Never-Ending November

In my book it's still November until all our Christmas decorations up.  And since we just arranged the last of the Nativity sets tonight, December can officially begin for the Smith's tomorrow. And Christmas will be in full force! Our stockings are hung, our presents are wrapped, our lights are lit, and our letters to Santa have been written.  This year Clayton wants "huge" origami paper (in the real world it's called butcher paper).  Isaac wants a Lego Sopwith Camel (which, for all of you non-WWI junkies, is not an animal.  It's an airplane).  Brigham wants Beanie Boos (you've seen them.  Or, should I say, they've seen you.  They're the stuffed animals with the really big eyes! yikes!) Eliza at first wanted kids - yup, her own "real kids, not just dolls".  When that didn't pan out, she tried asking for real ponies.  She finally settled on toy ponies (i.e. "My Little Ponies").  Lydia wants Winnie the Pooh (despite my lifelong aversion). We may have overdone it with the Winnie the Pooh ride at Disney Land - but for heaven's sake! it's the only 2-year-old friendly ride on that entire side of the park and there's never a line!  We rode it again and again and again while waiting for the boys on Splash Mountain.  Anyway, Lydia was indoctrinated and there's no going back.  But, enough about that. . . 

About November. . .

November was a month of never-ending programs, projects, parties, piano recitals, and planning meetings for more projects, programs, and parties.  November was also the beginning of some cooler weather.  

At the beginning of November, Clayton performed with the elementary school choir at the Nutcracker Market downtown.  I had nice friends who watched my girls for me so I could go.   

I had fun hangin' with Clay backstage.

He's such a great kid.

I also did a teensy bit of shopping on my way out. (I bought an extremely overpriced scarf)

The Nutcracker Market is like Christmas shopping on steroids.

The boys performed at the Suzuki Piano Ribbon Festival in November.  Brigham played "Sonatina in A Major" by Beethoven and "Hungarian Folk Song" by Bartok.  Isaac played "Ecossaise" by Hummel.   And Clayton played "Sonatina in G minor" by Benda and "By the Limpid Stream" by Burgmuller.  They all did a wonderful job and received excellent remarks from the judges.

Of course, the best part of these things is always the dessert buffet at the end.  Finally some smiles!

They also performed their pieces at Asya's winter recital.  I accidently deleted the videos!!!  Gah -  So sad. . . I cried for days.  Isaac had his best performance to date.  And the other boys played equally well.

So this is all I have to document their hard work and insane amount of practicing.  It was a long day for these kids - Brig looks ready to go home.

We had Jess snap some family photos for us in our backyard. It went. . . about as well as it always does, as you can see.

Eliza and Lydia found our bag of sand toys in the garage.  They also found a few spoonfuls of leftover beach sand that entertained them for hours.  Not kidding.

They enjoyed the warmer parts of November outside - most activities work better outside I've discovered.

And the colder parts of November indoors.  Playing duets on the piano.

And dressing up with pink "hair".

Reading is still everyone's favorite pastime.  I love this picture - so glad I caught this moment.

Isaac did a pretty darn awesome research project on Berlin.

He built a time machine and traveled (via video editing) to eight different time periods in Berlin. I'll post the video later.  His acting (including his multiple German accents) is superb!

We decorated our wall with Thankfulness again this November.  It was a bit more of a scribble job but that doesn't mean we're any less thankful.

Isaac and Brigham spontaneously threw a "Clayton" pep rally because. . . well. . . he's the most awesome brother in the universe, I guess.  It just can't be denied.

A hawk has set up camp in our backyard.  He brings all his bloody, boney, feathery, and furry meals and eats them under our bush.  We spot him several times a week there.  And try our hardest to clean up all his gory leftovers. 

The kids found this gigantic spiderweb outside our back door.  The sunlight was hitting it just perfectly.  We city-dwellers have to enjoy all the wildlife we can get, right?

Isaac and Brigham reenacted the Battle of Trenton.  They set up camp (no matter that their tents were pink and looked like a princess castle) ran drills, suffered from cold, and battled it out until victory was had.

The pink castle was Eliza's cue to play too.

The boys finally relented and allowed her to play along as a "washer woman".

The sister missionaries in our ward (both from Tonga) organized a Luau - complete with a roasted pig, traditional dancing, paper lanterns, and the elders performing the Hakka.  It was a night to remember!

Eliza found a big leaf in our yard.

She is also the note-writing queen of the universe.  I gave her free reign of my stationary supply and she has been in heaven writing notes!  Here she is with a few addressed to me.

The end of November brought the beginning of the Christmas Season.  Brigham and Eliza are ready to watch the Christmas lights with their 3D glasses from grandma.

After Thanksgiving, our home exploded with Christmas decor!  Along with those boxes, also came our boxes of Christmas books - a treat we look forward to pulling out every year!

Goodbye to never-ending November and welcome to December!  Let the festivities begin!