November had gorgeous fall weather as well as cold, winter weather. We enjoyed both immensely because the fall colors were so magnificent, and because snow in November is exciting and new and not at all like snow in April. My favorite picture below is Emma being pulled on a sled by Will, over a leaf pile covered in snow. The snow came before we had finished cleaning up the leaves for the fall!
At the beginning of November we celebrated what my family calls the Outlaws Birthdays - my sister in law and Will have birthdays close together, and so we celebrated them at my parents house. The kids all flock to Will - both his own and his nieces and nephews and I found it cute that they surrounded him at cake time and present opening time. The bottom, left hand picture below shows all of the cousins, with a little decorated pumpkin to represent the missing cousin Hayden who lives in Florida. It was one of the kids ideas, as Hayden's parents had bought her that pumpkin when they visited the month prior, but they left it behind as they didn't think the airline would appreciate bringing along a pumpkin. It's such a happy occasion when all the cousins are together!
We kicked off the holiday season the week before Thanksgiving with a visit to a gingerbread train at a local hotel in our town. We met friends there and had a lovely morning. In the top, right hand picture below is our annual visit with my oldest friend who comes to town from Chicago each Thanksgiving with her family. She got to meet Opal for the first time which was sweet and my kids got to play with her kids which was special - despite the fact that I think my kids may have traumatized her kids by convincing them to put on a hastily choreographed show for the parents in our basement.
We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house this year, and although it was a small gathering by my large family standards, it was still a lovely day. My aunt came to town for it, and brought crafts for my kids which made for some great memories, especially since she did the crafts with them.
Thanksgiving weekend is when we usually put up our Christmas Tree. Will and I pride ourselves on our efficiency with our pre-lit tree and only two boxes total of decorations. But, the saying goes, pride comes before the fall, and although Liz of Christmas Past had thoughtfully put a note on one of the decoration boxes telling us that we needed white Christmas lights, we didn't notice the note until after everything was out and ready to decorate and the top third of our pre-lit Christmas tree would not light up. We bought the lights the following day and resumed our decorating.
This was Opal's first Christmas Tree experience, and she fortunately has handled the tree better than I thought she would. We only put baby-friendly ornaments within her reach, and we also secured the tree by surrounding it on two sides with walls, and a third side by a couch leaving only one access point for her, and hopefully decreasing the chance of her knocking the tree over.
Once the tree was up, it did add a nice ambiance to our home and the kids enjoyed doing school by it's twinkly lights in the mornings. Here we are below, 'doing school' as we call it. Sometimes on the couch, sometimes on the kitchen floor while I cook (and in the below photo, Violet helps cook), and most of the time at the table. We have a small kids desk in the living room that Emma or Violet will use sometimes, and if Emma is extra wiggly, I have her stand on a balance board while she works as seen in the bottom, right hand picture below. Opal loves eating paper, and instead of Emma having the excuse that the dog ate her homework, she had the excuse one day that her sister ate her homework. See photo evidence below.
The top two photos below depict Emma in one picture fixing our dishwasher, and in another picture asking Will how the vacuum works. It is very interesting to see her curiosity about how things work. She definitely takes after Will in this and I'm always happy to see Will and Emma share this common interest and ability.
The other photos above depict Emma and Violet each reading a poem at our weekly Poetry Tea Time. It seems our favorite rhymes are Limericks and if you look at the one pictured in the photo above, almost any variation can be made in this style and it gives us funny games to play while on a walk or waiting at an appointment or on errands. The below photos in clockwise order from top left are: Lucy and Emma with their piano teacher during their piano lesson, Violet at dance class, Emma and Lucy with their art teacher, Lucy enjoying an end of semester treat at the end of art class, Violet in her dance class, and Violet and Opal reading books together while we wait for Lucy and Emma to finish their piano lesson.
Pictured below are drawings for a "create a coloring page" contest that their yoga teacher encouraged them to enter, with the theme of yoga. Violet drew flowers, Emma artfully made the word Yoga to be colored in, and Lucy made a mandala to be colored in. I'm assuming as we haven't heard back from the contest that they didn't win, but it still made for a nice project for them to tie in their knowledge of yoga and their love of art.
One of my favorite things to do with my kids is read them stories - from picture books to beloved chapter books from my childhood and new discoveries as well. It's easiest to do this when I am feeding Opal, otherwise the sisters take turns playing with Opal on the floor while I read aloud to them. In the photos below in clockwise order from top left: the girls snuggled on the couch watching a movie, Violet being goofy with a pair of fashion glasses, Lucy displaying some embroidery she created, Emma and Violet making markers from a Marker Making Kit they got last Christmas, and finally, all four girls enjoying their time with our babysitter who was home from college over Thanksgiving break.
The girls love making art, and I happily caught them coloring the same page in utter peace and harmony and took the risk of drawing attention to them in order to take a photo. Usually, once attention has been drawn to this rare and peaceful encounter, the spell is usually broken.
While Lucy and Emma were in their art class this past month, Violet, Opal and I would go to the library just a few blocks away, as well as the fruit market for a fun and bonding early morning samples circuit that we looked forward to each Friday. We've learned through experience that the best samples are out in the morning, and almost nonexistent in the afternoon. Now that Lucy and Emma's art class is over for the semester, we are missing our delicious samples routine. The lefthand photo below shows Violet using a chair to get what she needs off of a library shelf while I feed Opal. Usually I have to wake Opal up for the day to take the kids to art class, and I always wait until the very last moment as I hate to wake a sleeping baby, especially when my babies sleep so badly. But, waiting until the last moment means no time for feeding her, and so after dropping the kids off at art class, we go to the library first so that I can feed Opal while Violet browses the books and videos. Once Opal is happy, we make our way to the "sample store" as Violet calls it. The bottom, right hand picture below shows all three older girls at a newly decorated part of the library, done in a Alice in Wonderland theme that is really beautiful.
It's tough having to get Opal's winter coat on for each trip out, and it's tough to coordinate her nap schedule for the various classes and appointments that we have. We find a way though, and for the most part, Opal rolls with it. Here we are below at the doctor's office, and in the bottom pictures, Opal for the first time in the fort the kids always build at the Chiropractor's office.
Other fun places we ventured this past month included my brother's house for dinner, a friend's grand opening of her new bakery complete with face painting, and me out on the town one night with a friend.
I taught Lucy how to sew this past month, and I think I can officially say she is as good as me now, and very soon will be much, much better. The project that she learned all of the steps of sewing was making herbal eye masks - from pattern making and cutting, pinning, sewing, stuffing and packaging. She is selling them, and has received great reviews so far. It is a project that we work on together, so it has been both challenging to find the time to do this with her, but also very rewarding to have this special time with her. We work well together, I must say and I look forward to many more projects with her!
My bees are still alive as of this past month, which is better than I can say some years have been! We made lots of comfort food meals at home this past month too, and my favorites included homemade chicken noodle soup in my pressure cooker with homemade biscuits. There is nothing I like more than homemade soup with fresh, warm biscuits. Winter has it's perks!
For the most part, I do not mind the colder weather. Besides the difficulties of getting Opal into a snowsuit to go anywhere and her resulting crankiness at being confined in what must feel like a baby straight jacket, I do enjoy winter walks, watching snow fall, reasons to drink tea and hot chocolate and all of the comfort foods like stews, soups and roasts that just aren't as appetizing in warmer weather. I like to be cozy in the house after a crisp winter walk or upon returning home from errands, and I like planning my garden and flowers with anticipation of the spring. As I write this, we still have about three months of cold weather before us, and if Will is correct, I always embrace each season with excitement but by the end of it, I am a whining mess. It's a good thing I live where there are four seasons, as my attention span may not appreciate otherwise!
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