Annual Christmas Visit

A couple of years ago, I saw that some of our traditions might be time and maturity sensitive, and I added an item to my Christmas wish list each year: photos at the mall. So... when asked about my Christmas list, this tops my list each year.  

The trio are so awesome, and this perspective keeps the tradition going, especially for someone who is at peek excitement level.  

 We arrive early so that we have the place to ourselves. While Skip holds our place in line, we take photos, and then we join him. 

We also may have bribed them with Shake Shack. 

We had time to regroup at home for a couple of hours before going to church for the "Hanging of the Green". 

We have a couple of our favorite traditions checked off, and we are ready for some Christmas cheer. 

What are your favorite traditions? 

Iron Bowl

Y'all. I won't say that we had high hopes for the Iron Bowl. We knew it could be dicey, but we were hopeful nonetheless.  

The trio were dressed in full gear, and the duo worked hard to knock out their last bit of homework.  

We had some errands to run before the game and finished it off by having lunch at Chipotle.  

The trio still enjoyed the game. Congratulations, Auburn, and Roll Tide Forever!

Thanksgiving 2019

How was your Thanksgiving?  

To be honest, we were a little bitter about the trio next getting the full week off from school. They had to attend Monday and Tuesday, and were supposed to be off Wed-Sun. However, one of the duo's teachers inadvertently assigned a massive gene mapping project that was due Wednesday at 2pm that they had to work on all day Wednesday. They were bitter, to be sure.  

However, once we shook that off, we were all super excited to spend Thursday celebrating with Skip's family (+my mom) and Friday celebrating with my mom and other family members.  

We are so thankful for all of our people and all of our many, many blessings. 

Acolytes

My favorite acolytes were called in for duty this weekend. 

Book Fair + Thanksgiving Lunch

This week is one of my favorite weeks at George's school. We love the Book Fair, and I have humbly chaired this event for the last five years or so, and I have been volunteering for this event for seven years. I just love it! 

As a sidebar, George's school library got a complete makeover this past summer, and everyone is soooo excited about it!

George shopped each and every day, but he is an avid reader so we don't mind making an investment in books. He was visited by Skip's parents for Thanksgiving lunch, and he showed them the book fair as well. They were kind enough to sponsor a book for his personal library, and he can't wait to read all of his new books! 

Scout Camp Out

We had an eventful weekend. Grace came home Friday and went straight to bed. The next morning her temperature was 102 and climbing, and a quick trip to a local urgent care revealed that she had the flu, despite being vaccinated. The good news is she was given a new medicine - Xofluza - which knocked it right out, and she was significantly improved within 24 hours and was ready for school today.

Lauren was tied up doing school work all weekend because she missed two days of school last week for All County Band.

So... on those two fronts... it was not shaping up to be a great weekend.

However, George had a wonderful camping trip planned with the Scouts to a cavern about two hours away. Skip and George packed up their "Scout truck" and took off. They decided to make it a lengthy day trip instead of camping overnight because Grace's situation was still questionable, and we had been told to go to Children's if her condition worsened. (Thankfully, it didn't, but we didn't know that at the time.) George had to camp and have a good time on behalf of the whole family, and he didn't let us down. We got to enjoy a beautiful fall weekend through him.

As his smiles indicate, it was a great trip!

All County Band 2019

Earlier in the fall, Lauren tried out for All County Band and became the only seventh grader at her school to be accepted. (It was super competitive, and many other talented musicians didn't quite make it this time. Next time for sure!) 

She spent two full days learning songs in preparation for an All County performance. We are band novices, and Lauren's band director clearly did not distribute the memo regarding concert attire.

Lauren had a great experience, and we loved watching her play.

(And we will have concert attire next time. :)

Veteran's Day Parade

Yesterday my two favorite Scouts put on their uniforms and made their way downtown to the nation's largest and oldest Veteran's Day Parade. 

Skip's dad bought an old "work truck" a couple of years ago, and Skip and George have been using it as their "Scouts truck". 

Last year's parade was cold and rainy, but this year they were blessed with beautiful weather for a parade. 

These guys had a great time honoring our veteran's, and they treated themselves to a Chipotle lunch after walking the four mile, slow moving parade. 

Good job, guys!

Band Performance + Science Olympiad

We had a great morning at Lauren and Grace's middle school for the third annual Veteran's Day Program (fun fact: their school has been open four years). 

They did an awesome job!

William George also had a fun morning. He was inadvertently booked for two separate field trips -- one to a hands on museum in Huntsville and another one as part of the Science Olympiad team going to McWane.  George had a tough decision, but ultimately opted to accompany the SO team as they are building an exhibit at the museum. They did a little work, and then got to explore the museum and play. Touching the stingrays was his favorite part. 

We can't wait to see the finished product!

Politics

A random page from one of George's second grade journals. 

During an open house at school last year, I ran across a page in one of George's journals that read:

I imagine that I had land out in the country. 

Away from the city and away from politics. 

And no tv at my house. 

So... we stopped discussing politics in front of George. Lauren and Grace still want to talk about current events and upcoming elections, but we make sure to have those conversations, for example, after George has excused himself from dinner.

We cannot wait to read George's third grade journals and see where we need to improve further. :)

Robotics

At George's elementary school, many extracurriculars can begin as early as third grade. George was so excited to begin doing all of these really cool things so he signed up for Robotics, Science Olympiad and Safety Patrol. Yesterday was his first Robotics competition, and his team of all third graders worked hard to get their robot built and ready for competition. Although the robot was not completed, they focused on the points they could score, and did really well for their first time. 

George loves this new activity, and we can't wait to see how he does!

Personalized Halloween

We have - hands down - the best neighbors in the world. Not only do they ask the trio which types of candy they should pass out on Halloween, they also surprise them with jumbo sized versions of their favorites. We can never move. 

Cheers to the best neighbors ever!