November

November was packed full of fun! At the beginning of the month Michael scored some awesome tickets to the Suns game last minute. He called me from work to let me know he had tickets to the game that night and I knew that since it was a school night and there was no way I could get a babysitter, he would have to take a someone else. :-( He then suggested taking Matthew and at first I was hesitant because the game didn't even start until right around Matthew's bedtime. But Michael suggested getting Matthew to nap so that he could go and enjoy it. After I hung up with Michael I sat Matthew down and asked him if he wanted to go to a basketball game with Dad that night. He wanted to so badly so I told him that he could go, but only if he took a nap. (I would've let him go even if he hadn't napped but I was trying my best to get that nap!) He hasn't napped for over two years unless he was sick so I was kind of worried he wouldn't be able to nap, but he was determined and fell asleep! Woohoo! The boys had an awesome time. 

We have a fun park here with a few kids rides (Freestone) and my friend (who holds a season pass) was able to hook me up with a good deal so I took the kids one day and they all had a blast.

These 1 year olds had us cracking up at how cute they looked:

Train ride!

We have a tradition of making a Thankful Tree. I love hearing everything the kids are thankful for.

My parents came to town in the middle of the month! The kids were dying of excitement and didn't leave them alone the whole time they were here. My mom made her delicious (and beautiful) sugar cookies and the kids were enthralled with watching them be decorated.

Those pie ones are my favorite!

My mom bought Josh a Snow White book and he loved it as much as we predicted he would. Haha!

As usual, we put my dad to work. This time I had he and Michael install a new sink. There was no point in me having a double sink and I was dying for a giant single one. I LOVE IT!!!!

Me and Michael were also able to sneak away one night for a date (my parents are always amazing about babysitting for us) and we decided to head to the shooting range so Michael could try out his new handgun. I took a shot at it (HA) as well but  I wasn't as good a shot as I was hoping. (I'm actually the best with a rifle.)

It was a fun visit!

And then... Thanksgiving! We have a fun tradition of going to Waffle House on Thanksgiving morning. I'm sure this is something that we won't be able to do every year, especially when we are out of town or when I have to host, but we were able to do it this year and it cracks me up how much the kids love it. It makes me happy too since it reminds me of our brief time in Nashville.

We went to Michael's grandparent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. He had a lot of extended family there, including some people that we don't see very much or that I'd never even met. The food was great and we enjoyed our time there. I only wish I'd taken pictures! Darn! I did, however, get a great picture of Kate's VERY cute Thanksgiving outfit-

Oh, and we decorated our tree the day after Thanksgiving. It's so magical to get to see it through my children's eyes. I buy each kid an ornament every year and here they are holding their respective ornaments. Matthew chose a ninja turtle, Kate chose Snow White, and Joshua chose Dopey.

Love love love the holiday season!

To finish off the month, I took Matthew and Kate to see Moana. They both absolutely loved it, even though the lava monster scared Kate a bit. (She got over it pretty quick!)

Halloween

I soak up every moment of the holidays with my kids at this magical age. SO FUN! It was a long and crazy day, but we all had such a blast.

I decided to throw a kid Halloween party that day. I invited over some of Matthew and Kate's best friends and told them to wear a costume if they wanted to. We played Halloween Don't Eat Pete, colored Halloween pictures, decorated Halloween cookies, and just played with toys. The kids all seemed to have fun. I'm not the best host for adult parties, but kid parties are pretty easy! :-)

Michael usually has to work super late on the last day of the month, but his work did throw a big Halloween party and invited families to come enjoy the festivities. The kids loved getting to play a few Halloween games and getting some treats at daddy's work!

And then we headed home and got ready to Trick-or-Treat! Michael was able to join us just in time for the fun.

Matthew was a ninja turtle. More specifically, Leonardo.

Kate was a bumblebee! She picked out her costume the year before right after Halloween (on clearance) and I was a little nervous that she wouldn't be interested in it anymore but she loved her costume and totally rocked it!

I had originally planned on Joshua wearing one of Matthew's old Halloween costumes (the Batman one) but then I stumbled on this apple costume and couldn't resist buying it!!! Joshua was completely obsessed with apples at the time (mostly because of the poison apple in Snow White) and got so excited when he saw the costume that there was no way I could walk out of the store without it. He even kept the hat on, which is basically a miracle.

I had Kate put on her Snow White dress so she could be a cute prop for Josh in this picture. Ha!

And one more picture of them before we took off for Trick-or-Treating. So fun! 

It was Josh's first time Trick-or-Treating and he did amazing. He got so excited every time someone put candy in his bucket. Whenever it was a lollipop (his favorite) he would immediately try to eat it. He and Kate got tired after about an hour so I brought them home (and put Josh to bed) while Matthew stayed out with Michael a while longer. All the kids got lots of candy and enjoyed every bit of the day.