Where Did November Go?

Sigh. November is over and man did it go fast! I know that as we head in to December and all of the holiday hustle and bustle, this month will fly by too. I challenge you to slow down and be grateful for all of the little moments. 

The week before Thanksgiving break, Megan woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. She had told me the evening before that her throat hurt, so when she woke up, I knew that we'd be staying home that day and heading to the doctor. 

I got a phone call from the school nurse that afternoon, and Adalyn was running a low-grade fever. So, I picked her up and took both of the girls to the doctor. They both tested positive for strep, which I was pretty sure that's what they had when Megan was complaining the night before. 

They both had strep back in September, so if it happens again, we'll be referred to an ENT and consider removing their tonsils. 

Bailey needed a bath, and even though DJ had promised that he'd do it, I knew that with football season, it would be a while. She can't get in the tub anymore, so I put her in our shower- ha! 

The day after the girls were confirmed with strep, we stayed in our pj's and watched Disney + for entirely too long! 

Then I decided to get out the Christmas decor and get everything decorated. I thought I wouldn't be able to decorate until right after Thanksgiving, so I was excited to get everything decorated early. 

After everything was decorated, I cleaned and cleaned so we could get the germs out of our house! 

After the girls were better, Megan went to gymnastics and I got a call about 45 minutes after her class started that she hurt her foot when she landed on it wrong. They were afraid that it could have some little broken bones, so off we went to Urgent Care to rule out a fracture. 

Thankfully, nothing was broken, and after an ace bandage she was good to go! 

Have y'all done the 10 year challenge? 

It was fun to look back to when we had just one kid. 10 years ago she was 1, we lived in Indiana and now we've added 2 more kids, and 2 more states. 

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I drove the girls halfway to Arkansas to meet my parents and send them to Gee's house for Thanksgiving week. They were suppose to stay here, but we didn't really have Thanksgiving plans- I had to work, we were eating dinner with the team, and then going to the game, but once Gee offered, they jumped at a chance to have a traditional Thanksgiving at their grandma's. 

Monday afternoon, they helped her decorate the Christmas tree in their bedroom. 

DJ and I took advantage of a kid-free week by going out to eat (3 x) and seeing a movie! 

Gretchen did a lot of baking at Gee's house- she made chocolate pie, corn bread, jello salad.....

I don't think they had any fun at all. 

Thanksgiving day was quiet for me- DJ was at work, I watched the parade and did laundry, but the girls were having fun with their cousins. 

And Gee had all of her girls, so I know she was happy!

We have so much to be thankful for friends.

I hope your Thanksgiving was full of loved ones and blessings. 

It's Been A While

Well, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth, I just haven't made blogging a priority. But, once I realized that I haven't blogged in weeks, I figured I should pop in and post a little bit of what we've been up to. 

Which, has included a lot of this. 

For some reason, this Fall has hit us hard. I keep thinking that things will slow down, or we'll settle in to a routine, and then I come home exhausted and you know, try to be a mom, which leaves little time for much else, and I'm okay with that. Being a mom comes first, and everything else can just wait. 

We managed to squeeze in a park visit before a week of super cold temperatures. Megan found a ton of acorns and loaded up her pockets to bring them all home. 

Addy still has a ton of homework (in my opinion) but we're pushing through and finding techniques that work for us, which hopefully I can remember to share soon. 

We are rolling on the Thieves y'all. It seems like the little girls are complaining more this year about not feeling well. They both had strep at the end of September, and I'm actually home today typing this with a sick kiddo beside me. This is where I take full responsibility of not feeding them like I should and not doing all the other things I know I should be doing to boost their little immune systems, but I feel like over all, everyone is having a hard time this year?

Addy comes home and is worn out. 1st grade is a lot of hard work. 

The girls got a ton of Halloween candy; I sent a bunch to football, put some in the freezer, and we used a lot of the chocolate to make cookies from a recipe I found over on Momfessionals blog. We made cookies, and sent them with DJ for his students to enjoy. 

Sigh, more homework. 

DJ and I managed to squeeze in a date night. We had plans to meet friends for dinner, but they had to cancel, so we kept our babysitter and went out just the two of us. 

I have to really brag on Gretchen. She's made me so proud this year and now that she's in middle school, she's really growing up and maturing. She has finally learned the truth about Santa and all of those things, and she really opens up to me. I'm so happy that she feels like she can tell me anything, even when it's hard. 

Megan fixed my hair one morning and thought it was the best! 

And this girl loves when we have an abundance of fruit in the house. She steals it all while I'm trying to wash it to put away. 

And sometimes, you just need a Sunday afternoon nap. 

Megan dressed like a hero for Veteran's day and wore her red, white, blue, and her Navy hat and bow. Apparently, she even got to sing and perform in her Veteran's day assembly but didn't bother to tell us so we didn't go. 

And one night, I didn't feel like cooking, so I got out fruits, veggies, dip, crackers, and told the girls to help themselves. 

I came in the living room and found these two cuddled up together watching Sam & Cat on Netflix, which is their new favorite show. 

We attended a birthday party this weekend, and the girls had tons of fun. 

And we even went to the park to play since the weather was gorgeous! 

It was a beautiful day to get outside, and I'm so thankful that I put down my never ending to-do list to play with them at the park. 

It was quite possibly the perfect Monday afternoon where the stars aligned and we got a lot done around the house, homework was seamless, dinner, baths, and bedtime were all early and everything went well. That seems to only happen every once in a while, so I definitely soaked it up.

Next week, the girls have the entire week off, and we have no Thanksgiving week plans and I think we're all looking forward to it being the end of football season. 

Halloween Week

Well, October flew by! We had lots of fun last week celebrating Halloween with our crew. 

We read Halloween books after school. 

and these two cuddled up together to read. 

Megan wanted to do some baking, so she made Halloween cupcakes and decorated them herself! 

The little girls had book character day on Halloween. Adalyn wore her unicorn costume that she picked for this year, and took her book "How to Catch a Unicorn" and Megan decided that she wanted to be Laura Ingalls. We're currently reading our way through the series, and Gretchen was Laura for Halloween when she was in 3rd grade, so I fully expect that Adalyn will choose it too. 

We had all the makeup everywhere when the girls were getting ready for trick or treating. 

Gretchen went as Isis, Megan chose Uma, and Adalyn was a unicorn. 

We let the girls hit up a few houses on our street before.... 

heading over to a friend's house for trick or treating! 

Add and K are the littlest of the bunch. 

It was a bit chilly on Halloween, but we were thankful that it wasn't raining! 

Uma got lots and lots of candy! 

We're so thankful for sweet friends! 

We came home with three buckets full of candy and an extra bag. It's going to take us a year to go through it all. 

Friday after school, DJ came home early, so Adalyn and I headed to the nail salon and then to Target. She was super excited when she found the Target dog. 

We all went out for pizza Friday night and we were super pumped that DJ was home all day Saturday thanks to a bye weekend. We watched college football, cooked White Chicken Chili and then headed off to watch Megan do her thing with her gymnastics team. 

She's come so far with her skills, and was asked to continue with show team next year. She'll move on to team when she builds some more upper body strength ;) But, she's super happy to remain on show team because a lot of her friends are staying on show team too. 

She's the one in the middle of the three doing the handstand. 

We're so proud of this girl!

We spent Sunday morning at church, and then basically had the longest day ever! We got lots accomplished and feel ready for the week!