Compared to October, November was pretty uneventful. However, since I was taking those two classes, November meant wrapping up the semester so I stayed pretty busy.
We still found time for reading.
And we turned our Christmas lights on for the first time, and discovered that the upper gable didn't get plugged in--or something.
Brian went to Cornbelly's one last time to redeem our punches for donuts.
We said goodbye to our little pumpkins.
And Brian got to work installing the doors on our mudroom lockers. Amazingly, we missed the light and didn't need to move it! Phew!
Ta-Dah! We still have to put trim on the top, but they've been amazing!
My final projects for my architecture studio class involved designing a gazebo for a statue on the Provo City Center Grounds, so on our way to Mapleton one Sunday, we swung by the temple so I could study both the temple and the annex/visitor's center. I couldn't tell from the pictures if the towers were hexagons or octagons. They're octagons.
Gracie continued to be her
lazy cute self.
Gabe lost another tooth.
My watch liked to remind me of what terrible shape I've gotten myself into since developing A-fib. I thought it was a little rude.
We sure love these kids, and they were so patient with me and all my homework. It's tough having a tired, stressed mom, and they were so sweet about the whole thing.
The best thing about school was when I could check off all my homework assignments for the week. I rarely saw this screen (because new assignments would show up a week before they were due), so when I did, I had to record the moment!
We did all our regular living, breathing, sleeping, and teeth brushing in our beautiful home.
We also did some baking too.
Michael rediscovered the Wii and got us all involved in playing the games again. It was so fun.
I almost beat Gabe in boxing.
We planned a big service activity for December, and I created a list for ward members to get on and buy things to donate to humanitarian kits, and they started arriving in November--as well as our regular packages and Christmas packages.
Each day was a treat as Utah continued showing off with the fall colors.
Rachel got really good at making eggs.
A week before Thanksgiving, we set up our Gratitude tree.
Since I would be walking on campus to class, I got an umbrella, and I got to put it to good use several times.
Our cleaners struggle making our beds. I've taught my main person how to do it, but her helpers never got the training, so now, I only have them do Gabe and Rachels, but one time in November, I'm not sure what happened. We were very surprised when the comforter didn't get put on Rachel's bed,
and Gabe's got put on upside down. Despite the strange mistakes, I'm so grateful for these women who come and clean my house, especially with my health struggles and school stresses.
Skyler came to visit. Maybe Lea came too? Maybe it was the Sunday before Thanksgiving? I don't remember.
With the leaves thinning out, I discovered a soccer ball up in one of the trees. I wonder how long it had been up there, and how long before it fell out.
Towards the end of November, we got our first good snowfall.
Brian and I got the trees wrapped with lights just in time.
Meanwhile, each day brought another load of dishes to run in the dishwasher.
Michael buzzed his hair in October--well, his friends buzzed it for him. I got cool mom points for allowing it. It's just hair, after all, and will grow back. Look how much it had grown in November.
Rachel and Gabe both received awards for their Reflections entries. Rachel choreographed a dance, and Gabe wrote a song. Rachel received an award of merit for her choreography, and Gabe received and award of excellence, and so he got to advance to the district level.
We were very proud of both of them.
Elections in Utah were weird this year as they were held in mid-November, but Brian and I voted still; we have these stickers to prove it.
Michael spent much of his free time in the garage.
We found out that you can rent skis for the season, so as soon as we found that out, Brian took the boys to the ski shop to rent some. They start checking them out in September, so we were several months late and were lucky that they still had some for the kids. Michael decided he might need to try out mittens this year.
Brian and Michael's Indy Passes arrived, and excitement for the ski/snowboarding season started building.
The kids were so excited that they tried them out in our yard with barely a few inches of snow.
We ended November with a Thanksgiving trip and then all the Christmas set-up.
