also recently...

November only had 5 posts.  That's an all time new low for me.  Whoops.

My house looks amazing!  Not only because of all the beautiful Christmas cheer, but husband has been working hard.  We've hung stuff on the walls, did some patching and repair and he custom-designed and built coat hooks for our entry hall.  We couldn't find anything we liked in a store so he fashioned one from baseboards, trim pieces and hooks, creating two rows along a very crooked wall.  It looks amazing.

We also spent two weekends at work in our basement.  We painted the cold storage room, installed shelves and sorted and organized mounds of boxes.  Now the storage room is neatly organized and easily accessible.  Plus, we got the makeshift guest room set up and useable.

November's Relief Society Enrichment night was a ton of fun.  We had a PJs party, dressing up with snacks and goodies.  But then we broke it into workshops on prayer, journal and scripture study, with a special emphasis on preparing ourselves and our families for missionary work.  My assignment was J and I learned a lot.  Need to work harder at applying it.

We spent an afternoon at a nicklecade for our nephew's birthday party and the girls had a blast!  E's favorite was the little motion rides, especially the carousel.  The big girls started on those too but soon learned they could earn tickets on things like whack-a-mole.

My girls are so cute and growing fast.  E talks more and more and I can't get enough of her innocent chatter.  I love when they play their version of "house", which they call "mom and dad and the darlings".  Except E says "darwings".  A has been more and more cuddly lately and eager to help ("mom, can I do a job for you?").  She's genuinely helpful and a good worker.  L is learning so much and I struggling to wrap my head around her new reading skills!  She regularly points out works she recognizes but my favorite is when she tries to write a new word, just sounding it out.

We spoke in church recently.  Actually, the week of Thanksgiving.  Our topics were tithing and gratitude (which husband immediately claimed, and joked about being the low hanging fruit, especially considering the holiday season).    I was more nervous than I expected to be but felt good about the message.  I found some beautiful, inspiring quotes I really wanted to use and got to share a story from my own family.  In the end, I was much shorter on time than planned though.  Husband's talk was amazing and so beautifully said. 

And now for this week, we get a few days of down time (and a blizzard) before we launch into our crazy weekend.  More to come.