November iPhone

I feel like I find such lovely treasures on my phone. Like the trove of videos of the kids that Jason finally managed to find a way to get off my phone (they had a data problem uploading). And like all these lovely photos that capture these little kiddos in all those in between moments. Those are the best moments. The small details that amount to so much. 

Like these kids making use of the shoe rack while they wait to say morning family prayer before Daddy heads off to work. 

Or Atticus and Milayla helping in the kitchen. This time it was to make Cauliflower pizza crust. We finally found the perfect recipe!

And the kids did such an awesome job getting the cauliflower ready to go into the food processor. It was hard work! Just look at that face.

And the cauliflower bits got everywhere. We were all covered. It was so much fun.

And then there are our weekly trips to the swimming pool. Those little wet footprints across the change room floor make my heart smile.

And then there was the big wind storm which knocked out the power for a nice majority of the residents of Montreal, including us.

All was well, though. We had plenty of candles and the kids pulled out lego and got to work by candlelight. Atticus is going through a robot phase; he builds so many different styles of robots and comes up with them all on his own. I am so impressed with his creativity. He even thinks through all the parts and how they will use them to function - and what their specific function is. He's pretty proud. I love it.

Let's take a closer look at that beauty!

Pretty sure he's going to be needing a robotics kit sooner than we realize.

We were pretty fortunate with the power outage because the kids and I had just finished making the pizza and put it into the over (which was all ready to go). So even with the power outage, the pizza still cooked enough for us to eat! Lucky us!

While we went and found a few winter clothing items in some unsuspecting places, the kids also found some colorful dragons in unsuspecting places as well. Milayla was pretty excited when her and Atticus got to ride in it together.

This is definitely one of my favorites. We had picked up a book at the library about sights in Paris. And as Atticus and I were reading it, I was explaining to him all the places he had been to there and all the places that Jason and I had gone to together. Then he asked me if lots of people live there and I remarked that even Daddy used to live there when he was on his mission. His response - "Missionaries go to Paris, too!?". Yep, kiddo. They do. And a ton of other wonderful places with wonderful people. Then he raced to the kitchen to ask Jason about some of the buildings in the book that I wasn't very familiar with. It was so cute to see him ask questions for a nice amount of time, and they were very thought out questions, too.

And then there is the week that Milayla made it her favorite hobby to snatch up Jason's glasses whenever he left them somewhere (which is often..). Love her!

Or Atticus' idea of wrapping a gift.

That's packing tape colored with permanent marker, in case you were wondering.

Or there is the mountain of cinnamon that happens when someone (we have no idea who) accidentally unscrewed the cinnamon lid a bit before we went to add some to our muesli. Whoops!

Or these cuties reading together. It was squishy to fit into that chair but they made it work and Atticus is so excited to get to read books to Milayla with his reading skills that are progressing steadily.

And fudge babies. Yum. In the words of the kiddos - they are the perfect family home evening treat.

And the sharing of lollipops from Halloween.

And the silly faces that accompany them.

And then there are the items that Milayla decides to wear during the day. She loves to practice putting on clothes so she is always adding hats and sweaters to practice buttons and zippers. It's so much fun. She is pretty happy about her budding skills and so are we.

And there are more books. Lots of books.

Like books on the reading pillow (after Milayla ran away from Daddy and getting in the bath).

And books on the couch.

And with the Christmas tree now up, we have books on the carpet in front, and books squished into a big bed.

And the kids were so excited to get to send off their stickers for the sticker project. It is such a great project that Sharee started last year. It is an easy way for kids to help kids in another country. If you want some more details you can check --->here<--- a="" always="" but="" for="" get="" i="" is="" it="" late="" little="" next="" out="" p="" s="" stickers="" that.="" there="" think="" this="" to="" year="">

And Milayla's curiosity while we were making guacamole taught us all that you can peel an avocado pit. The things you learn with children!

I decided to cut Milayla's hair short because she likes to have it down most of the time so I thought it would be a good time to try a shorter style on her. She was a superstar while I figured out just how to cut it. I ended up doing it so that it is a little shorter in the back. She liked it so much that when the boys were due for their next hair cuts she brought out her chair for a trim as well!

And then there was the first, and only, casualty in our toilet. Atticus decided it would be a good idea to fly the toy tractor over the toilet. It didn't make it.

I am grateful for metal coat hangers that can be bent to reach into the toilet so that I don't have to put my hand in there to retrieve, particularly when this was post Milayla using the toilet (and before flushing...). Thankfully, there have been no more flight attempts over the toilet.

Yep, I love all those in between moments. They really do fill the day with good things. And always put so many smiles on our faces. Love it.