November

 So, I already posted the fun that started off our November when we went to Disney on Ice on the 2nd.  The following day, here were our cute girls after church.  We seriously make cute kids...

Later that day, Daddy decided it was time for some science, since it had been a while.  He and Ellie went on a science mini-marathon as a result.  First, they put some elodea in water with an indicator so that when the Carbon Dioxide levels changed as a result of photosynthesis over the course of a day the water color would change as well.  Yes, these are the things Steve teaches our three year old about.

 Next Daddy helped Ellie plant some pea seeds.

 She then enjoyed being a big girl and pouring in the water.

 I love these two cock-eyed in exactly the same way as Steve tells Ellie about how gravity is causing the water to go down through the soil.

 After the peas had been planted and watered, the next step was to feed and observe some crickets Steve had picked up for his science classes for later that week.

 Ellie then drew her crickets.  She made sure each one had eyes, antenna, a mouth (mandibles), and two legs (even though she knows they have six).  This was the first time we've seen her draw something that is obviously representative of a real object, so it was really exciting.

Later in the month Daddy also had some dry ice left over from labs, so while I was at work one night the girls enjoyed more science.

Have I mentioned how lucky our girls are to have their amazing Daddy?

The next big event in November was unfortunately that I came home from work on the 6th and started throwing my guts up again.  I got that same terrible flu where I threw up every hour to two hours for exactly 12 hours and then took a few days to recover.  I can't believe that I managed to get that same AWFUL flu twice in 13 weeks of pregnancy....  Roughest first trimester for me.  Ever.  I hope.

And this is what I looked like at 15 weeks pregnant mid-November.

A few random pictures from the month as well.  Here was Ellie after she'd gone downstairs to play for about 10 minutes.  We went to check on her to find she'd just climbed into bed and passed out.  We think based on her increased appetite and the fact that she napped almost every day the second half of the month that she may be coming up on a growth spurt.

 Ellie also liked being a big helper for with Daddy when we ground up our roasts for ground beef later in the month.  The gifts of beef and this meat grinder from Steve's folks have been fabulous for our family.

 These were just some cute pictures of Mckayla from the middle of the month.  I couldn't believe what a little girl she looked like that day!  And I love her funny faces and cheesy grins.

We also had some fun with silly things like taking treats to Ellie's Thanksgiving party.

 Finding out that the girls' next cousin will be another boy (due late April).

 Me actually enjoying shopping for the first time in years and finding some comfortable maternity clothes.  Thank goodness!

 And Ellie learning the joys of "giant marshmallows" as rewards for doing extra good things.  (leftover eyes from Mckayla's Cookie Monster cake the month before)

The last adventure of the month was that we headed up to Spokane for Thanksgiving.  I was awful about getting pictures of family, but did manage to get this one of the four cousins.

 The two little ones weren't real pleased with posing on the couch, but Wyatt and Ellie didn't care as they were enjoying cuddling in Aubrey's blanket and watching cartoons while remaining oblivious to the goings on around them.

 And a couple more silly pictures of Mckayla.  She found this old (and clean) medicine bottle and thought it made a great toy.

 She hung out and held the bottle in her mouth while talking into it and obviously thought she was being hilarious.

We also took advantage of sales after Thanksgiving to get Mckayla a new big girl car seat.  We knew that between her rapid growth and our upcoming arrival that we had no more than 6 months or so before we needed to get her a bigger seat, and she was really fighting us on the convertible seat as of late, so we got this on a FANTASTIC sale (ignore price tag) and figured we would hope she did better in this seat for our Christmas travels.  And she does like this seat a lot better now that she can watch the world go by out her window.  Thank goodness!  Because she still isn't our favorite travel companion at times...

After Thanksgiving we headed home to look forward to the dash to Christmas break and the holidays.  A few other fun dates from the month.  I felt baby Bennett for the first time around the 10th of the month, thought the feelings were small, few, and far between.  Around the 21st Mckayla took her first step down into a kneeling position.  After that she would take a few single steps tentatively every day or two, so we knew walking wasn't too far off.  Oh, and we did FINALLY can our applesauce.  So hooray for that!  We had lots of other fun things the girls said or did during the month, but that takes care of most of our November.