November iphone Pictures

cutie

John's parents made the girls laugh so I could take a few pictures for our Christmas card.

love these monkeys!

We had a great week while John's parents visited and then the girls and I drove back with them for a week in Memphis. We were glad to be back. I sent John this picture from his parents' house after we made it back.

The girls loved seeing their cousins.

I loved seeing everyone AND getting to go to Hobby Lobby because the closest one to me now is an hour away!

selfie with Uncle Brian and the "cousins"

The girls and I flew back and they did awesome!

But we had to connect so it was still a LONG day for all of us. You can tell just how long by my face. Ha!

Breaking all the rules with no seatbelts!

this sleeping cutie melts my heart!

The gym we joined had a Frozen night. The girls wore their Halloween costumes, made a craft, played games with Anna and Elsa, got their picture made and more.

Story time with Anna and Elsa

They were SO excited!

The girls are loving the fact that they can get in the cabinets in our built ins. It's like their own little hide out:)

I got brave (for me) and took out some of my built in shelves to allow for some lamps in the shelves. We don't have any overhead lighting by them and I think it's kind of dark. Built ins overwhelm me a little, but I'm liking the new arrangement.

So I can remember where I had things after Christmas!

Same!

This girl is finally really enjoying writing. Her reading has taken off and she is realizing that she can write the words that she knows.

Both girls had "share days" before Thanksgiving break. Emery's class sang a few songs, and made a cookie.

I could eat her!

Making her turkey cookie

Meyers's class dressed up as pilgrims and indians and sang a little song for us.

cuties

me and my girls

My dad came in the weekend before Thanksgiving to basically be our nanny:) John invited people from his department over for a party (I think there ended up being 18 of us) and then we had Garth Brooks tickets the next night. We took him to our favorite place to eat on Friday night.

Hugs for poppy

more hugs for poppy

The ONLY picture I have from the party. Thank goodness a girl John works with grabbed this one. I did a "Memphis"  themed menu (thanks, steph for the idea) with a Rendevous sausage and cheese plate, pulled pork sliders with Rendevous and Commissary bbq sauce. I also made my mac and cheese and a baked bean casserole. I put everything in little cups to make it easy for people to grab and chat. This is Rebecca (she was our realtor, is our neighbor, and John's coworker's wife) and Mieke (another one of John's coworker's wives). These girls have definitely made our move here easier.

at the concert

GARTH - the concert was amazing. It was totally the soundtrack to our middle and high school years. It was neat, too, because the American Music Awards were the same night, and they piped him singing one of his new songs from the concert to the awards.

And Trisha sang too! We had such a fun weekend, and the girls loved spending time with Poppy!

John took off the whole week of Thanksgiving, so we were able to get decorated before we left for Gatlinburg.

It's fun decorating a new house:)

Our tree is a little over the top this year, but it's growing on me and I love it now.

I'm not loving the garland on the stairs, but I'm also not taking it down! I'll do something different next year.

On the road to Gatlinburg (actually Sevierville) to meet the Tillmans for Thanksgiving!

This is the first time we've used the headphones for them to watch a movie. THAT was amazing!

They thought it was fun and we got to listen to music as opposed to Tangled for the thousandth time!

Our view from our cabin. I'm not really a "mountain kind of girl" but it was definitely pretty. We had a great time getting away and seeing friends, but I was sick the whole time (turns out I had bronchitis and the elevation made it worse). The girls had congestion and coughs the whole time, too. We left super early Sunday to come home because Meyers threw up. I think it was just from drainage and coughing, but we wanted to get out of there and not spread our germs!

We woke up and had brunch on Thanksgiving morning, and then went to dinner at The Old Mill for Thanksgiving dinner. We ate family style and I was impressed by the food. Jennifer, David, Charlie, Meyers, Emery, Avery, me, John

The next day we went to the Dixie Stampede. I actually did not know exactly what that was, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and it kept the kids entertained, too.

cute kiddos!

selfie at the pre show for the Dixie Stampede

After the Dixie Stampede, we drove into Gatlinburg along with the rest of America! It was so packed! We walked around briefly, took a couple of pictures, went in a candy store and played some games at an arcade before I could not put on my happy face anymore. I felt worse being outside in the cold air.

We left the Tillmans in Gatlinburg and headed to an early dinner at CFA:)

We were done giving Dolly Parton our money (the Dixie Stampede is hers, too), and I knew I could not spend any time outside, so we didn't go to Dollywood with the Tillmans the next day. We promised the girls we would do something fun (even though we had no clue what!) We ended up going to Mellow Mushroom and then Magic Quest next door. Magic Quest is definitely for kids a little older, but they did have fun. This picture was from the mirror maze. Not sure why we thought it was smart to take our 2 and 5 year old into a mirror maze, but we did leave injury free.

They had indoor putt putt, which we learned our girls are still not quite old enough for, but it was fun.

After that, we had another genius idea to go to the Christmas Store. It was packed, and hot, and a little miserable so we left. I'm sad we didn't get an ornament; we get one on every trip we go on, but I bet I can order one online from the comfort of my own home without worrying my kids will get lost or break something!

We were so high up that it made me a little nervous, but the view really was so pretty.

Our sick monkey on the way home. I sat in the back with them with a plastic bag ready in case she threw up again (fun stuff!), but she didn't, thank goodness! We drove home and I went to straight to the doctor to find out I had bronchitis which explains why I felt so bad.  But it was still a fun weekend that I'm thankful for!