And with a blink...it's all over. How could the month have gone that quickly?
We left our month of Thankfulness with a little hesitation. Of course, the month that is to come is one of our favorite of the entire year. But we all seemed to enjoy documenting our gratitude. I'm thinking Thanksgiving in June might need to become a real thing...
Twinner photography.
Allie trying to capture the moving bus.
Ryan captures the front of a pickup.
November 22:
Ryan: Mommy. Seriously, for all of the kisses I gave him every time he said me, and for as much as he claims to hate kisses, one would think he might have stopped saying me. But he didn't. Love that boy.
Allie: Ryan. Apparently, she loves him too :)
Me: Productivity. Not only was the holiday officially a week away, but the next day we were having this big fundraising carnival/festival for the twins preschool. And since our church has one, and I have lots of experience, I volunteered to help...more than I anticipated actually. I had a lot of things to cross off my list, and (with a lot of help from Lucas who kept the kiddos occupied) I was able to finish them all!
Mailboxes:
Allie is taken with a grouping...
...while this one captures Ryan's attention.
November 23:
Ryan: My Treats. The prize bags at the Preschool Festival were awesome. Filled with lots of treats - both candy and some cool little toys! My kiddos were thrilled for sure.
Allie: Ryan. She's consistent.
Me: An Awesome Fall Festival. The girl who organized it was amazing and organized and things went so smoothly. Lots of people came. Everyone had fun. Setup and cleanup were a breeze. And we raised more money than we had hoped! Way more! More than double what we were hoping to raise!
My picture of them taking a picture. It shouldn't come as a surprise that they love taking pictures of each other taking pictures...
November 24:
Ryan: Mommy. I was beat out by treats the night before, but apparently they only hold their appeal for so long :)
Allie: Mickey Gummies. These are their gummy vitamins. They had just finished a jar of Monsters U Gummy Vitamins, and picked out new Mickey Mouse gummies. Opening a new jar of gummies is very exciting.
Me: Worship Service. I lead the Children's Church program at our church. It only happens every other week because otherwise I would never get to be in the worship service. With the twins being sick the last Sunday I was supposed to have "off," and us adding an impromptu CC the time before that I was supposed to be "off," it had been a while since I had been able to be in church for the entire service. I love getting to sing all of the songs, hear the sermon, and be part of the special time of welcoming new members! I LOVE doing the Children's Ministry, but sometimes it feels good to be part of the grown up worship service!
The pictures they captured while I was taking their picture...
Allie
Ryan
November 25:
Ryan: Mommy. On this night he told me that he would be thankful for me every night for the rest of the month. Aw.
Allie: Racey & Mickey Mouse. Our fish. The twins have been trying to teach them "tricks." They are convinced their fish listen. I think the fish just tend to do the same thing when they think they are going to be fed...which is any time someone comes near their tank...
Me: Baking. Now, a smart person would use their last full day before company arrives to clean...I chose to use it making a gigantic mess. I was a bread baking fiend and pumped 11 loaves out (some to give to the teachers at the preschool, some to freeze for later). In my defense, at the time I was making the bread I didn't know for sure that company was arriving the next day...but even if it had I would have probably still done the same thing!
They were obsessed with pictures of the inside of mailboxes (the part for the papers, I did not let them open the neighbors' actual mailboxes!)
Allie
Ryan.
Once I saw these pictures large and on our screen, I was completely freaked out by the giant nest in the back corner. I'm thankful it was cold enough that we didn't disturb any stinging creatures!
November 26:
Ryan: Nana & Poppy. Nana & Poppy arrived today.
Allie: Nana & Poppy. We were all very excited.
Me: Nana & Poppy. They weren't sure until that very morning that they were going to make it down that day, but it ended up working out! They came down early so they could catch the twins' swim lessons. It was fun to have the "surprise" extra day with them!
Allie was obsessed with getting parts of signs.
November 27:
Ryan: Pie I Made. I'm glad he is proud of his accomplishments. And he did do the majority of the work for the apple pie we made for the next day. But has anyone else noticed that I lost my place?
Allie: Nana & Poppy. Another great day with the grandparents!
Me: Fun & Productive Day. We went shopping and picked up some Christmas gifts. We went shopping and picked up some much needed items to fix some things in our house. We went to the library and returned our (soon to be overdue) books and picked up the books we needed to round out our Book Advent Calendar. We cooked up a storm and put together all of the main dishes for the next day so that all I needed to do was pop them into the oven when the time came. And we played games and enjoyed some fun time with Nana & Poppy. Such a good day!
Ryan was focused on the construction site and all ofthe vehicles!
November 28:
THANKSGIVING DAY!
Ryan: Thanksgiving. He loved it all - the family visiting, the fun playing with cousins, the Curious George movie we got from the library for the cousins to watch when the grown ups were all busy, the food, the desserts...EVERYTHING.
Allie: Thankful Tree. She loves our fun activity to record our thankfuls, and seemed to really get that it all centered around the holiday. It was so fun that it really all tied together for her this year!
Me: Time with family. My brother, his wife, and a friend of their from Spain stopped in for a bit. Nana & Poppy were there, of course. And Lucas' brother, his wife, and their 2 girls came for the day. I enjoyed the time with all of them. I loved hanging out and watching football. I loved catching up on each other's lives. I loved cooking - for them and with them. I loved hearing the kids laugh together (and even scream together - as long as they were screams of delight). I loved it all. By 6:30, everyone was gone and I walked through my empty, clean house and thought, "It went to fast." It never feels like enough time...I wonder if it ever will...
Allie trying to get a picture of nature.
November 29:
Ryan: Tractor Ride. We went to pick out our Christmas tree and the farm where we go takes you out to the field to get your tree in a wagon pulled by a tractor. This was Ryan's favorite part. Unfortunately, they took us to the wrong place and where we wanted to be was so close to the main building that we didn't get to ride it back. Thankfully, we didn't realize it in the beginning and got the ride at all!
Allie: Cinderella. My theory is that she was trying to think of something and turned to see the Cinderella magnet on the fridge. Perhaps it is her Cinderella doll that she sometimes sleeps with at night. Regardless, she loves Cinderella.
Me: Tree Trimming. I think this might have been the least stressful tree year ever. I'm not sure what made the difference. We got the tree and set it up. I strung the lights and it went quickly. Then I let the twins hang up all the ornaments that weren't breakable. I even let them use the step stool so they could cover more of the tree. I only decorated the top 1/3 of the tree (with the breakable ornaments). Maybe that's why. Then, even though it was already bedtime, we put on our fireplace dvd (it makes me SO sad that the twins will never remember when we lived in the house that had a REAL fireplace) and made hot chocolate (with lots of yummy add-ins because we had marshmallows and whip cream left over from Thanksgiving and candy canes that were from Nana). We drank our hot chocolate in front of the "fire" with only our tree lights lighting the room. The perfect start to the Christmas season!
November 30:
Ryan: Mommy & Daddy. Aw.
Allie: My Family. Another Aw!
Me: Ryan & Allie. I don't know if it was because we were charting the month through our thankfuls, or if it was because the holidays are upon us, or if it was because of our busy schedule, but the month flew by. Faster than believable. And I found myself thinking, "It's gone. An entire month gone." Those moments when I become so aware of how quickly time is passing are so bittersweet. They remind me to stop. To savor. To really enjoy every moment. But they remind me that so many moments are gone, and the rest will go by more quickly than I want. I am so thankful for Ryan and Allie. For all of the joy, laughter, adventure, and love they bring to every day. Being their mommy is amazing, and I am thankful for every single moment.
And thus ends our month of Thankfulness. Hopefully, our attitude of gratitude will extend far into the month of December.
Note: I do have pictures of many of the events and adventures mentioned above, but, due to our busy schedule of late, they are still in my camera. So I will post them later. And more of Allie's pictures are featured than Ryan's because Ryan - thinking he was "sending" pictures to all of his friends, deleted most of the pictures he took...
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