UNDER CONSTRUCTION

WOW!! Things sure have been busy this past
month. No regrets but I have definitely had to
neglect my blog. So lets do a quick-ish summery of November.

Vinny and his wrestling has been going full steam. Right now he is undefeated and his team is 6-1. I am so very proud and a big supporter of my son and his team. GO VINNY and GO BULLDOGS!!

We also got to spend some time with my Sister-in-law who is my bestest friend and her little family. I loved getting to love on my newest little niece Sailor. My ex husband finally tied the knot with his long time girlfriend and gave my kiddies and new stepmom. She's a real nice lady and we're happy that she has joined the family. We got a surprise when James' other brother from out of town showed up and asked if they could stay two weeks so that they could scout the area for a place to live in town. (YAY!!) I was instantly excited because that meant I was going to get to spend two whole weeks with my niece Talia and nephew Ben that we very rarely get to see. They arrived just in time to join in on the pre-Thanksgiving crafts and decorating. We started out making some awesome smelling gingerbread play dough. the girls added to the fun when they pulled out the cookie cutters to make Thanksgiving shapes out of dough.

While the boys stayed focused on the games the girls helped make salt dough so we could make hand print turkeys and letters for our names. They were all going on our Thanksgiving mantel. We all snuggled in the living room to watch some Thanksgiving cartoons while our shapes dried in the oven and cooled. Then it was time to paint. Nov. 20th was Sweet little Talia's 6th Birthday So my bestie brought some birthday cupcakes the weekend before and we had her a little party and once again I got to spend a little more time with Sailor.

I always love to get updated pictures of family whenever we all get together. Our mantel was finally finished. They did such a fantastic job!!

We also took advantage of the not so cold weather to spend a lot of time outside

going to parks

and the lake. I of course had my camera on hand to capture the fun photo ops.

Finally Thanksgiving had arrived! Ready for family and food.

Daily we had all said something we were thankful for and now it was time to enjoy our traditional family gathering and honored family football game that we have done every Thanksgiving and Christmas since my kiddies were babies.

James played hard, got his belly full and was out. It was such a great day!!

Nov. 23 I packed all the Thanksgiving stuff away and James pulled out all our Christmas stuff. I prefer to wait till after Dec 1st before putting up the tree but he's really been filled with Christmas cheer this season so we put up the tree minus the ornaments. The kids were with their dad and that has always been their part so we waited till they got home so they could do the honors. I did set out my Christmas village and hung our stockings. Which of course lead to more photo taking.