NOVEMBER

TRESA'S 50TH BDAY - Aunt Tresa had a birthday and we were invited to come celebrate.  She was turning 50 so Jed made us all dress in black.  We also brought black balloons.  He remembers doing that for his dad when John turned 50.  It took Tresa and Jeff a minute to figure out why we were all in black I think!  I remember as a kid thinking 50 was so old and now I am closer to 50 than I am to 30.  It is nice to see Tresa, who doesn't seem old at all, remind you that age is just a number!  We love being close to the Balls.  They are such a great family and are always so excited to see the kids.  Tresa and Jeff are two people Jed and I really look up to and think the world of.

1ST HALF OF NOVEMBER -The kids keep growing like weeds and are busy busy all the time.  Dallin is getting a little better at rolling now, but is still pretty slow at it.  I have to be more careful about where I put him though.  He likes being on my bed when I fold laundry.  He also really likes attention from everyone.  Kinsley is such a fun sister.  At first I think Dallin was terrified of her, but now he just lights up when she comes into the room or he hears her voice.  She loves playing with him.  I'm not really sure if Dallin will survive (or I will) when Kinsley goes to school all day next year.  NOOO!

For Sunday shoes Ava wanted some little boots with a heel!  When she wears them and I wear flats she is just a hair taller than me!!!  Again NOOOOO!  I know Ava will be taller than me, but I just don't want it to be at age 11.  She is still supposed to be a little girl.  Luckily I still have Kinsley to be little.  She is such a fun girl too.  I have been doing homeschool with her in the mornings before she goes to kindergarten.  She loves reading and trying to read.  I find her all over trying to read books by herself.  It makes me very happy.

The kids are always bringing things home from school they want in their "box".  I have a box for each of them of all their special things from school.  It is divided into grades.  I save their projects, writing papers, awards, school/sports pictures, etc.  My mom did this for me and so I do it for them.  These are two things that went in the boxes this month.  A project Kinsley did of herself and a story Kasen wrote at home before school one morning.  It was a true story.  It said:  One spring I was looking for pajamas and I didn't have my pajamas.  So I asked my parents what to do and they said to just wear my underwear.  So I went back upstairs, took off my clothes, and went to bed.  When I woke up I went downstairs and ate breakfast.  I ate cereal when my sisters came downstairs they said, "AHHHHHHH!!"  My parents woke up and told me I had to get dressed.  I came downstairs and had a great rest of the day.

Matt & Josh Berry came over for work meetings and had some extra tickets to a hockey game.  So Jed took Kasen.  They had a great time.  Kasen thought hockey was "pretty cool but rough."  He always loves to spend one on one time with his dad.

The kids brought home their school pictures.  They turned out so great.  Ava - 5th grade, Kasen - 2nd grade, and Kinsley - Kindergarten.  They are pretty much the cutest kids I've ever seen.  They all are so smart and talented and are always trying to do what's right (mostly.)  As a mother I really couldn't have hand-picked better kids.  They are my world and I love them so much.

13TH ANNIVERSARY & ELECTION DAY -This year our anniversary fell on a Tuesday which also happened to be Election day.  It was a big election year because America was voting for a new president!  Jed took the afternoon off and brought me home some beautiful red roses.  Then we went and voted together.  We both voted for Donald Trump.  I love voting.  It makes me feel so patriotic.  Jed was convinced there was absolutely 0% chance of Trump winning, but I felt like he had a shot.  We went to a late lunch together and then got home the same time as our kids got home from school.  We started watching election coverage and it was pretty exciting watching states turn red.  Jed was dumbfounded and I think so was every single media person in America!  Donald Trump ended up winning the presidency.  The kids were really excited watching the coverage.  Ava and Kasen both drew maps of the United States and colored them in as votes were counted. The election wasn't called until after they went to bed but it was a pretty historic moment.  Jed and I celebrated 13 years together.  Time just flies by.  I love Jed so much and couldn't have married a better person.  Jed is such a hard worker, loyal, honest, and above all is a dedicated disciple of Christ.  He is a stellar father and husband.  He is the most important person and part of my life and I don't ever want to think about not being side by side.  

DALLIN'S 6TH MONTH BDAY - November was a big month for Dallin too!  He turned 6 months old - halfway to a year!  He is the most darling boy.  He is still very happy and smiley.  I introduced him to food this month.  At first, he wasn't quite sure about it.  He just got rice cereal which probably isn't that tasty so I didn't blame him much.  He liked sitting in his chair though.  Seeing him sitting in it makes him seem a lot older!  Dallin is rolling, but no attempts whatsoever at crawling - which I'm fine with!  He still really likes his jumper and really likes sitting in his bouncer to watch Baby Einstein movies.  He watches 1 or 2 a day so maybe he will be super smart like Ava.  All the kids watched them, but Ava watched them the most.  He is still on the big side for his age.  He is above average for both weight & height.  Well that is an understatement - he isn't even on the charts he is that much bigger.  He is a couple inches longer and a couple pounds heavier than any of the other kids were at 6 months.  He is wearing size 9-12 month clothes. He is a lot bigger than all his cousins who are older - Mason, Jaxon, & Elexa.  Grandpa Erickson calls him the little giant.  We love our Dallin so much!

VETERAN'S DAY WEEKEND -The kids had a long weekend for Veteran's day so we did some leaf raking.  Actually the kids and I did all the leaf raking.  I'm not sure where Jed was for that, but he had to bag up all the leaves which is probably worse.  Before he did that though the kids had to do some tricks into the leaves - catching footballs, bumping volleyballs, and doing twirl jumps.

We didn't do much else besides things at home.  I always want to go and do when the kids are out of school, but they are all home-bodies and just like staying home and playing.  They all wanted extra time with Dallin I think.  He went through a crazy growth spurt over the last month and when Kinsley was holding him he almost looked just as big as her!  He is getting pretty good at lifting himself up on his tummy.  His rolls are getting smoother.  He only rolls to his left side which is a little funny.  We pulled out some baby toys for him and he is interested for about 30 seconds and then he just wants to shove them in his mouth or hit them.  One of the best things he does right now is every once in a while when you are holding him he will just randomly squeeze your neck so hard and give you a big open mouth kiss on the cheek and hold it there for a few seconds.  It is the funniest, cutest thing.  There is no telling when he will do it and you can't make him do it.  The kids die laughing when it happens to them.  Dallin is one lucky little boy!  He has 3 siblings who absolutely adore him and give him so much attention. 

MIDDLE OF NOVEMBER - The weather has stayed really mild and it has been nice to take a walk everyday after we drop Kinsley off at school.  However, after last week it has started getting a little chill to the air and I had to bundle Dallin up.  I don't think we have many more walking days left.

Last month all three kids were chosen by their teachers to be the students of the month for the most Engaged Learners.  They all brought home their certificates and it was the most crazy thing that all three got it the same month.  They earned a pizza lunch with the principal.  They all had to go at different times but they overlapped enough that I saw all three of them that day.  Jed and I were really proud of them!

Here's a couple more cute pictures of Dallin.  This kid isn't just spoiled by his siblings - his parents love his attention too.  One funny thing about Dallin is that he is interested in everyone but the person holding him.  The last picture in this group Dallin was just going crazy for Jed one night.  Then Jed took him from me and he wouldn't take his eyes off me instantly.  He definitely does not like missing out on anything.

Kinsley is a big fan of stealing my phone and taking pictures of people and random things around the house.  We have been enjoying Kasen's basketball games on Saturdays and Kinsley likes taking pictures of the game and the fans - especially the fans who drink bottles.  She also took this picture of Kasen which was a really cute one.

THANKSGIVING BREAK - Schools here give the whole week of Thanksgiving off which is really dumb in my opinion.  It's cold enough now that there isn't anything to do and we can't leave anywhere until Thanksgiving so I'd rather have them get out of school for summer break earlier than have a whole week off but obviously no one asked me.  Dallin was happy to have his siblings home for a few days.  He is getting more sturdy sitting. 

Ava & I have been planning to go to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for awhile.  We decided to go to a late movie on Tuesday night during the break.  It was really fun having a girls night together.  We both loved the movie.  J.K. Rowling is amazing. I love spending time with Ava.  She is such a unique, fun girl. 

THANKSGIVING - We drove over for Thanksgiving and of course there were supposed to be bad storms the day we left.  Luckily we were ahead of them and so the drive wasn't bad.  We stayed at Jed's parents Wednesday night and helped them get ready for the big Erickson extended family Thanksgiving the next morning.

The Ericksons haven't gathered this big in 10 years so it was pretty fun and special.  John & Coleen had the biggest turnout - which is a given since they have the most kids!  Here is a picture of Grandpa John with his siblings.  Grandpa is the oldest, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the picture since he looks like a shorty!  All of Jed's siblings were there except for Jason and his family.  We stayed at the church for awhile and visited with cousins.  It was pretty fun to see everyone.  Then all of Jed's immediate family went back to his parents and hung out for the rest of the night.  There was more food of course.  The cousins had fun playing games.  Poor little Kinsley wasn't feeling good and ended up sleeping most of the day. 

This is a cute little picture i found of Ava on my phone.  I'm not sure who took it and it's a little blurry, but it still shows her beautiful personality and beautiful face.

The next day we headed up to Swan Valley for the Foster Thanksgiving gathering.  Everyone was there except Josh & Katie.  It was a lot of fun having all the grandkids together!  Grandpa had bought these pop guns and they were super annoying, but the boys loved them.  So Kasen and Heath were sent outside.  I found them sitting on the coolers just talking.  I asked them what they were talking about and they said hunting. Kinsley had the weirdest little bug.  She would wake up feeling awful, then feel better around mid-morning almost like she was back to normal, then around 2 pm just crash again.  She got in a few hours of playing with Raleigh.

While dinner was cooking, Grandma had put together all sorts of fun things for the kids to do.  They got to color and write on the construction paper tablecloth.  They also got to make their own turkeys.

Here are the finished products.  I asked Heath why his turkey's head was upside down.  He said it was because he shot it and it was dead.  That kid!  Kenny, James, & Liam got pre-made turkeys with sixlets for tail feathers.

Finally it was dinner time!  Everyone had their place.  The kids table was full!  Ava graduated up to the adult table which she was really excited about.  Raleigh & Heath wanted the turkey legs.  That Rasmussen family is 100% carnivore.

The food was delicious.  Mom did a great job.  We had such a fun time laughing and talking during dinner.  Just like clock-work, right after dinner Kinsley got deathly ill again and slept for the rest of the day.  Dallin was a happy little guy until Austin made him wear the enemies colors.  A form of pure torture!

After dinner a group went up to the forest looking for the perfect Christmas tree.  When they got it inside it was the perfect height.  Just about 1/2 inch from the ceiling.  It smelled really good too.  They did a good job this year on the Christmas tree hunt. Later that night we stayed up late playing spoons, wacky 6, and other card games.  The Rasmussens and Monsons left early the next morning. 

In the middle of the night Kasen came into our room saying he had thrown up everywhere and wasn't feeling good.  He then ran to the toilet and had horrible diarrhea.  This kept up for about 2 hrs.  Jed stayed up with him.  I was so tired I just went and got in bed with Kinsley, so Jed didn't have a choice.  Kasen was sick all the next day and so was Kinsley.  It was really fun!  I was just praying Dallin didn't get sick.  We drove home early Sunday morning to stay ahead of an incoming storm.  It is always so fun to go home for holidays, but it is not fun when somebody gets sick.  Luckily, Kasen and Kinsley were pretty much all better by Sunday.  It made me think how lucky I am that all my kids, my husband, and myself are healthy.  I'm not a very good nurse - I lose patience quickly.  It would be really hard to take care of a sick family member full-time.  I have so much to be thankful for and this was a reminder that good health is one of them!