"In-betweens" is probably not an appropriate name since this post contains photos from the whole month of November
except Declan's birthday and Emry's blessing. So in other words...it's long. :)
Declan sure loves Emry. He is constantly calling her "sweetheart" and stroking her cheeks.
Super dad-bathing all three kids at the same time. I'm sure I was doing something equally as productive and just took a quick break to snap the photo. ;)
One morning we had church two hours later than normal. Brennan still had to go early but the extra time allowed me to take some pictures of the kids. They aren't great but it was nice to get some nicer photos of them.
Check out that pinky, she's ready for tea parties. :)
I feel like I just barely had Tatum, just became a mom. So I sometimes still feel caught off guard when I look at a photo like this.
"You guys can make a silly face for this one"....yeah, they might need practice with the whole "silly" thing.
The individual shots weren't the most successful. Tatum is going through a bit of an awkward smile phase and also keeps putting her fists up by her face like that. Not sure what that's all about.
Emry hit the one month mark in November. And now she is almost 2 months. The time is flying by.
We went for walks and to the park as often as we could in November. I knew we were on borrowed time with the weather. We were so lucky the warmth stayed around for as long as it did but it still makes me feel so sad when I look at this picture. It already feels like an eternity ago. Winter is going to be long and painful. If anyone has any great tips on getting through winter send them my way. Please.
We loved the smiles we started getting from this little girl.
We headed to Costco for the mom's hour. The kids loved the little scavenger hunt they got to do and the samples were much appreciated. But other than that there probably wasn't much point in going. We headed to the Children's Museum afterward so it wasn't a wasted trip at all.
Tatum was SO excited to sit at one of the little tables in the mall food court. It's the little things.
This picture is proof of a great morning.
Brennan has been gone on plenty a Saturday morning lately for different young men's activities. Just documenting the glamour of my Saturdays. Not too different than any other morning only we aren't rushed to get to preschool so there is often a lot of time spent in my bed, just like this picture.
Luckily my parents are sometimes kind enough to come and spend some time with us. This time we took full advantage of the lovely November weather and headed out to a state park.
This picture is way more than a picture. It's to help me remember quite an awesome week in Brennan's life. And one I plan to never let him forget. :) One weekend he went on a campout with the scouts. He got something out of his trunk and accidentally locked his keys in the trunk. His only key. And the trunk release inside the car doesn't work. It was already dark so he waited until morning to do anything. He took a wire hanger (somehow someone had one on the campout. Couldn't tell you why haha.) and fished it between the seat panels in the backseat and was able to hook the keys with it. Crisis averted. For now.
The
next weekend he was going to the temple with the youth and was in charge of getting the food for lunch afterward. He put the drinks and chips in his trunk at the crack of dawn. And his keys. Again. There was no time to fix his mistake this time. He had to get a ride from another youth leader and then stop at the store and buy more chips and drinks. After he got home that afternoon he and my dad spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out a way to open the trunk. Somehow they did. He hasn't done it again since. But he also hasn't made an additional key! Oh Brennan.
We got to have Carly and Emma over to play one Saturday afternoon. The kids love having them over.
When Jeremy and Krystal got back Jeremy went down to the basement to check on them and found this:
Sunday afternoon naps with Grandma. :)
Chubster. Tatum has always been pretty petite. Declan was a giant. And Emry seems to be following Declan's growth pattern so far. She is one big babe.
Those first smiles are just the greatest but they sure are hard to catch.
I voted. Declan and Emry were pretty good companions. Declan thought he was pretty clever when he stuck the sticker he got on his forehead.
We had a wonderful, although chilly, play date at the park with the Hassells and some new friends, the Parrys.
More sister convos.
My brother and sister gave me a Solly wrap for my birthday. I love it! I have a Moby but have never used it much. It is just so much fabric! The Solly is just as long but much thinner and more comfortable. AND I can actually stick it in my diaper bag to take places. Emry almost always sleeps when she is in it. It has been perfect for grocery shopping, walks to the park, and teaching the young women on Sunday.
My nephew, Caden, came over to hang out one afternoon while my sister was covering a volleyball game for the newspaper. The kids were so excited to have him over. It's still weird to me that I have a nephew that can just drive himself to my house and hang out.
Another attempt to capture her grin.
The cutest picture Tatum made for Declan. She painted it the night of his birthday and it says "I hope you have a good day being three tomorrow."
They love playing with the shaving set Jennifer and Rex brought with them last time. Tatum totally looks like she knows what she is doing. Declan is obviously a little clueless.
Most of the time Emry is pretty chill doing tummy time. I suppose that means it isn't really serving its intended purpose...
Our first of many Santa encounters this season.
We went to a tree festival to check out the trees, see Santa and listen to grandma play her harp. And we spotted this awesome giant minion.
Declan hung out with the Pitchforths at the library while I zipped over to my 6 week check up. We are lucky to have good friends who help us out like this. And extra lucky because the kids all get along so well.
I love baby yawns.
As the weather has turned and we can't spend nearly as much time outside, the kitchen island has become our afternoon spot.
The kids can craft and I can clean or cook. Because lets face it, a lot of my time needs to be spent in the kitchen. It means my counter is very rarely cleared off which kind of drives me crazy but you can't have it all, right?
Poor Declan got a little bug the day before Thanksgiving. He started the day with a coughing fit that ended in him puking on every piece of bedding in our bed plus his beloved Dukey. It kind of seemed like he just choked on his snot. But then he puked up the cracker and water he had awhile later. But that was it. He was a bit clingy all day and very tired. But his appetite came back with a vengeance after a couple of hours and he was fine.
Tatum is such a helper.
We tried to enjoy the last bit of semi warm weather and headed to the Pal with grandma and papa.
I still thought it was pretty darn cold and used Emry as an excuse to hang out in the car most of the time.
I love this blurry shot of Declan jumping off.
Best buds.
This picture makes me laugh. The awkward pose, the little chicken legs.
Ugh, this day Emry would not stop puking. It was every time I put her in the car seat. On our way to drop Tatum off at preschool she projectile vomited all over herself and of course I was in a huge hurry that morning and didn't bring
anything with us. She also sneezed and had a big green loogie hanging out of her nose. She was quite a sight coming into preschool with snot and puke all over her. Mother of the year, right here.
But these smiles sure make up for it. :)
That face.
On election night we turned on the evening news which we almost never do. It put Declan right to sleep.
The poor kid stopped napping when we had Emry. He is in that awkward transition phase where going all day without a nap is really hard on him and sometimes he is an emotional wreck by dinner. But if he naps at all he stays up pretty late and often keeps Tatum up too. And if we drive any further than to pick up Tatum from preschool anytime after 10 in the morning he will inevitably fall asleep.
Out to dinner with Rex and Jennifer when they were in town.
We had a fire in November! Crazy.
The kids both love to hold Emry up on their shoulder. It really doesn't work and Emry is definitely not a fan.
We went to uptown Mt. Vernon on shop local Saturday. Mt. Vernon is kind of a charming town, I must say.
Tatum got to climb on the roof to help Brennan with the Christmas lights.
I'm pretty sure I read about 72 books a day. The worst is in the mid afternoon-it makes me SO sleepy!
And now it's December and we are counting down the days until Christmas and trying to soak up as much of the fun and magic of the season as we can.
