We started out the month with a last minute talked into going decision to go watch the Taylor Swift concert in the theater with some friends. It actually turned out to be super fun. I last minute decided to go because Raelyn really wanted to go. So it ended up being me, Raelyn, and Olivia along with a bunch of friends from church. We had a lot of fun!
I finally got the clothes I pulled out of the girls' closets organized into bags and off to where they needed to go. Sad to see some of these outgrown. Some of them have been worn by all the girls and some are from special places we went when they were kids. Sad to see them grow up so fast!
For Veteran's day we got on a zoom call to do a hero workout together. It was a thousand weighted steps and we shared the work between the three of us. So we each did 333 step-ups of varying heights and some with weights and some without. It was a fun workout to do together!
Over Veteran's weekend I decided to take the time to repaint the girls' bathroom. I prepped the bathroom and then took a break to go to a Veteran's day parade!
The first annual Veteran's day parade in Poulsbo was held this year. Olivia, Raelyn and I decided to go last minute. We got in a good walk...lol! It was a good, but short parade. It was fun to go out and support Veteran's for sure though! There was even a helicopter fly over!
After 2 coats of paint and a lot of work...man bathrooms are tough with all the cut around. I got the bathroom finished and with the help of Hans put back together. It turned out really pretty and I was really happy with the color and the change up.
This was a fun night at small group!
I took this picture when Hans went on another work trip. This time to Virginia for a week.
For the calendar. Raelyn was the only one willing to do a Thanksgiving picture for the calendar.
This was the last Friday before Thanksgiving. Aubrey and most of the kids in their jiu jitsu class were able to get a stripe for their belt. So he had a little striping ceremony for the kids. It was fun to watch them.
That Friday night my parents arrived and on Sunday, November 19th, Olivia was baptized at our church. Mary and Eric and Anna and the boys were able to come over the day and it was a really good day.
I can't say how much I loved this service, the sermon, and all of the testimonies and baptisms of these young people. It really blew me away. I don't know what I was expecting, but the testimonies of each of these kids were just so good. Well thought out and each of them gave them gospel in some way or another. It was just really neat to experience and I think I cried through the whole thing. There were a total of 8 young people baptized. Caleb, Luke, Oliva, Jada, Michelle, Ava, Hannah, and Emma. Olivia was third and Jada was fourth. The girls stayed in and watch the others so Olivia was a little chilly by the end, but she was glad she stayed.
Afterwards I had to get a picture of these two friends since being babies. Fun to be able to do this really neat thing together! I'm really proud of these girls, especially Olivia of course. I just couldn't stop crying it seemed that day at church. Thankful for this sweet daughter and her friend Jada.
After church we came back to our house and Mary had brought ribs that we BBQ'd up and I made twiced baked potatoes, Mary's strawberry jello salad, and some rolls, if I remember right. We did some family pictures of us after church mainly for a new directory picture, but it was nice to get a good family picture as well.
And a few extended family pictures in the house.
For dessert I made Olivia a peanut butter cheesecake with and oreo crust and reese's peanut butter cups that she requested. It was so so good! Just looking at it makes me want to make another one. LOL!
We also got in some games of Nertz. It got a little crazy at times with so many people!
After dinner we played a really fun game that Anna brought over which was a mystery who killed Mrs. Clause real life clue game of sorts. It was really fun as we each had characters that we were pretending to be and we had to try and figure out which character killed Mrs. Clause. We had a great time playing the game together. The killer ended up being Olivia whose character was Rudolf. Which was kind of fun since it was her day.
You have to take a picture when your silly cat crawls into small places like a narrow little spot in your TV cabinet.
Thanksgiving is always a favorite. I made too much food as always even though I tried to pair down the least popular foods. I will try again next year I suppose. It was nice having my mom and dad there, because my dad likes my cooking. I had already decorated for Christmas early so that I didn't have to do it after Thanksgiving with all of the Nutcracker goings on. So we had Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas decor.
Friday morning was a beautiful day and we were able to go to our neighborhood tree farm and pick out a tree. We chose an already cut one because a lot of the trees they have growing there are too small for our liking. But they had a lot of pre-cut trees and we found a really good one this year. It was nice that it was so quick. Parking probably took the longest time.
The Nutcracker was performed 3 times for the public and they had one Monday morning show for CK school district 3rd graders. The first show was Friday night and Hans and I decided to go together as a date to watch the girls. I dropped the girls off for their call time that day. I had to bring them back their dinner, because I had misread the email and they were there pretty much all day from 1 pm through the show as they had some extra practices to run that day to be prepared for the show.
Hans and I sat towards the back and I tried to sneakily get a few pictures even though you weren't supposed to take any video or pictures. It was such a great show and the girls did a really great job. It was kind of hard to find them sometimes on stage sitting so far back, but was nice to see it the first time so then I knew what to look for on the next show when we had purchased closer seats.
In Act 1 Claire was a maid and then Raelyn was a rat. These parts had a lot of acting and only a tiny bit of dancing. Then Claire was in the snow scene which was not en pointe, but was still very beautiful!
In Act 2 Raelyn started out on stage as a cook. She is the one in the orange pants. Again this part was a lot of acting and only a small amount of dancing, but Raelyn really loved her parts. Then Claire was in the dance of the flowers. Again it wasn't en pointe, but it was very beautiful and a very long dance. Here are some pictures I got from the first night.
Waltz of the Flowers- The Rose Queen was Cameron.
Afterwards with our two dancers!
Saturday, was the show that all the friends and family came to. I had bought great seats in the 4th row I think for the family. We had my parents, Hans' parents, Anna and the boys as well as Aubrey and Olivia. I was so excited to be able to sit up close and just really enjoy the show. I only took a few pictures as we were not supposed to take pictures and it was harder to disguise that you were taking them. I also just really wanted to soak up the show. The girls also had a lot of friends come which was fun. They were sitting up higher, but still enjoyed the show. I think the girls were nervous because so many were there to watch them, but they did a really great job. Here are the few pictures I took.
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| Such a cutie! |
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| So pretty! |
Afterwards I got the girls so they could great all their fans. Unfortunatly, Mary and Eric, Anna and the boys needed to buzz off for the ferry. I was sad they couldn't stay for dinner. I was able to get a few pictures though of the boys (for the calendar) and of the family before everyone left.
Then we got my family picture too.
We had a great group of friends come to watch and support the girls in their show. Kelsey, Scarlet, Sophia, Olivia G., Ava, Selah, Anna and Heidi all came to watch. Many of these girls also dance with Ashia at co-op for it was fun for them to get to see a real ballet show.
After the show we went to Red Lobster for dinner and to celebrate. We ended up bringing Kelsey along as well which was fun. The story of the night was that Hans and my dad both decided to order the endless shrimp plates so they could order extra shrimp for the rest of us. My mom tried to quietly prompt my dad to order some coconut shrimp while the waitress was there. And he said, " I don't like coconut! Why would I order coconut shrimp!" Haha! We all got a kick out of it after the waitress left and we did end up getting my mom some coconut shrimp the next time the waitress came around.
Raelyn with her pretty flowers from me and Grandma. Claire would not oblige me with a photo.
We got the tree put up and decorated Saturday night. It turned out so pretty!
On Sunday, we had to get there a bit early and I was working that day taking tickets and needed to be there early so I just decided to hang out till it was time. I am sure glad I did, because I was able to get some great pictures of the girls before they started their warm-ups and such. So that was really fun! The girls and I stayed home from church that day so that we could get ready, eat lunch, and be on time.
Here are the pictures I got! The cutest little chef that ever was!
And the cutest Rat that ever there was!!
Sugar Plum Fairy, Rose Queen, and Snow Queen
And the most beautiful Flower!!
After the I took tickets at the door I was able to go in and watch the show. My mom bought a ticket in the front row and their happened to be an open seat beside her so I was able to sit by her for free and have a great (and different) view of the show for the last time. I was able to get a few more good pictures during this show.
Raelyn was a defiant little Cook ender the table eating whipped cream.
Then they sat on the stage as each of the sweets came out to dance.
After the show with Grandma Janice. She spoiled them with some gifts from the shop.
I'm thankful that Raelyn will still take pictures with me. I hope she never grows out of this, like her sisters have.
We got the tree up and Samson had to assume his spot under the tree. He loves to lay under it and drink water out of the tree.
