( And we headed to Target. We were quite the spectacle with all three children in this cart!

My good friend, Verenice, and her family got sealed in the Spokane Temple in November. It was such a wonderful day and I loved being in the sealing room with their family. She also asked me to help with the kids, so I was in the brides room with the Temple Matron getting the kids ready to be brought into the sealing room to be sealed with their parents. Such a neat experience. I love going to sealings, it reminds me of the wonderful blessing it is for me to be sealed with my family!

Just one more month until Jackson is old enough for nursery! YAY! Luckily he has some pretty big fans in Relief Society, and everyone is wanting to hold him. He fell asleep on my friend, Melissa's lap, I had to get a quick shot:

And we all know Melissa will get her baby fix in any chance she can! :) So here she is at our Branch Thanksgiving dinner holding sweet baby Alina. Sadly, this is the only picture I got from that night!

Most of the time, this is how we roll in Relief Society. He has a 'bop' in his mouth and I have to entertain him any way I can.

There are about a thousand more reasons I love being in the branch, but these are some of my most recent documented ones! :)