November...

November has been a wonderful month!  We have been busy with MDO, play dates, football games, a trip to Oklahoma, a trip to Louisiana, and lots of fun!  Here is a recap in pics...

If this boy sees an arcade of any kind he is going to BEG to play - sometimes he wins, sometimes Mommy wins :)  I do love to see him have so much fun, though!

Emma does.not.sleep anymore.  She is up 4-6 times a night and naps are a fight every day.  Because of that, she complains about being tired at school all day and falls asleep in the car often.  This is how Graham found her the other day when he went to pick her up from school...

She fights sleep so hard - I keep trying to tell her how much better she would feel if she would give in and just SLEEP!  This mama needs more sleep too...

Even through sleep deprivation, she does keep up laughing, though...

I love watching their relationship grow - they love each other so much and (most of the time) have so much fun together!

Enjoying the fall weather spending time outside...

I've never met a boy who loves a job and project as much as this sweet boy does.  He will take any responsibility VERY seriously and love every second of it!  He and Graham have spent lots of time in the yard bagging leaves this month...this particular day they went well into the night!

For the past couple of months I have spent most of my free time working on a Christmas event for the ladies at our church.  Each year we have a dinner to kick off the holiday seasons called our Favorite Things Event.  This year it was Favorite Things: Season of Gifts.  It was a ton of work, but lots of fun preparing a fun evening for the ladies of our church. 

The ladies at my table...

I am SO thankful for each of the ladies in this picture.  The Lord has blessed me and Graham with such a fun Life Group.  We love doing life with them!  Here are the ladies of our Life Group:

Mom, Melanie and I made a trip to visit our family in Denham Springs, Louisiana.  We see them at the beach every Fourth of July, but it had been years since I had actually been to Louisiana to visit.  It was a great trip!

While I was away, Daddy planned lots of fun outings...including Chuck E Cheese, eating out, and Let's Play.  I was floored (and so proud!) that he attempted all of these on his own! 

Samford's Homecoming was this month as well.  Although it was raining, it did not keep us from soaking up our time on campus!  Now that Dad is working there we got the all-star treatment as well.  Words cannot express how much I love Samford!

The kids had their Thanksgiving parties at school.  I love watching them in their own little environment. 



We traveled to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving this year.  The drive up there...all 12 hours of it...is oh so long.  But it's always worth it once we get there.  We are soaking up this time with Graham's family and are continuously on our knees for Graham's sweet mom as she continues to walk the road of brain cancer. 

 

 Emma's headphones were too big so we had to improvise.  She doesn't seem to mind having a rolled up diaper on her head :)  We laughed so hard every time we looked in the backseat!

Our hotel stop on the way to Oklahoma is the highlight for the kids.  They think it is truly the BEST - and I'd have to agree when getting to watch their excitement over EVERYTHING at the hotel!  The luggage cart and continental breakfast buffet are definitely the top favorites :)

When spending hours upon hours in the car with two toddlers, you have to make sure you stop at places that will keep their attitudes positive :)

Mexico!

Graham's dad did an amazing job with his company this year and won a trip to Mexico as a result of his hard work!  He and Jan were so incredibly kind to invite Graham and I to join them for 4 days at an all-inclusive, AMAZING, resort.  Needless to say, Graham and I quickly jumped on the opportunity!  Mom and Dad kept the kids (THANK YOU!) so we were looking forward to some long-awaited time away together!

We had such a good time on this trip.  The scenery was beautiful and despite the fact that it rained every day, we still loved soaking up the view of the ocean we had from all parts of the resort.

Unfortunately, the night before we left, we received a phone call from Graham's step-dad letting us know that his mom, Mary, was in the hospital with what they just discovered was a large mass in her brain.  Unsure of what this meant for her and the next few days, they strongly encouraged us to continue on with our plans to fly to Mexico the next day.  We were so torn about what to do, but we did continue with our plans.  Praise the Lord for Skype and Facetime - we were able to keep in close and constant contact with Mike and Mary while we were away.  It definitely put a different feel to the trip and although our hearts were completely broken from the news we were learning each day with his mom, we truly did soak up every moment of time we were able to spend with his dad and Jan.  It made for an emotional roller-coaster, but we knew and trusted that the Lord's timing in all of this was perfect.

In hindsight I am so glad we ended up going.  It was so hard not being in Oklahoma with Mary during her surgery, but at the same time we will probably never have another extended time in Mexico with Mike and Jan so we will forever treasure this time with them!

The rain wasn't stopping us from having fun!  Several poncho purchases were made over the days :)