Happy Times...

November was full of happy times!! Autumn turned 8- I can hardly believe this- it seems as if we just brought her home yesterday:( It's exciting times when you turn 8 around here. She was baptized last week and now gets to go to activity days twice a month. Activity days is for girls who are 8-12 years old and they get together and do lots of fun stuff- she was overjoyed. Marah on the other hand was a little sad and so was I since this was the first thing they are not doing together.

The girls had their first piano recital. They were so excited and both did a great job. Everything was going so well until...

It was time to hand out the trophies. Autumn's name was called and Marah sat on the edge of her seat until the very last trophy was handed out just waiting for her name to be called...

and it wasn't:( Can you say heartbreaking, soul destroying, just plain wrong!! We all looked at each other like deers in the headlights since we didn't even know there would be trophies handed out!! She handled it pretty well but I wish that was a lesson she didn't have to learn at the age of six- good grief!!

Our tree has been up since the beginning of the month and this is the first year in a long while that I can remember feeling the true Christmas spirit. We have Elf on a Shelf this year and the little peeps LOVE him. He sits somewhere in your house and every night leaves to report to Santa on everyone's naughty or nice status returning to a different spot each morning. He cannot be touched otherwise he will lose his special powers. I've only had to get out of bed twice having forgotten to take care of Elfie:)

Hayden is working on his picture taking skills- I prefer pictures of the faces only- for obvious reasons but he insists on taking whole body ones- ugh!! I continue to be amazed by his kindness and all around goodness. He is a huge blessing to me and our whole family. We continue to have difficult and heartbreaking challenges with Ryker but I am forever grateful for a husband, family, and good friends who help me through the crappy stuff.
A few random pieces of info- Ken and I found the best burger place ever and he is addicted, I'm back to yoga and I love it, shift work is not as terrible as I thought, I have a great coat that is cute, warm, and zips, Marah is about to lose her two front teeth- another one growing up-sigh-, Jack continues to humor us with his constant chatter, Ryker is riding his bike in this freezing weather, we should be gaining daylight soon, and I am still dreaming about moving to Florida!!