November

Brian came home one day with this enormous Lindt truffle for me.

We got snow.

JJ's first time ever really noticing snow.  I gave him his own little snowball, and he wasn't sure what to think of it.

Ben and Rose wanted to ride their bikes out in it.

Judging by facial expressions and shoes, I believe Emmeline is on the left, and Jane is on the right.

I caught JJ playing with a roll of toilet paper, and shredding it.  I tried to take it away, and as I was manually rolling it back up, I turned around and saw that JJ had balled up his little piece that he kept, and started wiping his clothed bottom.  Then he said, "Potty.  Potty."  Then he took and put the "used" TP in the toilet.  I went and got him his own little potty the next day.  We're not pushing anything, just waiting on him until he wants too.

Nothing like having no privacy while sitting on the toilet, eh?

JJ's 2nd Birthday

 JJ turned 2 on November 22nd.  We just had a small affair with just our family.  I made him a fish tank birthday cake (those are fish sprinkles).

Brian had to blow out his candles this year because JJ kept trying to touch the flames.  He was really upset when he wasn't allowed to touch them.

He wanted the cake, but wasn't sure about the messy frosting at first.

Then he really got into finger painting.

Nanni and Papa got him his own vacuum, which is awesome because he had been plugging in MY vacuum, turning it on, and trying to push the heavy thing himself.  He LOVES "helping" me clean.  I love my sweet boy!

We gave him a jumbo jet.

Grandma and Grandpa just weren't able to come, so they gave him his gift of a hooded blanket and a stuffed penguin on Thanksgiving.

Just to show how much JJ has grown up, he already shaves!

Kate's 5th Birthday

On November 15, Kate turned 5, and we had her first REAL birthday party (where she could invite friends).  She talks about her birthday Every. Single. Day of the year.  No lie.  And every day she has a new theme she wants to do for her party.  She even wanted a crane--yes, the bird--birthday party once.  So, I decided I was going to surprise her with what kind of party she was having.  She ended up loving her simple princess themed party.

Here she is with her friend Kayelin.

We started out by decorating crowns with 3D jewel stickers.

Love Rose's jewel beauty spot.

Emmeline

Friend Georgia

Kayelin

The twins love hugging.  Jane is in black with the black  cat ears Auntie Lisha gave them.  Sometime Jane sleeps in those kitty ears.

We watched Frozen, and also did a Hello Kitty pinata (you can see it in the upper right hand corner of the book case).

I had Walmart custom make this cake, and it turned out better than I imagined it would!  I once saw them do a cupcake dress like this once before, but it only comes with an initial and that's it.  I thought that was lame, so I asked if I could combine the dress with a different kit to top it.  The princess one to be exact.  They added a super sparkly ribbon at the waist and had large crushed sugar pieces on all the cupcakes to make it shimmer.  It was perfect, and Jane couldn't stop looking at it.

Everyone ended up with purple mouths.  Some very much on purpose.

This is Julia.  Another friend from church.

She got good stuff this year!  Georgia gave her this awesome fairy tale jewelry box that comes with 600 jewel stickers that you put on it similar to paint-by-numbers.  She and I are having fun decorating it.  Julia and her grandma handmade Kate the turquoise princess hat.  Kayelin gave her the Color Wonder kit.  Grandma and Grandpa gave her a CTR necklace, Ellie the elephant, and this cool hooded blanket to look like Anna!

We gave her an Elsa styling head.  All our daughters love it.  I knew Kate would love it because she tries to play with my hair all the time.  She likes the fact that she can turn Elsa's hair purple too.

Kate asked Nanni and Papa for a green dragon.  We searched everywhere, and Nanni found this big guy, plus a unicorn necklace and bracelet to go with.

This was also the day that Aunt Emily and Uncle Tsukasa moved back to the western side of WA.  Right next door to Grandma and Grandpa, to be exact.  So, we weren't sure if any family was going to come, but come they did!

A few days later, I let Kate paint my nails for the first time.  She picked out an orange background with light blue sparkles on top.  Yes, it's  still on, and I wear opened toe shoes at church so everyone can see.

Speaking of church, Brian got his third calling of being the ward....ummmm...I don't remember what it's called, but he's in charge of making sure the internet works in our building, and setting up for broadcasts, etc...., on top of his being the YM secretary, and Scout Master Assistant.  I just got released from being the primary pianist.  I nearly cried.  That's all I've done since we moved here.  But now I'm the CTR 6 teacher, and I have the biggest class in primary.  Today will be my first Sunday teaching.

Big Wind Storm

On November 11, was my grandmother's 99th birthday so my parents left our home to go to Utah to be with her.  Good thing they left early, because right after they left, we had a HUGE wind storm.  We had tree branches littering our yard, street, roof, and one side of our fence broke.  It was crazy.  Yeah, I took that picture through the glass because I didn't want to be out there.  We lost power for 2 days, and I moved the kids and myself into Brian's parents house planning to be there for 3 days (since that's when the power company said our power would come back on).  Luckily, Brian drove back to our house after work just to see how things were on that day we moved, and the power was already back!  He had some trouble getting the heater to turn back on, but it eventually did.  I'm grateful for our kerosene heater that we bought a few years ago.  It kept us warm when we needed it.  I'm also grateful we have plenty of spare blankets in our house because we piled them on our beds that first night without power.  It was so quiet in the house, but it was nice too not having tv, or electronics going.  It was actually less stressful than when those things are on.  Go figure.

Rose's Baptism

On November 8, 2014, our dear sweet Rose Emma was baptized and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Rose wore the same jumper I did when I was baptized.  My mom sewed it for us girls.

Rose was REALLY excited to be baptized, but once we got her into her jumper, her nerves were really bothering her.  You can probably tell in these pictures just how nervous she is!

She was the last kid to be baptized that day, so by the time it was her turn, she and I walked through the font doors (which was a surreal experience for me since I hadn't been through the font doors in a chapel since my own baptism--then for me to be the MOM, and not the daughter, was just amazing as well).  Once we got through the font doors, and she saw how high up the water was, she freaked out.  It did look really high, and Rose is just my cute little shorty, I was even wondering how high it was going to come up on her.  She looked like she was going to cry, and I admit, I didn't know if she was going to go through it.  She said she was cold (and Brian had heard earlier in the day from the bishop that the water heater was broken, so there wasn't going to be warm water).  I quickly got her towel, and told her I was going to be waiting right at the top of the font steps for her with her nice warm towel, but it took about 2-3 full minutes before she could move close to the water.  I got down on my knees and looked her in the eyes and asked her if she wanted to do it.  I asked her if she wanted to covenant with her Father in Heaven.  She nodded that she did.  That's when Brian stepped out the font, lovingly picked up Rose and carried her to the spot she'd be baptized.  He slowly and gently put her into the water, and she was baptized.  She was still a little bit in shock and suffering from her nerves for the rest of her baptism/confirmation, but she did it, and it was really special.  The one thing that I really remembered from her confirmation blessing that I want to record for her here is that the Lord encouraged her to make the temple a symbol in her life, and a goal for her future.  I'd like to collect temple pictures for her from all over, and do some sort of collage or craft with her to help her remember.

It was also a great missionary opportunity.  We invited her friend Aiden and his parents, and also Russ and Linda, our neighbors next door.  Then we went back to our house, and she loosened up a LOT, and was quite happy.  It was good to see her feeling more at ease.

Here they are eating the now traditional baptism cheesecakes.

She just could not get serious afterwards, she was just too happy and filled with the Spirit I think!  This is her in her dress with her sweater on.

Do you know how hard it is to find nice modest baptism dresses?!  Note to myself: I got this at White Elegance online.  That's also where I got my temple dress for my wedding.  This is the front of her rose dress (it has little tiny tulle roses all around, and one big one at the waist).

And here's the back with the matching rose for her hair.  Notice that I did her hair in a braided bun.  That's how my hair was after my baptism as well.  :)  Yeah, I guess I'm more sentimental that I thought.

This is what perfection on the inside looks like.  Happy and peaceful.

She opened her presents.  Nanni and Papa gave her a hymnal.

We gave her scriptures.  Grandma and Grandpa gave her a CTR necklace and a journal? I think.  Aunt Marcie and Uncle John gave her a white bear and a gift certificate to Toys R Us.  I also thought it appropriate to give her MY white baptism rose that my primary teacher gave to me on my baptism day.

And here's the cheese from the cheesecake showing through in her fun personality.

Nanni and Papa Visit!

My parents came into town for Rose's baptism, and we really enjoyed having them here.  They even helped me teach school!  On Friday night, Brian and I have our weekly date night, and we invited my parents to double date with us.  We got our normal babysitter and had a fun night out on the town.  We ate at Bahama Breeze, then went birthday/Christmas shopping for the kids.

Some pictures of Jane in her church clothes.

Emmeline in hers.

While Nanni and Papa were here, Jane was tormenting Emmeline, so Nanni told Jane that it made her sad to see her hurt Emmeline, and that it makes Jesus sad too.  Kate looked at Jane, and quite seriously said, "You're going to spirit prison."  I just about died when I heard that.

To help the triplets all get along better, I found "best friends forever" necklaces, and they each got one, and when all 3 necklaces are put together, it makes a heart.  They wear them all the time, so if they start to argue or hurt one another, then I hold up their necklaces as a reminder that they really are best friends forever.