It is so hard for me to believe this year is almost over, let alone that November already happened!

I think this incredibly mild weather has some part in that!

We still put our bird restaurant on the corner of the deck like we do every year.

I am anxious for some snow so that we can get our cardinals to visit!!

They always wait for the snow before they start showing up everyday.

We are still the team in charge of the kitchen at our church.

I can honestly say that we do not do all things as well as I would like – and this is one of them!

We did find a few hours at the beginning of November to clean the church kitchen and the kitchen storage area.

These three tackled the kitchen while Addie and I tackled the storage area.

We made a good dent in both!

Getting Lane to smile with his eyes open is a new challenge!!

Maybe those orthodontic rubber bands he wears are pulling his eyes shut, ha, ha!

We laughed so hard tying to get this photo of him!

We used our thieves cleaner from home at the kitchen that day.

We use this cleaner for everything in our home too – and I love how effective and yet how safe it is!!

School marched on in November!

Bookwork, piano lessons, and even art class where we water colored all of the gift tags for Christmas presents!

We also had an “art” project of covering the sliding glass windows with hand cut snowflakes.

This is my effort to keep the birds from running into the windows, and it works 99 percent of the time!

The kiddos were diligent in this effort and the finished windows look so beautiful!

We get lots of compliments on them!

We kept up with Twin Oaks as always too.

What will I do someday when I do not have kiddos to help with everything???

They are amazing helpers and really apply themselves to their chore duties!

Eliza, who’s shoes are you wearing in this first photo, ha, ha!

I have many chores too, even though I am in management here at Twin Oaks these days!

My biggest things are management things, but also laundry, dusting and floors.

Laundry is a never ending humble job for someone who likes to have a list and check things off of it!

You NEVER check laundry off your list, just saying.

See that bedding in that photo above?

It was worn out.

My husband says that is what happens when your wife buys cheap bedding.

He is wise that way!

I bought new bedding – which wasn’t super pricey, but a little more pricey than the cheap bedding from Amazon – so there’s that.

This new comforter is AMAZING.

Blake and I both agree it is like sleeping under a cloud!

I think it is pretty too, don’t you??

We would always choose a day with our bests!!!

As Kayla’s family has grown and our youngest children get older too, more time is needed at home for school.

I decided to take a whole week off of normal life at Thanksgiving and somehow talked Kayla into that too!

Then I stole her children!!

We had the boys first, and then the girls!

We sure miss them when we are not together – but we video chat a lot and we are always together on SUNDAYS!!

Blake and I were offered a last minute date night one Friday night by Addie who said she would be home with the younger children.

I messaged Blake quick to see if he was up for not only a date, but asking Grant and Kamryn if they were crazy enough to join us!

He said yes, and then they said YES!!

We had THE BEST TIME!!

We ate dinner out, and then had ice cream while sitting by the fire at Hyvee.

Speaking of those two – Addie and I got to join Kamryn, her Mom, and her sister for some WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING at the beginning of November!

I KNOW!!

It is all just way too exciting for words!!!

Kamryn did not get her dress from that wedding dress shop that night, but she does have her dress ordered!!!

Blake and Chad like to hunt.

They went hunting on opening weekend, as they always do.

I do not know all of the stats on who has shot a deer what year – or how big it was – or any of that.

It just doesn’t stay in my brain!!

But I do know they hunt a lot and do not get many deer – a lot of times not even seeing any while they are out hunting.

So this year when Blake shot a buck within the first few hours of the first time they were hunting, they were VERY excited!

I was too!

We donated the meat to some friends because our freezers are FULL.

It was a good day for the guys!

And a good day for me and the youngest three at home because we had a pj, donut, and movie party that morning while the guys were hunting!

I think we need to make that a tradition, don’t you, kiddos??

Addie and I are on our Women to Women committee at church.

We had a BEAUTIFUL worship night the Monday evening after Thanksgiving!

Eliza joined us too!

I was able to share some gluten-free sourdough with some friends!

Eliza called them my sourdough babies, and they sat in the fridge until we delivered them.

Our animals are doing great in our Lil Red Barn!!

We love them so much!!

The goats’ personalities make us laugh!!

Here are some random snapshots from November!!!

I will let the photos tell their story!!

How about a couple of beautiful sky photos to end this long post??

The sky is just so unbelievably amazing in every way.

That was a fun walk through the rest of November!!

It was a GOOD month!!

Yikes, you all!!

Life is a blessing!