First Half of November – Trav and Erin + 3

I feel like the month of November went by in a flash, and now it’s almost Christmas. Here are my notes (and a lot of pictures) about the first half of November:

Carter has come for story time at the library a few times lately, so that’s been neat! I think this may have been his first time to come (November 2nd), but I’m not positive. He seems to enjoy it! I thought it was sweet that he and Brooklyn sat right next to each other…at least for a few minutes!

The books that day were all about creatures that come out at night, so the craft involved making a nighttime scene with trees and little eyeball stickers :) It was cute! I liked how Brooklyn’s snow was like a mound up to the treetops.

All cleaned up before supper that night and ready for Bible class!

On November 3rd, we met the Hoods at Kidventure for one last time. Sadly, Kidventure was going out of business at the end of that week. Caitlyn and I had both bought punch cards about a year ago, and we still had several punches left. So, we met them there for a morning of fun! It took Savannah about 10 minutes to warm up when we got there. She wanted to just stand next to me and observe the other kids playing.

Contrast that to my big girl, Brooklyn, who made friends with another little girl within the first 5 minutes of us arriving…haha. I’m fine with my kids being different….it’s just interesting to see how they react to situations in their own unique ways.

Once Savannah warmed up, she found something to climb (naturally). I lost count of how many times she climbed this walkway up to the pirate ship. She definitely got her exercise that day!

Once she got up to the top of the pirate ship, she would slide down the slide and climb up the walkway again!

Sometimes her sister would follow her up…

Brooklyn has never been what I would call “patient”…haha

Even Gabriel figured out how to climb it!

Time for lunch!

Sweet friends :) Brooklyn and Nathan are the same age (within 2 months) and so are Savannah and Gabriel!

Time to build a tower!

It’s fun to spin in circles!

I’m not sure Brooklyn had ever played air hockey before, but she enjoyed it that day.

Savannah didn’t like the ball pit when we first arrived, but she loved it by the end.

We enjoyed the morning so much! Although we didn’t go to Kidventure very often (probably 5 or 6 times total since B was a baby), we always had fun there. It’s sad to not have the option of going anymore, especially with the weather getting colder. Glad we were able to go one last time at least!

I was trying to get a picture of Savannah eating Milk Duds (her favorite Halloween candy), and Brooklyn wanted to be in the picture too :)

The Lovelesses came over to eat pizza and watch the LSU game with us on November 5th. It wouldn’t be a get-together with Travis and his siblings without a little popcorn! ;) The kids love popcorn as much as their parents…hehe!

On November 7th, we met Jessica, Baker, and Everett for breakfast at the Chick-fil-a in Athens, and then we walked a nearby trail that ran beside a creek. Brooklyn loved it! She pretended to go fishing with a stick…haha. And she loved stepping across the rocks by the water. The water in the creek was really low since it hadn’t rained in so long.

Isn’t that so pretty?? Unfortunately, Savannah didn’t want to be held or stay in the stroller while we were down by the water. She wanted to get down and walk across the rocks just like the big kids. I just knew she would fall in if I let her do that. And I didn’t bring a paci that day…so she cried/threw a fit until we left. So, it was a short walk! But, we’d love to do it again sometime when the weather is nice and Savannah is feeling more cooperative ;)

We did play in the leaves for a little while later that day, and the girls enjoyed that!

The next day, November 8th, was election day. I made the mistake of thinking we could run by and vote after ladies bible class that morning. We got there around 11:15 AM, hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and this was the line to get in the building. EEK. Brooklyn also had to potty while we were in line (naturally), but thankfully someone saved our spot in line. And Savannah cried the whole time I was filling out the ballot. The joys of voting with your kids in tow! :)

One day for lunch, Brooklyn wanted to eat a peanut butter and raisin sandwich…haha. It looked interesting, but apparently didn’t taste very good because she didn’t want to eat much of it!

The weather in early November was so nice! We went on several walks around the neighborhood and played outside a lot.

Brooklyn made a horse at story time on November 9th! I think the theme of the week was cowboys. I love how she made him cross-eyed :)

When Brooklyn gets a free balloon from Publix, which is almost every single week, she’ll say, “Mommy, I think it’s a great day to fly a kite balloon!” So that day, she did!

Carter came over on November 10th to hang out with us and play for a while. We spent a little while outside before eating lunch. The kids had fun with chalk and playing on the swingset.

Apparently it was hat day that day ;)

Even Carter got in on the fun :)

I’m not sure how that baby doll stroller has held up for so long. The kids use it to push each other (not dolls) around! Haha :)

Coloring is always a fun activity too :)

Saturday, November 12th was a busy but fun day! That morning, Travis ran the Huntsville Half Marathon in south Huntsville, so the girls and I (and Cici!) went to cheer him on. Brooklyn wanted to wear her sunglasses on the way there :)

We got there after the race started and parked near mile 5. Maggie and Korah met us there not too long after we arrived. We had a few minutes to spare before the first runners came by! We were able to see Travis and Matt run by at approximately mile 5, 7, 9, and 11 because of the layout of the course. The girls did great, and it didn’t end up being very cold like we thought it might be. Cici was a big help too in keeping the girls happy and pushing the stroller part of the time. I appreciated her coming with us!

We saw this little boy who was running with his dad. I couldn’t believe a kid that young ran so far!

This was where we stood to see the runners come down the Alridge Creek Greenway. They went past us here and turned around and came right back by the other direction. So we stood at this spot and saw them twice!

As long as Savannah had snacks, she was good! :)

Thumbs up! Feeling good!

Go Daddy!!

Matt came by not too long after that!

This was taken around mile 11 or so. Almost there!

After we saw both guys at mile 11, we hopped in the car to head to the finish line. I didn’t figure we could make it there by the time they finished because of the route we had to take, and we ended up getting there just a few minutes after they were done.

Both guys did great! Travis finished in 1:43:28 and was 13th out of 39 guys in his age group. Matt finished in 1:52:26 and was 6th out of 17 guys in his age group. I was glad these pictures were taken since we didn’t get to see them finish.

We were so proud of them! Travis said he felt great most of the way and that the course wasn’t too hard.

We couldn’t get the tiniest cheerleaders to pose for a picture…haha. Not surprising!

I think both girls were screaming in this picture. Typical ;)

So proud of you!!

Carter’s birthday party was later that same day. We had time to go home, rest for a little while, eat lunch, and then it was party time! Can’t believe Carter is 2 years old now!!

Britni made the most adorable farm animal cupcakes…

Of course, they tasted amazing too!

The kids had fun playing in Carter’s room. He got a teepee for his birthday, and it was all set up!

Katie and Madison were at the party as well. Madison is a couple months younger than Savannah…she is such a cutie!

Brooklyn didn’t want to take her sunglasses off when we got there, so she wore them around for quite a while ;) Cool kid loved her cupcake!

Mrs. Britni is a kid magnet! :)

Happy birthday to you, Carter!

Yum yum!

After he opened his gifts, we stuck around for a little while and then headed home to crash. It was a fun way to end the day!!

By mid-November, the leaves were looking beautiful! I don’t really love that maple tree the rest of the year, but the one week when it looks like this makes up for it!

And, Gabby has been getting a lot of love and attention lately. Partly because she is the only cat we have now. Yes, we no longer have Felix; we had to find him a new home at the beginning of November :( I think I’d mentioned before in previous blog posts that we had been having problems between the cats for a while. It all started when we took Felix to the vet by himself for a dental cleaning. He spent the whole day at the vet, and when we brought him home that night, things were never the same again. It was like Gabby had never seen him before. She attacked him and basically forced him into permanent hiding under our bed. Felix was always a timid cat, so he didn’t stand up for himself. He lost 3 pounds in a month, and he developed a UTI at some point. He started using our room as his litter box probably partially because of the UTI and partially because Gabby wouldn’t let him get to the litter box in the laundry room across the house.

It was terrible. We had to tear our room apart multiple times to spot the carpet under the furniture. We tried all sorts of remedies to get them to get along again, and nothing we tried worked. Apparently “feline nonrecognition aggression” isn’t too unusual after one cat comes home from the vet, but normally it only lasts a couple of days. This persisted for a month and a half. For the last two weeks we had Felix, we had to keep him in our guest bathroom with his own litter box and food, which meant all 4 of us humans were sharing one bathroom. It was just a terrible, stressful situation to be honest. It was also expensive because we ended up taking him to the vet 3 times in the span of less than 2 months…for the dental cleaning, urine cultures, antibiotics, and special canned cat food. Since there was no way to permanently keep the cats separated in our house due to its layout, we were left with no choice but to look for a new home for Felix. (The reason we decided to rehome him rather than Gabby was because Gabby is the more social cat of the two and actually lets the girls play with her and pet her.)

I basically posted an “ad” on Facebook out of desperation hoping that a friend might know someone looking for a new cat. I also listed him on Craigslist. Surprisingly, someone saw the Craiglist ad that same night and contacted me about meeting the next day. It was a family who lives in Elkmont. They have 4 older kids, a couple of outdoor pets, and had a cat who died last year. They met us on the Saturday night of the LSU game and agreed they wanted him. It broke my heart to find him a new home after we’d had Gabby and Felix since they were kittens, but it was really for the best. I’ve texted the new family a few times since they took him, and apparently he is warming up and getting more adjusted each day. I hope by now he’s gotten used to his new family and new home. It has to be better to not be terrorized by another cat (and two young kids) every day. The rest of the family wasn’t as upset as I was. Travis was never that attached to him because Felix was scared of pretty much everyone but me. And the girls could never get within several yards of Felix because he would run away. I was the only one who could even get close enough to pet him, and that was only sometimes. Brooklyn cried when we initially gave him to the new family. because she saw us put him in their car. She definitely understood that he was going to a new home. And she still occasionally will mention him. But, overall it hasn’t been too hard on her, so I’m thankful for that.

Meanwhile, Gabby has gotten even more cuddly and loving in the last month. She has started jumping up in my lap all the time and sleeping on our bed again at night. I guess she’s missing the attention she used to get from her brother. Occasionally, we’ll hear her meowing at night like she’s calling for him (they used to “talk” to each other at night a lot), but other than that, we can’t really tell that she’s missing him. Cats are strange. You would think you’d miss your brother that you’d lived with from birth, but who knows. I guess Felix’s “strange” scent after coming home from that dental cleaning really threw Gabby for a loop. Hopefully, we will have many more good years with Gabby. I know it will be really hard on Brooklyn when Gabby is no longer around…not looking forward to that day!

Other Non-Cat Notes from Early November:

When we were at the zoo, Brooklyn spotted an overweight man wearing a red shirt who had white hair and a white beard. Yep…you guessed it. She then shouted very loudly, “Look, it’s Santa!!!!!” The man heard her, but thankfully he smiled. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time he’d ever heard that ;)
One day, when Carter was at our house for lunch, Brooklyn said the prayer before we started eating. It went like this: “Dear God, Thank you, God, for the food we have to eat. And please help Carter to be a good little boy while he’s at our house. And help us to obey you. And please forgive us when we whine. In Jesus name, Amen.”
“Daddy, can we make banana bread muffins tomorrow? I know how to make them…I’ll show you the recipe. We just need eggs, cheese, apples…and grapes!” No mention of needing any bananas…haha
Me: “Brooklyn, did you toot?”
- B: “Me? I think there’s bubbles in there.”
Me: “In where?”
- B: “Near my panties. That’s the toot of me.”