November 30

While the boys were at jiu jitsu and the teens were sleeping/playing on their phone/ipod, Lucy gladly helped me get out Christmas decorations.

We put out Mamaw and Papaw G’s nativity this year.

November 29

Mamaw and Bapaw with their grandbabies. Mamaw must be standing in a hole! 😂

“Save the neck for me, Clark!”

Adding Nora’s hands to the tree. She wasn’t too sure about this.

The girls decided they would prefer to shop late last night rather than get up in the wee hours this morning. So we headed to the mall around 8:30pm. 

While the girls were shopping and trying on clothes, I found an outfit I needed to try on too. 

This is shopping ‘til you drop! We shopped a few hours at the mall and Target. We didn’t get there right when things opened, and didn’t really have any must-buy doorbusters, so I don’t feel like it was really the Black Friday experience the girls thought it would be. Everyone was pleasant, parking wasn’t too bad, and overall it was better than I expected. 

November 28

We watched “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” last night and had a treat while we watched it. This is the meal Charlie and Snoopy served their friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This man and his clothes. Pants are from high school, jacket from college. Shoes? Unfortunately he recently bought them... and since he wears clothes for 20+ years, I have to look at them for a long time.

November 27

Happy 40th Birthday Uncle Stump!!!

In between getting schoolwork done, piano lessons, and gymnastics, Elliott, Lucy, and I got the front yard and most of the side yard leaves bagged/mulched. We made a dent. A. Dent.

November 26

Lucy playing a review game in Flying Creatures (super flattering picture of Shannon).

Anatomy class is learning about the respiratory system. The kids got to blow into their straws and turn Bromothymol Blue (a pH indicator) from blue to green to yellow just by breathing out carbon dioxide.

After co-op, we had piano lessons, jiu jitsu, wrestling, and volleyball. 

November 25

While the boys were at wrestling, the girls and I spent a few hours after church helping with Operation Christmas Child shoebox packaging. Lucy got several compliments from adults about how hard she worked. They all did great! We packaged and prayed for 1000+ shoeboxes during our shift.

Elliott’s wrestling meet was an unorganized, chaotic mess. There were too many kids, not enough mats, and the computer system was having problems. He finally got to start wrestling about 6 hours after he was supposed to. He pinned 2 opponents, beat one in points, and then got pinned at the end of his final match. He was worn out and hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours. The boy needed fuel. He ended up coming in second in his weight class out of 11 kids. Pretty good for his 3rd wrestling meet ever. I think if it had been closer to home,  Clay would have left hours earlier. They had driven an hour and a half to get there. Clay had hoped to take Elliott to the UK basketball game after the meet, but that didn’t get to happen. 

November 24

We had fun celebrating Nora’s birthday yesterday.

Kat and the 8th grade girls from church made 8 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes last night.

November 23

Joe, Nikole, and Nora are in town. Lucy took her role as big cousin very seriously. 

November 22

Lucy has just about finished the book “Farmer Boy”. To celebrate, we made rag dolls. 

Lucy and Clay snuggled up to watch TV together. Now that 2 of the 4 kids don’t snuggle up with us, I wanted to get pictures. Who knows how much longer Lucy will snuggle with us. 😢

November 21

Happy 2nd Birthday Nora!!!

Fun times! I got a crown yesterday. 

I am taking a moment to brag on Julia. She has straight A’s. She has 100% (or more) in three classes. Her math teacher emailed me a couple of weeks ago to tell me how much she enjoys having her in class (she has 101.6% in that class). This otter picture is a fiber arts project assignment for Julia’s art class. Her art teacher said it is the best fiber arts project that she has ever had a high school student make (and this teacher is retirement age). The teacher is entering it in some sort of scholastic art competition. Her teacher asked her if she had sewing experience and Julia told her that she has sewn before. I asked her if she told her art teacher that she quilts and has won state fair ribbons for her quilting. She failed to mention that to her teacher. She’s doing so well at school!

Kat is doing really well too. She has an A+ in her English class and an A in her Algebra 2 class (a high school class). These are not easy classes and I know other kids in these classes and they do not have As. She’s a smarty pants. Now we just need to get her involved in some clubs or sports next year. She is really enjoying her classes and the friends she has made. 

November 20

Gus stayed close to Elliott’s side yesterday. He loves his boy. 

November 19

Lucy’s Flying Creatures class experimented and learned about eggs. The top egg had it’s shell dissolved in vinegar. 

Lucy trying to break an egg with her hand. 

After co-op we had piano lessons (Julia), jiu jitsu (Elliott), wrestling (Elliott), and volleyball (Julia). Stick a fork in me! 

November 18

We wore this little lady out this weekend. 

November 17

Clay and I visited with Old Mamaw yesterday.

The kids had fun with Mamaw and Bapaw at the rodeo on Friday night and making pies yesterday.