November

 

After an abnormally warm October, we finally used the fireplace. Asa looked so cozy. 

This picture sums up our post Halloween vibe...lots of "tandy" as Asa would say. 

We went to a "station" on the Underground Railroad with our HSAP. It was really neat to see the effort and risks people made to make a difference in other people's lives. 

Grammie and Papa Ralph came! Grammie helped the kids make woodland creatures out of nature stuff.

It was fun to see how creative they were. 

We were able to take them to one of Mariah's basketball games,

laughed at Snapchat filters with Grammie,

went on a walk, 

And had ice cream at the Snack Shack at least half a dozen times. 

The Hilton family came up for the night on Friday and we ditched my parents with twelve children and ate delicious Thai food followed up by Les Mis. Not a bad way to spend a night. 

Grammie even had a tea party with all twelve children. The woman is amazing. 

Soon after my parents left we started on the addition to our house. The kids have loved watching all the big tractors and feel like they are experts on pouring concrete. So if you need a job done...I know a very willing crew that come cheap. 

There has been so much mud tracked into my house...the kids are making memories while I slowly lose my mind. 

Asa is often asking me to "tate a piture" and how can I say no to that? 

I got to watch Eliza in tumbling and it was fun to watch her do something she loves. 

 

I recruited the kids to clear out the shelves in the storage room so we can do some work down there. Mariah found my childhood journal and we all enjoyed listening to her read it. I talked a lot about horses...a lot. 

That Sunday the oldest four kids and I went to The Messiah singalong in Ottumwa and we were excited to see a friend from our stake was a guest soloist. The dessert afterwards was the kids' favorite part of the night. 

We had a small Thanksgiving with the Cruze's and our two sets of Elders. The food was delicious and the company was even better. 

We could block the front door because as of right now we don't have a front porch...one benefit of our whole yard being torn up. 

The next morning Tanner came home from racquetball and asked if I wanted to play pickleball. I've been asking him to teach me for a while so I was excited to go. Until I learned we would be playing with a group of people that play weekly...perfect time to learn something new. But I was brave and did it. Everyone was very nice to me and gave me some great pointers. 

We had friends come over that afternoon for pie and all the kids played marshmallow blowdart tag out on the dirt mounds. They all about froze to death, but I think they had a good time. 

We were very excited about our first snow of the season. When I say we I mean the kids...it isn't so easy without a garage, driveway, or sidewalk...but we're making it work. 

Tanner made the kids a snow unicorn...

Skippy even had to join in on the fun

There was lots of sledding and hot chocolate afterwards. 

The next day church was cancelled so we had our own little service at home. 

Asa was so sweet and reverent...maybe we should have church at home every Sunday. 

October

We loved the uncharacteristically warm October we had. It was a great way to ease into the colder weather. 

Eliza wasn't feeling well one day and Josie decided to comfort her. Eliza hates when Josie lays by her so I think Josie had to take advantage of her being asleep. She woke up and left before Eliza woke up too. 

Mariah is taller than Chet, which hasn't happened for a very long time. I told her to enjoy it while it lasts...

We had a quiet General Conference with just our family. Tanner was on call and at the hospital Saturday morning. I tried to listen to the Saturday morning session while watching soccer games, chasing Asa around the soccer fields, and watching every single one of Eliza's cartwheels...needless to say, I had to listen to that session again. But I did see Austin score a goal! Which is a miracle considering how distracted I was. 

Chet hurt his wrist while playing goalie when the ball was kicked from a very short distance away into his hand, bending his wrist. The boy who kicked the ball was so concerned about Chet and wanted to go and make sure he was ok and say that he was sorry. I had just gotten done listening to Elder Andersen's talk about peacemakers, so it touched me so much. That boy was showing true Christlike love. 

Sunday morning we had Cinnamon rolls and we throughly enjoyed them. 

Eliza made a terrifying, cat and dog mask for Asa and Vivi...just getting ready for halloween. 

We had other soccer games the day after a big rainstorm. Austin had the first games of the day so the fields weren't too bad, but Mariah and Chet had some of the last games and they about lost their shoes a few times. But they thought it was pretty fun. These games were during Stake Conference so Tanner was gone again. Vivi got stung by a bee but barely even cried and I was somehow able to listen to all of the leadership session during a game. 

Asa enjoyed the firetrucks during library storytime. 

And Asa and Vivi loved playing at the park across from Eliza and Austin's homeschool class. 

We got free tickets from the library to the Blank Park Zoo and loved the weather and animals. 

Tanner was able to go to the sealing of one of the families in our ward. 

Mariah wasn't thrilled with Austin taking her picture at a friend's birthday party. But I was thrilled with all the different cakes her uncle had made for said party. More birthday parties should have six different cakes...just not the ones I throw. 

And Eliza loves holding little Ryann...she can't get enough of that baby. 

Vivi wanted me to make a smiley face on an artisan loaf...

Austin enjoyed his homeschool lab where they made chutes for a ping pong ball. 

And Chet enjoyed helping teach origami at another homeschool lab. 

Vivi was the Statue of Liberty. She has enjoyed doing more at homeschool activities this year. We love our Co Op!

Vivi found this "beautiful flower" outside and put it in her hair. 

Asa fixed his own hair and also dumped out a whole bottle of my face serum. One night at dinner we wondered why his face looked a little oily but I didn't find out the reason until I was going to bed...two year olds, am I right? 

The cousins came up one weekend and Anni played on Mariah and Chet's soccer team. She did great, and we all about froze to death. The temperature helped us all to be happy with the soccer season being done. We are grateful for the coaches who sacrifice so much time to help our kids learn and grow in a sport. 

And I somehow don't have a picture of Austin's soccer team...which is a bummer. They were a really fun team to watch play. 

And then the big boys went to the BYU game. 

We took family photos and our photographer sent us this sneak peak. Judging by how amped up Vivi was and how grumpy Asa was...it may be wise to just stick with this one. Kassi at Studio One is pretty amazing though so she may be able to get a few more decent ones out of the session. Here's hoping!

We celebrated Evan's birthday and then he taught the kids some improv games. We love having him for Sunday dinners. 

We finally carved pumpkins.

By the time I decided we were actually going to carve pumpkins there weren't great choices at Walmart and I didn't really want to go on the hunt for the perfect pumpkins. So Mariah carved the one she had painted in Young Womens, Eliza carved her little pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and Chet and Austin carved one of the decorative pumpkins that Tanner had picked out earlier in the month. 

Vivi and Asa painted pumpkins and Asa was really bummed that I wouldn't let him hack into his with a knife. 

The kiddos helped me decorate for the ward Halloween party. 

Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, Wendy, Tiger Lilly, Hook and Smee. 

Mariah really wanted to do a theme again this year and thanks to a creative friend who made the Peter Pan and Hook costumes, and Amazon, we were able to put together some costumes. Chet put his together five minutes before we had to leave and I think it turned out pretty good. He was real close to just being a "banana on a unicycle", but Mariah insisted he figure something out. 

Asa was a little clingy when everyone got there, but once he'd eaten some food, he was feeling a lot happier. He loved the trunk or treat and by the end he could barely carry his bucket full of "tandy". 

He didn't care too much about eating the candy, but he loved carrying his bucket around. 

Our actual Halloween wasn't too exciting. Tanner and I went to almost every store in Ottumwa looking for root beer extract and finally found some at Menards. But then some teacher wiped out the dry ice at our local Hyvee that day (the nerve, everyone should know that Ashley Crossley uses the dry ice on Halloween for her root beer). So we just bought root beer and did root beer floats. Mariah had read The Princess Bride to the kids, so we watched that movie after putting the littles to bed. 

The next day we went to the Kidsymphony and when Tanner decided to wear the adult Hook costume our friend made, I decided I should just go as Smee. We walked through a craft fair after the concert dressed like this...We got some weird looks but we're too old to care now. We've officially made it people.