November 30

We have had amazing November weather. Yesterday the kids and I were outside in short sleeve t-shirts.

November 29

Elliott and I spent the morning hauling leaves to a local government leaf drop-off site. It took us two trips to get all 30 bags of leaves. We also had to get the van washed and vacuumed. As a reward for our hard work, we got McDonald's.😜

November 28

Lucy's "My America" class practicing for next week's co-op party/presentation.

November 27

 Happy Birthday Uncle Stump!

 

So far I have found seven of these notes around the house justifying Kat's need to get an ipod touch:

Reason #1: Kat is mature

#2:She loves helping Mom do chores

#3: She gets good grades

#4: She is nice to her siblings 

#5: She is your favorite child

#6: She will hug Mom as many times as Mom wants her to.

#7: She will be delighted if she gets one.

She is subtle, no?

November 26

 

 

 

Clay, Bapaw, Kat, and Elliott headed to the UK vs UofL game in Lexington early yesterday morning. UK didn't play very well, but they still had fun. 

 

After dropping Julia off at gymnastics yesterday, Lucy and I headed over to Ma-Maw C's house (or as Lucy calls her, "Old Ma-Maw"). These two are sweet together.

 Lucy chose Taco Bell for lunch. We headed to the movies after we picked Julia up. Coco is a good family movie, although I did fall asleep. It has nothing to do with the quality of the movie. If you put me in a dark room, I am going to take a nap. It happens almost every time. 

This afternoon we finished bagging the big pile of leaves for a grand total of 58 bags of leaves. Ugh!

November 25

We started the morning out getting ready for Christmas. We got all the decorations out and up. By the way, I have decided if these boogers want Christmas decorations next year, they can put them up. Why should the adults do 99% of the work!?!

 

I had envisioned us snuggling on the couch the rest of the day watching Christmas movies. Clay had other ideas. He won. The leaves needed to be raked. It turned into quite the project. With all 6 of us working non-stop for 4 hours, we got 2/3 of the yard done.

 

 

30 bags of leaves. 30! 

The other side yard that we didn't get bagged? Clay made one huge leaf pile for the kids to jump and play in.

 

 

 

The two twin mattresses we ordered last weekend came in, so Elliott and I helped Clay dismantle the old bed (it takes XL twins) and put up the new (to us) bunkbeds for Elliott and Lucy. The new ones are sturdier. 

November 24

 After dropping Julia off at gymnastics Wednesday night, we tried a new ice cream place. They "cook" the different menu items in liquid nitrogen. When you eat the food, you look like a dragon breathing fire (or a pothead).  

When you have gymnastics the night before Thanksgiving, you get to play a few games for conditioning. They were trying to stay up on their hands the longest in the top picture. In the bottom picture they were trying to knock each other over.

November 23

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Isn't she the cutest pilgrim?

 

 

 

November 22

 Welcome to the world sweet little Nora! Joe and Nikole's baby girl arrived yesterday. Isn't she cute?

When there are no human laps available, a stuffed bear will suffice.

November 21

This girl. I found her downstairs last night working on today's math. Just because. She's so good at it that she will most likely be taking Algebra in 7th grade (per the curriculum's suggestion). Algebra is usually an advanced 8th grade class, or a 9th grade class. 

November 20

We helped out at church this morning with Operation Christmas Child collection. This was the last day for shoebox drop-offs and we packaged about 1500 shoeboxes today to be sent to children all over the world. This is one of my favorite things we do each year. There aren't many services projects that a 5 year-old is able to participate in. When families/churches dropped off their shoeboxes, we rang a bell and cheered for the boxes, prayed over the boxes, then packaged them.

 

 

 Ms Pam asked Lucy to pray over this shoebox. Melted my heart. 

 

 

 

 A friend sent me this picture of Elliott helping Lucy put a rubberband on this box. They CAN be sweet to each other.

November 19

This weekend we stayed home from all activities that we had planned just to make sure that nobody else got strep. Lucy never acted like she felt bad after Friday around lunchtime. So far, everyone seems to have escaped it. We got some things done around the house, like bringing this bookshelf up from the basement and putting it in Elliott and Lucy's room. I bought it off my friend Tracy sometime last Spring and we're finally putting it to use! I also got the shower cleaned, washed all bed linens and laundry, and did some light cleaning. Fun stuff I tell you. It was nice to have a weekend at home before the busyness of the holiday season starts.

November 18

This girl. Earlier today Clay and I were at the store when Julia sent me a text that Kat was googling "How to show your parents that you are responsible". This stems from an earlier conversation where Kat wrote us a 1 paragraph explanation on why she would like an ipod touch for Christmas. We told her that she needed to show us that she is more responsible. Anyways, after dinner, Kat asked if she could do the dishes! :P

November 17

Lucy didn't eat much yesterday, wasn't feeling good this morning, was congested, complained of her right ear hurting multiple times, her face was pale, and she had a low-grade fever. Any of my other kids these would be tell-tale signs of an ear infection. By the early afternoon when we were at the doctor's office, she had no fever, her appetite was back, her coloring was good, and her only symptom was the ear hurting. The doctor checked her out, and her ears were fine. The doctor ran a strep test just in case. Well, she has strep! So our weekend plans have changed to involve staying home and resting. Now... if I can just keep the rest of them from sharing strep. It's the one thing they are generous at sharing.