Long Live the Queen!

Our unit study for this past four weeks has been the Victorian Era.  Queen Victoria reigned in England from 1837 - 1901 so our focus was on any event in the world (excluding America) during these years.

Monday, October 21 - our kick-off for the Victorian Era: art in the form of Degas, wearing an Indian sarong, and reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Tuesday, October 22 - Jared's last soccer game for the season
Wednesday, October 23 - our Young Women in Excellence program (Hannah and Helena both attended, plus Beryl, Cailin, and Mikayla!)
Thursday, October 24 - Grandma Mattson's birthday and we studied A is for animals for "Skittles School"
Friday, October 25 - Trunk or Treat! Clarissa and Jerikka are Sister Missionaries, Krystal and Amber are Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast Princesses, and Seth and Jared are from NASA. Also, it was Luke's (Jared's friend from China) birthday so Jared skyped with him after the party while at the Morgan's house. Jared and Clarissa spent the night at the Morgans and we had the young women spend the night at our house.

Saturday, October 26 - Stake Youth Temple Trip in Washington D.C. The kids stayed with Christine and she took Seth and the girls to the Walker's house for a Halloween party.
Sunday, October 27 - I attended Ward Council and was emotional over being called "Molly Mormon" and told I had control issues.
Monday, October 28 - We had our group activity for history group at the Walker's house and carved our pumpkins for Family Home Evening.
Tuesday, October 29 - We dressed up yet again, this time for a Halloween party at Clarissa's school.
Wednesday, October 30 - While picking up all the youth for mutual, my Dad called and informed me that my Grandma Hansen passed away. For young men's they did a service project installing insulation in a dirt basement and Jared got filthy dirty, he did invite Jessie to go with him and he came!
Thursday, October 31 - HALLOWEEN! We had a Halloween party at our house with the homeschool kids. We decorated cookies, played games, and explored a dissected cow embryo! We had dinner and went trick-or-treating at the Turpin's house.
Friday, November 1  - We dressed up again! This time it was for a Halloween party at Dublin Presbyterian with one of Jared's friends from soccer.  I also found out on the way there that my mom was in the hospital with blood clots and decided to go to California to be with her while my dad went to his mom's funeral.
Saturday, November 2 - It was difficult to decide to leave Seth here with Chris, but we thought that it would be best for him to stay with his siblings as he would be bored on the plane and at my parent's house. We drove to Roanoke to take me to the airport only to find that the flights to Charlotte were cancelled so we turned around and drove down to Charlotte.  On the way we dropped Jared off with the Smiths so that he could go to Garrett's Halloween party, unfortunately he had no costume, but he still had fun.
Sunday, November 3 - I went to church with my mom and Desi and Gabe. I missed Chris conducting Sacrament for the first time.
Monday, November 4 - My mom and I went to Simi Valley to visit with my Grandma Beth and Aunt Kathy while the kids were at school. Jolene and Teresa and Nathan came up to Tehachapi to visit and brought us dinner. The kids did their presentations at the Brame's house, I helped them get ready for them on Saturday, but I didn't get to see them on Monday.
Tuesday, November 5 - My mom and I looked through some family history journals and documents then went to lunch. Tuesday evening when my dad and brothers and sister came back from the funeral we had fun looking through the old pictures from my grandparents. I spent the night at Jolene and Jonathan's house and Jolene drove me to the airport on Wednesday. It was an all day trip back home and I was so happy to see Chris and the kids again that night.
Wednesday, November 6 - I spent the night at Jolene and Jonathan's house and Jolene drove me to the airport on Wednesday. It was an all day trip back home and I was so happy to see Chris and the kids again that night.
Thursday, November 7 - Liam didn't come for "skittles school" but Marshall came over to play with Amber.
Friday, November 8 -  Krystal made cupcakes for our dessert and Jared watched the kids while Chris and I went on a date to see "Ender's Game." I started feeling sick with a cold that ended up lasting 3 weeks!
Saturday, November 9 - I shampooed the carpets and then in the evening took the youth to a Tri-Stake Activity in Roanoke.
Sunday, November 10 - My counselor, April, attended ward council for me. I taught the lesson on Work.
Monday, November 11 - We had book group for "The Good Master." We did activities about Hungary and their traditions for Easter and Christmas.
Wednesday, November 13 - We had a Career Night for mutual. We had 6 different presenters and it was great!
Thursday, November 14 - For Skittles school we learned about water, did some experiments with water and did some watercolor painting. I was really impressed with Amber's paintings.
Friday, November 15 - We had an "end of the unit" Victorian Etiquette Dinner at the Brames house. So, of course, we dressed up again. We had a 4 course turkey dinner and then afterwards watched The Muppets Christmas Carol.

Saturday, November 16 - Chris was gone helping with a wood-cutting service project, I cleaned the house and then in the evening we took family pictures for our Christmas cards. After that we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went to Walmart to buy some garlic pills for me and some orange juice for Seth because we were both still sick and I was pretty sure we had sinus infections.

Sunday, November 17 -  April taught the young women's lesson on gratitude.

A couple other things to mention this month, but there aren't specific dates for: Chris and I talked about buying a bigger house, we looked at some houses online and even went to the bank, but we quickly decided that we didn't want to spend more money on a house payment and I set my mind to take better care of the house we have now which is why I spent most of my Saturday's this month deep cleaning the house and carpets, etc.

Also, at 17 months Seth still isn't talking, but I borrowed some Signing Time videos from my mom and he loves them so we have been teaching him sign language and he has caught on very quickly.  He has been using many of the signs and has even started attempting some real words like "No" (of course), cracker, thank you, and of course mama and dada.  For eat he makes an eating sound and drink he makes a drinking sound while signing the words.  So cute!