November Moments 2021

Moments in November included the following:

We found the library.  One of the first things we did!

I think I mentioned this before, but just in case...Isak, Noah and I listened to "The Penderwicks" book.  Great book to listen too.  

I love getting my kids books to read and enjoy.

Sofie and Isak joined forces with their Halloween candy for their candy store.  :)

I don't remember what happened...but I found Noah all wrapped up on the couch.  

First day of school for the new school.  They were excited and hopeful for the new experience.  

Here's their school...

Sofie and Noah really enjoy their new teacher.  Noah likes her a lot more than the one in Illinois.  So he's pretty happy and he doesn't cry about going to school any more!  Yay!

Isak does not like his new teacher.  He says she's mean.  😢He says she yells a lot and speaks rudely to the class.  I feel so bad for him.  He was the most excited to move here.  But after going to school, he kept wishing to go back to Illinois.  It's now January...he has adjusted a bit more to the school/teacher.  It's getting better.

Kira seems indifferent to her teacher.  Isak and Kira are in the same class with the same teacher.  She seems to tolerate their teacher better.  She is making friends and seems to be ok.  

Sofie found the goggles!  Haha!

She's such a funny girl.

She made a bunny headband all by herself and asked me to take a picture.  

Story time with dad one morning...

Sofie surprised me with this drawing of Jesus.  It made my heart happy.

We got Costco Cookies one time.  Mostly because I was craving them and I ended up eating a lot of them...Nels helped me out a bit.  We thought it was funny that he had his "I'm just here for the cookies" shirt on and eating cookies.  He didn't eat all of them that he's holding...that was just for the picture.  😀

I coded a matching card game for Sofie and Noah to practice their sight words.  It was really fun to code and I love that Sofie and Noah love the game too.  

Snuggling 5 year olds.  

Sofie and Noah were asked to bring a paper sack to school with items to tell about themselves.  

They got popsicles one day.  :)

One Sunday...

We took the kids to see the house...

They are standing in the bonus room and are pretty excited about it. 

They were all nervous about going up and down the stairs.  

I tried harder to eat dinner with the kids more often...This night was a new recipe...taco lettuce wraps.  Everyone tried it...50% successful.

I coded a second matching game. This one has a time countdown and some animation.  

Sofie wore some Christmas clothes right after Thanksgiving.  Someone is very excited for Christmas.

And I help with that excitement by getting Christmas tree sugar cookies.  :)

Another Sunday.  Handsome Noah with his sloth.

My boys are happily working on projects.  :)

Waiting for the bus.

6:50 in the morning!  😬

Kira's cool Elephant drawing...

And another drawing.  This is Kira with her new unicorn hooded blanket on standing in our living room in our apartment.  

Sofie loves trash.  She loves to make art out of trash.  She was so excited to use the wrappers from the Reese's peanut butter cups to make a panda headband.  

Noah didn't finish a paper at school and so he finished it at home...even though he didn't have too.  Noah has come SO far.  At the beginning of the school year he would only color for less than two minutes.  And he could barely write his name.  Now he colors for fun sometimes and enjoys practicing his letters.   He is officially left handed.  Just like my dad. 💙

Pretty sunset.

Noah being funny...he asked me for a picture.

More trash into treasures.  Sofie and Noah made a train for their stuffed animals.  💛

Isak needed some one on one time.  Nels took him to Cook Out for burgers, fries and shakes.

We started our Christmas picture book reading.  I got 25+ picture books from the library for us to enjoy this Christmas season.  Nels read "Dream Snow" by Eric Carle while we finished eating dinner.  

Kira and Sofie enjoyed doing yoga with Cosmic Yoga on their kindles.  :)

One Sunday, Kira and Noah were sick so I stayed home with them.  

Kira and I colored these houses around the world and what they do for Christmas around the world.

Nels sent me this picture of Isak and Sofie sitting in church.  💚

I took a photo of them when they got home from church...

Nels bribed Sofie to do something with a promised back ride.  

Learning their upper and lowercase letters.  We didn't have all of the letters though!

Here's the outside of our apartment.  This yellow wreath and welcome mat make me smile.  It helps it feel more like home for me.

And that's November in Tennessee.  Our first full month here.  There were highs and lows.  We are definitely still adjusting.  It's been harder than I thought it would be.  And I've had to give myself and our family more patience and grace as we make a slower transition here.  

We enjoyed birthdays, Thanksgiving, exploring playgrounds and other things this month.  

I enjoyed coding and journaling in my free time this month.  And we got a jumpstart into celebrating the Christmas season.  👏🌲