November

We enjoyed the beautiful fall weather of November in Washington.  We went out to lots of parks before it turned to winter.  

Of course the girls thought the mud puddles were the most fun to play in! They sought them out...and when Brielle took off her shoes to splash better, Rosalyn followed! They got so dirty, I had to drive them home naked: 

Ha ha!!

After playing at a park one day, the girls sat down on this big rock to rest.  I love these two girlies and how much they love playing together! 

One Saturday, Jeff and I were asked to teach a workshop on Friendship & Communication for a Youth Conference at church.  We were honored to be asked! We spent a lot of time preparing a 50 minute presentation that was both fun and educational.  We had such a great time doing this together! 

Finally, the day came for the conference.  We were really excited. We taught 5 different workshops all day...it was tiring by the end, but lots of fun teaching with Jeff at my side! 

Part of our discussion was teaching 5 key questions they can ask anyone to start a conversation.  These were the 5 that we came up with: 

            1) Where are you from/grow up? What was it like living there?

            2) A compliment question ... "I like your shirt, where did you get it?" or "You are really good at sports, how did you learn to play so well?"

            3) What school do you go too and what is your favorite subject?

            4) What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

            5) If you could have any super power, what would it be and why? 

The kids really liked having questions to practice and use at the conference and at church dances.  We had them use the questions in a "speed friending" activity at the end.  They rotated chairs and had a short amount of time to practice each question and answer before moving on to the next person.  They had a great time with this! 

The thing I took away from the day was a renewed sense of hope for the next generation.  They were good kids.  They were smart, mature, and well behaved.  We were so impressed with these teenagers we were privileged to teach.  It made me feel really good about our future. 

Meanwhile in November, Rosalyn started making this face.  She does it all the time! She is a silly little girl! 

Brielle is going through a band-aid obsession.  She LOVES band-aids! They are expensive stickers in my opinion, but when I can find them on sale I buy her a box.  She asks to buy band-aids whenever we go to the store.  She loves to open them all and look at them. Turns out, band-aids are really hard to get un-stuck from carpet and other things! I never knew. All she wants for Christmas is a box of band-aids.  Sweet! 

We had an unusually rainy weekend one weekend before Thanksgiving and discovered that our basement was flooded a few inches.  It didn't ruin anything, but left the baseboards and a few things with some water damage and warping.  Our big, thick shag rug soaked up most of the water.  We had to dry it for a week and then got it all cleaned up.  Luckily, we are renting and our landlord had to figure out how to deal with the problem.  Turns out, he didn't fix it and our basement has since flooded multiple times since then.  But that will be a post for December and all the drama that has gone into that! 

One morning after breakfast, the girls wanted to go play outside.  They wanted to get all bundled up like the character Daniel Tiger. I thought they looked cute! 

I made an award-winning cheesecake! :) 

We went to Jeff's work party the week before Thanksgiving.  They were having a pumpkin dessert contest, so I made a pumpkin gingersnap cheesecake.  It was a hit and it won both awards for best presentation and best tasting.  Ha! Naturally, I had to make it again for our Thanksgiving dinner! 

Brielle has been having a blast at her little dance class she takes.  She loves having something that is all hers and it has been fun to watch her grow into it.  I have enjoyed having alone time with Rosalyn.  We go to a park nearby together and I love interacting with her on a personal level during that time. 

Meanwhile, I'm pregnant and growing a baby every day.  She is healthy and kicking all the time! I'm getting bigger every day, but not too uncomfortable yet.  It is amazing how different this pregnancy is from when I was pregnant with Rosalyn and my body didn't have much time to recuperate from being pregnant to being pregnant again so quick.  I was much better prepared physically this time.  I have enjoyed staying active and trying to care for two toddlers the best I can with a growing belly!