It seems like I mostly write once a month these days, so in keeping with that tradition here's my post for November. With the addition of the Christmas Bus.
Really, November isn't an awesome month. There's no snow to play in, its cold, everything is dead. Not my favorite month. The highlight is definitely Thanksgiving. We started off turkey day with our second annual turkey trot. This year Zack didn't join us as he keeps having random knee pain, and believe you me, when he says he's knee hurts its better to nod and say sorry than try to make him do anything. I ran with Sage and Kate ran with Jake. Every time Kate would catch up to Sage, Sage would take off. With the finish line in sight Kate decided to go for it and took off past Sage. Well, Sage was having none of that and she sprinted with everything she had to pass Kate. Competitive anyone? It was great fun though and definitely my favorite tradition.
Thanksgiving dinner was eaten with Greg and Tracy and all of Jake's aunts and uncles. It was good to see everyone and catch up, since it seems like we see them once a year. The food was delicious of course, and we all ate more than enough. Then we went to the hospital with my family to eat pie with Alicia so she didn't feel quite so bad about being there. Had there been the usual number of people there I'm sure we would have been kicked out as the kids were definitely not quiet. We had good fun though and I'm sure it will be a Thanksgiving to be remembered.
Zack has been working on getting his hunting license. Finally. So we all got to go to the shooting range together. That's the kind of activity you do as a family in a small town. It was a crowded place let me tell you.
Another thing you get to do in a small town is participate in the town creche exhibit. To make a long story short, my kids volunteered (were coerced) into being the live nativity. They had a couple of sheep in a pen and then my kids got to stand there and pretend they were Mary, Joseph, and an angel. People were supposed to walk by and enjoy it, except no one was there. And it was like 20 degrees, so they were freezing. We were supposed to stand there for an hour (yeah right), I was hoping for 30 minutes, we made it 15. Kate said it was the worst day of her life. It was hilarious and my family enjoyed mocking the picture I sent out. The whole time Sage (who can't ever sit still through dinner) was sitting very quietly, no complaints at all, patting the baby Jesus. When I told them it was time to go she said she didn't want to leave. When I asked her why she said, "Because Jesus is here." So maybe it wasn't such a terrible experience after all...
And last night was the Christmas Bus. My kids favorite night of the whole year. My dad and Kathy kill themselves making everything perfect, and this year didn't disappoint. There was some minor drama with the pizza, and for a second my dad thought his dreams had come true and we were going to be able to eat hot dogs. But things were resolved and we were all even more grateful when we dug in to the pizza. Then we headed to a rest home where we did some singing and the kids acted out the nativity. Always amusing. And then it was on to see the lights. Beautiful of course! We managed to not freeze and not lose anyone. My definition of a successful night. We got to ride in a new bus this year, which actually had a CD player, so we really got to listen to 'The Polar Express' while sipping hot chocolate. Definitely a night to be remembered. Way to go Dad and Kathy!!
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| I had to make this extra large so you could truly enjoy the moment. My kids, in the live creche, right on Main Street... |
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| They're both so excited:) |
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| The whole group singing one last song |
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| Turkey Trot 2016! |
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| Sage was so excited to eat a drum stick. Surprise surprise she didn't even finish half of it. |
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| Kate at the shooting range |
