More news and notes from the rest of November:
We played outside a lot! The weather was nice during most of the month. Brooklyn is still loving the swingset a year later, so we’re glad about that. It’s gotten lots of use so far!
Savannah tried her first sucker! We had a bunch of Dum Dums in our stash of Halloween candy, and the girls were big fans. Not great for their teeth, but it’s only a few weeks out of the year, right? :) It was a special treat to eat a sucker while we went on a walk around the neighborhood.
On Saturday, November 19th, we walked the Galaxy of Lights with some of our friends (Broadwells, Smiths, and Michael Reeves). It was a chilly night, so we all bundled up. This year, we brought our wagon rather than the double stroller. We didn’t realize that they had paved the whole pathway since last year, which was great. In hindsight, we could have just brought the stroller (it didn’t push very easily over the gravel last year). Oh well!
We waited for a few minutes for everyone to arrive, and then we got tickets. It was pretty crowded just like last year!
Brooklyn ended up walking a lot of the way, so Savannah had the wagon to herself part of the time :)
Brooklyn loved it! I’m not sure whether she remembered going last year, but she was definitely even more into it this year. She enjoyed pointing out each display and didn’t seem to mind the cold weather. Our only mistake was letting her drink too much hot chocolate…then she had to potty about halfway through our walk! Thankfully, we came up on a bathroom not too long after that, or else we would have had to sneak off into the woods behind the Christmas lights ;)
On November 21st, we parked at Alisha’s house and picked up Carter. Then, we walked to the playground near their neighborhood. It’s about a 15-20 minute walk, so it’s not too bad. Carter and Savannah rode in the stroller, and Brooklyn walked. They enjoyed playing for a little while before we had to take Carter home.
Carter is looking so big these days! He loved the slides that day at the playground.
He especially loved going down this little slide on his belly :)
This year for Thanksgiving we did something a little different. It was our year to spend Thanksgiving with my family, and Mom booked a cabin on Norris Lake which is northwest of Knoxville. Dad’s side of the family was invited, and everyone was able to come except Claire and Cecil. We were there from Wednesday to Sunday, and it was a lot of fun! Getting there was a little crazy because the traffic was so terrible, but it was worth it to be able to spend so much time with family :)
Savannah enjoyed hanging out on the deck. The house had a really nice view even with the water level down so much from the drought.
Sweet girl!
Thanksgiving Day was interesting. We all woke up that morning (our first morning there) to plumbing problems. The toilets were backing up into the showers on the bottom floor…yuck. We got seriously lucky that the owner was able to get a plumber AND a septic tank company out to the house ON THANKSGIVING DAY to fix the problem. The septic tank had to be pumped, so it turned into an all-day ordeal. No one got a shower that morning/afternoon, and we couldn’t use the toilets until about 4 PM. I never thought I’d eat our Thanksgiving meal in sweatpants and no makeup, but I guess there’s a first time for everything ;) It made me realize how we take things like working toilets/showers for granted every day. We are so blessed in this country!
Brooklyn wanted to keep an eye on the plumber, so she was outside with Paw for part of the day just watching what he was doing :)
The house was really nice! The girls enjoyed watching cartoons Friday morning for a little while :)
Later that day, we had a family cornhole tournament! It was so fun! Some people in the family are more competitive than others ;) and it was funny to watch how everyone reacted to winning/losing :)
It was chilly that day, so we all bundled up!
Brooklyn didn’t want to wear her coat (not surprising!), so Pookie wore it on top of her own :)
In the end, I ended up being on the winning team (only because I got lucky and drew Chandler as my teammate). We had a great time playing with everyone!
The neighborhood was great for walking! I definitely got my exercise that week, which was perfect since we were eating so much good food :)
Walking up the driveway was a workout in and of itself. It was SO steep!
We spent a lot of time watching football and just hanging out. We also played a card game called Wizard that Jenn and Chandler brought. After playing it several times now, it’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine!
The girls did great! They were really well behaved for the most part. Brooklyn slept on a blow-up mattress in Paw and Rae Rae’s room, and Savannah slept in the pack-n-play in our room, and they both did great. We really couldn’t have asked for them to do much better!
Saturday was the Iron Bowl. Even though we cheer for different teams, I still love my sis! :)
Aunt Gale entertained Brooklyn during part of the game :) I was glad that the girls got to spend some extended time with family that we don’t see very often.
Sunday, we headed home! We stopped for church and lunch in Knoxville. Savannah loved Zaxby’s! :) The traffic wasn’t AS bad going home as it was getting to the cabin, so that was nice. It was a long day though, and we were glad when we finally got home!
On Monday, November 28th, we went to Alisha’s to hang out for a little while. I thought this picture was so cute—the biggest cousin with the littlest ones :) We didn’t stay too long because Brooklyn and Carter weren’t playing too nicely (they have their moments where they don’t get along very well), but it was fun to catch up for a little while after going separate ways for Thanksgiving.
It took us a while to recover from that trip though!! I felt tired for several days the week after Thanksgiving. And one afternoon, Brooklyn came out of her room after her nap and immediately fell back asleep in my lap. We had fun, but it apparently wore us all out! :)
On Wednesday, November 30th, I helped with a baby shower for my best friend at work, Laura. She is having a 2nd baby boy due in January. I made these chocolate surprise cupcakes with chocolate chip cream cheese in the center. It was a new recipe I found, and they were pretty yummy!
I didn’t do very many elaborate decorations, but I did paint the “J” with Jackson’s name on it. Hopefully Laura can use it in his room…
We had the shower in our pre-op playroom, which worked out nicely because the kids could play. Charlie (Laura’s 2-year-old) is so tall now! Brooklyn and Savannah did really well. We were there from about 10:15 AM to 1:30 PM, so it was a long time. I was proud of how great they behaved!
I didn’t take many pictures, but this was the dessert table. We had PLENTY of food as usual. It was a fun day! Laura got mostly gift cards and a few other gifts. I know she appreciated everything!
“Brooklyn Says” and Other Notables:
- Laura’s father-in-law (Jeff Liebner) was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September, and Brooklyn was very diligent to pray for “Mr. Jeff Wiebner” in most of her prayers. He passed away the week after Thanksgiving, and we’ve encouraged her to pray for “Mr. Jeff Wiebner’s family” so she will do that occasionally now too. She also drew a picture one day and said it was a card for Mr. Liebner. I promised her we’d mail it to him, and literally in the next day or two before I had sent it he passed away. It was a good reminder to me that when we have the chance to do a good deed/act of encouragement, we should do it right away! You never know when the opportunity will pass by.
- Savannah is now saying “uh oh” except it sounds more like “uh ah”. I’ll take it! :)
- With Christmas coming up, I decided to go through the toys and stuffed animals in Brooklyn’s room to pick out some things to donate to charity. I let Brooklyn be involved in the process, and she helped decide what she wanted to give away. I was proud of her for being willing to part with some of the things she doesn’t play with. It felt good to clear out some space for the new toys we’ll be taking on very shortly! We donated them to a local shelter called New Futures.
- One evening, Brooklyn asked, “Daddy, is that your backpack for work? Are there pieces of helicopter in there?” We have helicopters flying over our house multiple times a day, and I think she thinks that he helps make all of them :)
On to December! I’m getting there! :)
