November, part 1

The fall leaves were SO beautiful, we loved getting our for a few walks and trips to the park with Baby Livvy.

I found this note Jilly wrote at church on the day Livvy was born "Jillian Mattie Baby is born on Suntay!"

Mattie was SO good for the first few weeks after Livvy was born and then around week 3 the whole new baby thing and being stuck inside wasn't so fun anymore.  This day was the absolute worst-  we were at Marshalls and I told her no when she asked for this Shopkins Beauty Set and she LOST it.  She cried and screamed louder than ever before and I had to push the stroller with Livvy and carry/restrain Mattie up to the checkout (I still hadn't paid and I was not about to have to put everyone back in the car and come another day) and then out of the store.  I told her we'd take this picture to remember what she wanted so she could maybe get it for Christmas but now I'm kind of glad to have it to remember that we survived.

Bryan's birthday was on November 4th.  We went out to Bobby Flay's Burger Palace for dinner.  It was our first time out as a family of 5 and it went smoothly, which was a relief!  Then we came home to open presents and eat cake.  Besides taking care of the girls, I had pretty much spent the entire day working on a homemade three-layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  So I was very relieved it turned out to be delicious.

I can't remember when this was taken, but it looks like a pretty nice birthday nap to me!

We made a little "we love you" video for my friend Emilee who was fighting cancer.  This is one of the first (and maybe only?) picture of me with all the girls.  I'm also glad I got a picture of Olivia in that dress, I love it so much and it only fit her long enough to wear it once to church!

Election Day- kind of a painful day this year.  I told Mattie we were going to vote and she said "I vote for Angry Birds!" (a month previously there was a movie night at school and the kids got to vote on the movie.)  She always makes me laugh.  

Olivia on her one month birthday!

I debated ordering school pictures for Jilly (you have to pre-order) and I'm SO glad I did because they turned out so darling!

Jilly is such a good big sister and loves to snuggle Livvy in the mornings before school

Nana came to visit in November!  She came right at the perfect time- Livvy was starting to smile and be awake more and have a cute little personality, our freezer was running low on already prepared meals, and we were all in need of a little excitement.  She was a great help and I'm now realizing I did a terrible job at taking pictures while she was here!  She went with us to the aquarium- our first time taking Olivia.  On this visit the girls became friends with this little puffin.  He'd come right up to the glass to look at them and then do little tricks; it was really fun.

I promised the girls a milkshake for good behavior at the aquarium (tantrums were frequent those days) and Mattie said "okay, we will keep the deal!"  Every time she would start to get upset, I'd say "remember!" and she'd snap out of it.  Bribery at its finest.

Another day Bryan worked a half day and we went up to the Turkey Hill Factory in Pennsylvania.  It wasn't the actual factory, more a museum about the making of the ice cream.  It had some fun exhibits, but best of all it had all you can eat free ice cream samples.  We took full advantage!

The Sunday that Nana was here was Jilly's birthday and Olivia's blessing day.  It was such a sweet day celebrating our girls.  My parents, Ty, and Katie, Neal, and Joey also came up and we had lunch after church.  I should have made everyone get together for pictures as soon as we got home but I got lunch ready first and by the time we got around to pictures most people had changed and Mattie was in princess mode.  Oh well!

Jillian LOVED having everyone around for her birthday.  She opened presents and we all enjoyed her birthday cake.  This year has been full of changes, especially kindergarten and a new baby.  It's been hard on us- I hate having Jilly gone for so long every day and she's always so tired from school that she's often not at her best at home.  And she changed so much in those first weeks of kindergarten, she decided her favorite color was now blue and she hardly ever wanted to wear dresses, it felt like I was losing my little girl!  But we're learning to adjust and getting better at taking advantage of the times when she is at home.  And it is really fun to see how much she is learning and growing.  She is such a good girl and I'm so happy she's ours.