November 2011

Somewhere between sitting down to write up the summary for October 2011 and when it was time to write up November 2011's summary, I must have blinked because it felt like all of a sudden November was over!

Li'l Sis

The word I'd use to describe week 1 of November: difficult.  Difficult to watch my little girl work her way through being so miserable sick. After fighting a fever and croup all night and all morning, Li'l Sis finally fell asleep in her Daddy's recliner while watching her favorite movie "Tangled."  She snuggled under her favorite blanket, had her two favorite "girls" keep her company, and had her favorite drink close at hand.

~Resting while sick and missing school.~

Keepin' It Real

Also difficult: saying goodbye to my sister J who passed away on November 3rd; difficult to think about J's young family left to carry on without her; difficult not to question "why" our family has had so many loved ones taken by cancer in the last three years.

Even though we did end up with some good ones to choose from, it was difficult to get my family to cooperate while having our family pictures taken.  Why is having a nice family picture taken considered an act of torture by my family?  I was hoping to get our Christmas cards out before the end of the year, but well, that didn't happen and we ended up sending out "Happy New Year!" cards.  If you continue to read this entry and the one for December, you'll begin to understand why.

~Our favorites that we ultimately used for our card.~

~Others we liked and considered using on our card.~

~All family photos done by KAH.~

To wrap up week one, J-rod took me on a date to see a Blue Man Group performance.  It was the first time we'd ever seen BMG and after the week I'd had, all the laughing we did was definitely needed!

Mom's Thoughts

Week 2 in a word: grateful.  Grateful we have dental insurance to help cover the cost of the many years worth of orthodontic work our kids will have to endure.  We found out the second week of November that, as soon as possible M needs to begin the process for braces.

~Best buds: Copper and M~

This was also the week we were very grateful to have our medical insurance to help pay for the x-ray taken of C-sta to ensure the penny she swallowed was not lodged somewhere in her abdomen and would naturally exit her body.  Additionally we were grateful the penny did not in fact cause any issues and did make it out with no further problems.  We taught C-sta to say, "I am not a piggy bank!" : )

~Daddy and his li'l princess.~

~Ready for another fun day of preschool.~

Road Trip

By the end of week 2 we were grateful we could travel to L.A. (this time without incident) to be with family for the weekend.  It was yet again a long drive for such a short stay, but the kids traveled well and it was nice to be able to attend my sister J's funeral, burial, and luncheon afterwards as a family.  It was so good to see many family members and to feel the love and support of the ward and friends that have rallied around my brother-in-law and my nephew's.  I'm grateful to know there is a way for us all to be reunited again one day.

~Cousins: My nephew N with Li'l J.~

~Cousins: My niece C with C-sta.~

For the third week of November 2011, I would use the word: disbelief.  Disbelief at the realization that we only had one month to finish up the requirements for M to receive his Webelos and Arrow of Light awards for Cub Scouts.  Technically he had until his 11th birthday, January 2012, but if he wanted his awards presented in front of his pack then we only had until the Pack Meeting scheduled for December 20th.  Fabulous.  From when we found out about the tight schedule until he received his awards, it was full-speed ahead for our M.  M worked really hard, completed quite a bit through the rest of November, and was well on-track to have it all completed by 12/20 and have lots awarded to him that night.

~November '11 Pack Meeting: Flag Retirement Ceremony~

Poor Li'l J was in disbelief at finding out that he couldn't play in his last baseball game of the season that third week of November because he had strep throat!  Even though I know our boys enjoyed themselves and that it is good to participate in Fall sports, I was very glad baseball and soccer season was over!

Traditions

The fourth week I was filled with: denial.  Denial that Thanksgiving was THAT week!  With no one coming for a visit for the holiday, J-rod scheduled to work the entire week, and the boys home from school for the entire week, Thanksgiving kind of snuck up on me and I was not well prepared for it.  Sure I had bought a turkey the weekend before and had most of the shopping done for the meal, but I was not really in the mood.

Thanksgiving Day the kids and I slept in, watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, went out to lunch together, and then went to see "Arthur's Christmas"--a fun movie to watch with the kids, it kind of helped to put me in a better holiday mood.

~Fun with chalk and bikes during the Thanksgiving Break.~

Saturday after Thanksgiving J-rod had the day off and was home, so we celebrated then.  We a couple of single gals over from our ward over to share in our dinner.  Their parents and married siblings also live in our ward, but they were all out of town for the holiday and due to health issues, one of these girls was not given clearance by her doctor to travel so they stayed behind.  I wasn't aware that they spent Thanksgiving Day all on their own until one of them posted something on facebook about having had a yummy dinner at Mimi's restaurant that night. I felt so bad that I didn't know before hand!  Had I known we would have planned to do something with them on Thursday.  Anyway, we enjoyed a yummy dinner with them and then everyone enjoyed playing our Harry Potter Scene-it DVD game.  Both girls are BIG Harry Potter fans so it made the game lots of fun for all (and a bit challenging for us).

A few other fun highlights from November: I went on a girls night out to the midnight showing of "Breaking Dawn Part 1".  I went with the same friend I went to see the last midnight showing, the friend whose co-worker rents out a theater and throws a BIG party complete with food, games, prizes, and a DJ.  We had so much fun!  The following week I went to see it again with some of the gals from our Card Swap group, also lots of fun.

We wrapped up the month of November by taking our kids and some of the youth to a BYU men's basketball game.  The team came to AZ to play the team from NAU, but rather than playing in Flagstaff where NAU is located (about a 3 1/2 hour drive for us) they played in Prescott which is just under two hours away.  We had a great time and were glad we could fit that into our crazy schedule.

~Loyal, Strong, and True; Wearing the White and Blue!~