November Fun

We actually had a really nice fall this year. We had such nice weather for the longest time and as usual we had a ton of leaves in our backyard from our neighbors trees. So we had a fun fill November with playing in leaves, basketball, shoveling snow, getting ready for Christmas and fun with family over Thanksgiving. It was a pretty busy month and we enjoyed it! 

Kayden Loved playing in the leaves this year. Brandon had racked the leaves into a big pile and then Kayden would play in them.  

He and Emmett had fun jumping in the leaves and then trying to rake them back up into the big pile again. Kayden also started pretending it was his bus. He would get into the middle of it and use a stick as his steering wheel and tell me I had to get in so he could take me where I needed to go. It was pretty funny. Then when Emmett got home from school Emmett enjoyed playing with him and then they would run and jump into the leaves. They had a blast for a while. I of course had to get a picture of them flexing their muscles as they raked up the leaves again. 

Story time!!

One evening Kayden wanted to read to Emmett at bedtime. He brought in the curious George Christmas book and started to say, "Once upon a time" and then would continue with what he thought he remembered or just whatever the pictures were about. It was super cute. At the end he said, "The End" and then told Emmett good night and came over to me to turn off the lights! It was the cutest thing ever! 

We also got to go to a 4th grade music performance at school for Wyatt. He was super excited for all of us to come watch. 

We were too far away to get any good pictures of him. He did a great job though and he was super in to the dance moves that they learned that went with the songs. He was grooving and super dramatic with his movements. It was so funny to watch!! He is such a goof and we love it!!

We also lost a member of the family in November. After 2 1/2 years with our passionfruit vine Brandon decided it was time to get rid of it. It gave us some fruit and we were happy about it but it didn't give us any fruit the second summer and he was pretty sure it was done fruiting for us. So he sadly cut it down. Our wall doesn't look like Jumanji anymore and it is kind of weird. haha 

Enjoying what nice weather we have left.

Throwing rocks in the pond is always a win with little boys. 

While getting ready one morning Kayden wanted to do makeup too. I let him use one of my brushes that I was not using and he proceeded to put some makeup on. haha 

So Handsome!! haha

The funniest part was his eyes. I looks like he colored on eyelashes. haha He was pretty proud of himself. 

Emmett also continued with Basketball. 

He really enjoyed it this year. He improved a ton and it was fun to watch!

Oh ya... did I mention our nemesis squirrel came back??

Ya Emmett saw him eating our cushion again one morning. After a couple of mornings of him coming back we had had it. I even went out and tried to throw a rock at him to scare him away. He ran into a tree and then starred at me. In fact he came closer as I tossed the rock at him and didn't flinch. That was the last straw.. He was taunting me and we knew right then that he was not going to leave our cushions alone. 

So Brandon was home one morning and I saw the vermin come back. Brandon posted up with his BB gun and shot that thing dead!!

It was a solid hit! 

Ethan said he saw him take his last breath! 

Which is kind of sad.... but that stinking animal would not leave our cushions alone. 

So we bagged him up and took him out to the garbage can. Good thing it was garbage day! Hopefully that was the last of cushion eating squirrels. 

Kayden was super excited about his little tree in his room this year. 

Nothing like a little hot chocolate while watching a Hallmark Christmas movie!! 

Brings joy to my heart! 

Kayden LOVES the music making Christmas houses. He had seen a Mickey one at Costco a while back and really wanted it. He also loves going over to Papa and Gigi's house and playing with their Christmas houses. So I decided it was time to get out our Christmas house that I have not put up in years. Kayden was thrilled and sat by it watching it and listening to it for quite some time. 

Kayden also helped Dad change the oil in the SUV. He was pretty excited to help with his mouthful of chocolate! haha 

We also took the kids to the Summit for some arcade time. Brandon had saw a deal for the arcade online that he couldn't pass up. So we took the kids one Saturday and let them go crazy.

The kids burn through a ton of money on the cards so quick it is insane!! 

Time for the lights on the house!

The boys always want to help their Dad put the lights on the house and he ends up letting them on the roof with him sometimes. We were all excited to see the lights on the house! It always looks so pretty! 

Ethan went to his first stake Youth fireside! It is still so weird that he is in young mens! I am just glad he has some good friends and that he actually tries to listen and learn at least something. 

Enjoying some relaxation with my buddy!

This kid has been super in to the magnetic tiles for a while and he comes up with some pretty cool ideas. It is fun to watch him create things. 

Oh and I found my new favorite spot during the winter. I move the ottoman over by the fire and lay by the fire while we watch something. haha It is quite lovely! 

The kids wrestled while I enjoyed some fire time. haha 

This kid will not nap anymore at home. Yet he falls asleep quite often in the car. When he is tired and he sleeps in Emmetts chair he can't be comfortable. Yet he falls asleep and stays asleep like this. It is the craziest thing! 

SNOW!!!!

We finally got some snow. It has been a while since we have not gotten snow in October. So this year was nice having the snow wait until November.

The kids were excited about the snow. The love going out and shoveling it. 

I also taught Wyatt and Emmett the christmasy way to have Hot Chocolate. I made them some and put a candy cane in it. They couldn't believe how good it was and became instant fans! 

Crazy hair day at schooL!

Ethan and Kayden shoveling the snow! haha It was so cold outside. I don't know how they don't get cold faster than they do. I was ready to go inside 5 minutes after being outside. These boys could have stayed out there for an hour!! Crazy monkeys!!

This year my Mom took me to a craft show. She picked me up and we grabbed some dinner and then went to the craft show. I had never been to one and my Mom wanted to check out this one. She has gone to some in the past with her friend Caryn Payzant. So she figured it would be fun to check out. It was a fun night full of making fun of these crafts people made and were selling for an outrageous price. We ended up getting lost on the way in to the craft show. There was a hockey game going on and we were not sure where the entrance to this craft fair was. We ended up getting lost just trying to park because there were no signs for the craft fair. There was just people leading cars to parking spots for the hockey game. Once we finally got a parking spot we walked over to where the craft fair was taking place. However, we had no idea where the front door was. We ended up walking through a door that said Entrance but was not the entrance. So we walked in to find that we were in the middle of the craft fair and not at the entrance. So we laughed and found our way to the entrance where we were supposed to go through in order to get our drink tickets and bags for our possible purchases. 

We also got to enjoy a free hot chocolate for the price of admissions. 

I was so tempted to buy this shirt.... NOT! haha I thought it was funny that things like this were being sold. Oh well, Im sure someone bought some of these products. It was a fun evening with my Mom just enjoying time with her and laughing a lot. 

More fun in the snow. 

Our boys love building things in the snow. They use our sand buckets to build snow castles and other things. Im glad they enjoy the snow. I would much rather enjoy the sand... but I guess I can't have that all the time so at least they find joy in the snow. 

Then it was time for family to arrive for Thanksgiving.

The kids were super excited for Grandma and Grandpa Murri to get here. Kayden was bummed that Grandpa didn't have his truck this time. haha 

 Tyrel and Vandy and their crew got here the next afternoon and the fun began. 

Mady was wanting to text Kemry and Ethan so I let Ethan use our house phone. Ethan sat there on the couch waiting for each and every text to come through. I had to tell Ethan that he could play with his Grandparents and brothers while he waited for texts to come through. 

I also told him that this was the exact reason I didn't want him to have a phone yet. haha All he did for like 30 minutes was sit on the couch and stare at the phone waiting and responding to texts. haha It is so weird realizing that our boys are getting older. Ethan will officially be a teenager this summer. That is gross!!!! I am not ready for my kids to grow up! 

Anyways, we enjoyed playing games and spending time with family. 

Wyatt helped me get their room ready for Tyrel and Vandy to sleep in their beds. 

Then the night Tyrel and Vandy were here Kayden wanted Vandy to read to him and lay with him instead of me. He sure loves Vandy! 

I don't think he has had enough chocolate! haha 

Family time wouldn't be complete with Grandma and Grandpa in town without a little bit of pickle ball. 

It was sunny outside and surprisingly didn't feel too cold. So we decided to try and play at the courts at harmony. The problem is the wind started to pick up and then it felt really cold! After a while Vandy and I took some of the kids home while the others continued to play.

Game time!!

Another time we went to the church gym to play some pickle ball. 

My parents came to play too and we played around with pickle ball and basketball. It was a little chaotic with all the kids running around but it worked. 

Thanksgiving dinner was a surf and turf. We had steak, crab, lobster and sides. It was a good dinner full of yummy food! 

Brandon trying to pull a prank of Wyatt. He tried the ping pong ball switched to an egg prank. Wyatt didn't fall for it. haha

Teaching the kids secret Hitler! haha Not sure that the kids are old enough for those games but they seemed to get it a little bit. 

Here is our Thankful Turkey. We did a much better job filling it up this November than last November. 

Grandpa had his turn reading and laying with Kayden at night too. 

More games to end the fun! Tyrel and Vandy left on Saturday and Grandma and Grandpa left on Sunday! So we had one evening left to just play with them. So Grandma played Wizard with the kids. They did a great job with the game. They are starting to get old enough to play these older kid games. 

Emmett is a major fan of Hot Chocolate with candy canes now. Which i don't blame him. It is quite delicious! 

As soon as the crew was gone my Mom and I got together to start making caramel popcorn. We figured it would be nice to get it started before December had even officially started. So we started the process of popcorn making. 

My Mom picked up some Chick Fil A for all 3 of us and we ate some lunch and got to work. We only had to do this twice and we were all done with making popcorn for this Christmas. 

Something that was not fun about November is I had 2 UTI's I ended up being on antibiotics for 7 days before thanksgiving and then for 15 days after Thanksgiving. It was super annoying and it hurt and I kept worrying about it not going away. I have become way more of a worry wart as I have gotten older. Which is not any fun! haha 

Cute little Kayden asleep on the couch. He is so funny and does not want to go to sleep in his bed even if he is super tired. 

Back to normal life and Kayden helping me vacuum seal some tortillas. 

Monopoly! I don't love the game but the boys like it and its one of Brandon's favorites. So at least he has his boys to play with him as they get older. 

We let Kayden move to the bench for dinners. He has been using a booster for a long time and decided he was big enough to sit on the big boys chairs now. He was pretty excited about it. 

Silly boy!!

After all the Thanksgiving fun it was back to normal life. We had more fun enjoying getting ready for December to be here and the kids were excited for Christmas break to get here.