Friday, December 3

November highlights

 the beginning of November brings us Owen's birthday! he turned 7 this year!


he had a little party with some friends and went bowling!the little guy in the orange jacket has been in Owen's class for a couple years and they are the sweetest, best friends! plus, his other friends are pretty amazing too. every time I meet with a teacher the first thing they say about Owen is that "he is everyone's best friend! if I asked each kid in class who their best friend is, they'd all say Owen!". 


he asked grandma Linda last year if she could make him a blanket like the other kids and boy did she deliver!








having a Sunday birthday could be hard, but Owen handled it like a champ!



he wanted a Frenchie cake this year. 
good thing I had Ellie's help!




the start of November marked the end of a very long fall sports season.
Owen had a great baseball season with an amazing coach that taught him so much! Charlie's soccer team made it thru two rounds of the championship, the only 5th& 6th grade team in Granville to do it! and jack's team didn't necessarily do all that great, they only won a handful of games, but Jack personally had a phenomenal season.


they had an end of season party for the high school soccer boys. at the end of the night, the coaches handed out a bunch of awards for the seniors and the varsity team. last, they gave out the Sportsmanship award and said that this player is the one that worked the hardest, both on and, more importantly, off the field, built up the team, was consistently polite and respectful, and is the kid that every coach wants on their team. and they gave it to our Jack!!!


as he walked up to get it, all the players from both teams were cheering for him and saying "yup, yup, that's jack, yup!"



I guess when you're a star soccer player in high school, its time to start shaving!




one huge highlight from November was when we had 5 of the giant, 80 foot pine trees lining our driveway cut down! we have so many more, but this is a start. these beasts have giant roots that are creating massive speed bumps in our driveway and they could potentially be messing with the foundation of our house. plus, if the wind blew hard enough, these bad boys would come down right on the house. chris has been wanting them gone since we moved in, so this was an exciting day!



we have some good friends who own a photography business. she has had Owen model in the past for her and she asked a couple weeks ago if any of the kids would be willing to help her out for some ads she was making for her holiday studio shoots. jack was on a hunting trip and Charlie had Lego Robotics Club, so Ellie and Owen said they would do it. it was done in about 15 minutes and they got to pick out a couple bottles of soda (these friends also own the soda shop in Newark that we love to visit) and she also gave us the pics she took as well. very fun!














our friends, the Little's, invited jack to go with them to their extended family's property for the youth hunt. he got a doe and two of the Little boys got deer as well, a buck and a doe. they process the meat themselves and use it, so they get as much as they can each year. jack was thrilled to go along and get a deer for them.

his first shot, his scope was blocking his view directly below his line of sight and he didn't realize there was a branch in the way hahahaha luckily it didn't spook the doe and he got another shot on her and got her. the rest of the trip they called jack, Limb Killer (and also SJJ for Skinny Jean Jack).


since mike helped jack with his first deer gutting in September, he let jack gut this deer completely on his own.


they had him over a few days later to help process the deer. he's pretty confident he could do it himself now if needed.


last but not least, November brought us Thanksgiving, one of the best days of the year!


we hosted the ward turkey bowl this year and I think we might make it a tradition! we had a great turn out and some of the wives and little kids came too. even Amy and Tyler's family came for it! we had a fire going and some hot cocoa, but it was sprinkling, so the ladies and kids ended up going inside while the guys played ball.

then all the Brower's came for the rest of the day and man, it might have been the best food we've ever had for thanksgiving!


these guys, they sure have strong genes!



Ellie loves having girl cousins! she managed to sneak home with the Seavers and we got to keep Madeline so she and Charlie could have a sleepover. 

I got this good night picture from Ellie at 11 lol!


we love living near cousins!!!

October highlights

 


we have been so lucky that jack has made some really good friends, especially on the soccer team. the boys all went back and forth about going to homecoming or not, but ultimately decided to go. 


all the families got together at Brady's house for dinner (they wanted Raising Cane's), pictures, and then they all road together in the Mckinney's party van that they call The Beast.



probably the biggest highlight of October was a visit from grandpa and grandma Browne!

we had so much fun celebrating with all things Fall! the kids took turns staying home from school so they could have a special day with grandma and grandpa. some activities included, fishing, bowling, apple picking, movies, carving pumpkins, making funny videos with filters, getting nails done by Ellie, learning new games that grandpa made up, and going to amish country (for our 17th anniversary!).


















on the days that the kids were in school and chris was at work, grandpa usually had a project he was working on. so mom and I would snuggle in our bed and watch British detective shows. it was literally the best time!
chris came in once and took these pictures and we laughed soooo hard!



while they were here, Jack had a birthday!




he asked for a chocolate cake (always the dark chocolate cake from the back of the Hershey's dark cocoa canister, its the only one!) with cream cheese frosting and homemade salted caramel between layers. very good choice!
he also asked for chicken pot pie haha



grandpa knew the perfect gift,
some fishing waders.



they went to a river that jack had been researching for a while, but didn't catch anything. ever since grandpa bart gave jack his dad's old fly fishing gear, that's all jack thinks about! definitely going to take time to get the technique down, but if anyone has the determination, it's this kid.



it was hard to say goodbye to grandma and grandpa. we never like to see them go!
the only thing that made it kinda easier was halloween!



our village celebrates Beggar's Night the Thursday before halloween every year. Since we still had the ward party to go to, we let the big kids go do their thing with their friends for beggars night. Ellie and her friends trick or treated in the Bryn Du neighborhood and made bank!!! they all dressed up in animal onesies. Ellie was a cow (so that she can also use it to dress up when chick-fil-a has their cow dress up days hahaha! smart girl!)



jack and his friends hung out and passed out candy in Park Trails neighborhood while we took Charlie and Owen around to trick or treat there with our friends from church, the Hirschi's. everyone had a great night!



we had the ward trunk or treat the next night and after playing music for an hour from the car, my battery died lol! chris used it to teach the kids how to jump start a car.


since halloween was on a Sunday this year, we kept things low key. of course we had to have mummy dogs, but I really wanted chicken tikka masala, so I made it.


then we had some friends over to frost some spooky sugar cookies. it was fun!


we had so much fun in October, it was a great month for us! but I always have moments of panic when fall sets in because it means a loooong winter is ahead. luckily, chris loves me, and we planted flower bulbs so we have something to look forward to in the spring!



we planted:
7 Peonies (various varieties)
50 Tulip bulbs (not deer resistant or we would've done more)
136 Crocus bulbs
420 Daffodil bulbs

eek! so excited!