Team Andros: November, Part 1

Jocie LOVES food. She has only been eating solid food for 2 weeks but is totally in love with every aspect of it. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this gorgeous smile on the first day of November after good meal after church.

November 3rd was Mitch's first pack meeting as a cub scout! He has been going to den meeting for well over a month (the cub leader let him come a few weeks before officials turning 8). He loves cub scouts and we are excited for him to learn new things and have fun with other boys his age.

I'm in the Relief Society Presidency and have a presidency meeting every Wednesday at 7:00. Ben takes his job of putting the kids to bed while I'm gone very seriously... or not. This is our bed. I guess I have to be more specific about what bed to put them in while I'm gone. :) Ben loves spending time with the kids. He truly is the best dad.

House progress!

Olivia and Jocie watching a show together one day. Olivia is very picky and will only watch two shows: Paw Patrol (Paw Pu-tah, as she calls it) and a dinosaur show on Netlix. I am hoping she branches out very soon. She also hates commercials and if she isn't watching Netflix or a DVR showing of Paw Patrol, she freaks out when a commercial comes on. Ahh, kids these days.

Olivia standing in front of the freshly poured concrete slab of our house, where our playroom and theater room will one day be.

On one Friday off, Ben took the big kids with him before school to go buy donuts and then take them to the framing crew working on our house to tell them we appreciated their hard work. The workers loved it and I love that Ben teaches our kids service and kindness. (Even donuts can be service!)

It's hard to imagine a real house on this flat surface. Someday soon!

Ben and I spent lots of time in October and November picking things out for the new house. We are not great at making permanent deacons (I need to see the final, end result and have a hard time picturing stuff in my head). This day at the plumbing store we were picking out the rain shower head for our master bathroom. Round or square, big or small?

Saturday Soccer continued into the first part of November!

My parents and sister Catherine and her baby Jeter came into town November 6-11. Grandma was happy to help feed Jocie, who will eat anytime and LOTS of it.

Jeter and Jocie had a fun week together. Jocie is getting better about sitting up on her own for longer stretches.

November 7th was a very special day for us! Mitchell was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by his dad. We are so proud of him for making that decision. It was a beautiful service and we were surrounded by wonderful family.

Mitchell's biggest fans!

So proud of my handsome boy.

So glad to have Grandma and Papa in town for his special day!

Nana and Papa love Mitchell!

On Sunday after church, my parents wanted to drive over to the Columbia River Temple. It's such a beautiful temple and any excuse to be inside or on the temple grounds is wonderful.

Lots of toy sharing with cousin Jeter all week.

The twins gave Papa a back rub one evening after dinner. My dad and I used to give each other back rubs often. We played a game after early morning family scripture study- the first one up the stairs after it was over won and had to rub the other one's back. I'm sure my dad let me win a lot. He gave great back rubs!

Ben talking with the framing crew about the placement of our dining room window.

We had to take our visitors by the house and show them the progress. So fun to see "walls" up.

Olivia loves Grandma. A lot! And she is currently in a stage where she refuses to wear a coat or jacket. That isn't going to be good when the weather drops to freezing temps here soon.

Don't I have a gorgeous little sister?

Standing at where our front door will be someday!

Grandma gave Jocie her first braid. Since birth, she has had very long hairs on the back of her head- just a random patch of them.

Jose and Jete had a fun week together, but it can't be fun all the time. :)

On November 11, Veteran's Day, and the morning that my parents and sister left, Chloe had surgery to get her tonsils removed. I was sad to miss the last morning with my family, but this girl has had so many issues and illnesses with those darn tonsils that we took the first surgery date they had open. We had to be at the surgery center in the 6:00 hour. Chloe and Ben passed the time away playing their favorite game- Cat's Cradle.

Dressed and ready to go!

More Cat's Cradle before being wheeled back.

The surgery was only like 20 minutes long. Ben and I felt like we'd only been in the waiting room just mere minutes before the doctor was out there telling us everything had gone great. He said her tonsils looked terrible- lots of tonsil stones and pits from continued tonsillitis and strep. We are glad they are out and look forward to healthier, pain free days.

Chloe had a hard time when she woke up. She was very disoriented, panicky and frantic. She didn't know where she was and what had happened. She kept trying to sit up. She was in pain and very sleepy. She was very worried and sad that she didn't remember anything. They gave her an ice pack for her throat

She felt up for a popsicle after she was more awake and alert. It was good to see her smile after being so sad and frantic right after surgery. She was much happier after the anesthesia wore off a little more.

Since it was Veteran's Day, all the kids were home from school. My parents watched our other kids while they packed up. Once they were ready to leave and on the road, Ben's parents came over until we got home. Grateful for both of our parents for their help this day while we were gone.

Braving a smile as we left. We were home before noon. Ben went into work after grabbing a quick bite to eat.

Chloe was anxious to eat some of the ice cream that Papa Blakeslee had bought her before he left. She was excited to be on a diet that promoted lots of ice cream, but the novelty wore off after a day or two and she craved all the foods she wasn't supposed to have- anything hard or crunchy. It was a rough two weeks of diet restriction for her.

Her sweet cousins Stella and Evie dropped by balloons, cards and gifts for her later that day. It was so sweet and it totally made Chloe's day. Chloe didn't get off the couch that entire day except to use the bathroom. She was very sleepy and had no energy. Her pain level was ok for the first 2 days, but as the doctor predicted, days 3-5 were the worst and she was in terrible pain those days. We got her pain prescription filled and she kept her ice bag on her throat constantly. It was rough but she was a trooper and was good to rest, rest, rest.

After dinner on Veteran's Day, we went over to say hi to one of our favorite Veterans- Grandpa Forsythe. The kids gathered around him as he told them a few war stories.

Grandpa is an excellent story teller. We sure love him. He has dementia and some days can't recognize what is going on around him, but he can always remember stories from the war and his childhood. It is amazing.

More house! One random second story piece on. Can't wait for the rest of the upstairs to start.

Looking in the front door.

Little Miss J was a pro at sitting alone by mid month! And sure happy about it.

We desperately needed family pictures taken and after having already put it off too long (as we do EVERY year), we finally found an open hour to do it. Watching the weather, I knew it was going to be the last weekend of the year that wasn't freezing cold. We were fortunate that it was still in the 60's this late in the year as it was. After a busy day, we quickly shoved everyone into some clothes, did the girls' hair and raced to a spot to quickly do pictures before the sun went down. It was literally a race against time.

Livy was not being cooperative and it was hard to get a picture of her even looking at the camera. She refused to stand on her own and proved to be difficult even being held by me or Ben. Chloe was such a trooper. She was on day 3 post-op and on her worst pain day. She had been in bed all day and we medicated her up really well before pulling her out of bed. What a sweetheart she was to put on normal clothes, do her hair and smile sweetly for family pictures.