I'm not ready for it to be November. November means my baby turns THREE years old! That can't be possible. Time needs to slow down a little. Anyway, this is how we've been passing our time this November...
November 1st was a little chilly, but I bundled the girls up and we went on a little walk. They love this stroller.
We also started a family tradition of a thankful tree. Every day Jon, Adeline, and I write or say what we're thankful for on a leaf and we tape it on. Then we say a prayer thanking God for those things. I can't wait for Annabel to be included in the tradition. It's still kind of hard for Adeline to grasp what "thankful for" means, so I usually just say, "What makes you happy today?" The first day she said, "Jesus!" Be still my heart!
We started a reward chart a couple weeks ago. We are all loving it. Every time she does something nice or makes a good decision, she gets stickers on a chart. When she fills up a row, she gets to choose a treat out of the candy dish. It's all well and good until she completes a row before breakfast and you end up giving your child a laffy taffy to start their day.
Saturday we helped cousin Murry celebrate her first birthday. We left right after naps. This was before I re-fixed her hair. I love those big curls she gets on top of her head.
Murry's party was at Devil's Den and it was nature-themed. We really had a lot of fun. Some people camped out all weekend, but we just went for birthday festivities and hot dog roasting Saturday night.
After presents, some of us decided to go on a little hike. I started off with Annabel in the ergo on my back.
Then I got tired and handed her off to Uncle Emil. I threatened to turn it around so Emil could carry her on the front so he could get a little taste of what his wife Kiersten is going through right now.
Adeline had a blast climbing on rocks and picking up leaves.
I love this picture.
Sweet cousins
Our Sunday started at 5:50am. The girls didn't get the memo that we were supposed to enjoy an extra hour of sleep. However, it was a good thing because we got to cook pancakes, enjoy a cup of coffee, and get ready for church. I think it was the most relaxed Sunday morning we've ever had. Maybe we should get up that early every Sunday? Hah! Sunday after church was a lazy day. Jon and I spent the girls' naptime watching a movie and I got to snuggle with my first baby girl.
Then we went on a walk and played at the park.
It got dark so early. That makes for a long evening stuck in the house. We broke out the piano. Annabel loves giving high-fives these days.
After school on Monday I put these sweats from last year on Adeline. She really hasn't gained any weight since last year, so I thought the pants would still fit. Apparently she's grown a few inches taller. Guess last year's pants won't work, after all!
We usually fall into bed every night as soon as we put the girls to bed, but last night I had to finish up my Bible study, so Jon said he'd open up the dollhouse box & see what it was going to take to put it together for Adeline's birthday on Thursday. After I spent about 30 minutes on my study, I walked in the bedroom to find this! I think I said, "Holy crap!" (or something along those lines) It had taken him that 30 minutes to organize everything. Yes, that's my engineer husband who does everything by the book and to perfection. Needless to say, it's a good thing he started on it Monday night. We worked until about 10:15 and decided we'd pick back up tonight. We got the main structure up, but we still need to put a few walls into place and we haven't even started on what I like to call "the east wing." I had no idea it was going to be this big. I had been researching them online since about June because Adeline has wanted one for about six months. This one was on my list of top 10, but I had just about decided on a different, smaller one. Then one day in August I happened to be at a local consignment shop and they had these straight from the warehouse, still in the box for half of normal price. Even cheaper than the one I was thinking about. Well, I couldn't pass up that deal! I'm not kidding. The roofline on this thing is at my eye level. I am so excited about this dollhouse. I never had one growing up. I think I'm going to play with this thing as much as Adeline will.
Here is what we've built so far "hiding" in Jon's closet.
And that brings us to today. Election Day! I tried voting around lunchtime. Jon sat in the car with the girls while I waited in line for about 20 minutes. Then someone came out and said they had waited almost 2 hours. I knew the girls wouldn't last that long so we left. I'm trying again after nap. I will be victorious!
Four years from now I'll look back on this & go vote early.
