November Highlights

It's a good thing I have pictures to remind me of some of the things we did way back in November...

*Nellie decided she wanted a haircut. At first she said she wanted it, "Cut like Aubree's." Since Aubree's hair is down to her bum, I figured Nellie didn't actually want a haircut. But, she continued to bug me for days, so I finally relented.

I do not claim to have done a good job, but it was good enough for a 3-year old.

*Aubree had a solo recital at her group violin class. Since it was the day after Halloween, they invited kids to dress up if they wanted. Normally Aubree probably wouldn't have dressed up, but she loved her costume this year and was thrilled for the extra opportunity to show it off. This picture shows about half the group violin kids. The other half performed the previous week.

*I hosted my very last pack meeting. Shortly after this pack meeting I was released as Cubmaster and called as 1st counselor in the Relief Society presidency. I'm not sorry that I won't have to plan the next Pinewood Derby. Ha!

*At date night swap the kids took advantage of the early winter darkness and had some excellent laser tag battles.

*Bryce and Thane were invited to a birthday party for their friend Tom at the nearby aquatic center. It was a wild and crazy party and they loved it.

*Nellie wore a flower girl dress my mom for Aubree when my brother Sean got married. Seeing Aubree and Nellie in the same outfit makes it clear that Nell is Aubree's mini-me!

*Finley has a special friend named Henry. In real life, Henry is a stuffed goat. In Thane and Finley life, Henry is a real and constant companion. Thane and Finley spent hours and days focusing on Henry. They sewed him clothes. The doctored his broken leg. Thane even used recycled materials to make a (very cool) toilet for Henry!

*The prize for finishing this summer's Play Unplugged was a 3 month pass to the aquatic center. We did not do a good job taking advantage of these passes! In November, shortly before they expired, we tried to squeeze in a few swim sessions. Going during the day meant we often had most of the pool to ourselves. Homeschooling has spoiled us.

*I hired Bryce and Thane to match up Tupperware with lids. It was a much bigger project then they or I expected, but hallelujah for now having matching sets!

*I took Bryce and Thane on a belated half-birthday date. They chose to go together to Habit Burger. 

Despite eating huge amounts, Thane managed to keep it all down this time around (unlike last year's unpleasant Red Robin experience).

*Nellie continues to crawl into our bed most nights between 11pm and 1am. She's quite the cuddle bug.

*We had the pleasure of attending our Aunt Deanna and Uncle Ray's 50th wedding anniversary. We are terrible about remembering to take pictures when we get together with our bonus family, but it was a wonderful evening. We have been blessed living near them and getting to know them and their family better these last 8 years (PS Can you believe we've been in Washington for 8 years now? That's the longest we've lived anywhere in our married life).

*We also got together with the Bonus Family for Thanksgiving. About an hour before dinner was ready, Graham came and asked me, "When can we go home!?" My natural inclination was to reprimand him for being rude, but instead I asked, "What's going on? Why do you want to go home?" His face fell as he responded, "My belly hurts."

Ugh! What a predicament. We were an hour drive from home. We decided to have him rest in a side room to see if that helped. When dinner was ready he ate a little bit and seemed to perk up. When the dessert came out he insisted, "My belly feels better!" so we gave him a small piece of pie.  Crisis averted it seemed. When we got home that evening, Graham admitted, "My belly didn't really feel better when I asked for dessert, but I knew that if I told you that you wouldn't let me have a treat. I think the dessert is what made me better." Little stinker!

*Aubree completed the Personal Progress program and earned her Young Womanhood Recognition medallion! At 12, as a new Beehive, she made the goal to finish the program by the time she turned 14. She didn't quite make her goal (she was two weeks "late"), but she was incredibly self-directed and motivated. She is absolutely a super-star!

Garden D'Lights

The day after Thanksgiving, our friends invited us to join them that evening at Garden D'Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It sounded like a good adventure to us!

The adventure started out rocky (my van's battery was dead and the place was PACKED because it was a free night), but ended up being a lot of fun. 

Aubree made us pizza pinwheels for dinner to eat when we arrived and, mindful of how cold we were last year in Leavenworth, we bundled everyone up to withstand bitterly cold weather. Of course, it was a surprisingly mild evening, so kids were soon shedding hats and gloves.

After seeing all the outside lights, we found a warm space to chat and check out the gingerbread houses.

Erika completely won Nellie's love and loyalty.

It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.

November Field Trips

Nothing like starting off the new year catching up on the old year...

We had a few fun field trip adventures in November. We started off the month with a visit to the King County Elections office. 

It was the week before the election deadline, so the place was hopping. 

 

And by "hopping," I mean there were lots of envelopes and temporary employees. The facility is interesting in that there is a walkway bordering all the work areas. The walkway areas are open to the public so anyone can watch the sorting and counting processes.

Our county has 100% mail-in ballots. One of the best parts of the tour was seeing thousands of envelopes fly through the counting and sorting machine.

After the Elections Office, we swung over to an Asian market for another mini-field trip. The kids found some interesting products.

 

The following week Aubree and her co-op friends, as part of their business class, had their own booth at a local craft bizarre. Each kid made products to sell. I taught Aubree how to make "noisy socks," and she spent all her spare time crocheting beads onto little girl socks.

The kids had fun selling their wares and learned a lot of good lessons. Aubree's socks didn't sell great, but some of the other kids were sold out of their items by noon!

Another Friday, while Aubree went to watch her friends swim with sharks at the aquarium (yikes!), I took the other kids and we went to a really fun indoor play place called Odyssey One. It was like a giant McDonalds play place and they had a blast.

Aubree and Bryce finished off the month with a really amazing field trip to Junior Achievement BizTown. This was another field trip in conjunction with Aubree's business class. 

 

Here's a description of BizTown I stole from their website:

"JA BizTown is an indoor center that is a mini city with up to 21 public and private businesses. Businesses within the center are sponsored by real local businesses, and display the authentic logo and the actual marketplace appearance of the sponsoring business, bringing the town to life for the students. Before visiting JA BizTown, students complete classrom curriculum where they learn basic economic principles such as free enterprise and business, how to make choices as a consumer, and how to manage their personal bank account. They also participate in job interviews, and learn about their new workplace and the job they will perform. Jobs range from retail sales professionals, accountants, business managers, medical professionals to TV and newspaper reporters. There is even a Mayor in City Hall!"

BizTown doesn't usually allow homeschoolers to participate in their program, but one of our co-op moms spent a lot of time working out arrangements and inviting the broader homeschool community. Bryce and Aubree loved every second! Aubree was assigned the job of CEO of Fox13 News. Bryce was assigned to be a Fox13 cameraman. At first he thought he wouldn't like that job, but by the end he was sure it was the best job possible. I am sure we will be back in future years.

Halloween 2018

We kicked off Halloween at our ward party. It's always a rockin' good time.

 

In the summer, Thane decided he wanted to be a gnome for Halloween. Of course, we didn't start on his costume until the day of the ward party, but, with Aubree's help, we managed to pull it off with items we had around the house.

Bryce did not have any preplanned ideas of what to be, so we scrounged in the costume bins and he decided to go as a bat.

 

Graham was adamant he wanted to be a vampire. He took his costume quite seriously and always made sure he was "in character" whenever I tried to take a picture.

 

Whenever I asked Nellie what she wanted to be for Halloween, she invariably answered, "a princess!" I tried a million other tempting suggestions, "Do you want to be a unicorn? Do you want to be an astronaut? Do you want to be any kind of animal?" But, no. She wanted to be a princess. Finally, a friend set me straight, "She's your last kid. If she wants to be a princess, let her be a princess. She will love it." So I did, and my wise friend was right; Nellie loved every princessy second!

 

After a chili cook-off dinner, my kids mostly followed Aisley around. In subsequent weeks they had fights around the dinner table about who liked Aisley the most.

Aubree helped the young women run carnival stations, then snuck off to a birthday party while the rest of the kids enjoyed a cold, but not-rainy trunk-or-treat adventure.

Perhaps more than the actual trunk-or-treating, my kids love the post-treating trading.

The next Halloween event was our FLEET Halloween party. During the second hour of co-op we invited all the classes (except the toddler/preschoolers) to the country club. Staying in their class groups, they rotated through five fun Halloween stations.

The toddler/preschool group had their own Halloween party fun!

Oh yeah, and Thane got to make skeleton treats in his cooking class.

On Halloween day, I decided to try to be festive and make a themed dinner. The kids wandered into the kitchen as I was making these mummies and we had the following conversation:

Thane: "Are those for Halloween?!"

Me: "No, they're for Christmas."

Thane: "Oh! I see! Little Santas!"

Nellie: "No! It's Mary and Joseph!"

Me: (Sarcasm is lost on children.)

Like last year, Aubree joined her co-op friends for Halloween dinner, trick-or-treating, and candy trading. 

 

This year, she got to wear her dream costume, Princess Buttercup, thanks to her Sunday School teacher generously loaning it to her.

She's got the perfect hair for the costume.

Aubree had a great time with her friends and was extra excited that Jonah was there too.

The rest of us started out trick or treating together, but when Nellie got tired I took her home to bed while Mark stayed out with the boys. They came home with tons of candy!

Thane was most interested in trading to be able to spell "s-n-i-c-k-e-r-s."

And with that, we put another great Halloween season in the books.

October Extras

*When we met up with the Franks in September, they generously brought us a box full of delicious apples. In October, we spent many days dehydrating them, and then mere moments devouring the final products.

*At one of our playdates with our friends, the Dance's (our kids have dubbed playdates with them "Dance Parties"), Aubree and Kenzie built themselves a block fort. They insisted we snap a picture.

*Our October pack meeting focused on Halloween science activities. We did this skittle project last year, but it's always fascinating.

*The boys had their Primary Program. I wish I could have videoed their singing, because it was phenomenal, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Hearing all the kids sing, "I Will Be What I Believe," was especially powerful. I volunteered to help at the primary program practice, so I had forewarning to bring tissues. To keep Nellie occupied during the practice, Aubree let her use doodle buddy on her iPod. Between that and sitting on the laps of all her favorite big kids, Nellie loved the practice. Next year though, she will officially be in primary.

*One Saturday I took Aubree to Ellensburg for an all day violin festival. We enjoyed getting to spend the day with each other and with friends, and Aubree especially liked having lunch at the college cafeteria. 

 

Oh yeah, she enjoyed playing violin too.

*Nellie didn't want to cooperate with getting her picture taken in her candy corn dress, but we managed to snag a reasonable shot.

*We went to a missionary farewell of the son of one of my good friends. Thane and Finley were inseparable.

*The boys carved the pumpkins they got from the pumpkin patch. Aubree helped Nellie paint her pumpkin.

Can you guess which boys liked the de-gutting process, and which found it disgusting?

They were all mostly pleased with the final outcomes.

*Every other week during FHE, the big kids give a report on one of the places we plan to visit on our spring road trip. One week, Nellie decided she was tired of being left out, so she got herself a paper, wrote her own "report," and told us all about how we would be visiting her cousin Cami. She was super proud of herself.

*Aubree and the other young men and young women in our ward performed a special musical number, There is Peace in Christ. This picture is from their practice before church; a lot more kids arrived by the time Sacrament Meeting started. They sounded great, and their testimonies through song were powerful.

*In preparation for a violin recital, Aubree had to practice her song introduction and bowing. Nellie didn't want to be left out, so Aubree rigged her up her own little "violin" and let Nell practice alongside her.

*Our scrappy ward volleyball team won second place in the Stake tournament, which meant we got to advance to Regional play. That's a first! Have I mentioned before how much I love volleyball?!