Nov Misc

Here are some miscellaneous happenings in our family from November (still slowly trying to play catch-up with my photos!).

Art Playdate

Adley's little toddler playgroup continues to meet a couple times each month. Adley and I LOVE our regular time with these friends. This month, we met at Aunt Sarah's house for an art-themed playdate. The first project we did was bubble print paintings. Ben and Saige got some awesome bubbles going for their project!

Adley, however, kept wanting to suck in rather than blow out through her straw. And, in her typical almost-2-year-old fashion, she refused to let me use the straw and blow bubbles for her! So Adley had fun with just the straw and no bubbles. :)

The second project was marble painting. Our first step was to squeeze paint onto a piece of paper inside the box. Adley got this step down pat!

Then we added marbles to the box, closed the top, and started shaking. The kids loved this part! Their pictures at the end looked great too.

Both in-between and after the art projects, the kids enjoyed simply playing outside. It was a beautiful weather day and a great overall playdate!

Little Bookworms

In the middle of the month, Cody and Jaden read their first-ever chapter book (a Magic Tree House book) independently at home. In our household, this accomplishment meant that the boys had earned the privilege of getting their own library cards. Both boys were SO proud!

Ever since getting their own library cards, Cody and Jaden have turned into quite the little bookworms! Their favorite times to read are in the morning when they get up, just after getting home from school, right after bathtime, and often anytime we're in the car too. The boys LOVE selecting their own books from the library and will eagerly devour these books when they get home. Cody's favorite books to check out are from the Captain Awesome series, while Jaden enjoys Magic Tree House. Mommy LOVES seeing her boys soak up their books!

Often when the boys lie down to read, Adley will pull her own books off the shelf and join right in. So cute!

Sibling Playtime

One day I walked up the stairs and happened to catch Jaden right in the middle of reading a story to Adley. She was listening so intently, and he was doing a great job of capturing her interest, showing her the pictures and asking her questions. It was such a precious moment!

Another day when we had stopped by the donut shop for a special treat, Cody entertained Adley by playing peek-a-boo. What a wonderful big brother! :)

Church Pics

One of the ladies who does photography for our church services is a friend of ours. Occasionally on Sunday mornings she will snap some pics of Adley after church and send them to us

Thanksgiving

At the beginning of November, I put up this "thankful tree" in our home, just like I did last year. The boys remembered it right away and immediately wanted to fill out multiple leaves that listed what they were thankful for.

Each day they added more and more thankful leaves. It was fun that they could complete this project independently this year! We loved reading what was on their little minds.

We celebrated Thanksgiving as a large family group this year by attending Trinity's morning church service and then going to Grammy and Papa's house for a Thanksgiving lunch. Everything was SOO delicious!! It was quite relaxing to put the littlest ones down for a nap and then just play games or play outside with family members. We were having so much fun with everyone that I didn't pause to take any pictures of our time together! I did snap this photo of the turkey brownies I made for the kids' dessert. 

Aunt Sarah got this photo of our family group just after church. We feel blessed to live close to this entire crew and have an opportunity to spend many holidays together!