November's Photos

November in Review

November

What I'm eating/drinking: 
Coffee

What I'm wearing: 
Jeans and a hoodie. It's getting cooollllldddd.

My last Nook/iTunes/Audible purchase: 
On Audible: Gone Girl
iTunes: Rain
Nook: A Lawman's Christmas 

What I need to do today:
Pick out a stove and dishwasher for the house :)

What the kids are doing: 
Samual is reading.
Louis is adding a cotton ball to his advent calendar.
Rian is playing with Ham and Woody.

How I'm feeling:
Can't wait to be over the sicky.

What I'm listening to: 
A Storm of Swords

Words to describe this month: 
Busy

Noteworthy: 
The house is almost done!

What reading/learning did I do this month? 
Lover Eternal
Between the Lines
Getting the Pretty Back
The Casual Vacancy
Cinder
Anyone But You
The Highlander's Heart
The Night Circus

What entertainment did I watch/listen to this month? 
The girls and I finally got to watch "Magic Mike". 

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends? 
Celebrated Tera, Samual, Louis and Martin's birthday!

What gifts did I give and/or receive? 
Well the boys had their birthdays this month, and they both got a new pair of long johns to keep them warm for hunting!

What special or unusual purchases did I make? 
Well the boys got to go on their hunting trip both Sam and Lou went this year. So there were different special breakfasts that Josh had put together. 

What illnesses or health concerns did I have? 
Well four really big bottles of Ibuprofen and acetaminophen later the boys seem to be doing better. They all got whatever it is that is going around. 

What were my accomplishments this month? 
I took a CCW class. It was great to learn just a little bit more and get this much closer to a licence too. 

What were my downers this month? 
Still not where we wanted to be on house renovations, but getting closer!

What new things did I try? 
We went shopping on Black Friday. Yeah, we waited until later in the day to go but still I went to the store!

How did I do on my goals for the month?
We have been working on a few different craft projects with the boys. Also we have been doing little cooking projects too. 

Two for Twosday

Two for Twosday: two thoughts/ updates/ photos/ something that I don't want to forget or am flat out oober excited about.

1. A very dear friend told me about his cousin and her son, Easton. I have never seen such amazing strength. Though I've never met Shannon or her beautiful family, they are in my family's prayers. Today our prayer for Easton is best said by his Momma; mud puddles and ice cream.

2. Love each and every moment.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Show and Share

With three boys we are always looking for cool boy stuff to do. No pink here!

Okay so there are a ton of awesome ideas for this time of year for crafting and treats. I get a ton of ideas off of Pintreset. You can click the cute little button over to the right to follow me and the great ideas that are on there.

So there are a few that I wanted to share with you, they are both real simple and easy to do.

Santa's Beard Advent Calendar
This one my Momma sent me, I mentioned it yesterday in the Two for Twosday post. This is a very simple advent calendar that pretty much ages 2 on up could handle. There is glue involved so you do want adult help with that.

Need:
Crayons
Red or Green construction paper
Printed out Advent Santa face
Cotton balls
Glue (we've been using a glue stick and that seems to be working great)

1. Print and cut out the Santa advent calendar.  I can't find the exact one that we are using. Ours ends on the hat. If your kiddos aren't ready for numbers I added a link for the blank Santa beard.
Santa's beard advent with numbers
Santa's beard advent without numbers

2. Color that Santa!!!

3. Glue Santa onto your choice of construction paper.

4. Each day glue on a cotton ball on the number. Remember to start on 25 because we are counting down the days until Christmas, I messed that up last year. If you are doing it without numbers one cotton ball a day!

Paper Gingerbread House 

The ladies at 'We Love to Decorate for Children' put together some fun gingerbread houses that you can download! The boys see us decorating the house and they want to decorate too! We gave them some of these fun three-dimensional houses that they put together to decorate their room!

Gingerbread Houses


That my friends sums up the crafts that we have been playing with.

How do you count down the days until Christmas?!

Two for Twosday

Two for Twosday: two thoughts/ updates/ photos/ something that I don't want to forget or am flat out oober excited about.

1. I found myself in a... quiet moment. Rare these days. The thing I wanted to make sure I remember, not just for the holidays but for everyday. SLOW DOWN. Life has us going five different directions. I needed to slow down and enjoy today. Something I forget often. When I did slow down, I got so much more accomplished than trying to rush everything into the 30 minutes that I wanted to give it.

2. Nina (that's what our boys call my Mom) sent a Christmas package!!! The package had an advent calendar project, stay tuned tomorrow, and "The Polar Express". The boys and I watched "The Polar Express" last night. We absolutely had to have hot cocoa too. It felt so good to hang out with my little guys.

   After we watched the movie I gave my Momma a call to let her know the boys reactions. It really is hard to be far away from family during the holidays. My Momma being the wonderful person that she is brought up little traditions that we did as a family when I was growing up, pickle in the tree, herring fish, Christmas eve's present opening are just a few. A lot of them have been passed down for many generations. We started the elf on the shelf with the boys last year. That little guy sure can hide!

What are your traditions that you can't wait to do this season?!

Thankful 30

November's thirty days of what I am thankful for:

Day thirty I am thankful for modern day medicine. Our family has been some sicky bears. I am so thankful that I can go to the store and get medicine to make them feel a little more comfortable. Thank you acetaminophen and ibuprofen!