If you’re new around these parts, this monthly series is an exercise in brevity as I try (but not very hard) to summarize each day of our month in one sentence. (Also, I’ve been taking a picture of my daughter–and now my son, too–every day since they were born, and this is a GREAT place for me to share several of those photos!). Although I’ve almost always included the photo at the top of its corresponding day, the daily captions of what we did and the photos often do not match. (Just to clarify!)
Thanks to the wonderful Rebecca Jo for the post idea!
Thursday 11/1 – Ugh, this day was a struggle. Part of it was just the post-holiday blues, and part of it was just a bad mix of anxiety and hormones, but I was glad to see the back of it.
Friday 11/2 – I did a two-store run with the baby while Raven was at preschool, and later at night, Matt and I unwinded by pulling out the first season of The Office, which we haven’t watched together in years and years (brings us right back to our dating days!).
Saturday 11/3 – We (and by we, I mean mostly Matt) did quite a bit of necessary yardwork on this day, and later that night, I got called in to be the photographer at a birth, which is always such a privilege.
Sunday 11/4 – We had totally forgotten about Daylight Savings, but the day actually went quite well. Both kids miraculously slept in an hour later than normal anyway, so we just woke up feeling reasonably well-rested and like we had a lot of extra time to get stuff done before church.
Monday 11/5 – After we got the kids in bed, Matt and I sat down with our ballots and talked as much about politics in one night as I will probably talk total the rest of the year. We did get our ballots filled out and submitted, though! #doingourcivicduty
Tuesday 11/6 – Matt and I attempted to get our garage semi-under-control so we could fit our cars in there again. What actually ended up happening was that we mostly just made more of a mess going through stuff, but I guess we got rid of *some* stuff, so…progress??
Wednesday 11/7 – A pretty quiet day, especially since the kids and I didn’t leave the house at all (which is rare for us). Working on the garage the night before must have left me with some residual energy for housework though, so our place looked better than it has in quite awhile!
Thursday 11/8 – A productive day for me! I got a full photo session edited, as well as a bunch of stuff done around the house that I’ve been meaning to get around to for awhile.
Friday 11/9 – Matt unexpectedly got off work an hour early, which meant time to go on a walk as a family before it got dark (woo hoo!) as well as plenty of play time together with the kids.
Saturday 11/10 – Date night! My mom and stepdad took the kids so we could go to the temple together and then out to Leatherby’s (our favorite).
Sunday 11/11 – For the monthly get-together with my family, my mom had planned a Thanksgiving-style feast since this is the “off” year for our family (and all of us kids who are married are going with our spouse’s families). We also went out to visit Matt’s grandpa who was in the hospital (due to him having broken his hip a few days before).
Monday 11/12 – The library was closed in observance of Veteran’s Day, so rather than do our normal storytime-at-the-library routine, we took a (cold) walk instead and hung out around the house.
Tuesday 11/13 – Due to Matt’s grandpa’s fall (mentioned above), we offered to take his dog for him while he’s rehabilitating, and this was the day she was dropped off. (Note: this is the first time I have EVER lived with a dog, which has made this process…interesting). She was pretty wary of us at first, but she seemed to calm down well enough by the time we went to bed (and had seemed to take a particular liking to me, which is hilarious, as I’m the one in the house who is least enthused about having a dog in the house.)
Wednesday 11/14 – As Friendsgiving was coming up at the end of this week, we went out on our special grocery shopping trip to pick up the turkey and other fixings for it.
Thursday 11/15 – We’d all come down with a cold on Tuesday night (yaaaaaay winter, when we seemingly are sick every other week), but it had gotten noticeably worse this day, so we spent the day inside (though Matt still toughed it out and went to work).
Friday 11/16 – Still sick, but everyone seemed to be more on the mend. Raven had to miss preschool for the first time, but she wasn’t *too* put out by it since I let her watch a movie (I basically only let her have any screen time when she’s sick or I’m sick, so she loved it).
Saturday 11/17 – Held our annual Friendsgiving on this day! It was a little on the smaller side since some of our friends couldn’t make it, but the rest of us enjoyed almost 6 hours (!) of food and chatting while the older kids played together (and the babies were passed around). We were so eager to get started on the delicious feast that I didn’t even get a picture until we were totally stuffed, ha ha!
Sunday 11/18 – Overnight, all of us seemed to develop a cough on top of the cold we *thought* we were almost over, so we all stayed home from church to avoid passing the plague. We spent a lot of time resting, reading, and in quiet family play time. All in all, it was kind of exactly what we all needed to recuperate.
Monday 11/19 – An afternoon miracle–both of the kids actually took naps when they were supposed to, which left me free to squeeze in a glorious 2-hour (!) nap myself, with the dog cuddled right up napping next to me and everything.
Tuesday 11/20 – Preschool ended up being canceled, so we ended up running some errands during that time instead.
Wednesday 11/21 – Matt got off work early so we could drive down to Matt’s parents’ house to see them open up their mission call. We found out they’ll be serving an 18-month mission in Hawaii, so guess we’d better start saving so that we can go and visit them at least once while they’re there!
Thursday 11/22 – Thanksgiving Day! It was our turn to be with Matt’s family this year, so we joined most of his immediate family and their families as well as a ton of people from his extended family (on his dad’s side) for a veritable feast of food and conversation.
Friday 11/23 – Matt spent most of the day helping his grandma move into her new house, so I held down the fort at my mom and stepdad’s house with the kids (and attempted to do some online Black Friday shopping amidst all the distractions). As soon as Matt was finished at his grandma’s house, we drove back home, and I ended up squeezing in a trip to the temple right after we got the kids fed and ready for bed.
Saturday 11/24 – In the morning, we went and saw the Wreck It Ralph 2 movie for our day adventure, which was only the second time Raven had ever seen a movie in theaters (the first was to Moana). In the evening, our good friends Kayla and Sam hosted their annual game night, complete with a gourmet spread for all to enjoy. Raven had lots of fun playing with the other kids her age (and other than Mathias–who was super tired as it was past his bedtime–hardly anyone cried! A Christmas miracle!).
Sunday 11/25 – Raven’s nursery class came and joined with the rest of the Primary for singing time on this day, which was fun (and crazy for us, just because she’s getting so old). She did an excellent job staying with her teachers and listening to them, and I think she really enjoyed it. Crazy to think she’ll be in Primary all the time starting at the first of next year!
Monday 11/26 – Raven went to her first friend birthday party in the early afternoon (while I attempted (unsuccessfully, thanks to a very fussy baby) to fit in a workout while she was gone. Later in the evening, we put up the Christmas decorations for family night.
Tuesday 11/27 – The kids and I went to Walmart in the morning, where we ended up getting only one of the three things I went there to get, as well as about $15 worth of stuff I hadn’t been planning to get. #soitgoes Later that night, Matt took on bedtime duty by himself so I could go to the temple.
Wednesday 11/28 – I went to my book club this night, and it was only the second time in about a year and a half of going monthly that I hadn’t finished the book (though I had read more than half of it–the book was I Am Malala— and I definitely plan to finish it). I love having a place every month where I can go and talk about Big Life Themes with people in my community.
Thursday 11/29 – There’s something about the end of the month that always makes me particularly productive (maybe because I know I’ll soon be reporting my progress on my monthly goals!), so I got a lot done this day, including finishing up the last of the photo sessions I had at the time.
Friday 11/30 – We had a ward Christmas party this night, which we ended up helping to set up at the last minute. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–we sure love this neighborhood we’ve moved into! The people here are amazing.
