November and Thanksgiving

 November was full of a lot of leave raking and repeated jumping for us! Davis loved playing in the leaves and we were blessed with really pleasant weather most of the month. Which meant that most mornings Davis and I were outside playing.

Davis loves rolls and pizza more than the average person. Here he was gazing into the oven at rolls that were baking, but I guess using Bei Bei as a barrier against the heat?

 Davis and I spent the best morning at the zoo one morning with our neighbors Lindsay and Will. Davis was so excited about every single thing we saw- literally shrieking with enthusiasm at every animal. I didn't get many pictures because I was just pretty consumed with enjoying my time with sweet Davis, loving life so much. That morning when I told him I was taking him to the zoo to see elephants and giraffes and he added "and dinosaurs." So close, but not quite. We did see the crocodile (it's in the background of this picture) and I think that worked for him.

 Chase got his glasses! He looks so cute in them and likes being able to actually see!

We had a fun little Thanksgiving break- it was so nice to have the boys home from school! Wednesday night we all made pies together- Ben and Chase made the apple pie and Hudson and I made the lemon pie. It was a little chaotic but both pies turned out delicious and the boys loved helping cook.

 We woke up Thanksgiving morning to snow! So much snow! It snowed on and off all weekend. The boys went out a bunch of times to play in it, shovel and just enjoy it. It made everything so cozy!

 Our little thankful tree got a little neglected this year, but we still filled it out pretty well! We'd sit down about once a week and knock out a bunch of leaves.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Hugo's house this year. Ben's cousin Sabrina joined us too, which was fun. In a turn of events that surprised no one, Davis ate only rolls (homemade by yours truly) and nothing else. I told Chase I wanted him to try at least three things at Thanksgiving dinner and he replied "oh that's easy, I'm going to try all the pies." Uh, not what I meant. He did try some of all FOUR pies though. I'm so thankful this year for family, good health, and our home. 

 The rest of the weekend was spent in the SNOW- shoveling/plowing, sledding, snowball fights, and just enjoying the beauty. Also plenty of hot chocolate was consumed.

November went by SO FAST- I couldn't even believe it was over! We are blessed- our lives aren't perfect, but they are pretty great! 

Updates on the Boys

Chase:

• After being moved to the front of the room because he couldn't see the board at school, and a few months of him complaining of not being able to read things far away I finally got him an ophthalmologist appointment. Turns out he was even more blind that I thought! Seriously- he couldn't even read the biggest letters on the screen and his vision is about 20/200!
• Consequently, the next day we made a special trip to Costco to purchase glasses for him. He looks so cute in them! He immediately was shocked at how well his eyes could finally see! We walked out of Costco and he said, "Hey, I didn't realize there was a B on the mountain!" (There's a huge B for Bountiful High on the mountainside.)
• He's working so hard in basketball. In his game last weekend his poor team was super short on players (including two of their very best players) leaving them with NO subs for the whole game. He ran his little heart out, got so many rebounds, dribbled that ball down the court with some serious concentration, and scored 6 points (the only 6 points their team scored all game). It is fun to see him grasping the game and working so hard. Even though he was so tired afterwards, he said he felt really good with his own progress and effort.
• We finally got him qualified for speech at school! He's so motivated and I think he'll be able to fix his Rs really quickly. After his first session he told me it was fun and they played games! 

Hudson

• Finished up all the required little books at school so he now gets to choose chapter books to bring home as homework. He's working through the Magic Treehouse series and is so excited about it! It's fun to see reading really connect for him.
• He's been so helpful with Davis lately. Davis started waking up really early in the mornings, so I've been ignoring him in hopes he'd go back to sleep. Well, Hudson grabs a pillow and blanket and goes in and lays on the floor next to the crib and talks to Davis! So Davis has started calling out for Hudson in the mornings when he wakes up!
• Came into my bed early one morning to snuggle with him and got to feel his baby sister kick- he's so excited to meet her!
• Talks about minecraft all day long. He plays imaginary minecraft at recess with his friends, and plays in his own imaginary minecraft world in our basement all the time. For someone who has spent very little time doing actual minecraft on a screen, he sure knows a lot about it!

 Davis

• We have a hard time saying no to him, and can you blame us? He's just SO CUTE!
• He knows all his letters now! We've been reading the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!" for months and I always point to the letters- now he points to them all and says them! I am giving myself 50% of the credit here, and the other 50% probably belongs to SuperWhy- his new favorite show. 
• I took him to the zoo last week and he was so enthusiastic and excited about every animal. We are talking squealing and shaking with excitement at everything! I'd say major highlights were the elephants, monkeys, giraffes, lions/tiger (that he insisted was a lion), and the polar bear. Also when I told him we were going to the zoo that morning to see giraffes and elephants he said, "And dinosaurs."
• No one has put him to bed in months and months besides me and Ben (mostly Ben). My parents babysat last weekend and got him to bed- he asked for us at bedtime and then reassured himself saying "Mommy and daddy be back soon" over and over again. I'm glad he's figured that out! (We do talk through that every time Ben isn't home to put him to bed, that he'll be back soon.)
• He's super into running throw piles on leaves. Even the tiniest little pile brings him lots of joy!

Halloween

 Halloween is so fun with kids this little! On Tuesday night we carved pumpkins. Davis was going nuts saying "PUMPKINS!" over and over again and making us all laugh. Hudson loved pulling out the "guts!" and had Davis belly laughing over that. The boys have very specific ideas of exactly how they wanted their pumpkins this year and it probably goes down as the most hysterical, chaotic, fun filled pumpkin carving we've done yet!

 Halloween was such a fun day! After a super busy week, I realized I literally had NOTHING on my schedule all day except Halloween fun! We started out at the parade at the school. The boys love this and Davis had so much fun watching- especially since so many kids from our neighborhood were there and so many of them went out of their way to say hi to Davis and made him feel important.

We didn't plan on doing an Avengers theme- it just kind of worked out that way! Hudson borrowed his costume from the Bacciocco's and I got Davis and Chase's at Kid to Kid back in September for super cheap. Davis is way into spiderman these days so it was perfect for him. Chase was a little reluctant about being ant man, but the day of Halloween ended up deciding it was a cool costume after all.

 I got to help in Hudson's class party. I brought a Halloween bingo game and Hudson won twice- even though I didn't rig it or anything! He said having me help with his party was a highlight of his day- I love having a first grader!

After school we trick or treated at the grandparents houses first! We hit up Ray and Diane's, and by the time we got to my parents house (a 3 minute drive tops) Davis had already eaten all three pieces of candy he'd gotten from Papa Ray! Nana and Papa had rootbeer floats for the boys, as well as candy. Davis promptly ate all that too. When my dad asked Davis if he liked candy he yelled in his deepest voice "I LOVE CANDY!" It's true. He thought the entire concept of Halloween was the best thing ever!

We ran back home for a quick chili dinner and then the boys were off to trick or treat around our neighborhood. We let Chase trick or treat with friends this year- which got a little complicated when him and Luca got separated from the group- but we recovered them quickly and Chase deemed it "the best halloween ever!" He had such a great time and stayed out for like 2 hours! Even though it was a cold night, the younger kids still lasted a good hour and 15 minutes. Ray and Brandon, Angel and their kids came to trick or treat in our neighborhood with Ben and the younger two. They had a great time, Davis enthusiastically was screaming "Trick or Treat!" and "Halloweeeeen!" and "Candy" all night long. 

We let the boys dig into their candy that night, and then the next day we pulled out a small bowl of candy to keep and took the rest to our dentist's office. They do candy buy back and the kids were actually excited to do it this year- money now means more to them than candy. Chase made $8 and Hudson made $6 which was a great haul! And the candy is donated to the local battered women's shelter to put in care packages for kids who come in there, so it goes to a great cause. 

It was such a wonderful Halloween. I know I say this after every holiday, but these little kids just make it all so fun and magical! 

October

At the first of October we had Parent Teacher Conferences. Both boys are doing awesome in school. After Chase's conference I was able to take him out on a little date (I think Ben was home with the other two...I honestly can't remember what I did with them?). We went to Twisted Sugar and I let him pick whatever cookie he wanted. Third grade has been a little tough for this kid- a few issues with mean kids and figuring out that social stuff has ben a little bit of a rough adjustment. He's doing pretty well with it though and Ben and I keep reminding ourselves that these are life lessons he's got to learn somehow- even if it is painful to watch as a parent.

 I got to chaperone Hudson's class field trip to Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake. It was a beautiful, but COLD fall morning. We had a really cute little group of kids to tour the gardens with. He's got a great little class!

 Red Butte was a project that was dear to my great-uncle's heart. My mom's aunt and uncle donated this part of the garden so I snapped a picture of Hudson with their sign.

 I am tempted to take pictures of Davis napping all the time. He just looks so peaceful and sweet. This little boy is such a blessing in so many ways, but I especially love naptime with him. We sit in his rocking chair and read a bunch of books. He laughs and laughs through most of them (he likes funny books). Then I sing to him and he snuggles into me while I sing and usually smiles at me the whole time. Then I lay him down and tuck him in and he sweetly says "sweet dreams" to me and then just slips off to sleep. It's the sweetest and I treasure it every day.

 The kids were getting ready for a Harry Potter Halloween party and Davis just HAD to be part of it for a minute. He really doesn't know was Harry Potter is, but he does like to be included!

 Chase had his fall piano recital! I'm so proud of this boy. He works so hard at the piano. Our rule is that he has to practice 30 minutes every single day. So he does. Sometimes he complains a little. Mostly he just gets it done. And he's reaping the rewards, he's come so far in just one year of piano. At his recital he played "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter- it was a hard song and it really stretched him. He did amazing! Then he did a cool duet with his teacher that I loved- it was a good 2 minutes long, which is a long song for such a young pianist!

A definite highlight of our whole month was the Harry Potter party! Our neighbors family puts it on and it was incredible! So many cool decorations (SO MANY!). We had a feast in the great hall, the kids all got sorted into houses (mine were both Gryffindor and very happy about it). They played quidditch and went to a bunch of classes. All the classes were taught by incredible people dressed up as various professors and the boys were in heaven! The attention to detail was out of this world. They did potions with Snape (who was actually our neighbor, Blaine, and Chase didn't even realize it!) They got their own Felix Felicis potion to drink. They did divination with Trelawny, repotted mandrakes with Professor Sprout and did a Care of Dragons lesson with Hagrid, got to make their own wands with Ollivander and Tonks, and finished off the whole night with a trip to HoneyDukes to fill their own little bags with candy. The boys were grinning from ear to ear all night long, it was such a special night.

 We had our primary program, which was so adorable! The boys did great. We took Nora and Anna to church with us that Sunday so their mom could rest with the new baby (Will was out of town) and so they got to go to nursery/primary with the boys too. It was cute to see all the little cousins together!

 Over fall break Nana and Papa hosted a fun pumpkin party for the grandkids! We started at a pumpkin patch (owned by Papa's farmer friend) and the kids got to pick any pumpkin they wanted. Of course, Chase and Hudson picked the biggest ones they could find. Then we went back to Nana and Papa's for chili and hot dogs (this group of kids loves hot dogs and they polished off 12 of them!), some games and sugar cookie decorating! It was such a fun night. These kids are lucky to have such fun grandparents!

 One Saturday we needed the oil changed in a car, so Ben took Chase along and they had a little date. Chase is frequently asking for more "one on one" time with us, so it was a great excuse for that. Ben took him to get Korean food and he was so proud that Chase loved it ALL! Chase wants to be just like his dad, so I was surprised. Ben went a little crazy and ordered a bunch of entrees because he "wanted it to be a good experience for Chase." I just rolled my eyes a little and mostly was happy they had a great afternoon together.

 We took this picture to announce on instagram that baby sister is on her way! We had our 20 week ultrasound and she's looking good and healthy! And definitely a girl. I don't know if we've quite wrapped our heads around having a little girl yet, but we sure are excited over here!

 Creekside put on a fun fall carnival. This is the only picture I took! There were tons of games and the boys had a great time. They loved the "lego death walk" which was walking on legos with no shoes on. I laughed because obviously that is just like walking around in our basement on any given day, but at a carnival it's that much more fun I guess!

 Chase started his basketball season! He's had two games so far and he's doing great! So much more aggressive this year, steals the ball frequently, has gotten so much better at dribbling and has made 5 baskets so far! He's on a team with Luca (not pictured), Levi and Austin again which is a win-win for everyone because the boys have so much fun, and I only have to drive to practice once every 4 weeks!

 And Davis got a haircut. We love his hair long, but it was getting ridiculous! So I took him to my friend Alison and while he hated the actually process of getting it cut, I think the result is just darling!