What I remember about our November

November kicked off with the creation of our traditional Thanksgiving tree, made out of oatmeal and frozen pizza boxes that I snaked out of the recycling bin:

Why, yes, I did painstakingly make it adorable by painting on the 'Izatt family Thanksgiving tree 2013' bit. Thanks for noticing!!

It gets more and more fun as the boys get older and come up with what they're thankful for on their own. This contrast was obviously my favorite aspect of the tree:

Gratitude for Mom gets a question mark, gratitude for Dad gets a clear exclamation point. It's cool; I don't blame them :).

One of our early November adventures was relieving my mum of her old Kia! Jack got to tag along to Boise for the fun (cleaning out the car, meeting the towing guy, following up at the salvage yard) and he was delighted when Grandma Pam treated us to pizza as a reward.

The Kia had a good life, and I'm honored that I got to be the last to drive it - on that bent tire, haha. RIP!!

Also in early November, we went in to St. Luke's for Clyde's procedure.

The pediatric pre-op rooms now have XBOX lego games, which proved invaluable during our long-ish wait there. Clyde was psyched to show off his skills to Dr. Ellison.

November was a pretty laid back month for our family (admittedly not unlike any other month) so we all relaxed quite a bit, choosing various spots for our naps.

Clyde had a rough recovery and between that and Thanksgiving break, he really didn't make it back to school until December. Luckily he had something to keep him busy: HARRY POTTER! The kid dove headfirst into the series and has never been happier. He raced through books 1-4 and hit his AR goal at school already :). We stopped him after book 4 and told him that books 5-7 have to wait until next year when he's 8. They're so amazing that I want him to really appreciate them, and they're so intense that I want him to be a little more mature. He was pretty devastated but has found solace in the Chronicles of Narnia series... and also re-reading Harry Potter over and over (he is his mother's son!).

As I mentioned in October, Chuck and I got our culture on as we attended a few different high school plays on date nights recently to support some of Chuck's Young Men:

JJ and Garrett were in 'Get Smart' (upper left) and were hilarious and Jared doubled timed as bad-ish guys: the father in Antigone (rehearsal shots upper/lower right) and one of the Socs in the Outsiders (movie poster lower left). Chuck and I had a great time at all the plays; it's so fun to see these boys develop their talents and do so well!!

October and November brought a new sport for Will: basketball!

We signed him up on a team with some friends (Hunter, Charlie, and Andrew) and he absolutely loved it. His coach was fantastic at encouraging Will and making sure he got to be involved.

Jack was NOT a fan of the weekly practices or games:

although he did like the running around part and the napping on the floor part...

 Here's a video I made of Willy-boy during some of his games. Please especially enjoy the parts where Will guards the guy on the other team so diligently even when Will's team is on offense, haha:

 Ahh, I love it!

 I embarked upon a slight sewing project to make myself some leg warmers out of dollar store knee socks and old tights:

 The old tights (black and white stripes) definitely worked better since they were longer and stretchier, but I love both of them. I've since made a couple more pairs. I'm pretty domestic (assuming domestic means the really simple task of hemming with elastic thread...)

 Our November activity for Relief Society was our visiting teaching conference - a night where our Bishop and Relief Society presidency speak to the sisters about reaching out and taking care of each other.

 The theme was 'Feed My Sheep' so we made a gazillion sheep invitations (I wish I had a picture of them, but it's probably better that I just move on and never have to see one again, haha) and then put together a fun trail mix for a take-home treat. It all turned out so well, and most importantly the talks were uplifting and inspirational and all the sisters left feeling loved and excited to reach out to the sisters they're assigned to visit teach (at least I did!)

 Chuck had a very exciting birthday of working alllll day long. The boys had the day off school so we took a road trip to Boise to visit him and drop off lunch.

 After that I ran around Nampa a bit and took weirdo pictures of myself for his surprise bday scavenger hunt the next day...

 And on Chuck's birthday he got to go straight from work to parent-teacher conferences!!

 Will and Mrs. Keene, Clyde and Mr. Eilers. Both conferences were great. I'm in their classrooms a lot but it was nice to have a chance to sit down with each teacher and really look at the boys' progress and discuss concerns. The special ed teacher sat in on part of Will's meeting since she checks in on him every day and shared how far he's come since August. Mr. Eilers was able to assure us that Clyde hasn't fallen behind at all despite his absences, so that was reassuring. I say it all the time, but we are so so grateful for our elementary school and the boys' amazing and caring and involved teachers!!

 So earlier in the month at our girls' night, Kara and Paulina and I realized that our husbands all have November birthdays - within a span of like nine days. Obviously this called for some sort of party, so we put together a seriously hilarious/ridiculous surprise photo scavenger hunt all around Nampa. Duke was our inside man who drove around the birthday boys while Nicole (and baby Myla!) drove us girls around just ahead of the boys.

 There were a few bumps in the road - the most hilarious being Kara stowed away in the back storeroom at TCBY while the guys wandered around the front area looking for the clue - but we had a blast and we ended the night all together with the birthday boys wearing sombreros (l to r: Brad, Chuck, Robbie), so obviously it was a success! MUCH thanks to sweet DeArley for watching our boys that night. It was such a relief to know they were in good hands!

 Oh, I just had to document this ridiculous craving fulfillment:

 Cafe Rio. When I took Chuck lunch on his birthday, I passed Cafe Rio and thought about stopping there, but didn't. I clearly should have, because the craving for a pork salad stayed with me for the next FOUR days until I made a special trip there on Monday. It was worth it! And now staring at the picture I kind of want/need another one!!

 Our Thanksgiving was excellent, so much so that we spread it amongst two days. Wednesday we had Quinn and Eden and Isaac and my papa over for a delicious dinner (courtesy of my dad, Albertsons, and Chuck!).

Watching Jack and Isaac together was obviously one of the main activities: here they are being cute at the train table.

My dad always comes over prepared with some sort of fun activity or contest, this year it was a Nerf shotgun for a 'turkey shoot' - a shoot-off where the triumphant couple won a frozen turkey!

I'd like to say it was my skills that won us the prize, but Chuck is obviously a much better shot than I am and we won in spite of me :). Quinn and Eden weren't far behind though, thanks to Eden's bullseye! They took home a huge container of honey :).

Oh, and near the end of the night these two goofballs found some sunglasses and this adorableness ensued:

 Hahahaha!

 The next day Grandma Pam and Cody came over for Thanksgiving dinner, prepared primarily by Chuck with some side dish assistance from me and me mum.

 Quinn and Eden and Isaac joined us after a bit as well. Some of the non-dinner activities included trains, legos, Harry Potter movies, lightsabers, and naps.

Oh, and football of course!

 We attempted a shot of Grandma Pam with her four grandsons :).

 And finally, the last night in November I sent the boys to their room to get dressed after their baths and this is how they emerged:

 Ninjas, hahaha. They were both sporting black underwear and all the dark clothing (mostly inside out) they could find. I like how their synchronized ninja kicks look more like ballet :).

And that was November, woooo!