November 2013

Ah, November.  When leaves finally starting changing colors around here and I could hear my mother in my head saying, "LOOK at all the beautiful - fall - colors."  Surprisingly, I gave myself enough time one crisp Sunday morning to take the kids for a wagon ride and get a few pictures while the trees were beautiful.

Annalee was delighted that we had a "goggy" visit us! :)

Then after church, we walked with Daddy to take some pictures by the "lake".

We put them under another tree and I immediately got fire ant stings...again.  Thankfully, again, only I stepped in the mound but Connor was about 3 inches away so we whisked them into the grass.  Then I laid down and tried to capture their preciousness while my foot and ankle swelled up...

...it was bright and sunny... ;)

looooooooooove

I had my Thanksgiving table set even though we went to NY.  We enjoyed lots of different types of squash from the farmer's market...enjoyed them as decoration, too!

We had a last minute visit from Dan, Alicia, Laura, and Pat after they went to a Knicks/Bobcats game.  It was pretty chilly while they visited, but we got outside for a bit.

Annalee and her long Uncle Dan played house.

Laura and Pat thought they would head back up to school, but I convinced them to stay and play a game...and then our game of Mexican Train lasted til Dan and Alicia had to be rushed to the airport for their flight.  Whoops!  It was so fun, though! :)

Don't be sad, Shmores... ;)

The kids got up from nap just in time to say goodbye - come visit again, guys!  We miss you!

Later that week, our wonderful VA friend Sara and baby Caleb came to visit!  Jonathan came home for lunch and flew Caleb around...yeah, they were quick buds.

Wish we lived closer, friends!

Since we were going to be traveling for Thanksgiving AND Christmas, we tried to start getting some Christmas things out before we left.  Thus the start of the "HO HO HO-ing" children. :)

We got to have one more visit with Matthew and Kelly as they made their move to Georgia.  We also celebrated Reagan's birthday, because we wouldn't see him over Thanksgiving.  Big 2 year old!

We got a little Thanksgiving crafty with turkey hands...

...and Daddy brought us our first peppermint chocolate chip (Chick Fil A) milkshake of the season!  Annalee agreed with mommy wholeheartedly that they are the bomb!

The night we flew out for Thanksgiving was the Hemby Bridge Christmas Festival and Tree Lighting.  Our children's choir from church was singing, and we got to see a lot of fun people, including Santa!

It was very chilly again!

Children's choir did a wonderful job!

Connor was happy to see Santa this year and told him that he wanted a blue lollipop.  He never wavered on that wish, all through November and December!  So sweet.  Annalee was not thrilled but not screaming, so we went for it! :)

"Who is this guy?!" ;)

End of October '13

October certainly had its share of fall festivities.  We headed over to the Cultural Arts Center, where I have been teaching a pre-k music class.  They had all sorts of fun things to do, but it is pretty safe to say that the highlight for out kids were the bounce houses!

I added some fall leaves that I found to our wreath on the door, and Connor wanted to pose for a picture, too.  C & A can certainly make each other holler, but they love each other so much, too!

My little gingers!  Love when the sun shines on their hair!

Okay seriously...this is really about the last from our garden - green onions and peppers.

Which we enjoyed for breakfast for a few days in this delicious veggie-egg-cheese casserole!

This is the outfit Daddy chose for Annalee one chilly morning - go Daddy!

Some of our family made the move from VA to GA, and we had a couple of visits on their way though!  All the boys went out for a little backyard time.

Ready....

tackle!

Con got in an extra tackle for uncle Matthew.

Just another Sunday :)

We like to make Dad's (Bob's) chili (with OLIVES).  Perfect cold-weather meal.  We also made our whole wheat biscuits again, this time in pumpkin shape!

Of course..it was pumpkin carving night!  Annalee is definitely our fearless, "dig right in" girl!

Saving the seeds!

We decided to use cookie cutters to carve our pumpkin this year so that the kids could really help.  Our rubber mallet was missing, so daddy wrapped up this regular hammer and away we went!

Voila!

The backside - oops!  An upside-down train and a dinosaur that was very difficult to keep in the right shape. ;)

Annalee started doing something this month that I don't really remember Connor doing - taking all the stuffed animals she could find and setting them up to "eat".  Multiple times a day.  :)

Cheesehead with glow-in-the-dark jammies!

That's a whole lotta cheese...

On Halloween we had a rough nap time but still managed to get dressed up and see a couple neighbors before we headed to Trunk'R'Treat at our church.

Annalee checking out what was in her princess treat bag (thanks, Pat!).

We visited our friend Calvin who was in rehab.  He was ready for trick-or-treaters!

Jonathan had his Green Bay outfit ready (of course) to match Connor, so I made myself a makeshift candy corn so that I could match Annalee.  I DID take the time to make her little candy corn dress!

We saw lots of friends at church - including pirate Tanner!

We did some more bouncing - of course!

We also rode the train.  Well, Connor did after we took this pic and then were told "absolutely no adults"...ha!

Then Connor and Daddy went down a giant slide on a sack!

We finally got around to getting some treats...Connor took a picture with this "trunk" - his wings are made out of feathers that one of their birds shed!!!

Some of our favorite people - the Lone Ranger and Tonto!

...and our little salt shaker Burger (I mean, Amber)!

Cuties!  Wonder what we'll "be" in 2014? :)