Alllll of November

This is not a drill - we're doing all of November in one post. My Courtney-imposed deadline is quickly approaching (if I catch up through December by the end of May, she is going to mail me mint brownies. I can taste them already...) so let's do this thing:

I'm not going to lie, our Thanksgiving tree was less than impressive this year. Let's say we were going for quality, really thought out gratitude instead of quantity. To make up for it, this post will run through a variety of would-be leaves...

We are very grateful for cute little siblings at church! Carma and Jack were killing me... and Chuck... this day - these pictures are definitely a collaboration from both of our phones.

I am trying to remind myself to be grateful for Carma's artistic streak, even when it manifests itself on the computer desk and chair (IN SILVER SHARPIE) and on her very person in pen.

 

We were very excited to host three weary travelers for a night and they expressed their gratitude profusely :). Will and Nate and a buddy were Seattle-bound for a University of Utah game and we were so excited to see two of our favorite Smiths, all the while hoping their dreams would be heartily crushed when the Utes lost... alas, I think they ended up winning haha.

As always, we're grateful for awesome Cub Scout leaders. Clyde loves Brother Cook :). Here Clyde is at November's pack meeting earning a belt loop for... jokes? laughter? The Roaring Laughter Bear Elective Adventure Belt Loop? (I may have googled it ;) ).

Oh, my Willy Boy! I'm so grateful for the time I get to spend at the school helping in classrooms. This particular day I was pulling kids out to time for fluency and it was fun to be with Will. And slightly hilarious to see how far down the paper he got, crazy kid!!!

Okay, going clockwise starting top left: one Sunday evening I found myself watching football... while Chuck was down at the church... so I sent him a picture so he could see what he had turned me into haha.... please admire this cute picture of Carma at the piano with all of my pictures hung up! Thanks honey.... random selfie of me and Will... okay Chuck took this picture to tease me about how I watch movies; I don't even remember what we were watching but this is legit how I watch mushy kissing scenes AND scary parts. And my favorite thing is that Clyde does it too hahahaha.... okay so that next picture is definitely a doctor's office mirror shot. I was there for my annual and I'd just gone to the temple so I was dressed up and I had a nostalgic moment of taking pictures at every prenatal appt haha. 

As always it was wonderful to see Dr. Klomp, who actually just retired from the obstetrics aspect of his practice so I'm so glad I got all my babies in before he did - that was legitimately one of my worries in life!... speaking of babies, we got a new niece in November, yayyy!....random picture of me and Jack at church that I found on my phone. I love Jackers.... and finally, ward temple night at the beginning of November with my most favoritest person ever, Chuck. I went in to the temple wondering about something and came out with a clear answer and resolve and the reminder that Heavenly Father is aware of me individually and will aid me when I need Him. #winning

We got snow! A light dusting at least ;). Clyde and Will and Carma were grateful for the adventure and Jack and I were grateful to stay inside!

Ohhh Carma! Chuck sent me that picture of her curls one day after a bath, sooo cute! Chuck also sent me the picture of her pouting in the bath after he told her no more splashing water across the room. Most hilarious picture ever - I'm hoping we can still resist that pout as she gets older haha.

We are SO grateful for our local public library and all of the amazing programs it has! Once a month Zamzows does an animal presentation; this time Chuck and Will attended and learned about box turtles. Also one day Will got M&Ms at school and had to come home and graph the colors before he would eat them hahahaha. And one day I made him let me take a picture before he went into school because he's just SO cute with that little beanie.

Here are some Jack pictures! Ever since he got tubes put in, he's been very sensitive to sound (imagine that, right? Now that he can hear...) so he folds his ears together a lot and also he found Chuck's earphones one day in the truck and happily wore them around as we ran errands. I'm so thankful for Jackers and his funny little personality.

Ah yes, a million more Carma pictures!

I always tease Clyde for skimming through his favorite well-worn books to re-read only the battle scenes but then one day I pulled out my well-worn Anne of Green Gables books to re-read all the Anne and Gilbert scenes hahahaha. I'm grateful for have Clyde as my little mini-me ;).

I love reading the sentences my kids come up with for their spelling words - this one was Will's (scribbling courtesy of Carma). I appreciated the honestly of number 9: 'My family wants a darker carpet so it's harder to see stains' #truth #someday

Chuck had a birthday, shout hooray! And he was off work for it yay! And he spent the day putting up Christmas lights for me! #winning 

Clyde loved helping... for a while... and then took a bike riding break while Chuck went back at it, and handled church phone calls at the same time. Oprah calls it multi-taskin'.

Once the lights were all done, we headed over to the bowling alley for a double date where we all took turns getting the high score, first me with 112, then Chuck with a personal record of 150, then Shelly with 124. I feel like Dan would have come in strong if we'd stuck around for a fourth game ;).

More cute pictures! Carma and Jack reading, the kids at my mom's house with darling second cousins Kara and Rachel, Jack and Carma sharing the ipad, movie dinner, and the sweetest Carma and Clyde hug. All three boys are so incredibly sweet with her.

We were grateful to have Thanksgiving with yummy food and good company, including Quinn and Eden and Isaac and Leila and Grandma Pam! Please admire that plate - that was the leftovers Chuck warmed up for me the next day. Now I'm hungry.

You know, just another round of pictures with Carma and Jack...

OH MAN. So the City of Nampa tree lighting was at the end of November and it sounded like something that good parents take their kids to so we ventured out AND IT WAS SO DANGED COLD. Seriously, it was awful, and we were all wearing like six layers! Once we had all scalded our mouths with some piping hot chocolate and established that they were definitely running a half hour behind schedule, we hit the pavement back to the van - pausing down the street to look back at the finally-lit tree haha. Yay for family memories! We would never hack it in Alaska!

That Sunday in class Raquel taught me how to use the panorama option haha...

And then we took a couple group shots because why not?? ;)

Jack and I got some duplo time in and I figured that the end of November was close enough for me to debut some of my Christmas designs, aka a star, a tree, and Santa Claus:

Okay, we did it! Those mint brownies are as good as mine! Once I bust through like twelve December posts!