November

 Here's my monthly review of pictures from the past month! 

Cold dark walk to the bus stop. This was right before the time changed!

I saw this at school when I went for parent-teacher conferences!

One morning I went on a run (to school to pick up something from the office) and I made it to school at the same time as the bus!

We thought it'd be fun to have a truck. So we bought this one. Turned out to be a disaster. So we sold it to a mechanic a week later.

Artwork by Lydia

Haleigh's class made these volcanos.

We went to a Toastmaster's potluck...and Annaliese got up in front of everyone to answer a 'Would you Rather?' question.

Off to get a Christmas tree

Little mishap on the way home from the Tree Farm.

Family outing to watch 'Elf' at the Claire Theater.

Not a fan of her sweater.

Lydia caught a cold and spent this past Sun-Wednesday sleeping on the couch. Thankfully she's feeling better and is back at school for the rest of the week!

Yes, it was a good month. Annaliese also started basketball, we celebrated her birthday (more on that in a separate post,) decorated for Christmas, and had the first snow of the season. Kyle's book was officially published on Amazon and I've learned how to keep our house warm with the wood-burning stove. 

Okay...so the tree still needs to be decorated. But we'll get there!

Maybe even a little too warm...

Grandpa and Grandma come to visit- Part 2

 Saturday afternoon several of Annaliese's birthday presents from Grandpa and Grandma were delivered so naturally, we had an impromptu birthday party and let her open her presents while they were here! She was very excited about what she received! 

We then headed out for an early dinner at Infusion Cuisine. The owner recognized us from the last time we were there (which was back in March!) and talked to the girls in Spanish the whole evening!

After dinner, we relaxed at home, the girls did Grandma's hair, and Lydia used a tape measure to measure everything (length of hair, foot size, nose length, arm length, etc)!

On Sunday, we went to church and then had my parents come over for lunch. We spent the afternoon at home enjoying yummy food and good company. Grandpa and Grandma flew home early Monday morning, so we said goodbye to them Sunday evening when the girls headed to bed.

Photo credit: Lydia

Grandpa and Grandma come to visit- Part 1

The girls had off from school for a few days last week due to Parent/Teacher Conferences and Veterans Day. It was the perfect opportunity for Grandpa and Grandma to come for a visit. 

On the first day, we headed up to Canada and checked out the Bloedel Conservatory. It's a small bird sanctuary with over 100 birds, incredible flowers, and a lot of mice!

We went to a vegan restaurant for lunch where the hamburgers were 'okay' at best and we never did figure out what they were made of! We were hoping to do some five-pin bowling after lunch, but the bowling alley didn't open until later in the evening so we headed back home. Thankfully, we had very quick border crossings!

Friday had discussed going on a hike, but Annaliese convinced us that it would be better to do that on Saturday when the sun was supposed to be shining and that we should stay indoors instead. We played some games, ate an early lunch, and then went to the local bowling alley. 

Saturday did turn out to be a much prettier day, so we packed lunches and hiked Vedder Mountain. It's a pretty steep climb, but we made it to the top in just over an hour and had spectacular views of Mt. Baker! It was still pretty chilly out, and there was snow on the ground in places.