November

Between the weather getting colder, and having lots of sickness in our house (everyone pretty much got sick twice), November started out pretty rough. But by the end of the month, we were all ready for the holidays.

I got tired of Misty's long hair and spending $40 to get it trimmed so one day after I cut the boys' hair, I cut Misty's hair. She was surprisingly good for me during most of it. She wasn't a big fan of me cutting the hair on her legs so I had to have Jared hold her that night so I could finish.

I love sales after Halloween. I bought Kaliya this Anna costume and she loved it.
Makai got into the markers and decorated his feet.

Such a cute little boy

Grandma and Grandpa Ball were able to come visit for a few days. Unfortunately the kids had school while they were visiting but Makai got lots of extra time with them. He loved making them read his favorite stories to him and they were impressed with how quickly he found things in his look and find books. 

When the boys were home from school, they also enjoyed their time with Grandma and Grandpa. Carter showed Grandma how he likes to bowl in his room and Laken liked helping Grandpa fix the latch on the breezeway door.

Kaliya let me put little braids in her hair to make it wavy in the morning.

Jared decided to do "no shave November" again. At the end of the month, he let the kids help shave it off.

Time to get festive and make holiday goodies. The kids helped me make fudge.

Makai thinks he found pockets

Growing up we waited until after Thanksgiving to set up the Christmas tree. But I feel like we get more in the Christmas spirit if it's up earlier so the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we put it up.

Carter brought this home from school.

Laken was invited by his best friend Ryleigh to go see a movie over Thanksgiving break. He was a little nervous about going but I thought it was important for him to go since he never gets invited to do things with friends. He had a good time and I'm hopeful that now he will be invited to do more things and that she will be able to come over to do things.

Estherville has a TubaChristmas event with tubas, horse wagon rides thru town, and the opening of Santa's village. So we went to one of the local churches to watch the tubas playing Christmas songs. 

The kids were really good and quiet through it. We were complimented on their behavior by an older man next to us.

Laken even sang along quietly to a few songs.

After the tubas were done, we drove over to the library to catch the horse wagon ride. We only had to wait a few minutes for it to return then were able to get on.

After the horse ride, we hurried over to Santa's village to meet the jolly man. Carter told him that he wanted a robot dog with a remote. Laken said he wanted a monster truck and Hulk stickers.

Makai knew who Santa was and kept saying his name but would not sit on his lap and we didn't force it. Instead he just got close enough to get a candy cane.

Kaliya willingly sat on his lap but wouldn't talk and after a while we could tell she wasn't feeling comfortable anymore so we told her she could get down.

Every year we have the kids do a thankful tree. Everyday from November 1st thru Thanksgiving, we have the kids think of one thing they are thankful fore. By Thanksgiving, we have one full tree.