Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Stratford, Texas. 

 My kids had the best time running wild and playing in the country.  This is Ali's first Thanksgiving in Stratford and I'm glad we were able to make the trip.  My Aunt and Uncle are amazing hosts and cooked all the big stuff.  My cousin Tanner (Uncle Tanner -Caroline calls him) cooks the turkey now.  He has taken over a lot of the family business too.

Ali loves my Aunt Carrie's dog Oreo.  She threw the ball for him over and over- Both the dog and kid were happy with this arrangement. 

Caroline's fear of dogs has increased she doesn't even like little tiny dogs.  They all scare her so while Ali had the time of her life throwing the ball Caroline stayed on her dad's shoulders while the dogs were out. 

Mimi made the girls matching dresses. Before lunch, we all went around the room and told what we were thankful for.  There were over 30 people taking turns talking.  I held Ali while she stuffed her face with crackers and whispered loudly after everyone talked.

 (OH, HE IS THANKFUL FOR HIS FAMILY)

 (SHE IS GLAD TO BE HERE AND IS THANKFUL FOR GOD)

yes, Ali SHHHHHHHHHHH

Silly girl

After lunch Ali and went on a treasure hunt.  My uncle has a huge shooting range behind his house and Ali found tons of gold and silver bullet casings.

TREASURE!!!

What a fun Thanksgiving day!  On the way the home both kids slept for an hour and a half.  It was great!

When we got home we had time to decorate for Christmas.  

Even the bunk beds got decorated

Ready for bed

Some other things over the week:

We went and saw the movie The Star- it is such a sweet movie! both kids loved it.  The new theater in town gives assigned seats so we showed up 25 minutes after the movie time started.  We missed all the previews.  Ali made it through the whole movie! (Popcorn helped!)

Friday night we ate with Nana, Papaw, and Mimi.  The brisket was delicious!

The girls played outside with dad in a leaf pile

We cleaned leaves out of hair for two days!

For Christmas this year we are doing something really fun with my extended family. Caroline helped with some of the decorations.

Outside decor is up

Sunday night Chris played two games at once.  Ali loves Hi Ho Cherry-O and Caroline can't get enough of Trouble.

Little Hoopster

Caroline has been attending Hoopster Academy for the month of October and November.  It is a basketball skills camp for K-2nd grade.  The person that put it together is a pre-K teacher and the head basketball coaches wife.  She was so good with the girls.  They did drills every week and played fun basketball games.  They didn't learn very specific basketball rules just a few like you can't pick up a dribble and start again.  It was a fun way to introduce Caroline to basketball.  

Last night was her performance during halftime of the varsity girls game.

She told me she likes all the drills except the spider.

Passing

It was really fun!

Waiting for Caroline to start Ali helped herself to both boxes of popcorn

YUM!

One of the Sunday practices- she was practicing the crossover

Also this week Chris and I ate Thanksgiving lunch with Caroline.

looking at her turkey disguised a unicorn 

Out of the Crib

Ali is officially out of the crib and in her big girl bed.  Caroline is under the impression that the top bunk bed is hers and the bottom belongs to Ali.  For Christmas Chris and I are getting the girls comforters so, for now, they are using their favorite pumpkin/ my little pony blankets.

Ali wasn't feeling great this weekend so we didn't go anywhere and the girls played in their rooms.  It was awesome!

Ali likes sleeping in Caroline's bed for naps on the weekend (So does Pip).  She is a wild sleeper and will need rails for a while so she doesn't roll out of the bed. 

  Caroline loves having a buddy to play with at night.  

Saturday night we were playing at the park and decided to walk over to the cotton field next to our house.

Impromptu photoshoot

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!"

GS Lock-in

Friday Caroline and I had our first girl scout lock-in.  Our troop hosted it at the Science Spectrum.  We were going to have a camping trip but then the other troop leaders and I  found out that all of us have to be certified to take girls into the wilderness.  This ended up being an awesome alternative.  We had 41 girls and a few moms there.  It was awesome! 

The girls were able to earn a STEM badge by doing a few easy experiments.  We were able to focus on small chemical reactions.  My favorite experiment was watching how stomach acid dissolves food. Caroline's favorite was watching the demonstration on liquid nitrogen break a ball in half.  

The girls also got to watch an I-Max movie.

and then they had an hour in the museum all by there selves.  

The girls didn't fall asleep until after midnight but they had the best time! I was so proud of Caroline she really made sure everyone felt included.  On Saturday we woke up and had all the girls home by 8:30 before the museum opened at 9:00.  

We got home and immediately got in the car and went to a birthday party.  

Ali had a blast with all the animals!

She is not hurt just wanted to wear band-aids that looked like eyebrows.  

Caroline was a little sluggish and looked tired but overall did well. 

Silly Ali holding one of the softest rabbits I have ever seen

He was so sweet

Ali in front of the photo booth

Caroline was so tired by the end that she didn't want cake but Ali did!

She took a nap on the way home from the party.

Then finished it off at home.  It is hard having so much fun!

 She also went right to sleep on Saturday night.