Finishing out November

Like the first half of the month, and the entire year for that matter, the rest of November flew by.  Joseph had the entire week of Thanksgiving off from school so that combined with getting ready for Thanksgiving really made it go by fast.  Our Texas home also finally sold the weekend before Thanksgiving which was a nice way to kick off the Thanksgiving week. It is bittersweet but we are looking forward to being settled and beginning our new adventures here in California.

 Here are some random pictures from daily life at the end of November.  

On the 18th of November we went for a walk and Ella really wanted to wear her pajamas so she did.  She received  a lot of comments from people all wishing that they were dressed like she was!  

 On the way home, Ella said she wanted to get out and hold Julia's hand.  Sweet sisters.

 We met Laura and the kids at a park on Coronado on November 19th for the morning and had a great time.

 Ella testing out Cole's balance bike.  She's looking so grown up to me!

Julia on a mission! 

  Two minutes before this picture both of the girls were crying and Joseph was frustrated about something that he was building and I was thinking to myself that it was going to be a long afternoon and no sooner after I thought that I looked over and found this.

This one is from another day at the end of November.

Joseph doesn't nap anymore but he does have an hour of quiet time every day.  He does his quiet time in our room where Rich works since Ella sleeps in the room that they share.  He normally brings toys in and plays on the side of the bed but he was up pretty early one day and I knew he was tired and sure enough Rich sent me this picture about 5 minutes into his quiet time.   

I, like most others, love Target.  The kids and I headed there one afternoon and I grabbed a cart first and parked it behind my car.  I unbuckled Ella and Joseph and they were both still in the car and then I went to get Julia and put her in the carrier.  As I was buckling Julia up in the carrier my cart started rolling down the parking lot!!  I started to chase after it (with Julia in the ergo) but couldn't catch it and it ran into a car and broke its tail light and scratched the side!!  I was standing by the car that it hit and Julia at this point is crying in the carrier, I look across the parking lot and Ella and Joseph both had come out of the car and Ella is crying  and running towards me-I yell to her to stop, thankfully there weren't any cars coming and Joseph stopped her and they walked safely to me.  Joseph is now very concerned that we are going to get into trouble for ruining the car. Basically it was a hot mess scene in the parking lot. I was able to get everyone calmed down, wrote a note and put it on the car and then noticed a Target employee tag in the car so then headed inside to try to find her. Joseph had a lot of questions on the way in, worrying about who was going to pay for it, and it would I be in trouble, etc but we talked a lot about being honest and doing the right thing and it was so sweet watching him take it all in.  We found the employee and she was grateful that we alerted her and we exchanged information.  She hasn't called me to pay for it to be fixed yet and every time we go to Target now I am reminded by Joseph and Ella about our cart that hit the car and definitely am more aware of where I put the cart as I load kids in!

 This year we decided just to keep it simple and do pictures of the kids only for Christmas cards.  As we looked through the pictures we thought that maybe it wasn't such a good idea-ha!   Julia was getting three molars in at the time so she was hard to impress, Ella had some crazy smiles, but Joseph wins the award for big smiles throughout.  Needless to say, these two did not make the Christmas card this year!

 Love these two, their imaginations, and the ways that they can entertain themselves.  I loved the moat of granola bars around their castle.

 Julia wanted in on the picture, too.

 We went down to La Jolla Shores on Sunday, 22nd for a few hours in the sun and to see the seals.

There weren't any seals on the beach but plenty close by on the rocks.  

 We ended up with wet, sandy kids but they all loved it!

 One day as we were going to the park, we noticed some dirt trails off of the sidewalk so we decided to check them out and Joseph had a blast.  He went up and down a hill numerous times, straight through the mud every time!

 Fun in the kitchen with these two!

 One night Ella was upset because we couldn't find her Hello Kitty stuffed animal before bed.  Rich had to go down to the car to get it and Joseph told Ella to get in bed with her because he would make her feel better.  I found them lying like this waiting for Rich to come back.

I did a little bit of black Friday shopping and Rich took the kids to Starbucks while I was gone.  The pumpkin loaf is a favorite in our home and Rich sent me this picture saying that he asked Joseph if he was going to share with him and the next thing he knew was that it was gone and Joseph says to him, "I saved you a piece!"  So generous.  

 My dear friend from high school, Michelle, was in town for Thanksgiving so we were able to visit with her family for an afternoon.

 One of the highlights of living in the condo is watching the trash truck!  Even Julia now will yell, "Taa, taa, taa" when she hears it go by.  So thankful for these three!