November 2014

 November 1st, Sophie set up her lemonade stand for the first time and also sold pumpkin cookies. Lucy helped her and they had a great time and made some pretty good money too!

That same day, Russ took Noah to ride his dirtbike at Grandpa's house.

Poppy and Grandma surprised everyone with a new fun toy, the Teryx. Here are the boys taking a turn on it.

Abby turned 18 months old on November 3rd. We made sure to measure her height on the growth chart board.

For her half birthday, we got her a little princess potty. She hasn't used it yet but likes to sit on it!

I captured this sweet picture of Russ taking care of Abby after her bath one night. She likes for him to sit on the exercise ball and bounce her, then she fake cries when he stops!

Noah had his final flag football game of the season... his team came in second place!

Daddy & Abby watching Noah get his trophy...

Alisse babysat Abby for us one night and put pigtails in her hair. I LOVE them on her but I can't make them look as cute as Alisse did.

See what I mean... in the picture below, I had attempted pigtails and the hair just fell out!

Noah also finished up his after-school volleyball in November. It was a lot of fun to watch him and his friends play together!

All of the adults in the Sherwood family surprised my mom by showing up to dinner together on her birthday. It was fun to be with everyone, out, and without our kids. That hasn't happened in a long time!

This picture was actually taken in October but I didn't see it until November so I of course had to include in this blog post anyway. Abby loves her two grandmas!

It's no secret that I love sleeping pictures, even if I take them after sleeping VERY uncomfortably with a toddler in bed with me.

I had to take this picture of Abby and share with a few of my sisters because she looks JUST like the little girl on "mouths of babes".

We took a visit to Grandpa Price's house and Abby LOVED seeing the horses...

... the blonde horse, Chloe, was her favorite.

Sharing my drink with Abby one day was a big mistake. She thought that meant it was her's. #spoiled

Cousins Abby and Davis in their cute jammies!

She's sitting on her toilet with her pants pulled down. Haha! Still no going potty on it!

Abby inherited her mom's OCD genes and shares Noah's obsession of lining things up.

Our cutest baby girl at our night-before-Thanksgiving dinner. We went around the table and said something we were thankful for. She mentioned "daddy", "whoawa", and "gampa". She also just folded her arms like it was time to say a prayer one time after we asked her what she was thankful for. Haha! We are so thankful for HER!

Thanksgiving morning, I ran the neighborhood turkey trot with Suzanne. It was perfect weather outside, the kind that makes you want to keep running!

A few hours later, we did our Thanksgiving lunch. We had Mary Ann and the Hess family join all the Sherwoods (+ Grandma Riggs) for a really yummy spread!

Friday night after Thanksgiving, we set up a scavenger hunt around our neighborhood for our kids... a big secret we've been keeping from them was going to be revealed at the end. The older girls didn't come over so only Noah and Sophie were participating. We rode our bikes around the neighborhood to find all the clues. Each clue had a problem to solve that gave them a number and also a hint as to where the destination was for the next clue. The very last clue told them to put all the numbers together in order, to find the address of a new house we would be moving to. They were so shocked and so excited. It was a really fun thing to do with them and we are so excited about moving. We get to stay in our neighborhood & ward and we love it here!

Our last event of November was the annual Sherwood family bike ride. We rode bikes from Grandma & Poppy's house and then we had a picnic and some people played flag football.

October 2014

October was a very busy month for our family, according to the amount of pictures uploaded to this blog post! 

Cute sisters playing on the playground as we watch Noah's football game.

Fun night out with cousins at Venezia's Pizza while the dads went to the Priesthood session!

We took a trip to Castles & Coasters during October Break. It was just me, Suzanne, Ellie, Noah, Sophie and Abby. We had so much fun, the weather was pretty nice, and there weren't any lines all day long!

Day 2 of October Break was spent at the Phoenix Zoo. It was awesome to take Abby for the first time and for Russ to be able to join us. 

 (we didn't purchase the pictures they took of us at the entrance so here are the "proofs")

Russ also took days 3, 4, and 5 of October Break off to spend time with us. It was so nice to have him home! On day 4, we rented a RZR and took it out to the desert. Sophie had gone back home and Noah had gone to a family campout with Ellie, Suzanne, and Lance - so it was just Russ, Abby and I in the desert. Miss Abberdeen loved it. She was so good the whole time, only acting nervous if she saw mom acting nervous! Also, having rained the day before made this the perfect day. It was cool enough to wear jackets as we rode and felt so nice outside.

(This helicopter was flying low and circling over us just to give us a show. The people inside waved to us before they left.)

We spent part of Russ's time off working on this secret project for Sophie's birthday (more on that later)... While he worked on cutting and building, I worked on painting and making accessories to dress up the secret project!

We've been spending a few hours every Saturday watching Noah play flag football...

Noah had a fun time at the "stake family vacation" he went to with the Cummards. Grandma, Poppy, and Riggs were also there so he was in good company.

Crazy goggle girl!

Abby started attending nursery a little pre-maturely (before she was officially 18 months old). Aunt Alisse was subbing in the nursery so we thought it would be a perfect way to get Abby used to it while someone she knew could help comfort her! It's nice that I have these pictures Alisse took to document her first nursery experience!

We took our family (including Abby) to see "Meet the Mormons" for our family home evening one night. We really liked the movie and Abby was pretty good considering her age. She only wanted to run around during the last 30 minutes or so of the movie.

We also took a tour of the new Phoenix temple! 

Abby gets to go on most date nights with mom and dad (that needs to change)! Here's Russ showing her how to draw. If she has even an ounce of artistic ability in her, it didn't come from me. 

Lucy and Sophie had a sleepover and Abby thought she was cool hanging out with the "big girls"!

Abby gets to go to nursery with Davis. I can't stand how cute they both are!

Family picture time... Russ and I got in a slow dance in between pictures :)

(these are the only pictures we have so far)...

Abby LOVES panda bears and was so excited about what she thought was a giant stuffed animal when her Halloween costume arrived in the mail! When she saw herself in the mirror though, she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She was a little bit scared of it at first!

Noah turned 10 and got a dirtbike for his birthday!! He was so happy.

We made cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast...

... and then took him his favorite food for lunch: Panda Express!

Cutest babies in town: Davis and Abby

This year we did a combined birthday party for Noah and Sophie. They each got to invite 5 people and we left it up to them who they invited. They both chose 2 friends and the rest cousins. I love that they love their cousins so much! We went to play laser tag and then ate pizza at Freestone Park.

Noah passed off a goal in his "Faith in God" book by planning and preparing a meal. He sat down with me to plan what we would have for dinner, made a list of the groceries we would need, and then helped me prepare it. Of course he chose Chinese food! He did a good job.

The night of our neighborhood's trunk-or-treat was way too hot for the panda costume. We had bought Abby this penguin costume as a back up in case the panda didn't arrive from China in time for Halloween. She was the cutest little penguin and had a fun time at the trunk-or-treat.

Sophie turned 10 years old this month too! We presented her with the "world's cutest lemonade stand" as Russ and I have named it. We are obviously pretty proud of our work. Sophie loved it! She is excited to be able to sell all sorts of things from her stand, using all of the different accessories...

(crafts / italian sodas / other fun stuff...)

(baked good / hot chocolate / etc)

We had Sophie with us on the morning of her birthday so it was fun to serve cinnamon rolls for breakfast and have her wear the birthday crown!

Halloween night: Cleopatra, Panda Bear, and a Military Man

We spent Halloween night at Grandma & Poppy's house (as usual). Noah and Ellie didn't even care to go trick or treating but instead passed out candy all night. We took Abby, Sophie, Davis, and Lucy trick-or-treating together though.

Cutest cousins: Cinderella, Cleopatra, Prince Charming, a Military Man, a Loofah, and a Panda Bear.