Good Month Overall

In an effort to not completely stink at keeping this blog-o'-mine, I will now relate what has happened in the last month. I will make it short and sweet and use pictures... kinda like a book written for a high school football player (sorry, I know that was low).  I apologize in advance that many of the pictures were taken with my point-and-shoot which I have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with. I guess bad quality pictures are better than no pictures, though.

At the beginning of the month, I learned that Maelee was not getting enough calories, so I started supplementing her nutritional needs. One thing I did was to start feeding her rice cereal occasionally. Here are some pictures of her first bites. Photos compliments of Braden:

The middle of the month brought many fun events for me. First, Maelee and I took a last minute trip to UT to be there for Brooke and Ryan's wedding. It was great to be a part of that and also to spend time with Joni and Xelly and Jacob. I am very grateful for the generosity and service that made this trip possible. Here we are on the plane:

The day we got home, the kids and I went to a dinner with my family to celebrate my 29th birthday. I was surprised to see several of my friends there as well! Chels and my mom really made it an evening to remember. We even got to top off dinner with homemade cheesecake.  It was fantastic!

Let's see. After my birthday was over I started working on wooden signs that I sold at a boutique. It was a fun event to be part of with Chelsea and Mom and I made a little bit of money which is a bonus.

  

Next came Brooke and Ryan's AZ reception which was so fun. I loved seeing some of my high school friends that I haven't seen in years. I spent a lot of time with Tammi and we enjoyed watching Brooke's crazy siblings tear up the dance floor. It actually made me miss swing dancing with my little brother.

November also brought some fun times at home just being a family. Maelee is growing so fast and the older two are having fun interacting with her. She likes to say "AHHHHH" really loudly when a lot of people are talking at once. It's like she's putting her two cents into the conversation. She also grabs everything in sight these days... including Jades hair if she gets too close. I've tried to make home life special for us in little ways (like letter pancakes for dinner) even though I sometimes feel so emotionally burdened that I am inadequate for even the most basic of responsibilities. I know it won't always be like this, but it does get me frustrated quite often. I keep reminding myself of the blessings I am receiving and that sometimes helps.

One of those blessings was a scorpion crawling across my room. I caught it in a jar and you know what? Only three days later it had multiplied by a lot. I'm still very grateful that I had seen it and avoided having these little cuties being born in my bedroom.

My favorite part of November is always Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I don't really love the food, but I do love taking time out to focus on the gratitude I feel in my life. This Thanksgiving morning I ran a local 5k run with many friends and neighbors. My dad and mom came along and helped with the kids. The older two ran a 1 mile fun run with Grandpa. I did the run in 32:05. Despite my slow time, running that distance was a personal accomplishment for me that I felt really good about.

The kids and I headed to Safford after that to spend Thanksgiving with the extended Lilly family. I hadn't seen those relatives in a long time and they hadn't seen Maelee, so it was nice to get together. The drive home was long, but I was very glad that Kara was with me and able to help with the little rug rats in the back. 

 When we got home, Kara and I decided to be insane and try our hand at "Black Friday" shopping. Grandma Lilly stayed at my home with the sleeping children. We first went to Best Buy and waited in the rain for awhile until we were informed that all the vouchers for the product we were wanting had been exhausted. So we headed to Target where we were both able to get a few things that we were hoping for. One of those things was an inexpensive Christmas tree that the kids and I enjoyed setting up the following day. I feel blessed to be able to provide things that support good family traditions even if it does mean waiting in gigantic lines.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was spent with the Beach family. Jacob and Joni and Xelly came from UT. It was so nice to see them. We also took that time to snap a few family pictures which I still need to edit. I hope there are some treasures in there.

In all, November was nice. I'm glad I'm writing this to remind myself that I really am doing OK. The day to day is tough, but looking back over a month I can see the many opportunities that I have had and the good things that are being accomplished. Next month is going to start off with a new niece and end with Christmas. Out-of-town visitors and gift-making will fit somewhere in the middle, so I'm anticipating another good month overall.

Good Eating

Here is a picture to illustrate why I'll soon be winning "Mother of the Year." After I had unloaded the cart and I looked at the conveyer belt at the grocery store I had to snap an image with my phone. Yes, that is indeed 4 frozen pizzas and 16 boxes of Annie's macaroni and cheese. Good eating.