November 2016

We finally turned on the heater.

Socks are now a standard article of clothing.

A cardigan is needed around the house in the morning hours.

It took awhile for nature to agree that summer was over, but as we close out November, it's starting to feel a little more like autumn - just in time for winter!  Abby, my leaf-lover, did the best job of noticing the season's change.  One day she screamed from the back seat of the car, "A pretty tree!"  It was so sudden and shrill that my heart jumped a little!  I think hers did too - she was just bursting with excitement!  I had been telling the kids for weeks that pretty soon all the trees in town would change colors and it would be beautiful, but I was starting to get worried that it was getting so late into the season, that they would just all turn brown and blow off overnight.  But then it happened!  At first, she would call out one or two trees as we drove around town, but lately as we drive down the road you can hear, "A pretty tree!  A pretty tree!  A pretty tree!  A pretty tree!  A pretty tree!"  in a continuous stream for each one we pass.  And she's just as excited about each one, each time.  She loves them!  There's a tiny unexplainable part of my heart that knows they exploded into those glorious colors just for her this year.

Other Highlights and Kidbits:

The first Saturday of the month we drove to Ponca City to see the house that Charlie's parents are going to buy.  It's not "home" yet, but it's gorgeous, and I can't wait for it to be part of our network of homes. It's kind of sad to think that Bruce and Abby probably won't have any memories of the house in Perkins, which has been an extension of home to me for over 14 years now, but I am confident this new house will be just as magical, and I am filled with excited anticipation of the memories to come!   

celebrating over pie!

K gave us some gas money for making the trip, but since the new house is across the street from a lake, we used it to buy Bruce and Abby fishing poles instead.  Bruce has been so interested in fishing lately, so we finally jumped in and bought some equipment.  Charlie also got a fishing license, even though there's less than two months left in the year, and took Bruce out fishing a couple of times this month.  Didn't catch anything, but Bruce isn't discouraged yet!

The next weekend we had a friend of a friend from Texas stay with us while she was arranging some meetings in OKC.  Bruce was a little skeptical about handing his room over to a stranger for a couple of nights, but it all worked out perfectly and we all loved Hannah!  Abby must have asked her the same three questions about her dogs a hundred different times, and Bruce barraged her with 1001 useless facts about Legos and Scooby Doo, and who-knows-what, but she took it all in graciously and didn't seem to mind our quirks.  She even stayed up until way-too-late to build Lego creations with Charlie for Bruce.  The kids keep asking when she'll be coming back...  That same weekend a sweet friend was visiting from Kansas and we met her and her kiddos at the Science Museum in OKC.  It was so good to see them all again - and we had so much fun exploring the museum again!

 

Bruce has been so interested in robots lately!

this little heat-sensor blob followed Bruce around as he ran around on the floor!

this floor had changing light displays, and then if you looked up - you were standing inside a giant kaleidoscope!

for this carousel, cranking one horse made the platform move, another horse made the music play, the other two made the lights change in different ways

Another week came and went and when the weekend arrived again, we had a fun family day enjoying the Turkey Trot and building a fire in the back yard!

scavenger hunt!

Abbs is loving lipstick these days...

cooking an apple crisp in our new dutch oven!

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we loaded up and headed to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with my family!  We made a pit stop in Ft. Worth for Charlie to snag a Craig's List deal for a new table saw, and then when the GPS had us going through Glen Rose this time, we just had to stop to let Abby see the dinosaur footprints that have been discovered there.  Our "quick" stop took a little longer than planned due to some wanderlust boys, but we finally made it to Horseshoe Bay - and still in time for dinner!

these two models are of the kind that most likely left the footprints found here

Abbs loves the longnecks 

the water was pretty silty the day we were there - but you could still make out the general foot impressions

 

where giants trod

you had to cross over the stream on some river stones to reach the side with the footprints - but Bruce needed to play in the water a little bit too.  Thankfully the weather was wonderfully warm!

Abby had a really hard time settling in to go to bed, and both kids were up way before the sun on Thursday morning - but we all managed to have good attitudes for Thanksgiving!  Most of the extended family was able to join the festivities, and it was fun to see the cousins enjoy running around together.  The fellas chopped down some overgrown tree limbs, while our matriarch and a few helping hands put together a huge traditional spread for us to enjoy.  After dinner, and pie, we made our traditional visit to the Walk of Lights in Marble Falls as our official start to the Christmas season.  It was a great day!

just a boy and his tree

I think Bruce spent more time in this tree than anywhere else

the "kids who have kids" table

The next day we had a lazy morning around the house - with no attempt to experience Black Friday - and then visited our favorite HSB attractions - Mingo the Flamingo and all the other exotic birds!  We didn't linger long though, because we made plans to visit the LBJ State Park with the rest of the family before heading into Johnson City for the lighting of the Courthouse and fireworks!

butterflies were everywhere this weekend!

I'm just going to blow on this one... why not?

Sauer-Beckmann Farm 

a living history farm depicting early 1900s life

checking out the turkey in the coop - thankful to have survived Thanksgiving!

Abby found a tiny chair!

cousin love

a metal work store in Johnson City - we love this place!

hitting up food vendors before the show

Abby cried through the whole firework show, except for when she paused to calmly ask me how fireworks are shot off, and then resumed crying after the explanation...

rolling down the hill at the "Christmas forest" at the electric company

Saturday morning we had an early Christmas gift exchange, and then packed up the van and shared a brunch with my mom and Rick at the Bluebonnet Cafe before getting back on the road to come home.  We had initially planned to stay until Sunday morning, but Charlie was going to be traveling to three different states the following week, and we wanted a little bit of time to recover from vacation, set up our Christmas tree, and prepare for the next week - so we thought it would be best to return a little bit early.  Hard decision, but the right one I think.     

playing with the cat under the tree...

Every Sunday this month has been spent, almost in its entirety, with our small church group trying to figure out what expression of "church" we would like to be a part of.  It's been a year now since we've been members of an "actual" church.  It's been weird, but good.  Our family, along with two other families, have spent the last several months talking through what the church should be, should look like, etc. as opposed to how our culture has defined it and redefined it over the years, and we've finally come to the point where we're wanting to connect to a larger community.  So we've been visiting various churches on Sunday mornings, then having lunch together, then going home for naps, and then getting back together for our now-traditional Sunday night dinner.  We still don't have all the answers, and haven't made any commitments anywhere, but it's been a good process, and maybe we'll have more vision after the new year.    

one church invited us to a Thanksgiving dinner - Bruce, all by himself, decided he wanted to bring a salad so he picked lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, washed them, and packaged his salad so sweetly for the potluck - melted my heart!

Another big change for our family this month, is that Abby decided that she doesn't *need* to take a nap anymore.  Even if her body and attitude disagrees.  And she can climb out of her crib now (yes, she still sleeps in a crib), so there's no way to force her to "try" to take a nap.  It's kind of frustrating, because I know she's really tired in the afternoons and would benefit from a nap, but this is the same age when Bruce started to drop his nap, so I'm not going to fight it.  I tried so hard to argue with Bruce and convince him to still nap, and spent so much energy in a battle I was destined to lose - so I'm just waving the white flag early with Abbs.  I just hope her body adjusts quickly, because her falling asleep in the car at 4:30 on the way to the store really sets us up for meltdown-mania.  One nice benefit of her dropping the nap though (along with a more flexible lifestyle) is that she's sleeping much later in the mornings - like until 7am!!!  Happy mama.         

since I don't have a picture of a sleepy Abbs, how 'bout a picture of a sleepy cat?

I feel those yawns...

Abby can still be quite challenging - spritely might be a nicer way to put it...  She's getting better about controlling her hitting impulses, but isn't quite over that hump yet.  Really though, she's a super sweet girl and is really helpful these days.  Every day she asks to feed the fish and other animals, checks the mail, and does other random chores.  Today she even folded towels for me!  She has really been enjoying singing lately, and I love listening to her mixed up lyrics.  One of her favorite songs right now is John Denver's "Country Roads," to which she just sings London Bridges lyrics over the top, at the top of her lungs.  Also - she's working on imitating Ana's dance moves from this youtube video (be careful, it's an addiction song!) which is just about the most giggly thing you could witness. 

"Abby will you read to me?"

Bruce has reached some pretty big milestones this month!  Physically, he's getting more in-sync with his motor skills, for example - he can keep himself going on a swing by himself if you get him started!  Academically - he's right on the brink of being ready to learn how to read!  He's so interested in wanting to know how things are spelled, or "what does o-p-e-n say" when he sees signs out and about that catch his attention.  He'll also scrawl out a string of letters on a piece of paper and ask me what it "says" or at least what sound does his "word" make.  This goes on all day.  I love it.  Not related to reading, but another question he asks me constantly is, "How is ______ made?"  For everything.  For some things, the answer is easy.  Wood?  God made wood when He made trees.  But for others it gets a little more complicated and most of the time I honestly don't know the answer.  How are fire extinguishers made?  Um... Factories.  Factories make fire extinguishers...  I really wish that How it's Made show was on Netflix....  I love his curious mind.

He's also been cooking up a storm!  One morning he decided he wanted to make lunch for Charlie to bring to work!

and here's one of his finished clay vases - he even picked and arranged the flowers himself!

For school this month we focused on a Thanksgiving theme and had fun learning about pilgrims and Native Americans - trying to keep things on the light side while still honoring discussions about racial tensions - both past and present - in a kindergarten-appropriate way.  I love that I'm still learning new facts about old stories, and that both my mind and my heart are being challenged alongside of Bruce.  For field trips this month we went to the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum, the Chickasaw Nation Cultural Center, and the Museum of the Great Plains.  There aren't many pilgrim-y locales around here, but we tied in pioneers, western expansion and Oklahoma statehood with Native American culture and called it good.  Overall, this was a really fun unit - but it was incredibly challenging because with Abby not napping anymore, it was hard for Bruce to have a good attitude about "doing school" while Abby played, and it was hard for Abby, a destructively jealous sort, to let Bruce have my attention.  We'll get it figured out though.  I think.  

playing at the Kid's Corral at the Western Heritage Museum

I promise this was before I saw the "keep off rocks" signs...

I never saw anything posted about no fishing

stalking squirrels... can you see the little fella?

the traditional village at the Chickasaw Nation cultural center

a winter house

Our aspiring Blacksmith at the fur trader's outpost at the Museum of the Great Plains

she's a stinker, all right

can't pass up an opportunity to drive some old farm equipment...

they played in this general store for nearly an hour!  I can see why shopping carts were invented!   (and by an Oklahoman!)

This coming month for school we'll be looking at different forms of government - talking about presidents, monarchies, and royalty in general - which conveniently ties in with the advent season too, when our family tries to focus more purposefully on preparing our hearts for our King to come.  We made our advent wreath this week, and we're getting excited about celebrating the Christmas Season - I can't believe it's already here!