And another month begins.
As we head into the busy season of December, I'm enjoying the chance to pause and look back at the month of November. The Thanksgiving Holiday is my favorite! In fact, I wish Christmas took it's cues to be more like it's predecessor holiday.
Sometimes it's disheartening that we take the time to be thankful for all the Lord has blessed us
with and then only hours later Black Friday attempts to herald in a different message. May we all seek to carry the thanksgiving message with us through December as we celebrate the biggest reason to be thankful... the birth of the Savior! Anyway...
What November would be complete without the traditional romp-around in the leaves? The weather here in the Mid-West was sunny and warm most of the month, affording us lots of opportunities to play outside.
Here are we burying my dad in a leaf pile. My hair is pretty long here...would you believe it now hangs in beautiful ringlets around my face? Yeah, neither would I. It does, however, now have a perm thanks to a little grown girl I used to babysit in high school who is now achieving a degree in cosmetology. True story.
I'm not sure if I've posted a photo of my childhood home here before... but here she is. In all her Fall glory. It was a pretty special place to grow up.
Being that November is the "thankful month," at the inspiration of a friend we attempted to name a few of the many things our family is thankful for using a "thankful tree". Some of the random items selected by our littles included: the living room ceiling fan, loveys, family members, and... of course, cheese.
While cheese is pretty amazing, Matt and I had no trouble naming our four little ones as what we're most thankful for this year. Our youngest little member continues to be such a sweet joy to us. She is by far our easiest baby, very laid back and content. And those blue eyes never cease to intrigue us. This little angel is wildly adored by her siblings who are always up for entertaining her by singing or dancing within a few feet of her. In MJ's case he'd be happy to climb all over her, but we try to keep that sort of sibling love to a minimum.
Isn't she just the cutest thing? This month she started sleeping more through the night. We're now getting around 7 hours from her during the first stretch of the night, which has been wonderful. Sleep deprivation is still a real threat for Matt and I, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Jordynn's hair is coming in with a bit of a red tint. Achievements on her baby calendar this month also include rolling from tummy to back!
And speaking of cute... here's the male version:
This little guy exhausts all parental energies. His favorite activity continues to be playing in the water, which now that it's too cold to play in water outside means that all the water play now happens on my kitchen floor. Thankyouverymuch. His vocabulary has grown this month to include phrases like "I don't like that," and "no, no diaper change," and inquiries like "pee in the potty?" This latest phrase is the direct result of the many reminders spoken to our 2nd born... who just in time for her 3rd birthday, is finally POTTY-TRAINED! Praise the Lord.
Allow me to skip the Thanksgiving Holiday and first mention that at the end of the month our little Jady-Bug turned 3 years old. Her achievement of potty-training is just one of the many areas of maturity that testifies to her growing up. She had a "Finding Nemo" birthday party with some friends and enjoyed receiving new panties, sparkling pink shoes and a ballerina jewelry box on her special day. Her birthday wish: a day with MawMaw... and so that's where she spent a good majority of her day, after a morning romp-around a the local children's museum with her Daddy & Mommy.
And now for Thanksgiving: The Day. Like much of the country, we enjoyed a warmer-than-usual holiday in the mid-60s. This afforded the kids ample time for outside play while the adults were able to enjoy some rare moments of uninterrupted turkey coma dinner.
While everyone was outside, though, I was able to snag some good shots of Morenna and MJ (and who is that good lookin' man?), as seen above and below. It was a beautiful day of celebration - especially for Morenna who spend the day on a sugar high chasing her cousins around - brought to close by our traditional viewing of "Miracle on 34th Street."
Bring on the Christmas decorations!
It's true that children really bring on the wonder of the season. Matt and I enjoyed decorating the house one afternoon while the kids were napping and the joy and tears that appeared on their faces as they came downstairs was priceless. Yes! We had accomplished Operation Winter Wonderland.
In addition to the annual decoration fest, Matt and I also had a few enjoyable grown-up happenings this month. Matt was able to have a night away and attend our church's men's retreat. He really enjoyed getting to know the men in our church more.
And I was able to attend an 8-hour course in homeopathic medicine and herbal studies. It's a little-known secret that a close friend and I are in the throws of starting an herbal business called the Nourishing Herbalist. We're in the process of getting the webpage put together and the content live, but I'll be sure to post more about it when the time comes. In the meantime, I have other projects my book that needs to take up most of my free time.
So anyway, there it is folks. Our month of November. Not logged were the 85+ meals made, 28 loads of laundry, 300+ diapers changed and 10+ toilet scrubbings. I'll leave you to fill in the rest. But I'm trying hard to be thankful for it all. :-) How about you?
