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 :)

October...

October in pictures...

W and Hampton had a blast at our library's Henry Hugglemonster event.  They got to make their own monster vest, watch a monster story and even eat a monster donut - what more could you want?!

My makeup loving girl...

I love rainy mornings where we can stay in bed in our pj's and watch cartoons - I know these days won't last long so I truly do try to soak up these moments.

More carousel fun on the bench for W and a horse for E :)

Hamming it up for the camera!

Watson is holding one of his most prized possessions - a Rescue Bot.  He love, love LOVES Rescue Bots!

A very rare site these days!

Graham's 34th birthday was this month.  We celebrated with donuts at Krispy Kreme - as requested by the birthday boy himself.  Needless to say, Watson and Emma were thrilled with this outing!  I unfortunately did not get a picture of Graham on his birthday - not sure how that happened!

We had to pull out the nebulizer again this month.  I am really praying that Emma's reactive airway disease is better this year than it was last year.  We spent WAY too much time with this machine last year!

HALLOWEEN! Graham and Reynolds were out of town for Halloween this year, so Mel and I got the kids together to go trick or treating in my neighborhood.  Mom and Dad joined as well - it was a lot of fun!  We had to get an early start this year because storms were predicted to start when it got dark...and luckily we did because the bottom fell out of the sky as we were halfway around the neighborhood!  

Two Rescue Bots and a Cheerleader - cutest ones I've ever seen :)

Emma was all about the idea of trick or treating, but not so much into getting dressed up on this night.  I couldn't get her to wear her Minnie Mouse ears...and couldn't really get a smile...but she really did have fun!  There were lots of people out with their dogs so as long as she was able to pet every puppy we passed she was happy as can be :)

One of our neighbors always does a hayride around the neighborhood for trick or treating - the kids thought this was the best thing ever!

Disney on Ice came through town this month and my wonderful Dad bought tickets for my family to go!  I cannot explain how excited Watson and Emma were when we walked in...it was precious!