Short work week and Family Photos

November is a fun month  because it has lots of holidays.  Ryan had Monday off for Veteran's Day, and Keira had school.  The days of the week were themed for her, I think as part of an anti drug campaign.

On Monday, Keira got up and off to school, while everyone else was able to sleep in.

I took Soren to the gym for a swim, and Ryan worked on getting our Yakima skybox in the sky.  We purchased a hoist system to hang it from the ceiling of the garage.  Ryan took a break from working and we went to Chick Fil-A for lunch.  Keira does not like chicken, so it was nice to go with Soren and not hear her complain. We got the box hung up finally!  Keira had ballet that evening.

On Tuesday, it was dress like a rock star day.  We had a little trouble with it, finally deciding on a sparkly dress. 

I took Soren to the pottery barn storytime, and Elf on a Shelf was read.  I think we will have an elf visit our new home. 

After the kids came home from school, they went and played at Gracie's house for a little bit.

While the kids were playing, I learned that Three Cedars Farm, one of our favorite fall and early winter MI destinations for cider and donuts, was being forced to shut down.  We were extremely saddened by this, and I spent quite a bit of time on the computer trying to figure out what was going on.  Please check out Save Three Cedars Farm! on facebook for more information and to sign the petition.  We had Soren's birthday party there last year, and went there twice this year, as well has had our family picture taken with Santa the past two years.  It is really sad what is happening.

Wednesday didn't have a theme.  Keira was excited that she could wear whatever she wanted to school today.

I took Soren to the gym, and I learned how to do a flip turn!  I didn't learn it until after my workout, so I didn't get to use it while actually lap swimming.

On Thursday, Keira was to wear her favorite sports team.  She selected UM, for Ryan.  She also was able to match her doll, so she was pretty excited about that.  No one else had on UM clothes.  She said there were lots of UK fans.

I took Soren to the gym and had my first run since my races.  It felt pretty hard. 

Keira made an indian headband at school today.

On Friday, it was school spirit day. 

We had a busy day.  I took Soren to the gym while Keira was at school.  I was able to add flip turns into my workout, fairly well I would think.  I probably did about half of them OK, a quarter of them really poor/failed, and another quarter decent.  It made the workout go by a lot faster, both from a mental standpoint and a time standpoint.  Probably all those really messed up one where I didn't actually make it to the wall made my swim a bit shorter!  After the gym, we did a few errands, and then headed home for a fast lunch.  I had my parent teacher conference with Keira's teacher at school.  She is doing very well, so that made me pleased.  Also, I saw this on the bullentin board outside her class.  It melted my heart! (Keira is thankful for Soren)

I was able to bring Keira home from school, and she was excited to be a "car rider".  Then, we worked to get ready for our family pictures in the evening.  Once Ryan got home from work, we headed over to the JCP in St Matthews.  We were very pleased with the way they turned out.  We had dinner at Red Robin, but it was a late night for the kids.

On Saturday, we had a slow moving morning.  We got some trip planned figured out for December, and Ryan watched some football.  I went for a run, and when I got back, I took the kids biking.

When the game ended, we had planned to go with Ryan mountain biking, but Soren crashed out on the couch.  He asked Ryan if he could lay down on a certain spot, and then went to sleep.  He slept for a couple hours, while Ryan rode. 

He finally woke up, and we headed to the Summit to do some browsing and pick up some candles from Yankee Candle to make the house smell like a real Christmas tree.  Soren is pretty funny in that store.  I have brought him in several times, and he LOVES smelling all the candles.  A couple of the employees there have seen him before, and know he is pretty good with them, but he really stressed out one of the ladies.  The other customers got a big kick out of him.  He was running around shouting, "f'mell this one!" and  holding up different candles.  His cheeks smelled like candles when we left the store.  We also walked around the shopping area, because they had it lit for Christmas already.  It was weird to not really need coats and walk around with Christmas decorations out.  We also had dinner at Qdoba.  It was really good.  It is similar, but not exactly the same as Chipotle.  It was another late night for the kids.

On Sunday, we had a full day.  Everyone slept in a bit, so there wasn't as much time to get ready before church.  We also had breakfast and brunch.  The kids were starving when the woke up, so they had cereal, but then we had chocolate croissants, bacon, and eggs a bit later in the morning, but skipped lunch.  I had a lot of visual aids to make for my lesson, and the time went by really quickly.  Keira conked out during church, and slept until after Sacrament meeting was over.

Soren decorated a pumpkin at church too.  I warned his instructors that he had colored both his hands entirely blue with marker just this morning, when he coloring with Keira.  He seemed to do OK with them at church.  He was very attached to it.  There was a slight mix up with which one was his when Ryan got him, but thankfully, it got sorted out and he got to have "his" pumpkin.

That evening, we attended an Interfaith Thanksgiving Program that was held at our stake center.  We knew that the Primary would be performing, and on the program, there was one bullet point with two children's choirs.  We accidently sent Keira up too soon.  She did great with it, though.  She did OK, but was relieved to be united with her primary.  We had some quick refreshments and the headed home.

Up for next week, we be celebrating Thanksgiving!