November, November . . . a month that I feel is not super photogenic, at least until Thanksgiving dinner is on the table. But, even still, I've loaded up this post with plenty o' photos, as I usually do. I have a picture book by Cynthia Rylant that I love called 'In November' that talks about what all the animals and people do and what it looks like and how it smells during this month. It's beautiful and one of my all-time faves. It won't be as poetic as the picture book, but here's our version . . . In November:
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| 11.1.19 (Cal counts and sorts her trick-or-treat haul) |
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| 11.1.19 (and Sam does, too - see all those huge candy bars/ bags? we only went to 6 houses and only 5 of them were home!) |
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| 11.2.19 (trying out a new-to-us burger spot with Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard) |
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| 11.2.19 (Burly Burger indeed! This is "the Duke") |
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| 11.2.19 (Evy invited us to party with her for her 5th birthday at the Bounce 'n' Slide in Logan, so we headed up there after our burgers and hung out with these fun people . . .) |
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| 11.2.19 (. . . and this creepy guy who Cal was nervous about walking past to get to one of the big slides) |
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| 11.2.19 (Maggie adores her big sister and will always smile when she's around) |
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| 11.2.19 (awkward photo op) |
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| 11.2.19 (after pizza dinner at grandpa and grandma's the party continued outside with a pinata!) |
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| 11.2.19 (Evy's up first!) |
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| 11.2.19 |
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| 11.2.19 (now Bradley's turn) |
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| 11.2.19 (and Grace) |
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| 11.2.19 (and Sam) |
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| 11.2.19 |
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| 11.2.19 (and finally Cal) |
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| 11.2.19 |
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| 11.2.19 (but Shelly was the one who finally got it down!) |
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| 11.2.19 (birthday ice cream sandwich for the 5 year old!) |
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| 11.2.19 |
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| 11.3.19 (yum! dinner is goooood!) |
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| 11.3.19 (and so is dessert - we've been meaning to make caramel apples all October but didn't get to it until November!) |
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| 11.3.19 |
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| 11.3.19 |
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| 11.3.19 (making caramel apples is really just an excuse to see how many candy corn pumpkins you can stick to the outside!) |
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| 11.3.19 |
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| 11.3.19 (I loved that bright pink outline on the top of the mountains!) |
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| 11.3.19 (ready to eat!) |
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| 11.3.19 (oh lookie . . . more fall and halloween books. we read Leftover Witch aloud over the course of a week or so and both Sam and Cal liked it. I think it's cute and sweet. Only 74 pages or something, so a quick read. Ten, Pomegranate, and Bear and Dog were last minute holds that came in on Halloween and they were worth the wait. I loved them!) |
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| 11.3.19 (and some non-seasonal goodies from this week's stash. My friend hand picked the fan brothers books for me and told me I had to check them out, and they were fab! My other friend recommended Bruno and it was cute and silly. Sam is into trains so that was an obvious fave, but I liked the hands-on science experiements they had inside (which we didn't do, but may try in the future). |
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| 11.4.19 (first time voter ;) |
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| 11.5.19 (raking day!) |
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| 11.5.19 |
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| 11.5.19 |
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| 11.5.19 (I've checked out so many thanksgiving books in the past that now I know what I like and just go for my faves. These are my faves! Firefighter was new to me this year, but I had had it on hold for two years previous and never got it by Thanksgiving before, so I made sure to snag it early this time) |
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| 11.5.19 (I loved everything by Sam Kean (I've read all of his books!) and this was no exception!) |
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| 11.7.19 (isn't miss Magnolia just the cutest?) |
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| 11.7.19 (shopping at Winco and I spotted these and for some reason immediately thought of my sister Kylie, so I had to snap a pic to send her - I don't know how she feels about pickle chips, but I know she likes the flamin' hot cheetos and she loves dill pickles, so I thought the combo might appeal to her. Or maybe not . . . ) |
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| 11.7.19 (also spotted in wino - what is this world coming to?) |
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| 11.7.19 (spend $100 and get a free turkey - I cleared out this shelf in my freezer before I went shopping just for this purpose, but now what do I do with the bird?! the butter I can figure out! ;) |
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| 11.7.19 (my friend Christine recommended this one to me and I really enjoyed it. Fun to reminisce about Anne with an Anne lover, but also some touching and humorous personal stories from the author made for a nice mix and a fun book) |
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| 11.7.19 (the third in a series of sorts. I love her writing and her characters but I feel like this one was the weakest of the three (I loved Raymie and Louisiana best of all).) |
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| 11.7.19 (this easel has been rather neglected as of late, but one day Cal remembered that there was a chalkboard on the side facing into the alcove so we turned it around and she promptly set up school for her animals and dolls (and brother).) |
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| 11.8.19 (oh what a beautiful afternoon!) |
bonus video!
11.8.19
(she's still at it, and Sam was a good student)
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| 11.8.19 (the inaugural run of the new trains Grandpa inherited this week) |
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| 11.8.19 (this boy's in heaven) |
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| 11.9.19 (no real reason for this photo except I thought the shadows looked cool) |
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| 11.9.19 (lunchtime at the soccer field - we went to a Real Monarchs game and did a rare thing and bought food at the stadium, which was really pretty good and decently priced for the amount we got) |
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| 11.9.19 |
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| 11.9.19 (the Real rowdies (with the drums and the chants and the flags) came marching in a little after the game started and it felt like we were back in the RioT) |
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| 11.9.19 (Cal made sure we took advantage of the free face paint and photo booth) |
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| 11.9.19 (it was kinda fun to be at a small stadium - but I think I mostly took this pic because of the nasty brown smog in front of the mountain, ew) |
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| 11.9.19 |
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| 11.9.19 (from this view over the practice fields we could see three temples!) |
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| 11.9.19 (the game went into extra time so we wandered around to keep the kids from going too stir crazy in the stands. we ended up watching the winning corner kick goal standing right next to the corner where it was taken!) |
bonus videos!
"zip line fun"
11.9.19
(after the Monarchs game we stopped at a nearby
park for the kids to play and get some wiggles out
before we headed home for dinner - it was equipped with
THE coolest zip line toy I've ever seen. The kids lapped
this thing over and over the whole time we were there!)
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| 11.9.19 (my failed attempts to capture the color of the sky and the brightness of the moon as we drove over trappers loop) |
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| 11.9.19 |
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| 11.10.19 (Of course I'm going to pick this one up. I am feeling pretty good about myself after reading their advice for various ages and stages as far as instilling a love of reading in my kids. And it's chock full of suggestions, which is like candy to me! I love me a good book list!) |
bonus video!
11.11.19
(right as we walked up to the eagle cage it was squawking and singing
and making all kinds of a racket, but of course as soon as I turned on the camera
it was silent and still! I love how Timmy described the eagle as being "dressed"
like it had little pants on or something - haha)
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| 11.11.19 (my friend Christine and her little guy Timmy met up with us at the Ogden Nature Center for a fun morning of walking and talking and visiting the birds) |
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| 11.11.19 |
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| 11.11.19 (the observation tower is a pretty fun destination) |
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| 11.11.19 (Christine shared some of these homemade granola bars that taste exactly like the quaker granola bars so of course I had to get the recipe) |
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| 11.11.19 |
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| 11.11.19 (a beautiful day to ride bikes home from school!) |
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| 11.11.19 (I posted this on the 'Shed after our FHE on Monday night, but I saved this screen shot before I posted because the autocorrections just make me giggle (I fixed them before I posted for my family, but that doesn't always happen). I'm sharing here, too, because it explains the next two pics and I won't have to retype it all out below.) |
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| 11.11.19 (here's the poem I mentioned above) |
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| 11.11.19 (and this is a painting of my great-something grandmother Margaret McNeil) |
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| 11.12.19 (I found a list online (booklist? who me?!) of picture books about bread. I immediately put everything that our library system had on hold. These are my faves of the bunch. So fun and different! Also, listening to Gregg rereading Bread and Jam for Frances with the kids cracked me up! So funny from a parent's perspective!) |
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| 11.13.19 ("look mom, I made me!") |
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| 11.13.19 (Yes, I'm reading a cookbook for fun - this recipe sounded especially appealing to me in November) |
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| 11.13.19 (the rest of the recipe. also, who makes a pot of chili to have bubbling on the stove to snack on during the day before Thanksgiving dinner?!) |
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| 11.14.19 (this one looks yummy, too!) |
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| 11.15.19 (oh hi, Grace! Look at you writing your name! (Heather sent this to me and it just made me smile)) |
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| 11.15.19 (walked home from the trailhead on "the triangle" so had to snap a credit union update pic for my dad. landscaping in. moving along.) |
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| 11.15.19 (he fell asleep in the burley before noon! turns out he's coming down with a cold, poor guy) |
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| 11.15.19 (but look how cute he is!) |
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| 11.15.19 (I'm intrigued!) |
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| 11.15.19 (look how pretty that sky is!) |
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| 11.15.19 (what the?) |
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| 11.15.19 (plants are cool - and no, we didn't eat the tomato since it tasted like nothing) |
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| 11.15.19 (finished the cookbook - the most beautifully written and photographed and formatted cookbook I've ever read. I thought at first I'd just read the interspersed stories and skim the recipes, but I read every word of them, too! So fun! I'm a new fan of Ruth Reichl and her writing and story and this was a fun addition to what I've read before this summer) |
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| 11.16.19 (as we were driving to Logan to go to an Aggie football game, Callie mentioned that she was writing a story in the back seat. When we got to my parents' house, this is what she produced and read aloud to us. I was blown away!!) |
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| 11.16.19 (and this was even more amazing to me - she had created this word map before she started writing - I didn't even know she knew what these things were!) |
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| 11.16.19 (Grandma saved us a giant pile of leaves to jump in before we helped her move them into the garden (to decompose into the soil!)) |
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| 11.16.19 |
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| 11.16.19 |
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| 11.16.19 (game time with these fun folks!) |
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| 11.16.19 (it got pretty chilly in the 4th quarter and for some reason both kids wanted to sit on my lap - luckily they kept me cozy!) |
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| 11.16.19 |
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| 11.16.19 |
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| 11.17.19 (Callie wrote a cute note and drew this picture for her primary teacher this morning, but then she forgot to bring it to church. we'll mail it this week because I think it's a gem that he would love!) |
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| 11.17.19 (she's obsessed with the card game Monopoly Deal and this afternoon decided to sort and line up all the different cards in the deck; she also taught Sam how to play the game and we all played as a family for the first time ever!) |
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| 11.18.19 (we finished the sequel to Roz and all enjoyed it like we did the first. if you catch us speaking in a robot accent, this is the reason why) |
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| 11.19.19 (I had some Kohl's cash to use up (I got two cute new shirts! yay!) so I told Sam that we could go to the airplane museum after we went shopping. He was a great tour guide.) |
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| 11.19.19 ("that's a big wheel, mom!") |
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| 11.19.19 (one last mallow roast of the season - by light of neighbor's Christmas decor) |
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| 11.20.19 (the school is starting this monthly at-home STEM project activity, which is right up my alley, so Cal and I spent some mom and cal time on an early out wednesday designing and floating apple boats) |
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| 11.20.19 (gathering all our supplies) |
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| 11.20.19 (one of the requirements was that the boat had to have a sail. check! check! check!) |
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| Done and ready to test! |
bonus video!
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| 11.20.19 (another day, another essay from Callie) |
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| 11.21.19 (I really liked this poem from a collection Sam and I read one morning) |
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| 11.21.19 (this was the book - check it out! it's quality!) |
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| 11.21.19 (another cute poem from an otherwise sort of meh picture book Sam and I also read that morning) |
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| 11.21.19 (I mean, read it if you want, but that poem at the end was the best part) |
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| 11.21.19 (we had a friends play day at our friend Charlie's clubhouse. while we were there it started snowing and the kids ran out to play in the big fat flakes) |
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| 11.21.19 (they ran down the hill in the snow with their mouths open tying to catch snowflakes and yelling "flamingo!". I don't get it either, but they were having a blast.) |
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| 11.22.19 (we spent a cold, dreary Friday morning at the train museum with friend Charlie) |
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| 11.22.19 (this is Sam's happy place!) |
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| 11.22.19 (Callie brought home this worksheet from school and I just had to laugh at the edit she made - see if you can spot it!) |
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| 11.23.19 (none of these are actual thanksgiving books, but they all have that gratitude/sharing/saying thank you vibe that I love this time of year) |
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| 11.23.19 (a must listen while we drive to get our Christmas tree - I've always loved the story, but the narrator really makes it!) |
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| 11.23.19 (we've recently discovered there are tons of picture books in audio form on libby! we've loved listening to them on quick jaunts around town. Search for "weston woods" for an easy and extensive list of options) |
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| 11.24.19 (Brother Shaum (our old bishop and Callie's primary teacher) texted Gregg and me after he got the picture (above a few days) that she drew for him.) |
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| 11.24.19 (and his wife (who used to teach Callie with him but is now our primary president) texted me too to say thanks) |
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| 11.24.19 (I would have walked to church even though it was chilly if we didn't have a Blanchard Thanksgiving dinner to look forward to right after church) |
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| 11.24.19 (Sam drew this pic for Grandpa and Grandma B - note the fire and the smoke ("I didn't have white marker, so I used black for the smoke") and all the marshmallows on sticks in the hands of him and Gma and Gpa. I think the grass and the sky and the sun are pretty darn good, too!) |
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| 11.25.19 (It snowed and blowed and then blowed and blowed all the snow away on this day. we ended up with less than an inch total from this storm, but at least it was something?) |
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| 11.25.19 (we got a free car wash voucher in the mail to drum up business and awareness for the newly improved car wash in the valley, but the free washes were only available on certain days for certain times. We finally got over there in the last hour on the last day of the offer, in a snowstorm, no less, but Sam and I had a fun time with the rainbow soap and lights, even if the car didn't stay clean as soon as we drove out of the bay) |
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| 11.25.19 (#worthit) |
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| 11.25.19 (bonus! our car smelled like fruity soap for days afterward) |
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| 11.25.19 (we got enough snow to bury my photo shipments on the front porch that I didn't know had been delivered there. Luckily all was well inside - because some of these are gifts!) |
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| 11.26.19 (another round of fun quick listens on libby) |
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| 11.27.19 (Cal wrote this animal essay on her way to Providence - it must be her favorite place and time to write - as we drove there for Thanksgiving) |
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| 11.29.19 (Grandma Elwood sent us updates on the snowman the kids and Gregg made on Thanksgiving morning - it is looking rather flexible!) |
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| 11.29.19 (pizza and a movie, Christmas decoration style. we started watching the new Grinch movie on netflix, but Sam got scared by a barking dog and none of us were super invested in it, so we switched over to cabin building halfway through.) |
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| 11.29.19 (another update from Gma - looks like he could do the limbo!) |
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| 11.30.19 (some fun non-thanksgiving/fall reads that we enjoyed this week) |
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| 11.30.19 (and the last of the thanksgiving/late fall faves we've been enjoying this month) |
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| 11.30.19 (we had to get out of the house so we all walked to the park after lunch for a little snow time - the sun's rays were especially pretty, though not really captured here like I saw them) |
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| 11.30.19 (I spy Gregg and Cal who took a shortcut through the field while Sam and I went around on the road) |
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| 11.30.19 (love to see those seven sisters snow-covered) |
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| 11.30.19 (snow biker) |
