A Noteworthy November

So this is how it goes when time is just flying by - a month in review.  It's almost easy seeing as how I don't even carry a camera anymore.  My phone takes better pictures at this point so I go with it.  Plus, it somehow gives a more accurate glimpse into our everyday, which I like.
It naturally begins and probably ends (and lots in between) with pictures of my baby.  Because that's what Moms do.  They take an exorbitant amount of pictures of their own kids doing funny things because we find them adorable and sometimes, just sometimes, need a reminder of how adorable they are when they are being not-so-adorable.
In short, Jonah is still cute.  And I love him so much that occasionally I have to preserve the moment in pictures. And since his pediatrician keeps asking me at every visit if I have ever noticed his eyes drifting together, its all I see in photographs.  I like to think they just look that way because they are so big.  Makes total sense in my mind.

One of Jonah's favorite things to do is jump on Mia's wheely backpack and hitch a ride.  Its especially funny when we are walking down the street.

One night Clark took the older kids to a high school football game, while I stayed home with the youngest two.  I put Jonah to bed and had a little Mommy Hazel date where we made caramel apples and watched a movie of her choosing off of Netflix.  Born Free based on a true story from the 60's maybe? about a wild lion raised in the home of some game keeper something or other in Africa.  It was totally interesting and boring at the same time.  And the theme song is really "Born Free" which kind of made me laugh.  Hazel fell asleep 2 minutes before the end. I was half expecting the lion to up and eat the couple at some point during the movie.  The lion's name was Elsa.  She didn't eat anyone.

Yep, still cute.  Just checking.

Mia had her third grade Veteran's Day program at school.  I love Veteran's Day programs.  I adore them.  They make me feel all patriotic and weepy and happy.  She is in the white shirt in the middle of the group there.  She got to play the bells for one song, such talent :)

At the end, all of the veterans in the audience were invited to come to the stage and share when and where they served.  More tingles and tears.  I love that man of mine. 

Every change of season in a house full of girls, brings with it the joys of bin swapping.  I have to go through closets and drawers, remove unworn and outgrown clothing and shift it all around.  It's both exhausting and kind of fun.

Sometimes I see pictures like this on my phone and I feel very frightened of what awaits us through the teenage years.  I'm not sure that I am prepared.  In fact, I'm positive that I am not prepared.

Then one day, I found a piece of bacon in the back of the car.  I know not where it came from but I'll be honest, I wanted to eat it.
I didn't, just in case you were really wondering.

My amazing sister in law, Sadie received her mission call to serve in the Fresno, California mission.  I am so excited for her.  She is outgoing and sincere and genuine and will make a fantastic missionary.

Plus, she gets to ride a bike around California which sounds pretty awesome to me.

I miss a lot of the great outdoors of the East coast so I am happy to find good spots to walk and explore when it is not a bajillion degrees outside.  Fall and Winter bring a lot of amazing weather around these parts so we try to take advantage of it.  This is a trail along a bayou not far from our house.  It goes and goes for miles and the day was perfectly pleasant.

Even for the stragglers...

Now that Haley is 12, she can attend and participate in parts of the temple ordinances.  It was a very special day that she was very excited for.

It was especially special that Clark and I both got to go with her that day and help with the large youth group from our ward.

Hazel has entered the note-writing stage that I rather love.  She leaves notes and letters all over the place and each and every one is the most important message from her so you'd better not throw any away!  By the way, Emlee is just how Coach Magee said my name in high school so it makes me laugh.

I started an incredible quiet book for Jonah.  Now that Clark has left us for the stand at church for the foreseeable future, I needed some backup in the pews.  I pulled out all the creativity I could muster and made several pages that I found pretty fantastic.  I was so excited for the first Sunday, where he ended up playing with a pen cap for an hour.
The problem is I can't shut off the ideas that keep flowing but can't bring myself to indulge in making any more pages...on the other hand, the older girls have quite enjoyed it even though as a 12 year old you can only put Jonah in and out of the whale's mouth so many times before its not that fun anymore.

Of noteworthy news also would be, of course, the rat that died in the ceiling of our closet.  The weather had been pretty cold so it wasn't until our warm 80 degree weather returned that its rotting carcass was brought to our attention.  Gross.  Double gross.  Triple quadruple gross.  We pulled out all the stops.  Short of cutting a hole in our ceiling, the problem has been dealt with which is a good thing because my next plan of action would have been to burn down the house or move.  Luckily we have not had any vermin inside the living part of the house and hopefully never will because I don't really want to burn down my house or move.  That would be kind of a pain.

Hazel had her Kindergarten Thanksgiving feast.  She was adorable.  It was adorable.  Fun was had by all, even the 4 kids out of all the grade that were willing to volunteer to dress like pilgrims because everyone else in kindergarten wanted to be an Indian.

The weather this time of year is noteworthy in Houston too.  As you can probably gather from this picture, this day was both 29 degrees and 78 degrees.  I'm serious, some days we have more than a 30 degree swing in temperature which  makes sending kids off and receiving them home extra interesting.

I was overjoyed to see matching socks at our house! It doesn't happen very often.

Too bad they were on two different people.  It makes my job as sock-sorter much easier. I've actually seen the girls take a pair of socks and separate them on purpose.
I have stopped matching socks.

Our friend Kristin included us in a groupon that she had purchased back in the summer for a tour of our local froyo shop.  It consisted of peeking their heads in the freezers in the backroom and letting them mix flavors.  The kids loved it because they got to wear rubber gloves and then make the biggest heap of yogurt/candy topping they could fit in a cup.

And then a Thanksgiving dream was fulfilled for Clark.  He killed and dressed our own turkey.  An amazing family from our ward has kids in 4H that raise and sell turkeys this time of year.  They allowed Clark to come learn from them.

 I'm pretty sure we crossed a few lines of respect where our food sacrifice was concerned.

That's our turkey right there.  His last few minutes of life were spent running away from Jonah.
We ate that turkey.  I ate him.  And he was delicious.  I made sure to tell him thank you before, you know, they chopped head his off.

Abby is our rough and tumble kind of kid.  She not only caught the turkey but she helped pluck feathers and clean out guts.  I was both impressed and totally grossed out. That's not my scene.  Also, doing their laundry was not super fun.

I find my family thoroughly amusing, even when they are being gross and immature.

 Then I watched Clark play football.  It always makes my heart flutter just a little.

She makes my heart flutter too.  Those cute girls.

And though we don't get to do it as often as before, I love face-timing and skyping with this little munchkin.  Japan is much to much too far away.  And they are about to bring home a second adorable little baby girl that I will have to admire and oogle from afar.  It hurts.

The one problem with not having my camera is that I sometimes forget to take pictures of the obvious things, like the adorable, delightful company we had for Thanksgiving.  This is the second place we have lived within driving distance of my cousin Missy and her fam.  They are fun and cute and so nice to have around.  We are so grateful that they drove from San Antonio to spend a couple of days with us (even though I loaded the one picture where Lyndon's eyes are close, oops.) Thank you for coming!