Hmm let’s see… November… AMERICAN Thanksgiving, a visit from Nana and Baba, full on fall weather, school, the beginning of the Christmas countdown. Because Nana and Baba were there in the right time frame we also saw Santa which you can read about in a previous post.

Beach towels from their travels

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Not only did Nana and Baba take over the cooking and make a full on turkey dinner BUT the Novaks also joined us! The kids were beyond excited to have the 4 boys over and we adults had a great visit.

Echo chose our seasonally coloured cake. I baked it.

And the twins decorated it.

Ken and I snuck off after Thanksgiving for basically a second honeymoon. For the first time in over 12 years we went out overnight WITHOUT kids. We went to a B and B that Karyn and I had visited previously in Wisconsin (different room). We hung out in our awesome room.

Went out for a delicious dinner at an old mill.

Dressed up for a dinner out.

Shopped at an amazing yarn place.

AND drove out of our way to an even more amazing wool place.

Oh yah I spent a little

We even stopped in at a brewery for a tasting for Ken.

And visited the capital building.

It was AMAZING.

ALMOST like back home.

It really was as good as people say!

Breakfast

Wisconsin = cheese of course

NAP

The weather went from sundresses and sunshine to snow and snowboots.

We spent plenty of quality time at the YMCA.

And Ken and I went to an open house at Shandai and Ravyn’s new digs.

We found time for Home Depot.

Crocheted in spare moments.

Cat butt coasters!

Fingerless dragonscale gloves.

Hats for cats!

The girls had their nails done by Nana.

And the twins pitched in with some baking.

We decorated our tree. 

And watched our local black squirrel run our yard like a boss.

Can you believe we even found time for schooling. 

Prepping the Christmas countdown paper chain.

And a visit with the Schwartz family!

A trip to IKEA had us well lit and the girls in new beds. 

November went by in a blink of an eye. But it was a fun blink!

Christmas decorations at the YMCA

Way too many good pictures to share in June so sit back and enjoy reliving some of our summer during the January chill. You can read June’s original post HERE.

Journal filled!

She should appreciate the simplicity of her name… poor Emanuel had it rough at her age!

Look where our friends and family visited in Mexico!

Flowers from Gammie’s garden

Bunny!

Tea time with cousins

Sleepover in the basement!

Gaming!

Jeffrey!

Go Nathan!

Mall of America!

Matching outfits from Nana!

Post game Anthony

Ken and Andrew

So proud of these legible signatures!

Baking with Nana

Fairy

Learning a necessary life skill!

Splash pad with the Schwartz boys

Hanging with Aidan

Gardening with Nana

Baby birds in Emanuel’s bird house

Heron!

Helping Baba

Scouts at the Firestation!

Fish in the making

April 4-6

Now onto the weekend of fun and friends. First our Friday… Miss Trinity finished her dot-to-dot workbook… she is now becoming quite the pro at counting from 1-50!

Emanuel got a book on his birthday on how to draw dinosaurs. So to get a wee bit back into dinosaurs after our relative dry spell he has started a large paper picture using the book. I plan to start posting our back dinos and start new ones soon.

We had all 5 of our fish coloured, named and ready to take back to the consignment store on our way to the Novak’s.

With the fresh dump of “blizzard” snow I kicked the twins out to play and wear themselves out. Apparently it was PERFECT sticky snow but the kids were quick to tell me that they were DONE with winter and would love to go to a lake RIGHT NOW. From near nothing to waist height in one evening. UGH

With another chapter of Treasure Island under our belt and illustrated (I am still not reading ahead… and the kids are still NOT impressed by this fact) we were ready to get out the door… run a few minor errands and go to the Novak’s house.

Darcy once again outdid herself with the cake… this one themed zombies. He actually had a second cake that we ate that night (this photographed one was eaten the next day at his friends’ party).

The kids had a blast playing.

And Anthony loved his ninja. I do love to include a handmade item even if we are giving our now TWELVE year old godson a gift certificate.

After presents Ken and Anthony spent the evening building his new weight bench. I am so glad that we are here for all these firsts and activities. He is growing up so fast!

After a busy day we were up bright and early again for Home Depot Saturday. This time Ken left with 4 kids and came back with 6! We inherited Alex and Aidan Novak for an overnight sleepover so Anthony could have his birthday party solo. The kids were so excited. They had been DYING to have a sleepover.

So that was the beginning of 2 days of wild kid fun. Alex and I sat and crafted quietly at times (he brought his bracelet loom and I brought out ours to add to his supply).

Or they ran outside and burned off that energy.

Second day melt off

Meals were a blast.

Fruit Salad

And that evening we had TWO Ice Age movies with popcorn. 5 boys in one bedroom at bedtime and another day of fun to follow.

We skipped Sunday School in favour of special playtime.

Instead of dropping them off or having Darcy to a run by pick up we had them over for slow cooker lasagna and homemade chocolate chip cookies Sunday evening. Apparently Andrew had fun at his friends staying up all night and Anthony had a great birthday. So all 4 Novak boys were well pleased with our two asking to come again! Talk about a wonderful weekend.

Making cookies

Lasagna

Add to that dying my hair a bright and fun garnet with Ken’s help and I am one happy Mommy.

Sleepovers, birthdays and shopping as a family. With some schoolwork thrown in… not bad not bad.