November 2021

November was the month where sports collided.  Clayton’s soccer team didn’t wrap up their season because they kept winning in the tournament and getting to play another game (single elimination), so it carried into November.  We had registered Carter and Clayton for basketball, and practices started this month.  On top of that Carter made the ALL STARS team which means they practice frequently and for long increments of time for the whole month of November and then play a tournament in Dothan right before Halloween.  As if those sports weren’t enough NK had just wrapped up soccer at the end of October and is still going strong with gymnastics. AND Dawson’s golf academy is still ongoing.  Additionally Scouts has kept Dawson very busy as of late.  

This month was a month of travel too.  The weekend of November John and Dawson camped with Boy Scouts. The second weekend John had his guys golf weekend.  The third weekend we all went down to Dothan for a soccer tournament then on to Panama City for a few days (Dothan and Panama City pictures will be in another post since there are quiet a few of them).  Then we were home for about 24 hours to unpack and repack before leaving our house super early on Thanksgiving morning to go to Tennessee. 

The pictures are out of order, but they’re all things that happened in November.  I also forgot to mention that Dawson spent one day down in Cullman at Merit Badge College where he worked all day to earn TWO merit badges!

We had one random night at the beginning of the month where we had no practices or troop meetings and so we made it a movie night on the couch complete with popcorn.  Duke never begs but he does like to watch you eat…especially popcorn.  Here he is staring at Clayton’s popcorn, in case he drops a piece…there’s a good possibility.

I don’t think I posted a picture of the outside of our house decorated for Halloween in the October post, so I wanted to document it here.

Somehow a few of our Halloween picture didn’t make it on the October post. I don’t want to miss them so here they are now…

The pumpkin Dawson, Clayton, and I carved.

The pumpkin John, Carter, and NK carved..yes, it is what you think it is.  

Here is Clayton’s soccer team after winning the championship…

Clayton and his buddy Jude so proud of their trophies and medals!

Clayton and Coach Jason.

Clayton’ was proud of his trophy and medal.

Above is the before

And this is the after.  Dawson got his braces put on on November 2nd.  He’d done great making the adjustment to having them.

Carter’s first ALL STAR Soccer practice

It’s not Fall until you get Apple Cider Slushies from Isoms.

Dawson’s troop went on a camping trip to Camp Comer at the beginning of November.  John got to go this time.  It was our first cold weekend, so they had to pack a lot to stay warm but they both had a great time!

While they were camping we did a few fun activities…one of which was going to Buff City Soaps to paint our own bath bombs.

The dinosaur playground while Dawson’s at an extra band practice.

We had lots of time to kill this month at the playground while Dawson had extra band practices as they prepare for their December concert.

Dawson is in 4-H and they went on a field trip to the Cotton Gin.  It was on one of our homeschool days so the rest of us tagged along.  It was SO INTERESTING!

Clayton practicing dribbling in the driveway.

On Thanksgiving morning we got up super early and drove to Tennessee.  We dropped Duke off in Maryville and drove on to Knoxville to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Wade side of the family.  It was SO much fun to see everyone.  We only gathered virtually in 2020 because of Covid, so it was great to be back together again.  Here are the kids with Lolly.

Dawson and Carter with second cousin, Corbin. They always enjoy playing with him!

This picture was taken about 5:30 am before leaving our house in Alabama to drive to Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving (also my birthday) we went to a Tennessee basketball game with Grandad.

Tennessee won and we had lots of fun!

Celebrating my birthday at Lolly’s.

Started my birthday with a run in Tennessee.  I’m not as used to running hills as I used to be.  But running up this hill to the boys’ old school gave me a pretty good view of the mountains even if it was cloudy.

One last picture of our Ranger Crew.  We sold it this month but have another one coming in Spring.

They revamped an old alley in downtown Athens with murals and lights.  It’s really cute.  They even have these doors that you open to find murals behind.  

When it’s cold, Duke likes to take walks in his winter coat. Hah!

We ended November by going to Walking Nights at the Botanical Gardens.  One of our favorite activities to get us in the Christmas spirit.  They had made a few changes this year and it was GREAT!

Nora Kate liked her new shirt so she requested a picture before school one day.

I thought she looked so grown up in this picture so I had to save

Nora Kate’s school picture.

Clayton’s first basketball practice.

 

October 2021

October was a blur of soccer, golf, guitar, trumpet, and gymnastics.  We started the month at the beach as I’ve already written about in a separate post.  We got back on a Sunday night and Monday we had three soccer games and beginning of golf academy for Dawson.  I felt like we came back, hit the ground running, and didn’t stop the whole month.  It was definitively a fun one!

As I mentioned Dawson started Golf Academy at Canebrake Country Club early in October.  He loves it, and I think he’s pretty good!

Carter and one of his good buddies from school, Mason, didn’t end up on the same team this year, and they had to play against each other several times…but they enjoyed the competition!

Blogger has started uploading my pictures in random order, so I’m just going to lump all the soccer pictures from October together here.

This was Carter’s team.  I was so impressed with how this team really started playing like a team about half way through the season.  They trusted each other enough to pass and they improved so much from the beginning of the season as a team!

Here’s Carter with his medal.  His team was the underdog for a while, but then they got SO GOOD! So good actually that they came in second in the tournament!

Carter is a good athlete! His fav soccer positions are striker and midfield.

These with the trophies are obviously front he end of the season. Nora Kate played great this season and was on anther winning team. They were first place!

As you can see from NK’s trophies above they were season champs and tournament champs!!

Nora Kate had a friend playing AYSO soccer in Madison. Her friends team had a girl out for a portion of the season so they asked Nora Kate to sub.  She was thrilled to get to play three extra games by playing with them!

This was another time that NK got to play on Tiffany’s team.

When Clayton didn’t have a game, he enjoyed playing on the sidelines with his buddy Jude! These two are a hoot together-they planned their own sleepover together and then told us what they had planned.  We haven’t made it happen yet, but it’s funny the plans these boys can come up with!

This was Clayton’s first season playing soccer and he did GREAT! I loved watching him play. He’s aggressive and has good ball control!

This was the night we had three games…in the rain.  They’re still smiling!

Our neighborhood had a Halloween Golf Cart parade.  They even threw out candy.  Here are Dawson, Clayton, and Nora Kate with their friend Madalyn looking at candy from the parade.

Clayton’s kindergarten class had his very first field trip ever this month! They went to Lyon Family Farms.

They had fun playing in the corn cribs.

Sitting on big wooden horses.

Hay ride out to the pumpkin patch with his buddy!

Looking down from the hay ride!

And lunch!

We decided to get in one more boating day!  It turned out to be perfect weather for the lake/river in October! We tubed, sunned, swam, and boated all day long.

Our Captain.

One show we love to watch is NAILED IT! The baking show where people do less than Nail It.  We found out about a virtual way to participate in a special edition of Nailed It.  We bought the kid and registered.  The thing the winners get on the show is a golden chefs hat so we made our own to wear on the virtual show.  They even showed the kids in their hats!

Above is one NAILED IT creation.

And the other!

The weekend before Halloween Clayton’s buddy, Cooper, had his birthday party and it was costume themed so Clayton wore his Darth Vader suit!

The Friday before Halloween we had a costume party at our house for friends.  We played hilarious and fun minute to win it games, had a fire, s’mores, and a hay ride.  It was SO fun!

Sutton, Mason, Carter, and Henry on the hay ride.

The brownies we made for the party!

The kids wore their costumes for our party and for trick or treating on Halloween.  We went with a family theme of Star Wars this year.  Dawson was Chewbacca.

John was Yoda, Duke was Baby Yoda, Clayton was Darth Vader, Nora Kate was Princess Leia, I was Queen Amadala, Dawson was Chewbacca, and Carter was BB8.

This picture of some of the kids from the party is after a couple of hours of playing. You can tell they’ve mostly removed their costumes at this point and are worn out and sugared up.  They had so much fun!

The Halloween Punch was a hit…this was a big reason the kids were sugared up haha.  The base for it was Orange Fanta-Clayton’s favorite.

Queen Amadala

Hay Ride selfie

We ordered jack-o-lantern pizza for the party.

Hilarious minute to win it games.

These were the names of the minute to win it games….all Halloween themed.

Our invitation.

Clayton as Darth Vader

Nora Kate using skeleton hands to play the minute to win it game Corn Pickers where you move candy corn from one cauldron to another cauldron using skeleton hands.

This was actually a few days before the party…we had to test out the hay for a hayride.

The crew headed out for the hay ride at the party!

We had quite the crew in our house for a party.  It was great!

Here they’re all watching someone participate in the minute to win it games.

John as Yoda.

I don’t think I got everyone, but I tried to take pictures of each family as they arrived-there were some great costumes!

So funny-our friends also did a Star Wars theme and we had no idea until 2 days before the party!

Party Veggies

On Halloween I made our traditional dinner of MUMMY DOGS.

The kids got quite the loot trick or treating in our neighborhood…Clayton was proudly sorting his candy here.

Carter was a great inflatable BB8.

Carving pumpkins.  We did teams…Clayton, Dawson, and Mommy were on the team that made this jack-o-lantern.

Our Family Halloween 2021.

Oops here are a few more party pics that got out of order!

Some of the girls at the party.

Darth Vader without his mask.

Clayton and his buddy Jude supposed to be making scary Halloween faces…but I think they’re just cute!

Dawson and his friend Bryant enjoying pizza.

A minute to win it game…blowing spiders across the floor with straws.

Hay ride!

Nora Kate as Princess Leia.

We had a fire in the fire pit this month and used fire color.  Neat!

Nora Kate’s friend Madalyn came over to enjoy the fire with us.

Clayton has had a wiggly tooth for a while.  It got really wiggly this month and he asked John to wiggle it.

Then it came out!

His first lost tooth!

These Halloween pictures are everywhere…a few more from the party…

Cupcakes.

Girls chatting and eating

Enjoy scooping your chips with these skeleton hands.

Duke was Baby Yoda.

We used more fire changing colors for the fire at the party!

The beginning of October, Carter started guitar lessons! He’s loving it!

And he’s sounding really good already!

Clayton still sometimes requests a selfie with me before going into school.  I’m always happy to take a selfie with this sweet boy!

We had some beautiful sunsets this month.

The picture above was one night and the picture below was the following night.

For some reason this picture are way out of order but here they are…

Our FALL BREAK was a couple weeks after our beach trip so we did a little school but mostly took a break during fall break.  One activity we did was visit the fall decor at the Botanical Gardens…

Then one day the kids and I drove up to Nashville to visit the Nashville Zoo.

They had this cool rope bridge.

And we loved the pink flamingos

And feeding the birds!

The kangaroo exhibit was our favorite…you could walk through with the kangaroos!

It was such a fun day. Unfortunately John had to work, but we took lots of pictures and told him all about it.  So fun!

We made a quick stop in the Gulch after the zoo before heading back to Alabama!