At the beginning of November, Julia and Austin had their T&T Grand Prix races. Austin was very into building his car. Julia didn't really care--Brian had them both sand the cars after he cut them out of the block of wood. Austin was right there the whole time watching! Both kids painted the cars how they wanted. Neither of them won awards this year, but they both had fast cars. Austin's situation was kind of disappointing. His car was actually very fast! It won 2 of its 4 races, 1 was still in the top speeds, but one was soooo slow it didn't even make it to the end of the track.
Well, Austin saw that car in the track w/ his name, and burst into tears, "That's not my car!!!!" Sure enough, the person picking the cars out of the box read the number upside down, and picked someone else's car instead of Austin's! Every kid gets their lowest speed dropped, so that bad score didn't count. It was an accident, and probably the fairest thing to just go w/ that, rather than rerun his car, considering time constraints. But still disappointing, b/c of the "what if" his own car had gone really fast for it's dropped run? His average speed may have been higher. Anyway, he took it well--I was the one analyzing more than anyone else. ;)
The Target Toy Book arrived in the mail early in the month. Actually, Brian and I both got one, so we had two. Austin, and Lauren circled and initialed the toys they wanted; Lauren did the same for Caroline. Julia only wanted one thing out of the Toy Book: an Easy Bake oven. I asked her why she wanted one of those when she can (and does) use the real oven all the time? She had to laugh herself. :) They do look cute, and I remember wanting one when I was young too.
The same day we bought a pantry door at Home Depot. We;d measured, but didn't realize there were different cutout possibilities for the hinges. We bought a door w/ 3, knew we had 2, but the man said it should work out just to use the top and bottom cutouts. Wrong! So we brought the door back to Home Depot. They didn't have one in stock that had the same hinge cutout configuration, so we had to special order a door. Our coat closet door ended up being an exact match to the pantry (we tried it) in size, swing, everything. So we bought that to the store so the door person could measure and order one exactly like it! Brian picked up the new door about 10 days later. Here are the little girls riding w/ our coat closet door in the Home Depot parking lot.
Little girls drawing and coloring. Austin and Lauren made lots of art this month. They said they were going to have an art show and display it around the house. Well, they made tons of pictures and designs, but then I think lost interest in the idea. Notice the Toy Book (and open!) right there w/ the girls.
Every few days Lauren brings home these little Open Court decodable books. One night she decided she wanted to read them all that night! She did, too! She had them all arranged like this, then would read one and put it back in its box. They didn't all get put away till they were all read. She put the 2nd picture on her class' Star of the Week bulletin board when she was the Star. Her teacher was so impressed, and said she wanted a copy of that picture. And if anyone else in the class read all their decodable books in one night to take a picture, and she'd put it up too! :)
<<< This is what went on while Brian and I painted: Batman tied up Cat Woman. See her leopard coat? Appropriate, yes? We DVR'ed a ton of the old Batman episodes from the 60's, and the kids all liked watching them! They'd sing the Batman theme song over and over again, and the Batgirl song. "Batgiiiirl, who's baby are you? Batgiiiiirl, who's baby are you?" Even Caroline. Funny!
We chose Sea Salt for most of the painting we did; I chose a custom 50/50 Sea Salt and Glimmer mix for a few walls, just in case the Sea Salt looked dark when it was done. I love how it turned out. Sea Salt is a gorgeous color, IMO, kind of a grayish aqua. I kind of wish we would have done some of the "mix" walls Sea Salt instead. Oh well. It all looks nice.
Brian decided to paint some ceilings he hadn't finished in July, since we had plastic all over the place anyway. And since he did that, I figured I might as well paint the hall. Since the plastic was out and it is such a pain getting all set up, might as well do more while we're at it! I painted the hall, and all the baseboard trim and doors. Brian has never painted trim: says he doesn't have the patience for it. I have never painted ceilings...and would much rather sit on the floor, scooting along little by little, painting trim! Ha ha ha
We had extra Sea Salt and the Mix, so I also painted the main bath! It looks soooo much better. I kind of didn't mind the soft yellow the PO's had throughout the house, but I detested it in that bathroom. Something about the whole look I didn't like. W/ my chocolate and tan towels it reminded me of rotten bananas! I know, crazy. Who else thinks about that? Anyway, it had to go. ;)
You can see a bit of the little girls' room here. I actually like the paint job in that room, and it goes perfectly w/ their bedding. When Brian painted ceilings in July, I told him not to worry about being careful about the walls, since we'd repaint anyway. Now I wish I would have had him be more careful in their room. There are only a few drips. And there are nicks and scratches from the PO's little girl, and it could use new paint, but I'm in no hurry.
Lauren reads so well. This was the beginning of the year, and she has (of course) only improved! She was reading the Costco magazine to Caroline here!
Lauren participated in the Sparks Drive-In movie night. Brian helped her build her car. It was the month of building cars for him. ;) She painted it. This was in the midst of all our house painting. She got mad at me for the paint (old!) clothes I picked out for her, saying they weren't girlish! Glare. Scowl. Pout. Meanwhile I was wearing an old VBS shirt, torn-up old jeans, yet she said my paint clothes were more girlish than hers! Oh myyyy! LOL 
We have several trees that change color in the fall, at this house. I am so thankful for them, and have enjoyed watching them change through the seasons! Julia made the floral arrangement for her 4-H floral design group.
Our Disneyland passes expired this month. We went one last time, the day they expired, Monday of the kids' Thanksgiving break.
We all had to be blindfolded and then put our feather on the turkey. Well, the game was rigged, with the winner being determined before it had even been played. My dad [purposely, ahem] placed his feather the farthest away, not even on the turkey, and Lauren said Grandpa won!
My dad did a bunch of projects. He and Brian hung the pantry door. It came primed, but not painted. And continued to look like this until the middle of January, when I finally got time to paint it! He also put up my laundry room shelf and hanging bar.
I hang all my girls' dresses these days. We haven't had tons of shrinkage problems, but sometimes one will shrink in the dryer, which is a bummer b/c Julia and Lauren are tall! It can be hard to find dresses that are the right length. I don't want to size up b/c then the dresses are too wide and sacky! So I hang to dry. :)
At the very end of November, Brian and Julia rang the bell for the Salvation Army at the Arroyo Grande KMart. They did it once more in December. They enjoyed it. I think Julia's favorite part was when some customers gave them chocolates! :)
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