it is November....

It blows me away that it is November already. Even more that it is 9 days into the month already.
My house is filled with more joy as the days progress.
The noises are more of playing together than against.
The boys have been creating structures/forts out of cardboard. The noises that fill my house are of kids playing house, being superheros, animal rescuers, construction workers, etc. The boys get lost in imaginative play and I love it. Currently my extra pumpkins are being used as 'Christmas gifts' under a pretend tree as they were playing Christmas today.
B is a joy. She has her stubborn, frustrating moments as any toddler does, but overall...she is a joy. She loves to play 'mom' with her Flopsy bunny and her baby doll. Her speech is coming along which is a relief (no words when she came in the spring...barely any noise). She is all about the BLING. Which is SO funny because people think it is me influencing her to wear jewelry, etc. but NOPE all her! I am responsible for the fact that she is in dresses daily, she is the accessorizer! necklaces, bracelets, purses, shoes, etc. She loves to spend time in the kichen with me. Just watching what I am doing and working on her language. (I wash a fork...she says 'fork'. I cut up potatoes...she says 'potato')
My children are filled with music. They sing, they dance, they beat my chairs with drumsticks while putting on concerts.
I am blessed!
That is NOT to say that things are all peace and harmony. NOPE. There is still yelling, fighing and discord. But we are working on that :)
I am working with the kids this month to spread joy to others. We spent a couple of days making pumpkin donuts and giving them away to our neighbours.
The Christmas music has begun playing in the house and I want the next two months to be a focus of 'giving' rather than 'getting'. This will be our first Christmas as a family of 4. Exciting!
I was blessed to be able to go away for a weekend last month to 'sewing camp'. It was a whirlwind of a few days but the majority of it was spent at my sewing machine. I was happy that I was able to get my big 'goal' tackled and that was making Christmas Stockings for the family. T & B have never had a stocking before.
I am trying my hardest to not go crazy with 'stuff' this Christmas. Not an easy task....

The boys are busy with Beavers, Swimming and Awana. We switched Awana groups this year and I am very glad that we did. The boys are very excited about being in Awana this year and work hard to achieve the awards.