Family Update *November Edition*

Taking a bit of break from the "crafty" posts to share what has been happening in the Tolman home. 

November seemed to have come and went. We were filled with tons of scheduled events but going into this Thanksgiving week, we didn't have much planned and I'm soooo looking forward to the downtime. 

Anyways, Mitch's big thing this month was his Elk Hunting trip. He had been preparing for this trip for months- collecting all of his equipment/supplies to hiking and working out so he can be in shape for all the hunting part of the trip. Here are some photos he captured from his adventure....

It was a cold and snowy week when he did his hunting trip. It made for some picturesque views. He spent a week up in the mountains, unfortunately he came up empty handed. It was kinda sad to come home without any Elk meat but I'm sure that the adventure was still worth the effort.

November was also a pretty expensive month for us as far as home improvements. This month we had our roof done (hail damage in the Summer led us to get our roof redone), purchased a new over the stove microwave (our old one just died on us) and we had to buy a new water heater (an unexpected purchase but needed to be bought). As you can sense, we didn't WANT to buy all of these things but we just got hit with all of these needed home improvements at the same time.

But there's a silver lining here. Because we had to buy a water heater, it came in a big cardboard box and Maddie was super excited about it. Excited enough that she put the box in her room and slept in it for at least three weeks. Yes, you read it right....three weeks of sleeping in a box. Something that up to this day, I still don't understand. We finally got her to give it up about a week ago.

I went to a Veteran's day school program at Maddie's school this month since her grade performed a few songs. On our way up to her class, she pointed to an art piece on the wall that was displayed in the hallway. I saw the name on the bottom and was full of pride for my little artist. I then took a photo of her owl piece plus her in it. 

Sorry I didn't have any pictures but Marcus also has had a great month. Just a couple of days ago, we got a letter from the school stating that he was part of the honor roll for the first quarter of the year. His overall grade was above 3.5 GPA and that got him into the list. So proud of his efforts and I pray that he continue to love school and learning. 

Another story for this month that I don't have a photo of is the unexpected health issues I had to deal with. I had to go to the doctor at the beginning of the month for kidney issues that, thankfully, after multiple tests came up negative. My doctor and I are not so sure how the flare ups started and why the test results came up inconclusive but grateful that I don't have to deal with that anymore. 

So as for our little one. Today he's 3 months old. He's growing up way too fast {insert sad face here}. Here's a few highlights of his November:

-He experienced his first snow (didn't go out side though cause it's so cold out there)

-He got to visit his siblings' schools for their Thanksgiving feasts. 

-He smiles a lot now. He especially is more engaging right after a feeding. 

-He babbles a lot as well. It's so cute to hear him make noises. 

So that's how our month looked like. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

Till next time,

Grace