November Closer

Nov 3:  Justin went to the Garth Brooks concert with his Dad tonight.  I believe it is the same tour Justin and I went down to Portland to see back in 2015.  No question they both had a great time.

Nov 6:  Apparently Drew and Abigail have been talking about going on a “lunch date” for quite a while now.  When Abigail got home from school today Drew informed her that today was the day and no amount of persuasion or bribery could convince him to move the picnic inside.  I don’t think anyone else could get Abigail to go along with such a crazy idea.  Their picnic included Cars UNO and candy.

Nov 10:  We’ve been looking at cars for many, many months.  We’d recently decided that we’d likely get an Acura in the spring; however, after the snowstorm this past weekend Justin checked current inventory and found one in Portland that was better priced than the only one they had locally and it was the color we wanted.  So, this morning we called the dealership in Oregon and told them to get it ready for us and we’d be there in three hours to sign the paperwork.

Traffic was a bit of a bear so by the time to got into the Portland area we were all starving.  We stopped first at Pine State Biscuits for a yummy lunch.

It was good thing we got something to eat because the process at the dealership was long.  They did their best to move things along, but we wanted a few accessories included and installed tax-free (crossbars/roof rack for our cargo carrier) and the paperwork is extensive.  It was by far the easiest car buying experience ever though, just takes a long time regardless.

They shared a photo of us with our new wheels on their Facebook page.

We couldn’t pass up an opportunity for some tax-free shopping so we dropped the three girls off at the mall and the rest of us went to Costco to do some shopping.  It was a late night driving home for us, but I didn’t mind getting acquainted with my new car.  Quite the upgrade from the minivan I’ve been driving for 11 years.

Nov 12:  Today was our ward primary program.  I didn’t get any pictures of our primary participants, but I did find this little video clip from the week before while we were watching the snowstorm.  The first part of the video has absolutely nothing to do with our primary program, but I think it’s funny that Drew is asking (mind you snow is falling outside) if we are going to get out the waterslide.  Poor kid is still bummed we never got out the slip-n-slide this past summer and will bring it up every few weeks.

In case you can’t understand the kids here are their parts:

Drew:  I use my agency when I choose to be happy

Jason:  I enjoy going to church every Sunday to learn about the gospel.

Katie:  My favorite prophet is Nephi because he listened and obeyed and went and got the plates from King Laban.

They all did a great job reciting their parts by memory and singing all the songs. 

Nov 25:  Jason is participating in both choir and band this year.  Which means he needs to get to school early four days a week.  He enjoys both though and never complains about going.  Tonight the choir (consisting of both fourth and fifth graders) performed at the Tree Lighting Ceremony in downtown Snoqualmie.  It was a cold, rainy night, but I thought we should all go support him.

It was a zoo.  We were running late so I ran ahead with Jason to get him where he needed to be.  I didn’t see the rest of the family until it was all over.  I stood on the edge of the outside of the gazebo and held onto a pole while the kids sang – it gave me an ok view and kept me mostly dry.  Can you find Jason?  He’s wearing a back hood and standing in the back.

Goodness, the things we do in support of our children!

After Jason was done singing we grabbed some lukewarm hot cocoa and subpar cookies and beelined it to the car to head home. I took this fun picture of the kids playing Spot It later that night.  Abigail bought this for Katie last year for Christmas and I’d guess it’s been our most playing game of 2017.  Fun for all ages!

Nov 30:  Totally random picture, but something about it makes me happy.  We’d just had our baseboards repainted from having them removed to install hardwood in this room (over 2 months ago) so the furniture was out of place and the curtains pulled off the floor. There are library books everywhere – totally the norm.  Justin is helping Jason go over his math homework and both Drew and Katie are content reading.  It’s life – and thankfully a brief moment where nobody was getting on each other’s nerves.