November Wrap-Up

With the kids eager to "deck the halls" tomorrow when they get home from school, I need to put November behind me.  And I guess one way I am doing that is to play catch up in one big blog post. 

We've been busy.  But I feel like I can say that every single week now.  I have these lovely images in my head of a new quilt on my bed, home-sewn stockings hung, a little kitchen update that involves sawing boards and paint, and well lets just face it - I simply don't have the time for it all.  I hardly ever sit down with a good book any more as it is.  And that's saying something. 

This put a smile on my face. Even if its not me sitting down to read. :)

So back to our month of November.  We woke up to snow one morning in mid-November. The kids pulled in all the totes of snow gear, played outside for hours, then left my dining room draped in wet clothes for another few hours. I vowed to myself that I would get a handle on wet snow gear this winter.  And two days later, an early birthday gift arrived in the mail! It's a mitten tree and I don't know why I didn't think of one before.  Thanks Mom!  I'm one step closer to wrangling winter paraphernalia.

Then I blinked and two weeks flew by.  And it was almost time for the church fundraising craft sale as well as Thanksgiving.  So I spent a couple days sewing up some corn cozies.  

I don't think many sold, but we love ours. We heat them up before bed and put them at our feet; I always keep one in the freezer for tight neck muscles that bring on migraines, and they are the best sore back relief when heated.

With the kids home from school on the day before Thanksgiving, I decided  we all needed a break from my pie baking (I actually only had to make two pies so I guess we were just getting out). We headed out to the woods near our house for a picnic lunch.  

The simplest of things, like a picnic in the woods, 

are sometimes the best things.

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving and being with family that weekend.

And you already know how much I enjoyed my birthday.

Now I am ready for December and all the fun, crazy, and sugary things that means.

I decided not to send out Christmas cards this year (I'll send them out every other year) and I don't know if that is a contributing factor to my enthusiasm-without-the-stress I'm feeling this Christmas season, but I'm going to enjoy it (come to think of it, perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that my baby is 14 months and not 2 months old)!  So bring it, December, I'm ready to get my Holiday on!

A not so-very-safe but oh-so-funny
way to share a candy cane with
your baby sister.