November in Review

So...November started out a little rocky for this cute girl.  Her behavior chart that she brings home from school should be green but it was YELLOW.  Which means she's not listening to her teacher which means consequences at home.  She brought home her report card and the only issue her teacher had was with Phoebe's inability to keep her hands to herself.  Thankfully we have YiaYia who is gifted at teaching AND encouraging so she came to save the day!  And play with the fake pirate earrings that Ryan had picked up in the after-Halloween clearance!

And while finishing Halloween, the stores have already gone straight to Christmas and here they are pretending to be abominable snowmen (think ring pops behind those teeth!).

Auntie Kate came down and we got to grab lunch and do a little shopping.  Celebrating the first holiday décor of the season together!

Our kids have an aversion to bright light!

Phoebe succeeded in staying on green the rest of the week so she got to go out to dinner and get frozen yogurt with YiaYia.  AND go have a fun "secret" outing the next day.   While we were down to one kid, we decided to make the short trek to Kokomo to visit Rural King to look at tractors!  On the way, we had a classy lunch in a fast food gas station.  Maverick was SO excited to get such a big potato chip in his bag! 

Then we were SUPER excited to find this at the store.  Who needs a tricycle when you can have a backhoe tricycle (I'm going to get in trouble for not knowing the right name for this one).

Our little guy threw a fit when it was time to go - maybe Santa will get it for him - although we just don't need another tricycle (especially one that costs $200!).

Phoebe has been very concerned about getting a specific item for Christmas.  A few months back, she saw a 37" stuffed panda bear at Costco and immediately decided she "needed" it.  It's all she talks about wanting for Christmas.  We've been concerned because Costco ran out of said Panda and we weren't sure Santa would pull through.  Phoebe's little heart is FULL of faith that Santa will figure it out.  We've even got a letter to put in Santa's mailbox this week just to make sure he knows!

Maverick goes through sleeping phases where he doesn't sleep through the night or will wake up earlier than is desirable.  Unfortunately, we have had this phase MOST of November. That means on our weekends, this little guy is up before 7:00 and has a hard time being quiet and not wake Sissy or Daddy.  We head to the playroom (after making coffee) and try to stay occupied till at least Phoebe wakes up.

As you can see from the above picture, our little guy was in much need of a haircut so last weekend after church, we headed out to get a trim (Yes, he wore a concrete truck shirt to church.  We're picking our battles with him lately and getting dressed is often a big fight).  Then we ran to Target.

We got back in the truck and were heading home when Nana called to inform us of tornado warnings in the area.  As she called, the sirens began going off and I grabbed my phone to check weather alerts.  I told Ryan to hang up the phone and low and behold, right in front of us, a tornado appeared.  I've never seen one before and NEVER want to see another.  Ryan's response after we saw it?  "Get your phone!!!"  So, I snapped this brief footage of the second tornado we saw (it's better seen if you optimize the screen). 



It was just so weird because we were in the sunshine and up ahead was just so dark. 

After the weather cleared enough for us to continue driving, we headed home, relieved to see our house in one piece.  Maverick had fallen asleep on the way so the three of us headed to the basement to wait out the storm while Ryan braved it upstairs.

Phoebe had a difficult time falling asleep that night because the wind was so loud.  She finally agreed to go upstairs and watch t.v. in our room and stayed with me till about 10:00 and finally fell asleep. First thing the next day she said, "Mommy, will there be another tornado today?"  Bless her heart.