November in a nutshell

November was a busy month for us! Between music class, teaching swim lessons, church callings, volunteering at the school, and the day to day grind, it flew right by!


Lexi has had a hard time getting a good night's sleep the last couple of months. We took off the front of her crib a while back and put up a bed rail, but she moves so much in her sleep we think she was having a hard time getting comfortable. So we took off the bed rail and unfolded the bean bag into a semi-mattress and put that on the floor by her bed so if she rolled off, she would roll onto the bean bag. That wasn't too successful either. Marc figured out a way to put the front of the crib on like a truck bed and laid it out flat with our tray tables that I was ready to sell. We then used the beanbag as her mattress, brought out the canopy that she had as a newborn in Provo and walla, a makeshift princess bed! She loves it! We have to rotate the mattress every week and re-fluff it but its pretty comfortable and plenty of room. And the best news is that she is sleeping much better. She typically wakes up around 11:00 to go to the bathroom, but goes right back to bed and isn't crying out all night long anymore (knock on wood!)

We had a surprise snow flurry one morning with some gigantic snowflakes! It was so pretty to watch, the kids were chomping at the bit to go play in it. So we dug out all the snow clothes and let them go play.

 I'm so glad when Lexi will happily wear her brothers' old clothes! We threw in some pink boots and gloves to seal the deal.

 Tyler was determined to make a snowman, even though there was less than an inch of snow on the ground!

It took the entire backyard of snow, and several attempts to get it to stay together, but he made it work!

Bryce enjoyed racing down the slippery slide and eating the snow.

 I've really tried to get back into using coupons. I got burned out and had to take a break for awhile, but I'm determined to get back into it with more balance. I have a cash budget to use and it has made me become a lot more particular about what I'm spending on and fun to see how far we can make it go. I detest Walmart, but the fact that they price match and take competitors coupons keeps bringing me back to them. Especially since they will take Albertsons double coupons and I can use as many as I want in one transaction instead of the stupid 3 doublers per transaction rule at Albertsons. Using coupons has become so prevalent, that finding empty shelves on the "hot deals" are becoming more frequent and more frustrating. Lexi and I typically shop on Monday mornings and it's fun to have a little shopping buddy.

Thanksgiving was quiet, but nice this year. We went to my Mom & Dad's. My brother Scott & his family were there. We enjoyed visiting, stuffing ourselves with yummy food, and watching football. We remembered to bring the camera, but it got left in the van the entire time.......so no pictures. We enjoyed spending the month talking about what we are thankful for. We are so grateful for our home. Because we bought this home we've been able to put so much more money into paying off debt. We are grateful for Marc's bike (and his willingness to bike) so he can get to work each day and avoid the purchase of a second car. We are thankful for our children. It's hard to remember life without them sometimes, and the time without them was spent wishing we had them, so I guess in a way they've always been a part of our lives. The older I get, the more thankful I am for the simple things.....clothes to wear, food to eat, a warm house to live in. We are very blessed and have much to feel grateful for.

I was especially eager to listen to Christmas music this year. We have a no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving rule and as soon as we had pulled out of the driveway from Thanksgiving Dinner, I had it blaring :) We put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving this year, which is the earliest we've EVER put it up. The kids enjoyed helping and Marc patiently endured all their "helpfulness".

 Tyler won the award for best tree branch fluffer.

 Lexi got to put the star up.

 Bryce was most eager to have something to do.

 Tyler and Lexi have really enjoyed playing together. They either get along wonderfully or fight constantly, there's really no middle ground. This particular day, they were playing "doggy". Lexi has really missed her brothers when they are at school. I don't know what I'm going to do next year when they have school every day!

 We eventually got around to putting the ornaments on the tree. I have to admit, ornaments are one of my favorite traditions from Christmas. When I was a little girl, my mom would get out all of the ornaments, we'd sort them into whose ornaments were whose and line them up in the order we got them. We each received an ornament in our stocking each year, and when we got married, my mom gave us all our ornaments to take with us and start our own tree. We've tried to continue the tradition with our own kids and they're starting to get quite the collection. Lexi loves to point out her own ornaments to people that will come over.