Wow was this a month for milestones! Lucy is walking and Hinckley is riding a bike!
We'll start with our little lady, first. Lucy was starting to take steps at the beginning of the month and we got all excited on November 9 when she took four steps in a row. She did that on her own a couple more times but resisted all of our efforts to get her to walk in the weeks that followed.
On November 22 I just got the feeling that it was the day. I got her dressed after her nap and turned on my camera, just in case... and it worked out! She walked the longest she ever had and she's been practicing, ever since. Yay!
She wasn't content to just learn to walk this month, she got four more teeth. It was frustrating at the beginning of the month because she was much fussier than usual and had been waking up in the night for a week or so. She also had been chewing on food and spitting it out. It finally made sense when I felt the teeth on top and the swollen gums on the bottom.
Her feet are tiny. She was still wearing size 2 shoes at the beginning of the month and has just moved on to size 3. She imitates us in such cute ways- she will grab tissue and come up to me and "blow her nose" with a big grin on her face. She grabs the boys' nerf guns and makes cute little explosion sounds.
She has started to hate baths for some reason. It's a shame because she loved them and still seems so excited when we start the bath, saying "BAA" with such animation. Then, when we get her near the tub she cries and screams. But she's good in the shower so that's how we get her clean, for now.
She loves soft, furry stuffed animals and creatures. She wants to lay and snuggle on top of them and has tried to lay on Max but he won't let her get too close anymore.
Listening to Lucy:
- "Chee" (when we were taking her picture while hiking.)
- "Bah" (Ball)
- "Na!" (No)
- "Dit doo" (only one time in nursery- Dane and I were stunned and she hasn't done it since.)
Hinckley's silver balance bike went missing and we were sad about it for a day or two... but then he starting riding the big boy pedal bike that used to be Atticus's. We weren't sad anymore. In fact, we're pretty certain he would have waited months and months more if that bike hadn't been stolen. We have already done a few bigger bike rides with him and plan to do many more.
One other thing I wanted to remember about Hinckley was his favorite Bible story. We have an illustrated Bible downstairs and almost every day I see him open it up to the story of Adam and Eve at the beginning.
He loves it and asks us to read it all the time. It's so sweet.
Here he is at Joy School. Apparently he made himself a mustache and then all of the kids asked to take pictures of their play dough mustaches. He's quite the trendsetter.
Joy School friends at their Thanksgiving party.
Here he is with his cute team, the Otter Pops. Hinckley had some games and practices where he was totally involved and many where he would sit most of the time, telling us, "I'll pway tomowwow." Overall, he had fun and loved his coach. He especially loves his trophy now and definitely wanted to sign up again.
He has also started playing the piano for real. He plays bits from "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and a couple of other things. Atticus plays ten minutes a day but I haven't been as strict about requiring it of Hinckley. I find that if I leave him alone about it he likes to start his piano practice on his own and will tell me to start his timer. I don't start the timer but I tell him I have. He plays for a few minutes, sometimes he asks me to join him and then he'll tell me, "Okay, my time's up!" and I'll agree with him that he's all done.
Hinckley speaks:
- "We were running after the moon!" (His explanation when he and a little two year old ran away while Atticus was at soccer practice.)
- "You lost my twust! You have to eawn it back!" (Using Atticus's own words against him a few minutes later in a very clever way.)
- "This bike is a piece of junk!" (Just before kicking it.)
- "I love my pedal bike!" (Two days later.)
- "Mom, when am I going to find a beautiful guhl to mawwy?"
- "Mommy, can you wear your hair down?"
Atticus didn't hit any huge milestones this month but we did have some funny moments.
We were doing a little FHE lesson with the boys and asked them to pack their suitcases with all the things they would want to take with them to Heaven. They took this very seriously and came back down with full suitcases (well, Hinckley's just had a Batman toy in it at first but then when he saw how full Atticus's was he went over and grabbed random toys that we have downstairs and filled his up.)
Then we read from D&C about what we actually can take with us (the relationships we have, the knowledge and intelligence we gain and our marriages if we are sealed in the temple.) When we spelled it out for them, "You can't take things with you," Atticus looked a little disgruntled and said, "Well, after we go to Heaven can we come back to earth and get our stuff?"
"No, I don't think it works that way."
"Well I'm not going to let God take my stuff away!"
I tried to help him but just couldn't hold back the laughter. He'll get there.
The other memory that had us laughing right then and there took place at night. It was fairly late, maybe around 9:30 or so and Atticus came into our room out of nowhere. It actually frightened me, ha ha. We tried talking to him but he responded so strangely. It quickly became obvious that he was sleepwalking so we stopped trying to talk with him and just watched him. He walked into the bathroom and went straight to the shower and opened it up.
"Do you need to go potty?" I asked him.
He gave me a little smile and nodded dreamily. I led him to the toilet and while he went Dane and I laughed silently. He came out and gave me the sweetest hug before we directed his shoulders to his room. He walked in such a funny, floppy way. We were in stitches all night.
I can't leave out how amazing Atticus has gotten at soccer. He practices for at least an hour a day with another little boy on our street and he plays so well! He scored two goals in one game and helped an older team win their game. They played against a team that was undefeated and he single-handedly kept them from scoring the entire game (it was only when the coach subbed him out that the team scored- Atticus was pretty angry about it.) He loved it and is dealing with loss and mistakes better and better. Hallelujah!
Atticusisms:
"I can't wait for the day when I can punch someone with all my might." (After which Hinckley added, 'I'll give dem a kachow!' "
"I can watch the kids so you can wear makeup more." (Both boys gave me a hard time one night so I got all dressed up the next day.)
On November 21 we had a special stake meeting for a realignment of wards. It ended up affecting us in a big way. Nine wards were realigned so that only 8 remained. In ice cream scoop was taken from our ward and we were in that scoop, placed with families from two other wards. We were sad but, thankfully, not surprised (Dane had a friend at work who had gone over the maps with him and mentioned this possibility.)
Above you can see some of the ladies from the ward at a RS activity just beforeo the realignment.
I wrote the following on my previous ward's page as a goodbye:
A few of you may have seen me crying quite a bit on Sunday and it’s true. I’m very sad about the stake realignment. I love you ladies and will miss seeing you at church and activities so much!
I just have to say, though, how very grateful I am that I’m sad. I honestly couldn’t wait to leave my last ward. I felt completely forgotten and unknown. You sisters helped me feel so loved, needed and connected. You taught me, you helped mother my children, cried with us and rejoiced with us.
I was hoping to stay long enough to be able to “pay back” the many many acts of service we received once our kiddos were older. I guess I’ll just have to be content with paying it forward, instead. 
I know we’ll still be seeing each other but I had to share my love and gratitude publicly one last time. 
A day or two afterward a friend asked how I was doing and I told her I'd be fine, I just needed them to "put me to work." She was laughing the next time she saw me because a couple days later I received a visit from our new bishop who asked me to accept a calling to be the Primary President (which means I'm in charge of all the children in the ward.) I was stunned (I loved being in nursery and was hoping to stay a little longer!) but I knew better than to say no to a calling. The Lord has always helped me. He won't fail me now, unprepared and overwhelmed as I might feel.
Still, I've been playing catch up with just about everything ever since.
We had Thanksgiving the day after I received the calling. A couple days earlier I had invited a friend whose husband was out of town and it just so happens that she is the relatively new Primary President in our old ward. It was so nice to be able to pick her brain! And we are
Here's our sweet girl on Thanksgiving Day.
Three days later we went to church for the first time with our ward and I got to meet a few of the Primary kids.
The next day we went to Arizona and rode the Polar Express. It was magical, even with the masks. We were so glad we made the trip.
Three days later we threw a huge birthday party for Atticus (it was a blast I'll tell you about next month), after which Atticus had committed to sell a product at a student Christmas fair. It was a very fun week but oh, so busy. Let's hope I get a minute to catch my breath this month! Still, I sure do love December.
While this is what school looks like sometimes we are still loving it. I feel a closeness with my boys that I haven't before and love learning right alongside them. This month we studied about the British Isles, Rocks and about the American Colonies in the 1700s.
Our study of rocks took us to Red Rock Canyon. It was an amazing day and Hinckley hiked the entire day. We had a blast.
We made a mini Stonehenge,
A cranberry tarts recipe enjoyed by Benjamin Franklin. It was really good!
Things are going to get even busier but how grateful I am that I get to spend my days with these three crazies.
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