Sunday, November 17, 2013

November News!

Believe it or not, November is already halfway over. We have been totally excited about the month of November too-- when my friend was over on Halloween night, Lucy said, "Tomorrow is going to be the BEST DAY EVER!" Confused, my friend asked, "Don't you mean right now is going to be the best day ever because it's Halloween?!?" Lucy replied, "No, I mean November 1st, because it means I get to see my Grandma and Grandpa this month!" And that certainly is better than Halloween!
 The leaves turn SO beautiful right at the beginning of November, but don't last very long. The tree right in front of our house turns this amazing fiery red, but it's so hard to capture fall colors on camera. Oh well. The kids are still cute dressed up and ready for church!
 This past Saturday we took a picnic and walk along the reservoir trail in Southern Pines, while the kids rode their bikes. They had a great time and the weather was a balmy 70 degrees, so it was nice to enjoy some fresh air. I'd prefer it a little cooler this time of year, but I'm sure I'll be eating my words when we end up somewhere cold and snowy in another year or two.

 The trail is about 2 miles long with some elevation gain, and Lucy was a total stud and rode her bike the whole way around without complaining or getting tired. Zach on the other hand made it about halfway and then Jon and I had to take turns pushing Leah in the stroller and Zach on his bike.
 Ahhhhh, life in the swamp. Perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, snakes, and spiders. And speaking of snakes, that very afternoon Jon had to remove a 2 ft. long corn snake (?We think?) from our very own backyard! At least there are no gators, right?
 Leah sat awesome in her stroller the entire time, mostly thanks to the chocolate chip cookie we sneaked her before we started.
 Ain't she purty?
 After our little outdoors excursion, we checked out the new Aldi grocery store just opened up in Aberdeen. Just goes to show you how starved people are for anything new to do around here-- but last Saturday at its grand opening the line to get in was out the door!! It's just an Aldi, people! Imagine what a Target or Toys R Us would do to the excitement level around here...
 We decided to cap the night off with a little bonfire and the quintessential roasting of the s'mores.
 Zach was more than happy to oblige by eating his weight in chocolate. I have to keep an eye on him whenever the good stuff is out in the open-- he'd mowed through about 1 1/2 Hershey's bars before I caught him red-handed!
 Leah also had no problem contributing to the depletion of our marshmallow and chocolate supplies.
 Jon the Mountain Man taming the fire! He is hands-down the world's BEST marshmallow roaster. I don't know how he does it, but he gets them perfectly golden on every surface, every time. They sploosh magnificently! 
 All dressed up for church in her new birthday dress!
She's still not walking, and surprisingly I'm really glad. I think if it were the other two I would be kind of annoyed-- like, "Come on and walk already!" since she's sooooo close. But since she's the baby, at least for awhile, I'm glad she's content to just crawl around the house following me wherever I go.:) Happy November!