November!

Finally the time arrived for Erik to come home from his hunting trip! Hip Hip Hooray! Hallelujah! And whatever happy exclamation one can think of!  We missed him so much.  He had a great trip.  He shot an elk, so I'm sure that made him pretty happy.  Between the four of them they got a bull and a cow-- that's a lot of meat!  We've been running really low on our elk meat too. :)

He got home at about 6:30 pm on Sunday.  And by 6:31 pm the kids were enjoying their special presents that Erik brought home.  A doll sippy cup and bottle for Anna and cool compasses for the boys.

She loves her babies!

One of the (smaller) reasons I was missing Erik was because he is our resident barber!  The boys were looking pretty shaggy.  The plan was for Erik to trim them Monday evening, but Monday morning, I thought I could just clip Jackson's wings that were sprouting by his ears, but obviously I couldn't.  I totally botched his hair, poor boy!

Seeing my kids in masks never gets old for me.

 On Tuesday for play group, we went to a nursery.  It was really fun.  We got a tour and learned about some of the exotic and interesting plants that they have.  We also enjoyed visiting their tropical birds, fish, and frogs.  A perfect play group destination!

I love leisurely trips to Costco.  After play group, we met Erik for lunch and shopping and while we were waiting for him, I let the kids look at all of the Christmas toys they have out.

As was mentioned in a previous post, I was in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner that the youth host for all ward members 60 and older.  This is one of those things where, when you're not the one charge, you don't think of all of the little nitty gritty details that are involved. Not to mention all of the food that falls to you when it doesn't get signed up for! :)  This was the third big turkey I've ever cooked.  The first was when I was pregnant with Jackson.  To be honest I brined the turkey and Erik cooked it (I was in charge of all of the sides).  We had Erin, and Kelsey and Jeremy, and my brother I believe to our Roy house for Thanksgiving.  And the turkey was raw and undercooked.  Though Erik to this day says that the turkey was "delicious and juicy" haha The second, was two years ago for this very mutual Thanksgiving dinner and I believe I just dropped off the turkey but I didn't stay (haha I can't remember one way or other).  And now this one.  I followed all instructions: I brined, I basted, I checked the temperature.  But when I carved it at the church a lot of the meat did not look fully cooked!  I don't know what my problem is, but good luck to my family this Thanksgiving is all I have to say (it will be just us at our house so I guess I need to cook the whole shebang myself).  The night itself turned out really great.  There was plenty of food and so many leaders helped clean up.  We were out of there by 8:00pm!

I came up stairs to find Anna asleep (I think on Thursday?)!  My kids never take naps.   Wyatt was my longest nap taker.  He did until about three, but Anna and Jackson both stopped at around 18 months.  It's such a sweet surprise when I get a little midday break :)

The rest of the week was busy as I prepared for a Sacrament meeting talk, started potty training Anna, took Jackson to a birthday party, went to a Stake Young Womens training meeting, and to a baptism, oh and we did a lot of good cleaning on Saturday which always feels so good.  We are really in need of a date night however . . . maybe this weekend.

And I should add that powering me through my week was my 14 hour long Christmas play list!  Yes, I am shamelessly and recklessly listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  I feel like in the heart of November though, it's just a judgement call and this year, I am definitely enjoying my holiday sounds :)

You know that really great feeling you have after your Sacrament meeting talk is over and done?  Anna's face really reflects that feeling that I had on Sunday.  Soooo happy I can be done stressing with that :)

And these pictures represent Anna in underwear!  Yay!  I've tried a couple of times before, but each time just gave up. She didn't seem that into it, but more likely I was ready or I knew we had something coming up that would make consistently potty training impossible.  But now we are doing it!  And she's doing a great job!  In fact, just now she went on her potty totally on her own!  

This girl cracks me up.

 Lots of shoes to try on! :)

And because I didn't want my cute little Anna naked on instagram (is blogger any safer??), I added some clothes with a paintbrush-like app-- it was fun and Anna thought this photo was hilarious.