The month began with Rich and I in NYC so Nani and Poppa were in charge of the kiddos and everyone had so much fun! We received pictures of all of the fun from the 4 days that they had together which included lots of smiles!
Nani loves to treat the kids to Starbucks and I'm pretty sure Charlotte learned to say "Starbucks" early on because of Nani! So, it was fitting that they began the long weekend with a walk to Starbucks for pumpkin bread and coffee!
While we were away both Joseph and Ella received an award at school for the being the student with the most laps ran at the fun run! We were so proud of them both and it was so fitting especially since the reason we were gone was because of a race! Nani and Poppa did a great job representing us by taking lots of pictures and cheering them on. Joseph has won this award now every year since he's been at Westwood so it was so neat that Ella also joined him.
Nani took Julia to a birthday party after school on Friday and she came home with a giant bag of candy so I'd say it was a blast.
And, Ella came home with a 100% on her first sight word list so she moved from yellow to orange. She has been practicing really hard on the yellow list words so was very proud of herself, as we were very proud of her, too.
Nani and Poppa took the kids to their house for the weekend so they headed up Friday after school and the girls enjoyed some downtime for a little bit. Over the weekend both Joseph and Ella had soccer games and Laura and Linz and the cousins all came up to play and swim. Everyone did great and the report was that they all had a blast!
Jules wanted to send a picture to us on Monday before school. She's looking so grown up these days.
Since moving day was November 6th, that first Friday of the month we ended up trying out our new Friday tradition of cul de sac time in the Laugesens cul de sac. Jen and I have been getting together in the Botero cul de sac for almost 2 years now (I think she started joining me in November of 2016) every Friday so we didn't want to give up this tradition so we moved 2 cul de sacs down, are bringing all of the Botero kids and hoping that it is a smooth transition. The first day was off to a great start!
On Saturday November 10th we had soccer tournaments for both Joseph and Ella that lasted ALL DAY!! It was a super fun day but very long. Julia and Charlotte were amazing and such good sports and Joseph and Ella both played super hard. Ella's team actually made it into the finals and then lost in the championship game...such a bummer to make it that far but she played hard and had fun. Joseph's team didn't make it quite as far but he played aggressively, too.
Joseph had a field trip to the botanical gardens this month and the chaperone sent me this picture of their group. He said it was kind of boring but kind of fun. Ha.
Joseph spent the night at the Laugesens one night in November and had a blast with the boys. We are so thankful for this awesome family! 
Best buds!
Ava was in the play, "The Sound of Music" at the Poway Community Center so I took Ella and Julia to see it along with the rest of the Reppas family and other friends. The girls loved it and were so excited to see Ava in it.
Gotta love November beach days!!! No school on November 12th for Veteran's day means a perfect day at the bay! Jen and I took all the kiddos, along with the Vuongs, and had a beautiful November beach day!
The kids also had November 13th off for parent teacher conferences so before I had my conference I took the kids to run at Miramar. Of course we had to feed the ducks after and snap a few pictures, too.
Love these four!
Even with all of their craziness!
Oh, Char...just relaxing, peach in hand, laying on the floor. What a life!
Lots of Thanksgiving fun to be had at school the last week prior to Thanksgiving break. I was doing some PTA work at the school and snapped this cute picture of Ella as she was enjoying her Thanksgiving feast.
Linz and I snuck in a run at Miramar this week, too, with the littles.
Feeding the ducks or feeding themselves?!?
Julia put on the sweetest Thanksgiving show in her class. She was so proud and so excited to have us there.
We just love our little Indian! I still have "Turkey dinner, turkey dinner, gather round, gather round..." stuck in my head after hearing it constantly over the last few weeks. Even Charlotte is singing it. It's pretty sweet the Ella did pretty much the same performance 2 years ago!
Since Ella and Joseph had half days due to parent teacher conferences I picked them up a few minutes early and brought them to see the performance, too. I hope (and think she did) Julia enjoyed having them all there!
Charlotte looks so cute when she lets me do her hair...wish she didn't always insist on leaving it down and looking like a ragamuffin!
We kicked off THanksging break with a morning at Mission Bay. Aunt Carol, Uncle JP, Ali, Mike and Kevin are all at the beach house for the week so we went down to say hi. The kids rode bikes/scooters on the boardwalk to their house and then we walked down to the ocean for a bit. Rich had class so it was a good way to spend the morning since he wasn't around and to enjoy their company and the beautiful day.
Jules ended up getting knocked down in the water so was a little sad/scared but eventually came around and then Charlotte did as well so it seemed like constant whining/clinginess but overall was still a nice morning.
The kids and I walked through Belmont Park before we left and found lots of fun things to check out.
Recreating the ice cream picture that Nani had sent to us on her cruise from earlier this month.
That night we went out to celebrate Lynn's 40th birthday. We went downtown to an Escape Room, which was a neat experience but don't really have the desire to do another one, and then went to dinner in Seaport Village and then ended up at a comedy club. It was a fun night out and thankful for these great friends and being able to celebrate Lynn!
Over break we celebrate Julia and Ava's birthdays at a rollerskating birthday party which was a blast! We left Charlotte with Nani and I took the older three kids and they all loved it. They all caught on (kind of) to roller skating but didn't mind if they were falling all over the place so it was a blast. It took me a few minutes but it came back to me, too, and it was fun skating with the kids!
Ella was adamant that she didn't want to use one of the walker things and did awesome.
Joseph probably should have worn pants but he was such a good sport about his knees and didn't complain at all. Finally towards the end he borrowed knee pads from a friend but they were pretty banged up by that point!
I was so proud of Julia. Sometimes she gets upset if something is "too hard" for her but she was determined to keep at this and had so much fun roller skating with me holding my hand and just really getting the hang of it. At one point I was helping Ella and left Julia sitting on the side and I went back to get her and she was gone! I then caught her on the other side of the rink by herself without any assistance just skating away! I was amazed!!!
We spent Tuesday of break at the club with the Searcy and soccer crew. Always a great time with these guys!
And then we were back at the club on Wednesday with the RBCPC crew. So thankful that we get together with these friends over our breaks.
We had Jeremy spend the night one night over break and the boys had a great time together and the girls just love having him over, too. They spent a lot of time outside kicking the soccer ball around.
And, then made it inside where they were making items "fly" off of the staircase.
Sweet friends!
Rich took the older 3 kids to see the new Grinch movie along with the Laugesens and Bestafkas. I stayed home with Charlotte while she napped and I continue to unpack and organize. Despite all of the fun we are having this month, I'm still trying to get the house in order!!!
We finished break with an afternoon at the community park. It was gorgeous out so took a break from unpacking and headed over. Joseph and Rich played soccer for a long time and the girls kept busy on the playground. So thankful to be so close to a variety of great parks and areas to play!
We were back in the school routine after a nice Thanksgiving break and we met Finn at the Westwood club on Tuesday after Charlotte's school. Its such a treat to have him so close and to watch these kiddos grow up together.
So many random selfies found on my phone all of the time!!!
Thursdays are Nani days and Nani and Poppa took things to another level this Thursday when they took the kids to the mall to ride the train and to see Santa!!! They didn't actually sit on his lap but they saw him and he gave the girls candy canes and both girls came home talking all about him. We'll see how excited Charlotte truly is when we really see him next weekend at church and she has to sit on his lap for real! Ha!
More random selfies from Joseph...
And to finish it out a random one of Char. Everyone has transitioned well to the new home...they still will say that they miss the old home but then follow it up with, "well, I just miss our friends but I like our new home" Hoping with our first Christmas here right around the corner that it helps it really feel like home.
I'll do a separate Thanksgiving entry but this month really has us feeling thankful for all of the blessings in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for and just looking back at all of these amazing memories from this past month truly proves it.
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