November 2018

November began with me getting a call to come pick Carter up from school early because he had come down with the stomach virus that was going around.  So unfortunately he had to miss his school's big fundraiser-the Fun Run.  I felt so bad for him because he was looking forward to it so much.  (Over the course of the next week, ALL six of us ended up coming down this this virus, but we survived and thankfully the rest of the month got much much better!)

Fortunately Dawson was well and got to go on to school and run!
He filled up his lap sheet and then got extra tallies for laps on the bottom of the sheet you can see in the picture below! Proud of my runner! 

Soccer ended the week of Halloween and basketball practice started for both boys.  I can already tell that this being our first year not playing Upward/Church Basketball this is going to be a real eye-opener just that it's more serious.  I honestly think both boys are ready for that though!  We are excited that they're both playing at their school.

These pictures are from Dawson's first practice.

November 6th school was on a two hour delay for a tornado warning.  Since we didn't actually end up with a tornado, it made for the perfect morning to enjoy a bike ride/wagon ride/walk around the neighborhood pond!  It would be great if school started later and we got this much time together every morning before school!

Carter was selected as the Leader of the Month for his school.  He got his picture on the wall in the hall and a certificate!

Clayton, sweet boy, always keeps a close eye on what I'm baking.  This day in particular he was waiting on a warm cookie out of the oven.

Clayton is our water baby! Loves swimming at the Y.

We ate fast food one evening and the kids were thrilled with the super hero masks in their kids meals. Haha!

I got to read to Dawson's class one day this month!

I love that he still gets excited for me to come to his class!

(He's getting so tall, but he hasn't outgrown liking to have his Mom around just yet!!)

We went to the Christmas Tree lighting at Bridge Street Town Center!

Basketball Season started and we quickly realized that basketball season was going to be a season of dividing and conquering!  We had thought that since the boys were both playing FOR their schools that they would play AT their schools...we were a little surprised to get the schedule and see we were going to be driving all over Limestone County and that their games frequently overlapped.

Thank goodness the kids were so flexible about it.  It ended up being neat to see the other schools around us.  The first game of the season John and Nora Kate went to Elkmont to watch Carter's team play (and John snapped this picture of sweet NK waiting to cheer on her brother), while Clayton and I went to Creekside to cheer for Dawson.

Ready for the first game!

We met up with our friends the Houghs a couple times this month.  We walked/rode bikes and scooters and then enjoyed picnics and play on the playground.

Since we decided to go to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, I made our family's Thanksgiving Dinner on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  Rolls and biscuits, fruit salad, turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, creamed spinach, corn, dressing, and candied butternut squash.

The boys brought these home from school, and I just love their thankful hearts.

Loaded up to driving to Tennessee the night before Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately for some reason, I did a horrible job taking pictures during our visit-but we had a good visit.  We stayed with Lolly.  On Thanksgiving morning after running a few miles the kids and I made cookies and then they helped John rake leaves in Lolly's yard-Dawson loves helping with yardwork.  Then we headed over to Wayne and Arlene's for the Wade Family Thanksgiving Dinner.    It was wonderful to see everyone that we hadn't seen since May.  The kids had a blast playing with Haley, Jaxon, Corbin, and Ashton.

Clayton really enjoyed checking out Wayne's Ranger.

The kids on Thanksgiving in Lolly's yard.

Nana and Grandad offered to let the kids spend the night on Thanksgiving night-somehow I let John drag me out into the madness of Black Friday Shopping.  I don't know why, I've just never enjoyed the idea of shopping when it is super crowded-but with it being just the two of us-we ended up having a fun time, of course!

John, Dawson, Carter, and Grandad went golfing.

Nana and Grandad took the kids to one of their favorites-Froyoz!

Then we headed back home to Alabama and the sky as we came into town was beautiful behind the rocket!

John took me to a hibachi restaurant.  We had never taken the kids and so they LOVED the production of it!  And it was delicious!

The week leading up to my birthday I decided to set a goal of getting in 33 miles in 7 days before turning 33...and I appropriately finished my 33 miles in front of our new house that we will be moving into in just a few weeks!!

John and the kids got ice cream cake for my birthday-yum!

Homeschooling Nora Kate for pre-k this year is still going great! I love it and she does too!

Lunch with Dawson at school one day this month.

Dawson has always loved art.  He was proud of this snowman he drew and shaded with oil pastels.

Carter really enjoyed reading Runaway Ralph on his own (I think it's probably one of the longest books he's read on his own), and wanted me to take his picture when he finished it...look at that silly face!

The last day of the month we went to Cabela's to see Santa...I'll post the Santa pic in December, but we enjoyed all the Christmas-y stuff to do at Cabelas.

and the fish of course!

After seeing Santa we drove through the Galaxy of Lights at the Botanical Gardens.  We remembered this being AMAZING from when we lived here before-and honestly, it's gotten even bigger and better.  The kids loved it.  I unbuckled Clayton and let him ride on my lap so he could see  better...he loved this as you can tell.