November

 November started off with some good news- Ben got a new job! He was offered a position at Western Governors University and would be starting December 1st! His new job started the day our severance insurance benefit was to run out- perfect timing! It was a crazy six months getting to this point and so much stress and uncertainty and many interviews and we were all so happy and thankful that this offer came through!

We went and saw Wicked: For Good with the whole gang! I loved every second of the movie...Lila was confused a lot of the time. She kept asking where the REAL wicked witch was, and even though I kept saying THAT'S HER she kept questioning where the ACTUAL WICKED witch was. 

Our commitment to thankful leaves was a little sparse this year, but we got a decent amount on our thankful tree and called it good. 

On the 67th day of school, Lila got to have 6-7 day! What a weird year it's been!

Davis's own idea of a balanced breakfast- jam and cheese on toast! Unbeknownst to him, his beloved Unky Nate used to do that same thing!

After Davis got invited to his 3rd birthday party at get-air in just a few weeks resulted in a major meltdown from Lila, I told him she could come and I'd pay for her to jump. But one of the kids couldn't come to the party so Lila got to take their spot. Both of those younger kids had a fantastic time. 

Ben and I snuck away for a late celebration of his 40th birthday back in February. We went to San Diego for a few days and it was amazing! We stayed in a beautiful hotel right in the gaslamp district, ate at so many delicious restaurants, walked on the beach, explored a bit of Coronado, went to Old Town, and spent some time just relaxing. This trip came just two days after the job offer came which was wonderful timing. 

The only part that was a little stressful was that Chase got pneumonia while we were gone! He was so so sick! Nana took good care of him and he did okay, but I was a little stressed and sad to be away from him. It took a good 3-4 weeks before he was really back to himself. 

Davis had to "dress a turkey" for school- he came up with and executed this whole idea on his own! I love it! It's held together with scotch tape, he couldn't find a glue stick. 

We hosted the Hugos and some of their friends at our house for Thanksgiving this year. We made the entire meal for 18 people including Ben smoked a turkey (which turned out delicious). Since we needed a lot of pies, and I love pie, I had each kid choose a flavor and then the day before Thanksgiving I had a little one on one baking session with each kiddo while they made their pie! Lila chose lemon sour cream. Davis did chocolate, Hudson did apple, and Chase did key lime. I was so impressed with them! Lila did about 80% of the work herself, with my coaching. Chase did has all by himself with just a few questions. I helped Hudson a little more because we were running low on time, but he still did a lot of it! Davis got bored halfway through making the chocolate custard and told me to call him when things got more exciting. They all turned out delicious and it was a fun memory with my cute kids. 

We got a little bit of snow one Sunday morning and Davis and Lila were outside by like 8 am to play in it! It's a good thing they enjoyed it because that was all the snow we'd see for well over a month!

The day after Thanksgiving we did our annual kick off to Christmas party. I love how much the kids all love this tradition! We turn on Christmas tunes while we decorate the tree. I love hearing the kids squeal and reminisce as they pull out their ornaments. They are all still excited to get Christmas jammies and then snuggle up to watch a Christmas movie together. This is a very favorite night for all of us!