{November 2016}

As the year winds down and the season changes from summer to winter (in Las Vegas) we were able to enjoy a lot of fun together as a family. 

Hannah: November means Parent/Teacher conference time, and it's something I've always looked forward to, because I can always count on Hannah to have a good report. Hannah's teacher, Mrs. Kramar sure loves her, and thinks she's awesome. Apparently all her classmates do too, because she is a very popular girl. Everyone wants to be her friend, and they'll fight over who gets to sit by her. Hannah is reading at a fourth grade reading level, a full two years (plus) ahead of where she needs to be. She loves playing games on the computer, like prodigy, and she loves writing creative stories. Hannah was especially disappointed that Donald Trump won the election after being so incredibly invested in Hilary Clinton, but she; took it in stride, and she was happy that she won in Nevada. 

Paige: It was a delight to attend Paige's Parent/Teacher conference. I'm so grateful for her loving, hard working teacher Mrs. Evarts. Paige is doing excellent in kindergarten, and is exactly where she needs to be. She's a very smart girl, and is doing excellent with reading. Mrs. Evarts said that Paige is an excellent friend to her peers, and a great big help to her teacher. She loves being social and she loves learning. Paige remains my tender heart. Paige came to me crying today because Hannah and Sam were playing together without her. She said "It hurts my feelings because Sam used to be my best friend but I guess he broke up with me." Now he's telling her, "I Hannah AND Taige's boy, right?"

Sam: November was pretty similar to October for Sam. Lots of Star Wars and Hot Wheels. He is such a funny kid. We discovered that if you want him to take a nap you just need to go on a fifteen minute drive around the neighborhood and he conks right out. One thing about Sam is he LOVES holidays more than anyone I've ever met. He was a sucker for Halloween, and now that Christmas is around the corner he gasps and points and shouts at every decoration he sees. It's adorable. Sam got sick TWICE in November and had to use the nebulizer. I sure can't wait for him to grow out of this! 

Jonathan: Jonathan turned SEVEN months. It kills me how quickly time is passing. Jonathan is standing and scooting around furniture. He's crawling all over the place, and even started climbing up the stairs. I can't handle it! He loves being a Turney, and thinks our family is pretty great, but he loves his mommy best of all. He's doing great at eating, and he's working on getting another tooth, which is probably why he's so needy and cranky all of a sudden (and getting into the WORST sleeping habits--he's still not sleeping through the night)! He enjoyed munching on rolls for his first Thanksgiving. 

We had a blast in Utah for Thanksgiving. The kids loved being with Grandma and Grandpa as always, who spoiled them rotten, and took the best care of them. They went to the Treehouse museum, took a bunch of trips to Lees, went on walks to see the llamas, and even got to the zoo. The kids were excited to meet Randy Whiting, Adam's biological father, and get to know him a bit. We had dinner with him, and we hope to see him again sometime. 

Thanksgiving break was the start of track break, and in order to prevent chaos and bloodshed I've been ultra organized. My kids have certain tasks they must complete in order to get one hour of screen time, which is all they get total per day. Today their tasks kept them busy until about one. Hannah picked writing stories on Google docs for her screen time (perfect, way better than TV) and Paige picked working on Lexia, a school program, for her screen time. Even better, its educational. Paige asked me to lay in bed next to her while I read and I ended up falling asleep accidentally. Not only did the kids follow instructions while the boys and I napped, Paige even put away all the girls laundry after Hannah sorted it! I woke up covered in blankets, thanks to Paige, with a glass of water next to me and the iPad playing peaceful piano music.

{October 2016}

Hannah:

During conference this year, Hannah started learning how to knit with the little poem, "In through the front door/run around the back/out through the window/off jumps Jack." She did very well. Hannah had a great month at school She has some great friends named Ara, Roxy, Luke, Emily, Alaina, Nathan, Makayla, and Neela. She never wants to come home after school, she just wants to play with the staff kids. Hannah has been having fun writing stories and passing messages back and forth to her friends on her Google account that Mr. Turney set up for everyone. Hannah earned the Golden Rule award in her class along with Luke Evarts. She had a great time when Grandma came to visit while Mommy and Daddy were in New York. Hannah got to meet a real author, Lindsey Leavitt, who signed a book for her. She also got the neat opportunity to attend a rally for Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She thought that was pretty amazing. For Halloween Hannah wanted to be a Pokemon called Eevee, but since costumes weren't readily available our friend Lindsey made us the most adorable one. It was a huge hit, and she got to go to two different trunk or treats and then trick or treating with the family.

Paige:

Paige is doing fantastic in school. It seems like her reading has improved overnight, and she is proving herself to be a very intelligent girl. She's also (occasionally) sneaky, and will award herself Class DoJo points when her teacher isn't looking. She wants to live up to the good example her older sister is setting. Paige loves working on Lexia, and is actually pretty incredible on the piano. She is extremely creative and artistic. Paige went on her first field trip to Springs Preserve and had a great time. Paige wanted to be a Pokemon like Hannah and picked Zubat. Lindsey Patten made her a DARLING Zubat costume that she wore day and night.

Sam:

Sam is such a great kid, and super independent. He loves to get himself breakfast, snacks, and settles down with the ipad, or his hot wheels and can keep himself entertained for hours. Sam is especially into Star Wars lately, and was gifted a few light sabers. We'll be walking around the grocery store and he'll burst out singing the Imperial March. He doesn't mean to make mischief, but sometimes its a natural consequence of being two. Sam was one of a hundred Ash Ketchums in our neighborhood, but he was the cutest one.

Jonathan:

Jonathan is changing drastically. He turned six months old in October. He truly is the icing on our cake. Beloved by all. He's crawling everywhere, getting into everything, and curious about his surroundings. When we got home from our New York trip his eyes welled up with tears and got all red, and his chin started to quiver. He never actually cried, but his emotions were very apparent. He loves nursing and got right back into it when we got back. He smiles at everyone he meets, he has two front teeth. He started eating baby cereal but isn't very good at it. He even got his first haircut in October and it grew him right up. Jonathan has even started pulling himself up onto all the furniture and he is so pleased with himself!

Adam and I had a fantastic time in New York for our anniversary/birthdays seeing HAMILTON! It was amazing. Even though it was a quick trip we crammed a ton in, like seeing the 9/11 memorial and museum, riding bikes and taking paddle boats around central park, eating delicious food, and taking a whole Hamilton pilgrimage tour.