November Round-Up!

We are back safe and sound from our Florida adventure, but before I start writing those posts I want to post our November Round-Up. Florida and Disney World posts are coming soon, though! I know you can't wait :-).

My friend, Angie, had her baby girl, Lia, back in the last full week of September. I had met baby Lia and spent the day with them, but none of my kids had met her yet. The girls really wanted to snuggle that baby, so Angie and I worked it out for us all to come visit on a Monday afternoon in early November. We chose to go in the afternoon because Bren didn't really care too much about seeing the baby, but he wanted to see Z and N. I was a little nervous for this visit . . . I didn't want my kids to act crazy and just cause stress for Angie. However, everything turned out great. We only stayed a few hours and that was just right!

Brianna, Brooke, and Lia

Brooke and Lia

💜

Brianna and Lia

This girl was SO good with the baby! She was a little bit of a baby hog, but Lia loved being held by her. She even fell asleep in Brianna's arms. 

Brenson, Brecklyn, and the boys all had a great time playing together. Brooke would play for a bit, come hold Lia for a bit, then go back to playing and so on. Brecklyn couldn't decide if she wanted to hold the baby or not. She washed up two different times to hold her, then changed her mind at the last minute, ha! 

These people are so special to us!

Bren, Brooke, Z, Bri, Lia, Brecklyn, and N

Finally, just as we were getting ready to leave, Brecklyn decided to give baby holding a try. She enjoyed it for about two minutes, then she was done! Lia doesn't look too sure about the situation, haha.

Brecklyn and Lia

One of the biggest events of 2020 happened in early November when our country had an election for President of the US. Chris went early to vote before work, and was able to get through the line quickly.

I wore my red, white, and blue and prayed for our country off and on all day. 

That evening, I went to visit my friend, Amy. We went out to dinner, then watched election coverage for hours. Of course, we didn't find out who won the election that evening (and still don't really know), but I didn't end up leaving her house until almost 2:00am. A decade ago, that would have been no big deal, but that is not the case now! I regretted that decision, for sure! With all that Amy's been through lately, we needed that time together. I definitely don't regret it in that way, but I was dragging for several days afterward.  

The kids had a chiropractor appointment (like they do every month), and afterward we picked up Chick-Fil-A for lunch and ate at the park. Most of the playground equipment is finally open again (it has been closed due to Covid-19 precautions), so the kids enjoyed playing after lunch. The girls even saw the other set of twins that were in their pre-K class last year (who are also homeschooling this year).

After visiting baby Lia, Brooke started playing "Mommy" even more than usual. She even took one of my infinity scarves to use as a wrap to carry her "baby Lia" just like Angie carries the real baby Lia. I texted Ang this photo, and it brought a smile to both our faces.

Sometimes, snuggling under a cozy blanket to practice sight words on Momma's lap is just what you need! Perk of homeschooling :-).

Speaking of homeschooling, before we left on our Florida trip, I was feeling like we had really found a good groove. Most days have been smooth and peaceful, and I'm not near as stressed about everything as I was afraid I would be. It's great for each child to be able to work at their own pace, have individualized attention, and be able to sprawl out and study however they want. I am SO grateful for the opportunity to homeschool, and I find myself loving it more than I thought I would! Now, if we could just get through the next few weeks until Christmas break!

You'll notice in the two photos above that there is Christmas decor on the walls and couch. One of the {many} things on my to-do list before we left for Florida was to get out all our Christmas stuff and have the house decorated before we left. I wanted to come home to a cozy Christmas house, and for the most part, that happened. Because everyone got sick during those last few days before the trip, we didn't get ornaments put on our main {big} tree, but everything else was done! I have a lot of Christmas decor (both indoor and outdoor), and we decided to skip on much of the outdoor stuff this year. I'm good with that, though! There's no sense in stressing about it and taking the joy out of it. And, it was so nice to come home to everything decorated and ready for Christmas!