November

We have been using The Friend magazine to help plan our Family Home Evenings and this thankful tree idea came from it.  Each day in November we would ask the boys what they were grateful for that day and then write it on a leaf to put on this tree. They didn't have a hard time thinking of things until toward the end...there were some cute things, Bennett said "M&Ms and smarshmallows". Paxton said things like his room, his toys, and his friends, and Mom and Dad.

As you can see Bennett is grateful for cake batter...this was probably his first time licking a beater. He gets as messy as I do.

















If this mustache looks familiar, it's because Paxton, at a similar age, had some kind of minor cut on his upper lip and said he needed a bandaid. So Jared suggested to Bennett that he put one his upper lip and he was happy to do so. He is in the stage of wanting a bandaid for everything, not only because he thinks it will instantaneously cure his wound, but also because he actually does get more scrapes here and there. 

 I still remember when Paxton put this on his lip. He was totally serious and we could hardly keep a straight face.

Bennett has gotten in to more messes lately, he finds it amusing to write on himself with marker....our fault for keeping the dry erase ones accessible.  He got my makeup one day and tried to put mascara on his eyelashes, which ended up looking like a black eye.

Thanks to my folks for raking up their leaves in a big pile just for the boys to play in. They had a great time. It's fun to see such simple pleasures and remember what that's like as a kid.

Jared's sister planned a fun activity to make some Christmas gift bags for the primary children in the Philippines where their parents are serving a mission. We took some pictures and hope to see the photos of when the children there open them. I was really pleased at how all our little ones got to work and didn't even ask for any of the fun things for themselves.

Paxton has a good buddy in his cousin, they are very cute together and have the red in their hair to match.

After the gifts were put together and everyone ate dinner there was still time to play. Bennett is always up to be with other boys, he sure acts like a bigger kid all the time. My neighbor said to me recently that some days your kids can't grow up fast enough and other days they grow up too fast.  So true, most of the time I am saddened a bit at how they change and mature every day but none of us can stay small forever.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's. It's always delicious food and a nice family time. I was glad to have my cousin's kids there to play with our boys. The adults outnumbered the children this time, unlike when we visit Jared's side which is kid mania. Personally I enjoy both kinds of holidays for different reasons.