November!

Little-known fact:  November is my favorite month of the year.  The weather is finally tolerable, the leaves are changing in our area, and there's Thanksgiving - a fun but low-stress holiday with delicious food.  What could be better?!?  Our November started out not-so-fun with a fever and cold working its way through our house, but it quickly improved.  Erin had a belated trick-or-treat on the 2nd since she was sick on Halloween.  Bob had an exciting first week of the month, when he took a trip to Hong Kong for work!  He reported that the flights were long but better than expected, the area was very modern and easy to navigate, and he enjoyed his stay.  You can see pictures from his trip HERE.  We girls had a fairly quiet week with our illnesses while he was gone.

We had family/Christmas/Erin 5-year pictures done on the 11th, which is noteworthy in the fact that NOBODY CRIED!  This is the first time we have had total cooperation and no tears during a photo session.  The girls and I enjoyed our outing to Southpoint Mall for the pictures, and got lunch there too.  We felt like hot stuff.  We girls met our friends Nina and Lily at Pullen Park on the 16th for a really fun day there!



We had a babysitter come that night while Bob and I went to a Wolfpack basketball game. While our basketball team does not expect to win any championships this year, at least they should win some conference games...unlike our football team this year.  Bob went to a Carolina Hurricanes game with Tom on the 18th and had a great time.  Speaking of Tom, we've had several playdates with Jimmy and Danny last month and are really enjoying getting to know them better!



On the 22nd, we met Erin's class at Go Bananaz, an inflatable play place in Raleigh.  Even though only one other student showed up and the place was a little sketchy, we enjoyed trying something new.  They let us in for free after a miscommunication regarding what time they opened, so that was nice.  Erin had a dress rehearsal on the 23rd for her dance number coming up this Saturday, and her class looked great!  We can't wait for the show!  We celebrated neighbor Nick's 6th birthday at their house on the 24th, which was lots of fun.  I got to go to Anna's preschool Thanksgiving feast on the 26th, which was so cute and lots of fun.



We trekked to Concord for the first of three trips in four weeks on the 27th and had a great Thanksgiving with my family!





We also checked out Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville, which the girls really enjoyed.





That about wraps up our month!  We had our last day with Cole the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Dale's and Maria's schedules won't overlap as much in the spring, so they don't think they will need as much childcare.  We will miss our time with him, and we still plan to play with him as much as possible!



I've started "tutoring" 2 of the neighbor kids during Anna's naptime, which has been nice for me to try something new and help them out at the same time.  I think it's going well.

So, we are entering the crazy, extra-short, Advent season.  I'm trying very hard to get my act together...almost all of our gifts are bought, the tree is up and partially lit, other inside decorations are up (we are having our house exterior trim painted this week, so we can't do outside decorations yet), and Christmas cards are ready to be addressed.  This is about as good as I have ever done, so hopefully I can keep my momentum going!  We are all very excited about Christmas, and there is no shortage of gift ideas coming from these ladies!  We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!