The Goodrich Gossip: November

The holidays are in full swing over here and we've been busy busy busy! But I feel less stressed than last year for a number of reasons. 1.)No diapers, enough said 2.) I'm more prepared because I have known what to expect as far as orders go 3.) babysitting co-op which I only started doing this year, it's a life saver and my kids love going to their friends house while I work 4.) mother's helpers, I have a couple of younger kids, our neighbor and two boys in our ward who come over for a few hours once a week to play with the boys in the afternoons while I get my work done. 5.) no holiday shows, I've done numerous in years past and they are a TON of work to prep for and be at and only a part of the time worth it not only financially, but emotionally with all the stress and being away. I just do better and can be more flexible with online sales and now I have more time to do things my way. Just the way I like it.

Anyways things have felt less stressful for me but I've also had less time to show off of my cute kids to the world, so here goes:

Max is loving preschool and going to his friends house. There are only two other boys in the co-op but it's worked out more or less. Max came home one day with a mini loaf of bread he had made, he was so proud.

So proud he insisted on using it to make mini pbj's with.

Up until recently we would walk most days to school to pick up Levi. This was on one of the last nice days of Fall. Their favorite activities include freeze tag (#1), balancing, hop scotch and climbing. Basically anything with other kids involved.

At the beginning of November I got to go to a quilting retreat as part of my birthday gift. Just me, my mom, my sewing machine and a ton of unfinished projects. It was 3 days of sewing, chatting, not cleaning or cooking, and doing whatever I wanted. I don't think I've done anything like that in a LONG time. It was wonderful and I got a number of projects done, some Christmas presents made for the boys, a quilt top and back done that I've been working on and off for over 3 years. I hope I get to go again soon! It was me and a lot of grandmas, but I love grandmas! They are actually quite hilarious.

This is my new/old singer featherlight. I love it almost more than my new(er) one. It just has a more solid feel to it when I'm sewing. Plus it's pretty dang cool.

Since I got a smart phone my boys, especially Max love to pose or do videos.

He usually makes me photograph is projects. I forget what this one was.....

One day after school Levi gave me this picture. The hand part we actually did for his class halloween party and then they finished it later. I love it so so much even more so after he explained it to me. The hands are the spider, the red part in the middle is the poison. The blue bubble part on the spiders bottom is his spiracles (yes he said it was his spiracles). I asked if the brown part was the border to which he said "No mom, that is the dirt. Can you guess what this is?" as he pointed to the small orange object on the top upper right corner."It is the spiders prey" Now this wasn't any ordinary spider according to Levi, it was a trapdoor spider hence the dirt and the grass. I love this kid!

Fort time!

A while back a few kids in our ward were selling tickets for their high school's production of The Little Mermaid. I'd been looking to take Levi to a musical or kids play for quite some time but I wanted to make sure it was a good, kid friendly one.

The show was amazing, costuming was brilliant and it was just a fun and up beat production. Levi was throughly entertained and exclaimed very loudly after the resolution (when Ariel is fianlly turned into a human so she can be with prince Eric) "It has a happy ending!!" We got to shake hands and give high fives to a number of characters which thrilled him to no end.

When I asked who his favorite person was it was King Triton. It is so funny to see a boys take on traditionally girls movies. To be honest Triton was this huge guy (almost couldn't believe he was in high school) with a big booming voice. Next to him Prince Eric looked like a shrimp.

Speaking of twists on movies, the movie Brave is according to Levi all about bears. Boys.

On our way to pick up Levi from school, Max usually likes to bring some sort of toy. This time it was horsey and he wanted me to take a picture and send it to dad. I love walking to school even though it takes a lot longer but I think it is good for everyone to take a nice walk and play a bit.

Notice Max is wearing PJ pants? Didn't want to fight it that day.

We don't to many computer/video games around here but Levi was begging and they all got all their chores done so they got some time. They love sitting on the chair together and Max usually opts to watch and cheer Levi on.

We had a day off of school last week and since it was going to be our neighbors birthday the next day and she was over while we baby sat her we decided to go to Pump It Up. They even got to go in the wind tunnel thing. Everyone loved it, but Max decided fairly quickly that all that wind was not for him.

Mom! Take my picture!

No pictures!

Max wearing dad's glasses. He looks pretty cute with them on!

Max and Levi don't really get any sort of 'allowance' but we have family jobs, which are jobs you just do because you are part of a family and have to help out, and pay jobs which are just that, pay jobs. Extra jobs that take a little bit more work and you get paid. Levi's weekly pay job is to take out the recycling and Max helps sometimes. Then they do other random jobs around the house, sometimes upstairs sometimes down.

Anyways, they combined their pay job money with the money they got from Grandma Tami for their B-day and decided to make their big purchase. Levi has been eyeing the dragon/action figure display when we go to Michael's and was lusting after their Chimera (has three different heads and a snake tail) and they both adore dragons, knights and castles.

So we raided their John Deere piggy banks, paid tithing (for Max it was his first time and first purchase) and headed off.

Immediately Levi knew which one he wanted while Max went back and forth, back and forth but finally settled on a red dragon with wings and a little baby dragon. They were quite excited about it all and have been loving them ever since. Me, not quite as much because while I love their interest in it and enjoy watching them play I do not like stepping on them, those things are pointy!