November

Random happenings in November:

Cain discovered he loves the car window being down.




We had an electronics night with friends. The kids took apart different old electronics and built an LED circuit.







Dave and Jeremy started building the garage!




I watched Dorothy on her observation day at Ballet.




Link came across this “Lincoln Popper” popcorn maker, and needed a picture!




Dorothy painted herself (with face paint) while I was helping the boys with homework.




Drake coined this look “Creepy Clown.”




Drake lost his first tooth! He had me yank it out. This kid has no fear.




Oh, just making something delicious. How can you not be happy when you see this cute smile? She is my best kitchen buddy.




Flag football season ended. Drake learned a lot of different plays and football terms this year.
He is number 7.




The boys had to wake up really early on their first day off of Thanksgiving break. We had to drop off Dorothy at Physical Therapy. Target is close to the office, so I treated them to Hot Chocolate from Starbucks and then they got to play some Nintendo Switch games. At first they were not looking forward to the morning, but then they decided it wasn’t so bad to go to Target.







What a beautiful Thanksgiving morning! Dorothy wanted to take Cain on a walk, riding on my back. We busted out the old Ergo baby backpack. Now she wants to use it all the time, but those 4 year old legs are long, and not kind to my back!




Thanksgiving morning, we all watched the parade while Dave baked some pies. I had done most of the cooking earlier in the week, since Mom had her hip replaced the Tuesday before. I knew it would be a busy week with traveling to the hospital for her surgery, and Dave working on the shop, so I had to do a little planning.

We had so much to be thankful for. I love this holiday where I can focus on my many blessings. We had a nice dinner in Hickory. Mom stayed in her bedroom for most of the time. Kids played well together, and we had lots of yummy food. I made a Pumplecan pie (pumpkin, pecan, and apple).




Cain had his 1st birthday. The kids helped me decorate his carrot cake with kibble. Cain kept eating his friend’s piece of cake, the stinker. We even had a slumber party the night of his birthday: Dave was out of town, and the kids wanted to sleep by the Christmas tree, which is in the same room where Cain sleeps. They all thought it was fun to be able to have a slumber party with the birthday pup!




We are learning more and more about our children; their strengths and weaknesses. Some of it has been hard to hear, but undoubtably we are grateful for healthy children. I do treasure this time I have with them, and know that I am exactly the mom for them (even if I don’t feel qualified sometimes.). Bring on the Christmas season!!
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Halloween!

Halloween night was gorgeous! Dorothy dressed up as a girl from Shimmer and Shine, Drake was Master Chief, and Lincoln was DogMan.

Dave did a good job with Lincoln’s costume, but he was frustrated that people kept asking him if he was Chase from the little kid show Paw Patrol. 😂











We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with our friends.





The stash!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Grandma and Papa came!

We had the best time with Grandma and Papa! They drove out all the way from Oregon, because they wanted to give Dave some tools for his shop.

Jeremy came down to help unload all the goodies.




Tight fit, but it all got in!




Kids showed off their biking skills. The weather was perfect; Fall finally came!




The renaissance festival was going on, so we thought that would be a fun adventure. Everyone had a great time; and we ended up staying longer than I thought we would.

Checking out an old printing press. Grandma thought the boy in the blue jacket was one of my boys, and she grabbed him when he started walking away 😂.




Queen Grandma and King Papa







So many people were dressed up.




Dave has been craving a turkey leg for a while, so he was thrilled.













The petting zoo was great; we got to pet a camel.




The kids got to choose 2 extra activities. Drake and Lincoln did rock climbing and this crazy pirate jumping trampoline.




Dorothy also did the jumping thing and chose face painting.




We got to see mermaids!




I’m not sure where my other pictures are, but the last thing we did was watch a jousting tournament. It was so entertaining!

There wasn’t much time to rest when we got home, because we had to get ready for our neighborhood Halloween party.





The kids pained pumpkins and decorated sugar cookies.




When it got dark out, we watched Hotel Transylvania.




The next day we went to church, had dinner with mom and dad, and did a little laser tag. Drake always asked Grandma to play this with him.











On the day they left, Drake asked me, “Why can’t they not leave forever?” He didn’t understand why they couldn’t just sell their house and live with us. Sweet boy! We made lots of memories and have more to make with them in January.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The beginning of Fall...kind of

Everyone was hoping for cooler weather, once October started. We were sadly disappointed, that the 90 degree weather continued. The kids were so confused why the outdoor pool wasn’t open!

Dorothy and I went on a field trip to the Stowe Dairy Farm. Usually, we have jackets on and boots, but this time we had to go in shorts! We did something new this year: we shucked sorghum plants and watched the canes being juiced. Then the farmers let us taste the syrup, and try some sorghum cookies.











The kids and I have been trying to stick to a routine where we have piano lessons once a week (given by me) and then do some art tutorials online once a week. One day we drew a Pokémon character. Dorothy went more abstract!




For the past couple years, Dorothy has been waking up several times in the middle of the night, so her pediatrician recommended a sleep study. Her sleep doctor is fantastic, and hyped her up for a “robot sleep over.” I cannot believe all the wires that were hooked up to my baby girl, but she was such a trooper. She was diagnosed with restless leg syndrome, and since starting some new meds, she has been getting better sleep. She has even slept through the night a couple times!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

All About Lincoln

Dave and I decided that when each child turns 10, they could go on a trip with just us. Lincoln chose to go to Magic Kingdom and Universal. Mom and Dad came down to watch the others for us.

We left early Friday morning, so we could get to the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party at Magic Kingdom. It’s a costume party with trick-or-treating and special Halloween shows and parades. We dressed up as Phineas, Ferb, and Candace.





Waiting for the Philharmonic show to begin.




Waiting to ride the mine train coaster in the rain.




Phineas!




Space Mountain was what he was really looking forward to the most, but he didn’t want to ride it again.




There was a lot of people, a lot of sounds and he felt pretty done, even before the parade and fireworks. Even though I wanted to “do it all,” this trip was all about Lincoln, so we left to get some rest for the next day.

Saturday, we woke up late, ate a huge breakfast and went swimming before going in to Universal. We wanted to take things a bit slower for Lincoln.

The park was pretty crowded, and lines were long, so we bought 2 express passes. We were able to do all the Harry Potter stuff Lincoln wanted to do, plus a few other things.

We figured out that Lincoln likes the 3 D rides better than the actual coasters, but he was still very brave and went on all the big coasters.

The hotel cereal sign had HP on it.




Man, it was hot and the sun was bright!




Using Sirius Black’s wand to do magic.




Hagrid’s shack.




Enjoying frozen butterbeer! We also had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.







Checking out Fred and George’s trick shop.




I loved this shirt we saw coming off the Transformer ride.




When we saw him fading, we decided to head
back to the hotel for dinner. Before dinner, we made a stop at Voodoo doughnuts.










We ordered pizza and ate by the pool. We all played a good round of keep away with a beach ball.

Since we had a good night’s rest, and we figured it would be cooler in the morning, we got an early start Sunday.

There were no lines, and we were able to walk on everything. Because is was cooler and the lines weren’t long, we were able to do a ton, and Lincoln really enjoyed it.
















We took a break at lunch, and stayed at the hotel until it got cooler again. We went to the Islands of Adventure side of the park, and had a similar experience to our morning. We got to ride everything we wanted to plus some. At first Link didn’t want to do any water rides, but he changed his mind at the end of the night. We closed the park down, soaking wet!




Although it was wonderful to see the littles, it was hard to get back to reality the day we got home! I’m so glad we had this opportunity to make fun memories with Lincoln!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone