Another month goes by in a flash! As usual, our November seemed pretty busy, and here we are already in December. Here is a recap of our month!

Fall Festival

Kinsie’s school had a fall festival early in the month. The small rural school that I used to teach at had a fall festival every year too, so that is what I was expecting…an indoor festival with some games, prizes, auction baskets, and food. Nope…not here. This was a HUGE event. So huge that it was all outdoors, even though it was 30 degrees outside that night. There were carnival games and rides, a petting zoo, pony rides, inflatables, rock climbing, a concert, food trucks, you name it. The kids mainly enjoyed the petting zoo and the pony ride. Kinsie also did some rock climbing and carnival games, while Brax sat in the warm car with Daddy (he’s no Elsa…the cold definitely bothered him). It was a cold, but fun night!

Fall Outdoors Adventures

This month, it was either extremely cold (for Arkansas anyway), or a beautiful 60 degree fall day. On those days, we were outside. Some of our outdoor adventures this month included a campfire with s’mores, a family bike ride, and of course some time at the park!

Brax NEVER let us put him in the bike seat until now. And now he loves it!

Park adventures are our favorite!

Fall is my favorite!

Birthday Weekend in Branson

Last year, my 30th birthday was kind of a dud. Ryan had to work, and once he got home we had to leave right away for Fayetteville to meet my family, so we never really got to celebrate. Because of that, Ryan made sure he had the entire weekend off for my birthday this year. We decided to make a short trip to Branson for my birthday. We drove up on Friday night and stayed in a hotel, then got up the next morning to go to the Santa’s PJ’s and Pancakes Cruise on the Branson Belle. After the show, we shopped at my favorite outlet mall. Then we headed back and had dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant. It was a great birthday!

Keeping us entertained in the hotel room

Adventures on the Branson Belle

Thanksgiving at School

I always love when the kids’ schools do a Thanksgiving lunch. Especially the preschool, because they usually include a performance of some kind. It was extra special this year because the kids were in different schools, and I enjoyed having quality time with both of them.

First up was Brax’s Thanksgiving lunch. His class sang a turkey song (which he actually participated in instead of clamming up from stage fright like last time!) After the performances from each age, we had a potluck Thanksgiving lunch.

The next day was Kinsie’s Thanksgiving lunch. Ryan was able to come to this one as well. The cafeteria served Thanksgiving food, so we all got lunch trays. It was Kinsie’s first time buying a tray from the cafeteria, so she was a little nervous! We enjoyed lunch with our girl and loved the quality time with her!

Thanksgiving Week with Family

Since we were having to make so many trips to Indiana this fall, my family decided to save us a trip and come visit us for Thanksgiving. My parents came earlier in the week and brought my youngest niece, Kolly, since she didn’t have school that week. The rest of my sister’s family came late Wednesday night after their older two kids got out of school. As always, the kids had SO much fun together. We went on a few small adventures, like the rock park, a wagon ride to the playground, and to see Frozen 2. However, these kids were perfectly content playing at our house. They even put on a play for us called “The Princess and the Dragon.”

The kids enjoyed doing some Thanksgiving crafts while we worked on Thanksgiving dinner. They played Thanksgiving Bingo, and made placemats and turkey masks!

They loved their cousin table for Thanksgiving dinner!

We had a great week together. And it’s even better that this was our last Thanksgiving in Arkansas, so we will be able to travel around to all our different family Thanksgiving meals next year like we used to. We are so grateful for family who were willing to travel over 500 miles to spend this holiday with us!

That’s a wrap for November. Onto one of the busiest but best months…December! We will be doing lots of singing Christmas songs, wrapping presents, learning about Jesus, Christmas programs and crafts, and finally spending the week of Christmas in Indiana with our families. Stay tuned for December updates…including a gender reveal next month!!

Here is our 1 Second Everyday for November. Enjoy!