Journey to the North Pole

We caught wind of a Groupon for a North Pole boat cruise in Coeur d'Alene. So of course, we pounced on that. We ended up being able to go with our buddies the Wagners. This was SUCH a fun activity. We waited in line, were escorted to a boat. Enjoyed some hot chocolate and listened to some fun Christmas music while we traveled to the "North Pole." When the announcement came that we had arrived, we went outside where we could see Santa in his house. After talking to us for a couple minutes, Santa read the nice list. Seth and Sariah's names were read first. Jackson kept thinking he heard his name. The anticipation was killing him. Finally Santa read, "Jackson, Clara, & Gray," near the end of the list. Jackson about died. He was both amazed and relieved. "I'm going to get presents now!" he said. We assured him he still needed to be good, but he didn't really believe us. Ha.

It was such a fun night even though it was incredibly cold. I swear, we are wimps now. But it really was like 20 degrees. Totally worth it. Jackson now reminds me often. "Grandma's house is far away. The north pole is far away, but, you have to get on a boat to get there. Right?"

November 2013

Besides what is already featured in other posts, this is what happened in November.

{First Snow}
We had our first snow on November 4th. That was a little early for me. However, Jackson was so excited when he saw it falling that he literally jumped up and down and yelled, "It's snowing!! YESSSSS! I wanted it to snow! It's snowing!" His Dad was nice and went out to play with him after work. By that time most of it had melted. They didn't mind though. Troy wrote Jackson's name in the snow and the both had lots of fun throwing snow balls at me as I stood inside our sliding glass door.

The last photo is from the second snow storm, which was just a skiff. However, since Jackson had been outfitted with all the proper snow gear since the previous snow storm, he insisted on getting all dressed up and heading out to play.

{Matching Shirts}
Gray was wearing mostly 12 month clothes when he hit 6 months of age. The problem with this is, when Jackson was in 12 month clothes, we were in 80 degree Arizona April temperatures. Thus, we had hardly any long sleeve shirts. I was Target, looking at shirts and realized that for a few short months, my boys will both be in toddler sizes and can wear matching clothes. Hooray! I have to take advantage while I can. I think matching outfits are so fun.

{Urologist Follow Up}
Gray had a follow up appointment after his surgery. It went well. And...he looked so cute checking himself out in the mirror. Also, Gray graduated to a bigger car seat in November. He is much happier and so are we. I love my little buddy. xoxo

{Smiles}

I am so grateful for these smiley kiddos I spend my days with. These last few months have been busy as far as child care goes. This trio certainly keeps me on my toes. Despite that, I've been blessed with many moments where I am overcome with gratitude for my opportunity to be a mother and to spend my time caring for these three blessings. Gray's grin, Clara's determination, Jackson's excitement. I can think of nothing I'd rather do than sit here in my living room and watch them grow.

{Date Nights}
You know, date nights really are sent from heaven. We've been able to do several trades with friends lately, (Ashley, you rock! :) and it has been awesome. We went to see the new Hunger Games movie. So good! We love, loved it. Troy even really liked it. Which is saying something. That man knows how much I love going to movies and humors me even though he'd usually rather do something else. Love him.

{Shopping Cart Buddies}
And lots of shopping cart photos. Because, I feel like a large portion of my time is spent loading/unloading, and pushing, these three babes in a shopping cart. Much of the time I am breaking up fights too. Clara loves to grab Gray's ears. Jackson likes to makes sure he has plenty of room in the cart bed. It's a party, I tell you, an absolute party.

Thanksgiving 2013

I am very grateful for the Thanksgiving holiday. It's good for me to pause and count my blessings. This was especially true this year. It has been a stressful few months for us. Having a baby, moving to a new state away from all our friends, and starting a new job all at the same time was a bit overwhelming. Add in a nice expensive car repair (before we actually had a pay check), two surgeries, and weeks and weeks of coughing (actually, I'm still coughing now-- it's been 3 months), and that was about my breaking point. That's life isn't it? Sometimes things come all at once. Everyone has stresses, I don't write all this to claim mine are worse than anyone else's, to be honest, they could be much worse. All of this is just to say, Thanksgiving was timely this year, more than ever.

I decided it was important we do a "Thankful Tree." We did a family night on gratitude the first week of the month and took turns writing down all the things we were thankful for. Jackson was sure to mention his friends. Besties from Arizona, and new ones in Spokane. I wrote extra things I was thankful in the outline of the tree. I kept the markers close to the tree and every time I thought of something to be grateful for, I jotted it down. It made such a difference to focus on the positive.

I also spent some time making some thanksgiving decorations. We don't have very many, and I had fun adding a few to our stash. Crafting makes me so happy. Also, decorating our mantle makes me very happy. I love that we finally have one!

My cute visiting teaching companion, Dena Niccolls, invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice to have somewhere to go! I figured we'd be able to hook up with some of the other residents, but most of them ended up having plans with family. Doing it on our own sounded a little lonely, so I was really grateful for the invitation. (This is something to remember later in life. I want to invite people over to our house who need somewhere to go.) We had a great time! It was so fun to visit with them. They are a great family. Jackson and Clara had a blast exploring their house. I have only two pictures from Thanksgiving. This is because it was intense at dinner time. Clara tried to take a handful out of every dish that was passed her direction. She was successful on many occasions. Nice. She was just so excited about all that food! Ha. She is my little eating buddy. Cute girl. Jackson thought we were only going to Dena's house for pie. When we told him it was time to eat dinner he said, "No thank you, I'll wait until we have pie." Ha. We convinced him to eat a little dinner and he was overjoyed when it was time for pie. :)

Spokane Staycation Week

Troy had a week off in November. We weren't sure what we should do. After exploring our options, we decided to stay home and make a staycation out of the week. I'm so glad we did that. It was so relaxing. We got some things done around the house, did a few fun things as a family, and just enjoyed each other's company. It was very refreshing break after a stressful couple months.

{The Fort}

Troy is the coolest Dad. One morning he made a massive fort in the living room for the kids. They loved it. Clara had so much fun crawling through it. Jackson decided to pretend it was a spaceship that was headed to Mars. He kept getting frustrated with Clara when she exited the spaceship during take off. "You're going to have to stay on Mars Clara! The spaceship is leaving!" Ha.

{Chunky Cheese's}
We went to Chuck E. Cheese, also known as "chunky cheese's" according to Jackson. It was fun to have Dad there with us this time. Jackson had a blast racing his Dad on the speedway game even though he could barely reach the pedal. Clara loved the rides this time. This was big for her because in the past they've terrified her. This time she laughed and clapped through them all. Gray was such a good sport during our Chunky Cheese adventures. He hung out in the stroller most of the time and watched all the action.

{Temple Date}
The cutest couple in our ward has been asking if they can watch our kids so we can go to the temple. We took them up on it. The McFarlane's came to our house, played with our kids and then put them to bed for us. When we got home they said they enjoyed and asked if they could please do it again. They are amazing! Bless their hearts. It was so nice to go to the temple together.

{Cougar Game}
We had our friends the Wagners over and watched the Cougars play. Actually, Troy watched the game (Justin had church meetings), I talked to Stephanie, and the kids played. We did have pizza. And we had a good time, despite the fact that the Cougars let Troy down. Big time. Sad day. Side note: Clara loves pizza. The first pizza picture below is of her throwing a tantrum because she wanted the pizza out of the oven. Right then! When pizza is cooking, she will stand next to the oven and say, "Mmm! Mmmmm!" Sometimes she licks the oven door. This girl loves her Papa Murphy's!