Project 365, Week 48

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you had a wonderful "holiday" weekend with people you love.  

I'm going to go ahead and just stuff a bunch of posts right here into this one because the reality is they may not see the light of day otherwise.

I have Christmas music playing, coffee in hand, a quiet house and life is good.

Happy December....its here, ready or not!  Its the most wonderful time of the year!

November 24

We did respite for the second weekend and it turns out both boys are hoping to pursue culinary in college.  I let them take over the kitchen to do some experimenting....it came with mixed success.

November 25
No picture.

November 26
Amanda's second grade class put on a little show for parents, The ABCs of Thanksgiving....Amanda was "R".  Then they joined hands and sang Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart.  It was such a beautiful sound!

 Amanda helped me make cupcakes to share with her class the next day.

 I texted the coach and told him we'd need to leave practice early to get to a school play.  He let us off the hook about going, but Avery was sure she wanted to.  So far, so good!  :)

 This was the first year drama was offered to the 3, 4 & 5 grades.  Avery missed auditions while in Europe (ironically :), but still had a couple lines.  The play was super cute and the performance was nearly flawless.

 After, she came out to greet her enthusiastic fans.

 November 27
Birthday girl....SEVEN!

 November 28
Nothing says Thanksgiving like running in the freezing cold with 15, 000 other crazy people.

 I came back from running and the dining room was all ready for its inaugural meal.

 November 29
On Wednesday, we found someone to take care of our old house for the winter.  They will live there and pay for heating it.  That will allow them to get on their feet and allow Shaun to get through tax season before he has to deal with it again.

Since they would be moving in over the weekend, we spent Friday frantically packing things that we'd left behind in the August move.  A spare bed we don't yet have a place for, my wedding dress, snow gear, board games, china closet items, etc.

This lady is in her early 70s, I would guess, and she and her husband go out for a run faithfully (and separately) every morning....they have for years.  They love our dumb dog and Riley before.  They talk to him, play fetch with him, pet him.  Many times I've been tempted to offer him.  :)

 Later, we went down to Sarah's to celebrate Jared's 15th!! birthday.  He was the only kid on Shaun's side for seven years, so he is very special to all of us.  He's a really great kid and I can't wait to see what God has planned for him.

 Just a couple grandparents on hand to celebrate.  :)

 That's his mom and little brother in the background.  :)

 I love this next series of pictures.  Amanda playing cards with a grandma and two greats.  My kids are so very blessed to have twelve grandparents and great-grandparents who they know and love and get to spend time with.

 Shaun's dad, visiting from Chicago.

November 30
Move-in day at our old house.  The couple belongs to a community-oriented church so when they put out the word that they needed help moving, people came out in droves.

Shaun spent much of the day replacing the old woodstove (that we've used hard for the past 13 years) with a new one just like it.

Happy First Birthday, Isaiah!

 These two....they push each other's buttons as if they were brother and sister instead of eight years removed cousins who don't get to see each other very often.

 Ahh...this face!

 Uncle Nathan was juggling for him.

 I had just put the girls rug from the old house into their room and so they wanted to sleep on the floor.