Second Half of November

 Homeschool picture dump. Miles has been working on his dribbling skills with this program called "Dribble Up". Some days he loves it, some days he hates it. ? 

We had the Fogle's over for homeschool group and ditched the regular lesson and devoted our time to making mini pies, in preparation for Thanksgiving. 

Each of the kids gave presentations on a specific insect they were learning about at homeschool group. Miles=cockroaches, Gwen=Moths, Lindy=Snails.

Gwen is rocking piano and her Acro class, and Lindy is loving her dance class! 

Scenes on the homestead. Stormy Day, cuddly kitten, chip drop, first real snow day, feeding our fall decor leftovers to the animals!

Richie came in the school room one Saturday and said, "I'm taking you on a date at 5." This was surprising because we hadn't planned anything, and who was going to babysit for us? 

Well, now that Miles and Gwen are a little bit older and all of the 3 older ones are pretty darn mature and capable, we've been gradually easing them into babysitting. This has been a years long process. At first I would just leave the kids if the baby was napping and I needed to run a 5-10 minute errand. Then, we would leave the kids at home after they were tucked in, give them one of our phones, and Richie and I would go on a walk for an hour.  At some point a few months ago, Richie had to leave town for a week for work, and I had to deal with a bit of extra curricular craziness, and needing to run certain errands etc and I HAD to leave the kids alone for longer periods of time, while they were all awake. It was scary, but also liberating. I've now been able to regularly sneak away during quiet time to run a few errands that are so much easier without kids, and other things like that.

 This picture was of our first real date we took, while our kids babysat themselves at home. We fed them dinner, got them in their pj's, and set up a movie. We now have a Gabb phone that the kids can use to call in case of emergency, so that helps ease everyone's minds. He said the plan was to grab some food and then I wanted to go to Home Depot so he could pick out his Christmas present. Something casual. Then he pulled a fast one and took me to this super cool restaurant that the only way you know it's there, is if you know. Then you head up an elevator to get to the dining room. It all felt very mysterious and exciting. The food was delicious. I'm still dreaming about the roasted Brussel sprouts with bacon and a creamy mustard sauce. And then of course we did head to Home Depot to shop. The kids did great! 

I'm not ready to leave them for long dates, like the temple, but real live dates can start happening now without hiring a babysitter! We've hit a momentous milestone!