Happy Thanksgiving!

 Claire

She always asks daddy to make a fire in our fireplace and likes to sit in front of it watching the flames for a while with Shay. We only had to tell them once not to touch because it's hot, and not to throw anything in because that's daddy's job. We had an interesting Thanksgiving because Claire was just getting over being sick, Shay was starting to get sick, and I had a stomach bug the two days before so I was nervous about eating anything. Claire helped me make rolls while Chris went to work out, and Shay helped with making sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Once Chris got home he did the potatoes and gravy while the ham was cooking and we were going to sit down as a family to eat, but Shay was asleep on the couch. Claire didn't stay at the table very long and I had a very small portion so it was a little sad, but we did talk about what we were grateful for during the 2 minutes Claire joined us. Then, of course, we decorated for Christmas on Friday! 

Shay

She caught Claire's sickness last week and has been napping every day because she wakes up coughing at night. We've been giving her medicine and babying her, but she still has the energy to play and be excited about life. Before she showed symptoms, she came to work with me at the gym and likes to play for the first 2 hours but after doing everything there she asks to go home. I wish our tablet still worked and I could distract her because most of my shifts are 4 hours and having her complain about being there is not very fun for me. We have them do exercise with YouTube videos for part of the time and they all love it, and there should be enough toys, crafts, and friends to play with. Hopefully, she'll get more used to being there because we now get to go a lot more often. I did notice that she doesn't ask to leave the house for shopping or to the library because we go to my job for so long, so that was interesting.

Starting Something New

 Claire

I did mean to take more pictures this week because we visited some family on Saturday. We drove up to Idaho for an extended family Thanksgiving dinner and even though the day became filled with other things, we saw cousins, aunts, and uncles. There were a few kids Claire and Shay's age that they played with and plenty of toys they got distracted with. Chris got to go shooting with his brother, and I wanted the girls to play with their cousins, but things just didn't happen that way. Luckily we will be there again for Christmas in about a month. We did bring home some wood and Chris started a nice fire tonight in our fireplace! Claire got sick in the middle of the week and started falling asleep really early in the evening and sleeping through the night, I think she's mostly done but Chris took her home after sacrament meeting because she was still coughing. We had to be at sacrament because I was singing and playing my flute in the choir and Chris needed to keep the girls in their seats while I was up on the stand.

Shay

Although she tried to come up on the stand while I was up there because she missed me, she wasn't too disruptive and the song went well. She stayed with me through the second hour of church because she hasn't shown any sick symptoms and she is loving nursery. It will be cool to have them both in primary starting next year and see how excited Shay is to be with her sister! I've gotten in a good groove of working out after dropping Claire off at school so Shay sometimes comes down to work out too. I usually get her interested in a show so I can have my time downstairs alone, but she has fun being strong. They both flex their muscles sometimes and it's cute to see them acting like they are strong because they see mommy and daddy working out all the time. Now we will get to go to a real gym and I wonder if it will be the same, since I work there I probably will still work out at home and only do some days at the gym.

New Job

Chris is feeling really comfortable in his new job here and now I get the experience of a new job too! I start tomorrow for my first day of training but was able to also attend a girls' night that they do every once in a while to have a meeting and then get to know each other better. I felt a little awkward because everyone else already knew each other, but I hope to fit in and be able to make a place for myself. I'll be training this week and then I've been given 18 hours a week so far, and as long as my girls stay healthy I can pick up even more hours. 

Normalizing November

 Claire

This week was a regular full week at school for Claire, and as far as I can tell, she seems to fit in pretty well. I would love to visit her one day and see what she is like during the school day and how well she follows directions, participates, and listens. I still feel like I'm bad at a regular homework schedule because Shay likes to distract her since they aren't at the same level. I need to be able to set a specific time, but I was feeling sick two days this week and the mornings are pretty hard when I'm tired and ill. I got a job at a Gym Daycare and will be working some mornings now so I should start implementing doing her homework right after school, but we always get home at the same time as our neighbor and they ask to play all the time now and as long as it is sunny, they've been going in the back yard. Claire learned that they are moving and was sad when she told me but when I said I already knew because her mom told me she said, "you know everything." It was funny but I'm glad they are having fun right now, they played for 3 hours today after church and before bedtime!

Shay

Our long days seem longer when she constantly asks to go to the store, library, park, swimming pool, dino park, cousin's house, grandma's house, and everywhere else in the world it seems. I'm hoping by starting the daycare job, will give her some excitement about not being at home since it looks like I'll have 3-4 shifts to have them join me. They will get to play with some new friends and get out more often and not have to ask to leave all the time, then even on the days I don't work we get to visit for a shorter time if I go there to work out! The library has been fun, but she doesn't do well with story times anymore, she is either too excited or too loud to be quiet. She is able to be quiet when she plays her cute little games at home, even when I haven't asked her to be quiet which makes me laugh sometimes. She was really helpful this week when I raked the leaves in the backyard and used a smaller rake, only hitting me with the handle once...but they love helping cook even if there isn't any way to help.

November Now

 Claire

For her shortened school day on Halloween, I put her hair in a bun and did my best to make it look like a spider. I should have found a bigger black piece of fabric, but she loved it how it was, and then I had to do the same for Shay. Chris worked until 6pm and we went out trick or treating as soon as he got home so we felt rushed and I didn't get a picture of them in their outfits. Claire was Owlette from PJ masks to match her sister's outfit and we drove to the street her teacher's house was so we could walk up and down that one. There were so many other kids around walking and we got a full bucket for each girl including one full-sized Hershey's bar, cotton candy, a soda, and lots of other little candies. So far they've eaten some and parent tax has taken the really good stuff. We also filled the day that she had off of school on the 1st with going to the library and painting some pictures. Claire was practicing and getting really frustrated with trying to set up dominos, I even has a hard time getting them all in the line the one time I did it.

Shay

On Wednesday, it snowed all morning and the girls noticed right before Claire had to go to school so Shay got to play out in the backyard for a while before getting too cold. When Claire came home they played together but it wasn't good enough snow to make a snowman like they wanted so they just did snowballs and dug down into the mud. It melted the next day but they seem really excited about it and I'm glad we are going to enjoy it now that we are back in a place where it snows. I need to get them some snow pants and sleds so we can enjoy being in this hilly area! Most of the parks have at least little hills that will be easy for the girls to climb up and down, but it has to snow again. Without Claire around, I get to see her keeping herself busy and finding things to do which is interesting to me in its own way. There hasn't been a lot of time in her life that she has been without her sister honestly.

The Makers

I went for a job interview this week at a gym Kidcare I would be able to work at with the girls coming with me. They apparently don't have a lot of hours, but I got the job and hopefully will get enough hours to make it worth it more than a free membership for Chris and me. Even with our own gym at home, having more cardio, machines, and amenities at the gym will be cool again, especially the sauna stuff. I wished there was a job that I could do online from home, but be able to walk away every so often to take Claire to school and spend time with them. They won't leave me alone long enough during the day for me to have a job where I have meetings or set times I have to be at the computer. This will work for now and I will hopefully get more hours as I'm there longer so we can have an extra income to pay more toward our debt. We have officially started and did our first payment.