Lately in Windom (November Edition)

Mark finally got our new bathroom vanity cabinet installed. SUCH a huge improvement over our old one with all that open shelving (and a huge tipping hazard for the boys). THANK YOU, honey! :)

Still gradually working on Halloween candy detox around here. We've found the M&Ms and Skittles are excellent motivation to stay in the stroller so we can actually walk instead of just take two steps and look at another pinecone or ant. #parentsOfTheYear

Lots of raking still going on around here.

They aren't exactly the nicest to Mama lately ;)

Trying out big brother's bike. A fairly significant argument broke out when big brother actually wanted to ride his own bike.

I love his pensive face :)

Sleeping babies are one of my favorite things. I mean, I love them awake too, but you can't do the word "peace" more justice than a sleeping baby :)

One of the last warmish weekends of 2015. I love that I can still see crunchy leaves through green grass :)

I thoroughly enjoy sunsets out at the farm :)

I love when it's scarf and boot weather, although my favorite military Adirondack jacket isn't going to sip and button much longer, it seems :(

A common occurrance around here. I'm not sure there's room for another on there, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. Daddy may need some

I have a feeling this guy will some day live on the water. His obsession with throwing sticks and rocks and playing in the water continues to grow :) I just love him so much!

Weekend breakfast is my favorite with these boys :)

Beginning to feel more and more awkward at the gym, but at least I'm still able to get some cardio and do some leg work and weights still. I've officially reached that point where my belly sticks out so far that my (currently pretty enormous) boobs don't even show in a regular t-shirt. 23 weeks here!

My favorite Thanksgiving side dish: The Stuffing :)

My least favorite Thanksgiving dish: The Turkey

This kid constantly needs a Kleenex when he's outside in the winter...and I totally need to get him a better pair of mittens!

Seriously, though - I love seeing them all bundled up in winter gear.

They are kinda obsessed with eating the snow right now

Making snow angels :)

I just so LOVE to have a full table :) I'm so thankful for our friends and family :)

He lights up my whole world :)

I can't help but continue to look at these sweet pictures of our little one :) I am SO ready for March - it cannot get here fast enough!

Belly comparison shot: Me at 24 weeks; Nancy at 26

Helping Daddy build a snow/leaf man

This little guy is HUGE into coloring these days. I can only hope that it continues all the way through winter, as it's a terrific alternative to making an enormous mess elsewhere in the house and/or watching too much TV.


Cold cocoa is the name of the game at our house. Cashel was asking for hot cocoa after building the snowman, but when I made it just mildly warm, he deemed it much too hot, so he asked for me to put some ice cubes in it. I told him that it wouldn't be "hot" cocoa anymore, and he said he's rather have cold cocoa then.

Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It was a small bit of us: Just us and Mark's Mom, but we sure enjoyed how relaxing it was.

Every once in a while I take a breather long enough to appreciate this man :) We're certainly "in the trenches" right now with working full time out of the home and then coming home to raise our sweet boys (who many times act like wild hooligans), and I wouldn't want anyone else by my side :)

Since Grandma Diane isn't on Facebook, she didn't get to see our announcement video, so Mark pulled it up to show her. The boys were actually interested for the first time, too.

Thanksgiving 2015

Thankfully, there appears to be enough room for one more little guy on the cuddle recliner :)

I cannot tell you what a HUGE improvement this new flooring has made at our house! It was such an exhausting job, but not a day has gone by yet that I haven't been 100% pleased with it.

November Recap

I say this every month, but I swear it could not be any more true than this particular month. Time is FLYING right now. I think it was just yesterday that I said, "how on earth is it OCTOBER already?" and here it is DECEMBER!

November has been a busy one around here, even without too many major events.

We started the month with fairly mild temps in the 50s and ended with 6 inches of snow and 30s, so November has maintained its "transitional" month status for sure. We played in the leaves a fair amount, spent time outside, and worked on getting things ready for winter. We traded in our flip flops and light jackets for lots of layers, boots and winter coats.

The boys and I spent the first weekend of the month having a nice visit with my Mom down in Iowa while my sister and her hubby attended a conference. It was nice to have Grandma Ruth all to ourselves :)

For a full recap of the weekend with pictures, click here!

While we were living it up at the farm, Mark was out hunting with his Dad and buddy Jamie. He struck it rich as far as weather goes, as both hunting weekends the weather was extremely mild.

Sadly, they didn't end up having too much luck once again this year, and only saw a handful of doe and a couple really small bucks too far off for a shot. It looks like our freezer will be void of deer sticks another year.

As I mentioned earlier, we got SNOW! First, we had a light dusting of an inch or so on the 20th, but then we just got dumped last night with another 6-8 inches, which the boys will likely want to play in until they're frostbit ;)

We've been continuing to keep up with our 12 times a month at the gym, although I'm running out of appropriate shirts to wear these days, as most of my t-shirts now show the bottom of my belly when I'm doing weights with my arms, which is a smidge embarrassing.

We had a fun time hosting the first of what we hope to become annual "Friendsgiving" celebrations with a group of our friends from Worthington.

Mark and the boys also made a snowman before the first round of snow melted the week of Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, both Cashel AND Kendrick came down with some strange stomach bug that thankfully Mark and I did not catch. Cashel caught it the Monday night before Thanksgiving, and Kendrick had symptoms in the middle of the night Friday while at Grandpa and Grandma's for the weekend. We were glad it was a short-lived kind of thing, but no fun!

Thanksgiving weekend was extremely low-key this year. We invited Mark's Mom over for a simple pork loin supper and some pie, and then we entered into a ridiculously long rest of our weekend with a quick trip to Sioux Falls and then the boys spent the weekend with Mark's Dad and Pam while we worked feverishly to get our new engineered hardwood floors installed (which we did, successfully!)

For a in-depth look at the flooring process, I wrote up a post about it here.

And really, that's pretty much where November ended and December begins. It looks a bit like this outside right now :)

Looking Ahead...

We have a jam-packed December, full of all kinds of festive events: Putting up the Christmas tree and decor, baking some gingerbread men and decorating a gingerbread house with the boys, sledding, driving around to look at lights, Mankato for the Kiwanis Holiday Lights, going to visit Santa, our work's Christmas open house and also Christmas party, some fun other local events to pick and choose from, and, of course, Christmas! We have two Christmas get-togethers already on the calendar, and are certainly looking forward to those as well!

Of course, we're also very much looking forward to some down time for New Years' as well, which will lead shortly after to Cashel's 4th birthday party and then our big target is March, when we welcome our third little guy to the family :)

I'm guaranteed to stay busy with work stuff going on as we prepare to begin the big consolidation of warehouses into the new raw parts center, but hopefully not so busy that I go crazy!

Our Family 2015 :: A Red Barn Photography Photo Session (October 18)

Once again, Heather has outdone herself, and somehow managed to capture our crazy little family with everyone looking (even if not smiling at all times) despite some pretty crazy circumstances. I've posted a picture or two, but hadn't done a recap just yet, so I thought it was definitely time :)

Enjoy!

We tried to throw in a few maternity shots as well, but seeing as how I was only 19 weeks pregnant at the time, there wasn't really that much to see.