Rest of November

What I didn't fully talk about in my Italy/Greece post was what was going on at home while I was gone. Rog had me give him lessons on how to do Peyton's hair and practiced for weeks before I left. 

Before his mom got there, he worked from home as much as he could and took one day off. The kids had those days off of school because of Parent Teacher Conferences (one day for teacher prep and two days for the conferences). Erin watched the kids while he attended Peyton and Corbyn's Parent Teacher Conferences and then I believe he returned the favor for her watching Kinley and Emery while she went to Emery's conference.

I went through Rog's phone and found a few pictures from those days. Dinner at Chick-fil-A.

Headed out to go swimming at the North Clackamas Aquatic Park.

Things got a lot easier for him when his mom got here to help. She was there a week - hanging out with Logan during the day, picking up the kids from the bus stop, cooking dinner, and all that mom stuff. The kids also had that Friday off, so she had all 3 kids home that day. They went shopping to give her an idea of what they would like for Christmas from her. Then she went back when Rog was home, bought the gifts, and wrapped them.

Logan at church. 😂

This was actually her first time visiting us in Oregon. I cleaned the house really well before I left and Rog did his best to keep it clean before she got here, but I wished I had been home for her first time seeing our house. She flew back to Colorado Sunday after church.

Then Rog had one more day working from home (but with only Logan home that day) before I got home.

The next days were a blur of jet lag and grief, but also immense joy finally being home with these 4 again.

Chipotle had an Oregon Trail night, so we went to that with the Martyns. It's always nice to have an excuse not to have to make dinner, but it was especially nice that time.

Friday night we had a movie night to watch Cars 3.

I knew there was no way I could stay awake if I tried just watching the movie, so I made these Thanksgiving blocks.

And then I ended up cuddling with the kids on the love sac and falling asleep for the end of the movie. 

On Saturday morning we went to Biscuits Cafe for brunch because I needed something happy to take my mind off everything. We stopped at the Disney Store on the way home and I ran in to exchange one of the gifts Dixie had bought Logan for the big Buzz toy we knew he'd love, but that we had been hesitant about getting for him. It was Mickey's birthday and they were giving out pins. This might sound silly, but it was another tender mercy for sure. 

I'm pretty sure this was Sunday night FaceTiming with grandmas and grandpas. Love these babies even though they are all getting so big and are definitely not babies anymore.

Corbyn had to make a box about himself and present it to his class back in October. He brought it home in November and I got a picture of it then.

Thanksgiving morning we introduced the kids to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Rog's uncle had kind of recently sold his house and now is living in a trailer on some property they bought while they are building a house there. So they had Thanksgiving at one of Rog's cousin's houses and they ended up inviting us to join them at the last minute, but I had already bought all the food and was already prepping it, so we turned them down. It felt nice for it to be just our family for Thanksgiving dinner this year. 

I didn't want to skip anything, so I made everything including an appetizer, cranberry punch...

...Salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, cranberry sauce, rolls, stuffing, green bean casserole, and 2 pies. (Maybe I'll come back and link the recipes for these at some point, but I'm feeling too lazy tonight!)

I did well prepping as much as I could in advance, so Thanksgiving day actually wasn't too crazy for me. Everything (except the peach pie - I used cheap canned peaches which was a huge mistake!) turned out wonderfully and it was a nice dinner. And of course we had leftovers for days!

In between dinner and dessert (with the Yates), we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I think I killed them. 😉

On Friday the kids got to pick out toys to donate at our ward Christmas party.

That evening we went to Lowe's to buy Christmas lights for our house. The kids had the best time playing with these musical toys while we were there. Video here.

On Saturday Rog hung our lights. Peyton, Corbyn, and I helped assemble all the clips.

Rog borrowed a huge ladder from a neighbor to get up to our second level.

Thankfully he didn't die in the process!

Where's dad?!

He got them all up and then we realized that we had purchased cool white lights when we really wanted warm white lights. (Hand-to-forehead emoji.) He did a great job and they look so much better than the meager display we had last year. We'll live with the cool white for a few years and then buy what we really wanted when we can justify the expense again. After taking this picture I decided they look better with our outdoor house lights off, so those stayed off most of December. 

I usually decorate for Christmas soon after Thanksgiving if we're in town, but this year with Thanksgiving being so early, I waited until December 1st (other than these outdoor lights of course). I just wasn't ready for Christmas yet.

I had forgotten about doing a Thankful Tree being gone the first half of Thanksgiving, but Peyton insisted I make one the week of Thanksgiving and I'm glad I did. So much to be thankful for even during a tough time!

Peyton was the spotlight at school the week after Thanksgiving. She was so excited about it and did almost the whole thing herself.

Our ward Christmas party was early in the month, December 2nd, and Relief Society was in charge of it. Among other things I was in charge of making 50 biscuits for the breakfast portion. I made them a few days before and then froze them for a few days.

What a month! It was definitely one of the hardest months we've experienced as a family, but we survived and we were able to see the good that was there in spite of all the bad.