A Little of This and That in November

Wow, November went by in a blink. Here's a bit of what we were up to:

Marveling . . . at the season's first snowfall. Clark was very impressed, but also confused. When I told him it was snow, he pointed to his nose. Even now, several weeks later, every time he sees snow, he points to his nose. Silly boy.

Writing . . . a guest post for What Do We Do All Day. I talked all about audiobooks and shared a few tips for how we've encouraged our kids to listen to them. You can read the entire post here.

Loving . . . my early Christmas present--a new vacuum cleaner. Seriously, I don't think a present has made me this happy in years. I remember laughing when I read Emily's Quest earlier this year and Emily refused to marry Andrew because she "felt sure he was the kind of man who would give his wife a vacuum cleaner for a Christmas present." Luckily, Mike knows the way to my heart and disregards everyone else's advice. (It's the Shark Rotator, if anyone's interested.)

Listening . . . to Christmas music on the sly. I like to think that I'm all serious about not listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but I can't deny that there were many times when I got in the car and flipped to the Christmas radio station, just to see if it was a song I liked.

Blabbing . . . with Suzanne. If you missed our first Blab, you can watch the whole thing here. We'll be chatting again in a few weeks. Let us know if you have any ideas for a future episode.

Hiking . . . with our friends, Brent and Jen. Jen and I have been planning this hike for four months. And yes, by the time we finally went, there was snow on the trail (but not much). It was a great way to spend a cold November morning. 

Suffering . . . through sleep training Clark. He turned eighteen months on Saturday, so it was past time. I don't really stress about my kids' sleep, so when Clark woke up once or twice a night, it just wasn't a big deal to me. Until one day, it was. And that night began the training. Overall, it's been very quick and painless.

Participating . . . in the #picbookaday challenge on Instagram. It's been fun to share some of my favorite picture books. Even though today is the last official day of the challenge, I will continue to share many of our current favorites, so follow along!

Freaking . . . out about Clark's ability to climb out of his crib. We tried putting him in the toddler bed and one word: DISASTER. I didn't know what we were going to do until someone made the brilliant suggestion to turn his crib around (since the back is higher than the front). That bought us a few more months of confinement, and I am so relieved.

Going . . . to the movie theater as a family. We never do this, but over the Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to take the boys to see The Good Dinosaur. (We didn't take Clark though. We're not crazy.) It was fantastic.

Meeting . . . our new niece, Sadie. Oh my goodness, holding her made me want another baby so much (but I reminded myself that the first three months don't last forever and then you have a child you are responsible for raising).

Avoiding . . . shopping. I don't love shopping at anytime of time of the year, but come November, I'm ready to just forget it completely for two months. I can't stand the lines or the parking or the crowded aisles or the stress of all the sales. I'm switching entirely to online shopping, thanks.

Spending . . . Thanksgiving with my brother and his family. We were a much smaller group than usual, and it was quite lovely. The food was delicious, and both families kept lots of leftovers.

Polishing . . . off the last of the Thanksgiving pie for breakfast.

Reading . . . fluffy Christmas novels that have absolutely no substance to them. Listening to My Life in France by Julia Child.

Guilting . . . the boys into liking Farmer Boy. Before we started reading this, I may or may not have said, "This is one of my favorite books of all time. You have to like it." Luckily, that's a book that can carry its own weight. They haven't even had to try to like it. It's just so good.

Walking . . . through the new Norman Rockwell exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. It was so good. Seeing so much of his art in one place made me really grateful that he was around to capture some really critical and important years during America's history. He's kind of the Dickens of art . . . he really knew how to tell the common but insightful moments of the everyday.
 

Decorating . . . for Christmas. There were about thirty minutes where we thought we'd lost Aaron's and Bradley's boxes of ornaments. I was going to cry. Thankfully, they were hidden in plain sight (that's what happens when you take off the lid to the Christmas tub and four sets of grabby hands try to pull things out--trust me, I gain more sympathy for my own mom every year I let my kids help with the decorating).

Mailing . . . Christmas cards. I finished addressing and stuffing them over the weekend, and they're going out today. I address all of them by hand, which I love because it gives me a chance to travel down memory lane and remember our dear friends from various periods of our life.

What were you up to this month?