Our November

A big highlight of November for Hudson (and mom) was that our co-op preschool is no longer at our house! He was thrilled to go to preschool at Mari's house and it's been fun for mom to have a little time two mornings a week to herself!

 We had "Friendsgiving" with our dear friends, the Bennetts. They are expecting their third boy too, so we are just a general mass of little boys running around. We made a turkey, pies and sweet potatoes and Bennetts brought delicious rolls and salad and we had a wonderful feast! Thanksgiving food is too good to only enjoy once! The boys had a blast running around together and playing and we had a great time chatting with Chad and Alyse. I had to laugh, at one point after dinner, Alyse and I were each laying on a couch, pregnant and exhausted while the men did the dishes.

 Daylight savings time has been rough around here- hence for the first time in probably three years, Hudson cuddled up on my lap and fell asleep right at the first of church! He stayed asleep the whole meeting, it was so sweet!

We had Chase's first parent teacher conference and it was great. We love Mrs. Miller, and she loves Chase. Her first question to me was, "Where did the tractor obsession come from?" He is (obviously) doing really really well in class. He's well behaved, learning a lot, and we've been able to see that growth at home. He's already acting more responsible and often responds when I ask him to do something, "I can do it, I'm in kindergarten now." He's reading well above kindergarten reading level, his handwriting and motor skills are improving every day, and he's learning so much about life and interacting with others. Chase is just an awesome kid and is thriving in school- just like we knew he would!

The day of his conference also ended up being election Tuesday, we went out to ice cream to celebrate a good conference (not the election) and had to laugh when Hudson wouldn't take his eyes off his ice cream for one second for a picture. Then we put the boys to bed and watched the results of the election roll in. The results were surprising, since almost every poll had Hillary easily winning the election, but in the end, state after state came in for Trump. We were pretty shocked. This whole election process has been ugly in America this year, worse than I can ever remember. People on both sides sharing intolerant, hateful, and close-minded comments, and social media allows it all to spread like wildfire. In the aftermath, it was a good reminder to me that 1. everyone has a reason they voted why they did- and just because the "issue" that draws them to a specific candidate doesn't appeal to everyone, doesn't mean it isn't valid. We live different lives and have different needs and we should all respect everyone, regardless of who they voted for and 2. This world just needs kindness- and really it is everywhere if we look for it. But this was a good reminder to me to be a little extra kind. There are a lot of people struggling, and they need kindness. That was kind of a tangent from our normal activities on the blog, but it's been on our minds and in our conversations a lot these last few months. Ben and I actually voted for a third party candidate for president, because we didn't feel like either major candidate represented us well. But now it's time to just pull together, support the people around us, do what we can to make our community a great place, and teach our children to be kind. 

 Chase started feeling sad that fall was almost over and we hadn't jumped in the leaves enough. So we made that happen.

 November was so warm, we played at the park with no jackets frequently! This was probably our last warm day and the boys were running around the park (at sunset) as happy as can be. It was a really fun evening. And then two days later we woke up to snow! Just a tiny amount of snow, but it was suddenly cold and definitely different! The boys wanted to play in it so badly, I let them "shovel" for just a minute before school. Luckily, right after Thanksgiving a huge snowstorm came in and covered us in a thick blanket of snow. The boys have already spent many happy hours out playing in it!

As a final part of our November, we did another thankful tree. I love doing this and helping the boys understand the spirit of gratitude. Hudson didn't quite get it this year- he mostly kept being "thankful" for things he wants, but doesn't actually have. But I feel like we are getting there!