Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Some of November

I was able to visit the book fair with each of the boys. I let them pick out 2 books each, even thought their wish lists were crazy long. Lincoln got a book on the computer program Scratch. It's a fun program, where you can make your own video games online.





My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, and I refuse to skip it! The kids and I made Thanksgiving crafts and decorated Thanksgiving sugar cookies.




I'm thrilled the kids enjoy baking as much as I do: Dorothy helped out with some pumpkin muffins one morning.











Drakie's class celebrated the 50th day of school by dressing up from the 50's.




I love discovering these selfies and I love how sweet he is to his baby sister!




On Election Day, the kids and I took a mile hike for a Scouts requirement.







I wanted to go to my "happy place" on election night, so we watched The Sound of Music together. The boys were kind of interested, but after every song Dorothy said, "I like it."

My little buddy and I went to Sams club for something totally different, but we ended up with this...





We have been trying to spend more one-on-one time with the kids. Lincoln and I ate at Waffle House at 6:30 am one Saturday. He is always the first one up, so we took advantage of that.





Sometimes I feel like I'm at a mountain retreat at our house during the Fall.




The kids and I spent the night in Hickory over Veteran's day. The kids got their dog fix!








Lincoln's creations are all over the house. I know I will miss this when I'm an empty-nester!





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Thursday, November 17, 2016

The Rest of October

It took us 11 hours to drive home from Florida, because the roads were flooded from the hurricane. Even though it was a very long 11 hours, I'm thankful we made it home safely, and feel for the people still struggling to get their houses/property in order from the storm. The 11 hours were also a lot easier with 2 other adults in the car. This trip wouldn't have been the same without Grandma and Papa; they are so fun to travel with and we thrilled they made the trip!



Lincoln surprised me one night, when he came home wearing a gray belt: it's a big deal to get promoted to a different color in Ju-Jitsu, so we are so proud of him!




All the kids had a field trip on the same day. I was only able to make it to Dorothy's trip to Lewis Farm. It was cute to meet her little friends and see how they interact together.








The kids and I had to make it to Lineberger farm for our semi-annual trip. We met some friends from church and had a lovely afternoon.







I love our little town! One Friday night, the high school football team had safety patrol vests over their jerseys and were escorting the kids inside. Then they went inside the classrooms, and answered any questions the kids had. Lincoln's question was, "Have you ever been on Space Mountain?" I thought it would be nice to support the players, and attend the home game. Lincoln and I went together. He saw friends from school right away, and sat with them and threw the football around with them. The longest time he spent with me, was when we were eating our snacks from the concession stand.









My nephew Carson is a fantastic soccer player. The kids and I made a trip up to Hickory to see him play. Papaw entertained the kids, while I got to cheer for Carson.






I thought for sure, we were going to have another broken bone when I accidentally shut Dorothy's finger in the bathroom door hinge. Her poor finger looked horrible. After a visit to her pediatrician, and an x-ray, we found out there wasn't a break! She did have to wear a splint for 5 days though. I'm still shaking off the mommy-guilt about that day.






While Dave was helping clear downed trees in South Carolina, the kids and I set a record one Saturday...we went to 3 different birthday parties! Two were friends of Drake and the third was Cleve's party in Hickory.









I was able to meet up with my dear friend, Sarah. We have known each other since elementary school, and our babies finally got to meet each other.






After the weekend of 3 birthday parties, I had 3 Halloween parties that I was in charge of that week. I feel like life has been on fast forward since September with how much is going on!



Halloween party at Dorothy's school:











Halloween party at our house: Each year we have the Sherrill family over to carve pumpkins and have dinner. We totally lucked out with such wonderful neighbors!










Halloween party at Drake's school: The kids got to turn their teachers into mummies.




That weekend, Dave and I took the kids to Discovery place. Dave has been traveling a ton, so it was really nice to be together.












Mom brought Carson and Penny down for the "Bootanical Garden" party. Geez, it was hot outside at 80 degrees in October, but the kids had fun!



















One of Dave's many talents is that he can make pretty much anything out of cardboard. He spent a lot of nights creating Ultra Magnus (I think!), a transformer costume for Lincoln. Dorothy did a last minute costume change and wore her Cinderella costume and Drake was Kylo Ren. We went around our little cul-de-sac for about an hour. We were the only trick-or-treaters on our street, so our neighbors dumped handfuls of candy in their bags. We are set with candy for months!


















Thursday, November 10, 2016

Bonus Day

Disney strongly suggested that we stay another night, because of the storm. They ended up giving us a really good deal, which was great, because we figured we wouldn't be able to find gas to even drive home. People's flights were cancelled until 3 days out, cruises were cancelled, and all the parks were closed on Friday. The hotel made sure we were all well informed about what was going on. They gave us flashlights and extra towels, since they weren't going to have housekeeping. We stocked up on snacks, because we were told there wouldn't be any food service that day.



Thankfully, the storm didn't hit as hard as was expected. The winds were pretty strong and it rained like crazy, but the resort sprang back to life around lunch time. Disney made what could have been a dreary day, super fun! Characters were dancing in the lobby, there were games to play, tons of crafts, and bowls of fruit everywhere.






Later that day, the pools opened! It was freezing, but we went in!! We had to share the pool with a few ducks that were floating around.






Grandma got a little crazy in the gift shop!



We had a yummy dinner that night at O'hanas, and sadly had to pack up for the long drive home the next day.