November in Pictures

A quick rundown of the last few weeks around here........

Jillian is doing a 6 week Saturday basketball clinic. She is learning so much, and I think we will really see the benefits of this when she begins her Champion Basketball season next month. This clinic is taught by local high school coaches and players, and watching it brings back lots of memories for me. Here she is listening intently to instructions next to her friend, Kaia.

The girls and I voted before school. And then we had to have donuts.

Had to laugh at the PB the next day...funny nod to The Apprentice. Really, America? Wow. This concludes my political commentary.

Adrienne was student of the week. She was proud to display her poster of favorites in the classroom for a week.

Sports Day at school. The girls decided they would like to have MN sports gear, so we needed to make a shopping trip.

We participated in Operation Christmas Child at church, and the girls and I made a trip to Target to select items for the boxes. I gave them each a budget for their box and let them go to town. I got such a kick out of the phonetically spelled note that Adrienne put in her box (translation: "Hello my name is Adrienne. You are going to like whatever I get"). It's possible I snuck that bossy little note out before we dropped the boxes off.

Adrienne patiently waiting at basketball clinic. She is always so good to just sit and chill. She decided to bust out a few pushups with Brita and Lars. Love the ability to create self-entertainment!

1st and 2nd grade girls. J is in the back row, between the two coaches.

I made 100ish (110 to be exact) cookies as requested for a Bible study retreat. 3 kinds. Whew.

Jillian had her first field trip of the year, so I went along. We went to Quarry Hill for some science classes and experiments on soil.

We signed up for a 1 mile family fun run--The Nightcrawler. It was a trail run at Essex Park requiring head lamps and promising s'mores afterwards. The weather was so pleasant all Fall, and then it got really cold and windy on this day. Needless to say it was a cold jog even in snow pants, but a very fun experience for the girls.

J was my running partner, and Matt stayed with A. We ran a very dramatic mile. I didn't really let her stop because I knew she could finish, but if you heard her you would have thought someone was torturing her. Her mood changed dramatically when we crossed the finish line and she realized we had won the race. Matt and A came in about a minute behind us. Medals for all the kids!

Beer from Grand Rounds for Mommy. Two thumbs up.

S'mores post race.

Thanksgiving week brought several gems from school. First, Jillian's list of favorite things. No one in her family made the list, but her BFF Noah managed to sneak in after objects, activities, and a TV show.

Adrienne and more precious phonetic spelling.

Jillian was complaining about some blurry vision, so I took her in for an eye exam. Sure enough, it is time for her first pair of glasses. She picked out some darling frames and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the finished product.

Matt worked a lot Thanksgiving week (including the holiday and the weekend), so the girls helped me with Thanksgiving prep. They made chocolate chip pies, which were a childhood favorite of mine. I forgot how good this pie is!!

I surprised them with a fun turkey day lunch.

We set the tables early in the day, and waited for Matt to get home, and the Tauntons to arrive.

Jack enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at the grown up table

The "big kids" table.

Our elf, Simon, returned for the holiday season. The first morning, the girls found him hanging out in the fridge wrapped in a blanket.

For some reason, the girls really want to have sleepovers a lot. I'd say they've slept in A's bed together 20 out of the last 30 days. We let them as long as they go to sleep on school nights when they are supposed to. Love to see them snuggled up together.

I decided to make an Advent wreath this year and start the tradition of lighting the candles together.

Adrienne has such cute kindergarten buddies. Four of them sandwiched in for a big hug after school last week. Charlie, Haedyn, Saleigha, and Adrienne.

Charlie's parents were out of town for a week, so I took him home from school each day. This meant that he got to go along to swimming lessons at the RAC on Monday. He and Adrienne played their hearts out when Jillian was in her lesson. Love their sweet friendship!

Matt was in Chicago at RSNA all week, so the girls and I had lots of "girl time". I surprised them with homemade hot chocolate after school one day.

I spent an afternoon wrapping 24 of our Christmas books for the girls' (and mine) favorite Christmas tradition. They love taking turns unwrapping books they haven't seen in a year. And I love how easy this activity is to keep up (once the books are wrapped of course). I add a few books each year (and remove ones that are too young for them), so it's become a very sweet tradition. You can see in the below pic that Simon was found reading a book one morning.