Give Thanks {November Recap}

The month of November seemed to fly by. It has been busy month at work, so that may have something to do with it. However, I didn't want to let this season of thanksgiving pass by without reflecting on the things for which I'm thankful. I'm thankful for so many things, but mostly I'm thankful for all of the Lord's "ordinary" blessings in my life.

Here are a few of the "ordinary" blessings that I'm thankful for...

Chloe lost her first tooth! If you remember from my Easter post, I had already purchased a tooth fairy pillow in anticipation of the day that Chloe would lose her first tooth.

She wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy.

And, she tucked it into the pillow with her tooth where the Tooth Fairy could find it.

 

 

She was very excited to find a dollar and fairy dust (glitter) waiting for her the following morning. Can you believe that she lost her second tooth within a week of losing her first?! I know that I'm always saying it, but where did my baby go?  

The Rainbows and Daisies had an awards night at church.

We had a quick family outing to Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Tree Lighting.

We stayed long enough to watch the tree lighting....

 

...meet the carolers...

 

...stand in line for doughnuts and hot cocoa... 

 

...and take a look at the set for "A Christmas Carol".

 

I'm hoping that we'll be make it back to watch the show some time over the holidays.

On Thanksgiving, we drove to the country to spend the day with family at Nana and Granddaddy's. I spent most of the day chatting and catching up with the family, so I didn't get very many pictures.

Pawpaw took this picture when we first arrived.

 As usual, Chris and the littles rode the go-cart around the property.

Chris's grandfather, Pawpaw, was visiting from Oregon, so I made sure to snap a picture of the littles with him. (Granny Kay wasn't feeling well, so she was resting.)

My little turkeys!

I'm not going to lie. This past week was hard for me. We had planned a trip to visit with my Dad, brothers, and extended family in Texas over the Thanksgiving holidays. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make the trip this year and I've been in a sour mood all week, completely the opposite of thankful.

However, after spending the day with Chris's side of our family, I realized that although I was disappointed, I have so many reasons to be thankful. I have a very rich and fulfilling life. We have the love and support of many. The Lord has blessed me immensely, and for that, I am very thankful!

Janelle at Comfy in the Kitchen shared this video on her blog. Although there is no dialog in this video, it spoke volumes to me.

Thanksgiving Chair

Happy Fall Y'all! {October Recap}

Although I've blogged about our biggest event in October, Chloe's 6th birthday party, there are still several events that I want to document in this online journal of mine. Please bear with me through this random, but important (to us), post.:)

Chloe and Evan were officially asked to be Aunt Sara's flower girl and ring bearer. Aunt Sara gave them these cute personalized shirts as gifts to mark the occasion.

As a way to lure parents to the PTA meetings, classes have a short performance before each of the meetings. On this night, the Kindergarten classes did a sweet apple-themed performance for the parents.

Can you spot my yellow apple?!

 

Chloe's birthday was in the middle of the week, so we planned a special breakfast for her that morning since it was a school day.

We usually don't buy presents for the littles' birthdays, since we consider their birthday parties their actual birthday gift, but since Chloe's party wasn't for another week and a half, I thought it would be okay to bend the rules just this once. She had been begging for a loom band kit, after one of the older girls at church showed her how to make bracelets. She was pleasantly surprised to receive it on her birthday.

Birthday Pancakes!

Later that day, Chris and Evan ate lunch with Chloe at school. (It also happened to be picture day, in case you're wondering why Chloe isn't wearing her uniform.) She was allowed to pick one classmate to eat lunch with them outside on the patio.

Lola and Uncle Jose continued their annual tradition of bringing the littles to the Alabama National Fair. In fact, Lola took them to the Fair, not once, but twice this year!

We attended a Fall Festival at Aunt Dana and Uncle Tommy's church.

We ran into our friend Chloe and her family. Chloe and Chloe played a game together.

The Professionals

The littles rode ponies (and a horse). 

They had a small petting zoo with baby animals.

I don't know what this is called, but it was pretty cool. We convinced a little boy to play against Chloe, since Evan was having no part in this game.

He showed no mercy and quickly knocked Chloe off her stand. She could barely hold up her giant "q-tip" stick.

Cake Walk!

Evan's class had their fall party. I wasn't able to attend this party, since I had already adjusted my work schedule to attend Granddaddy's birthday party later that evening, but Chris took these pictures for me.

Evan and his teacher, Mrs. Helms

We celebrated Granddaddy's 60th birthday in October and five years of him being cancer free!!! Granddaddy is a living testament of how faith in God can carry you through anything. Nana and Aunt Sara did an awesome job putting together this shindig!

Chloe and Evan memorized The Ten Commandments from the NIV (It wasn't a simplified version. They memorized several verses.) as part of an Ice Cream Challenge at church. I was so very proud of my littles! Evan was the youngest kid to complete the challenge. They spent several nights learning the commandments as part of our bedtime routine. Their reward for all their hard work was an invite to California Yogurt Craze where they were allowed to eat as much froyo and as many toppings as their little hearts desired.

On Halloween, Evan dressed as the Hulk and Chloe dressed as a Peacock (Fairy Princess??). I had been admiring a neighbor's front yard decorations and knew it would be the perfect spot to take Halloween pictures. Our neighbor, Rosie, who also happens to be Chloe's classmate, joined in on our picture taking.

Afterwards, we headed to a church friends block party. We sent the kids off on a hayride to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood, but about 15 minutes later, we realized that it was pouring rain outside. The kids came back soaked...

Nothing a little hot cocoa couldn't fix.

One day, this will be a funny story. " Remember that time?"

Those were the highlights of our October, with the exception of a couple of pumpkin patch field trips. There were way too many pictures to include them in this post. We stayed busy, but I did manage to get at least one lazy day every weekend, usually on Saturdays while watching Auburn football.:)