November

 

We skype every month with my family and it's a great way to keep in touch with everyone. Mom and Dad's skype happened to freeze as Dad was about to tell us how much he loves Mom. It was pretty cute.

 

Nicole's pediatrician recommended we take her to get an eye exam. Nicole was pretty apprehensive to say the least. Turns out she needs glasses.

 

I went to help Diana's class with a pumpkin project. Such a cute age! I really enjoyed seeing Diana fully engaged and doing so well with her class.

 

Jim had a very generous patient who offered his beach house to us for a few nights. We drove up to Emerald Isle after school and enjoyed enormous slices of pizza.

 

It was a pretty cold weekend so despite the ideal beachfront location of the house we found places to visit that we wouldn't normally visit in summertime. There was a fascinating place called Fort Macon that we had prettymuch to ourselves.

 

You could see marks from cannonballs during a Civil War siege.

 

Thick fortress walls.

 

The kids, since it was virtually empty, could imagine and call things like "more firepower" and "bombs away!"

 

I loved seeing the old architecture, it was beautiful and I think what mostly interested me was the history and stories from the past. This fort was used many times, even in a world war.

 

Jacob picking up a cannonball. They were heavy!

 

Although this ledge was a huge dangerous dropoff it was nothing as bad as the fact that the inner wall of the fort had nothing to prevent the kids from falling right down into the courtyard below. I was a helicopter parent for the whole two minutes we were up there it was crazy.

 

The boys trying to work the water pump. Jake's feet couldn't touch the ground when it was all the way up.

 

Jim was dying to throw a line in the water so we decided to try for as long as we could until we froze. It was in 40s.

 

John was loving the freedom to explore.

 

And somehow the kids went from feet wet, to knees wet, and so on.

 

Jim would run towards the ocean and fling the bait as far as he could, then reel it in.

 

The kids were rolling up their pants, taking off jackets and loving the water- it was warmer than the air!

 

Jim lost a fish, then caught several before the cold and wind caught up to us.

 

Diana was completely soaked and John wanted to join in the fun and I had to keep taking him back to the dunes.

 

Jim would call a kid over every time he got a bite and the kids loved helping.

 

Jim would have fished all day but the kids were soaked and freezing so we ran by a tourist shop and got cheap clothes so they could be warmer.

 

Diana was exhausted and unhappy at lunch so I told her to draw what kind of doughnut she would want to buy. That perked her right up and helped her last until lunch came.

 

We had an awesome view of ocean and pier while we enjoyed fish and chips.

 

We went to the aquarium in town and had an awesome (and much warmer) time.

 

They did have an outdoor treehouse playset and the kids ran around gleefully for a long time.

 

Katy watching alligators, she was fascinated by how scary they were.

 

They had decorated the crab like the character from Moana. Katy was reaching for the "heart"

 

Petting sharks and stingrays was a favorite we had to drag the kids away from after a LONG time.

 

Talking with divers in the shark tank.

 

We went to a local ice cream and sweet shop and they had delicious ice cream!

 

Love the rocking chairs outside. And it was finally warming up!

 

The next morning it was 30-something and we decided to go home after grabbing some doughnuts. But the doughnut shop had no seating and no inside- it was a takeout-type window. And it was freezing and windy! So the kids took turns running to the window to tell me what they wanted before they blew away. Instead of getting the van sticky we opted to wait out the drive home, smelling doughnuts every time Nicole peeked in the box by her feet. It was a fun getaway, and fun to explore what to do at that beach even in the cold.

 

Michael made a letter for Santa. I love how he said please and thank you, and added a maybe in parenthesis.

 

Nicole's glasses came in and she just wears them at school. She was totally fine with the look, and I'm glad she was able to come to terms with having them.

 

This new school grades on an A-F scale instead of a 1-4 scale. It makes it so much easier to see how the kids are doing and I didn't realize how much I would love the change until we have been getting grades back. I appreciate how they award the kids with an honor roll assembly. They all felt on top of the world!

 

The specials teachers (Art, PE, Music, Technology, etc) each give an award per grade and Nicole was given the music award. She felt so great and I was so proud of her!

 

We took two flights to get to Utah after school the Monday before Thanksgiving for Daniel's wedding which was the day before Thanksgiving. Marian's family joined us so it was four adults and twelve children.

 

The kids did really well and we were so blessed to have our cousins to play with! I got air sick-never happened before- on the second flight and was totally shaking, hot/cold and ready to puke my guts out. Fortunately that didn't happen, but I was totally useless to help. John was really hard the whole time because he was screaming prettymuch the whole time (we didn't get to UT until 1am NC time) until he fell asleep. It was kinda miserable and Marian was amazing helping out so much with everything. Fortunately by the time we got to Jim's mom's house my symptoms were gone, just really tired. It was crazy being air sick and I hope to never experience that again!

 

The next morning, so happy that I was feeling totally good, we made it to the BYU women's basketball game. It was kids day so every elementary school in the area was there. The noise was insane at times but overall we loved watching.

 

I love taking the kids around campus and we picked up some delicious fudge from the bookstore.

 

For dinner we continued our tradition of eating at Brick Oven.

 

We drove past lots of fields, cows and tiny towns to get to Manti. Our hotel was right across the street from the temple and had a great open field with a playset that the kids could get all of the energy out on.

 

It was so special to be there with all of my family and grandparents. Family is everything!

 

 

My piece of heaven, each person in this picture is a blessing and strength to me.

 

We love Uncle Caleb! The girls gravitate to him and he is so helpful.

 

The girls had these cute sparkly gold dresses with white tights that had gold hearts on them. I also had these gold butterfly hair clips for them, I thought the girls were so cute!

 

We are so happy to welcome Janell to the family, she has such a good heart and I love seeing her with Daniel and the joy they have together.

 

Farwell to the Manti temple. It is an incredible and historic temple, I really wish we'd had more time to tour and do a session.

 

I had Jim give me a priesthood blessing the morning we flew home, my stomach was all in knots dreading a return of air sickness (and without Marian to save us!). We were blessed that, even though we had to change planes and the trip took us literally from sunup to sundown,  I felt completely fine and even felt good enough to entertain and play with John. It was such a blessing! And I have never felt SO happy to be home as when we were pulling into our neighborhood.

 

We set up for Christmas on Friday indoors and outside. The kids love setting up their own tree filled with decorations from the years.

 

On Saturday we had our own Thanksgiving. It was great to have tasty food together and enjoy relaxing after all the travel.

 

The Davies grandparents were kind enough to give the kids money for a game, so on Black Friday we went as a family to pick out a game. They kids picked a fun shark fishing game where the shark will come up and get you. They love spending time together!

 

We had a fun long weekend, with forts and family time.

 

Jacob helping to make the stuffing. Each of the kids picked how they could contribute to the Thanksgiving meal.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

John fell asleep in the morning after the kids went to school. I think the long weekend with all his siblings wore him out!

 

Katy and John love to play outside together on their bikes.

 

The first Saturday in December, we had a candlelit dinner while watching Muppet Christmas Carol by the light of the fire and Christmas lights.

 

We finished off with a hot chocolate and popcorn bar. The kids loved adding whipped cream on top!

 

For Jim's work party, we had dinner and a paint night. I really love these painting nights where they tell us what to do and we can do whatever from there.

 

Grandma Kathryn sent us the decoration the kids couldn't stop playing with and they sure love it!

 

John fell asleep on my the other day and he was drippy sweaty so I had to put him down. I love the way he still can fall asleep on me, but he is really growing up!

 

Katy, completely unposed, when I asked her about the sharpie on the couch.

 

Diana is so tired after school each day, it's hard work being good! But she is doing it and I'm so proud of her hard work.

 

Here's my finished painting from the art night. Lake Tahoe sunset.

 

Once again I've been making fudge by the box, and the delicious smell fills the house.

 

We had a day where snow was predicted, which is awesome since it's not even Christmas. But it didn't get quite cold enough, so here is our "snow" day.

 

Michael wrote a "how to survive" essay about making a bow and arrow. I love how he started with "Do you ever worry about death? Well here is a solution. Follow my instructions until you die of old age!"

 

And I love how he tells you to "get meat for camp. Have fun! Now you will survive longer than you can imagine."

 

This $300 bag of chocolate had 2,000 squares and was 22 pounds of chocolate. It was crazy to see a store even selling something like this!

 

We did get a few flakes and Nicole made sure to zoom in and get a picture because they weren't sticking. Proof that we did get "snow" before Christmas!