November

In November we rest...sort of.  Mama and Daddy got involved with a ministry called The Master's Mission to pack boxes for children in orphanages in Ukraine, and now other parts of the world.  It is similar to Samaritan's Purse shoeboxes.  The past few years she has taken the older kids to help, and they love it!  This year I got to tag along.

 You can't beat a onesie, chubby thighs, and tennis shoes

 I had to run downstairs and grab my camera to catch this.

 We made it to one football game as a family.  It was military appreciation, and so fun!  The kids got to sit in helicopters on Bowman field.  Our buddy Greg does maintenance for the Chinook, but he wouldn't tell us where the keys were.

 We only have 4 tickets through Buck's work, so it's a bit of a logistical nightmare to get into the game.  This year I took the older 4 (I can carry Jake and get by without a ticket for him), and Buck took Will to the Esso.  I knew Jake wouldn't last long, but he really wanted to go into "the big football stadium".  Unfortunately my phone died in the first quarter and we learned the hard way that evening how reliant we've become on technology.  Long story short, our marriage is happier when both of our phones are fully charged.  Overall we had a great time, and we found each other in the end.

 Poor thing.  Lunch is so tiring sometimes!

 Bo doesn't get to ride in the car much, but we took a trip to the vet for a quick visit, and enjoyed each other on the ride.

 Silly boys.

Since we didn't get to meet up with extended family for Thanksgiving, I felt the need to have some sort of family game or something.  At the last minute I came up with several silly games and called it the Turkey Olympics.  It was silly fun for the whole cul-de-sac.

 Pilgrim, Pilgrim, Indian

 Dress the Turkey

 Out of order...Black Friday shopping.  The girls got clip on earrings from Claire's.

 That weekend we got our tree on our annual trip with the Powell's to MayLan tree farm.  It felt like summer!  No hot chocolate for us that day!

Oops, Forgot These!

More from October...

 Teamwork in the yard

 I also got to go on a field trip with Ellie to the pumpkin patch.  These are her friends Mae and Murphy.  Such sweet little girls!

 The corn maze was a doozie!

 Here is a before picture of our house.

 When the cement mixer came to pour the footers, it was quite a big deal!  I mean, it's not every day you get to see this up close!

 I'm not sure they were used to such an audience, but just about every kid within a 4 or 5 house radius was there to watch.  It was so fun not only to see the cement mixer, but the kids watching.

 Poor Will just wanted to be outside with the big kids

 What's the point in having kids if we don't put them to work...

 Not sure if I love the picture of the boys or the picture of the chubby thighs more

 Eve's soccer team was undefeated.  Her coach was awesome.  Just watching him you could tell that he loved the game, and he loved coaching kids even more.  He got them all medals.

 Gotta celebrate 3 with a trip to Krispy Kreme.  He practices "three" so carefully.  I love how he concentrated so hard, squished his fingers so tight together, and was so proud he got it!

The boys had a front row seat for so much of the construction.  It was so awesome!

October

October is a busy month!  I think I already did a post for Will's 1st birthday and Halloweenie, but there's still so much more!

 This year nobody is in preschool.  That means we have 5 days a week of 8-2:30.  A good solid chunk of time.  I have so SO enjoyed this special time with Jake and Will.  I think I posted before that it's like jumping back in time to when it was just John and Eve and we didn't have preschool, except this time the rest of my life is in such a different place, and my friends are all in different places, so it's different.  Still, it's been so great.  Some days when it's cold or rainy (I'm assuming rainy this day...or we did this a lot during the addition) we go to Lowe's to ride the lawn mowers.  I think this was the first time Will was big enough.  He and Jake both love every minute of it!  They also really enjoyed the Halloween and Christmas decorations.  It takes us a long time to work our way through even if we're not even buying anything!

 I got to go with Eve's class on their field trip to Paris Mountain State Park.  We gathered mosquito larvae and such from the creek.  So cool! 

Of course, we made our annual trip to Denver Downs.  So much fun!

 Somehow we squeezed them all in one box

 If I remember the corn maze correctly, this year it was a tribute to Colonel Sanders, and we were picking his nose in this picture.

John, Eve, and Ellie all played fall soccer.  Trying to juggle 3 kids playing and 2 little ones that don't exactly want to watch, and trying to actually watch a bit is quite difficult.  Needless to say, we didn't get many pictures.  I got a few of John's team, but not any that you can actually see him playing.  Eve and Ellie liked it OK.  John enjoys it, but not so much that he wants to practice outside of scheduled practice.  Still, it was great exercise and teamwork experience.

 Will's 1-year picture with his lamb

 John gave him his first lollipop on his birthday.  It was a hit!

 Everyone enjoyed opening his presents.

 Poor thing wasn't feeling well on his birthday.  He wasn't excited about the cake :(

 I gave him another piece a day or two later when he was feeling better.

 It was a hit!

 Ellie was chosen to read one of her writings at the monthly Author's Tea at school!

 Cats love balls.  Cats love moms.

 Jake was very excited to help make his birthday cake!

Of course we carved pumpkins.

 Jake turned 3!!!  He is so stinking smart!  His verbal skills are WAY beyond his age, and the things he remembers blow me away!  His love is fierce.  He gives the sweetest hugs and says the sweetest things.  He's always saying, "Mama, I love you".  "Mama, you're the best mama". and such.  His tantrums are also fierce, but hey, he's 3 (or so I keep telling myself).

 He LOVES Paw Patrol!!!!!

 One day Eve asked me if she could blow dry her hair.  Sure, why not.  Could she blow dry Ellie's?  Sure, why not.  Then I found this.  I mean, you can't let that go without a picture!

And then she did this!  He wanted them in every day for a few days.  Kinda glad he grew out of that.