November

We started off the month celebrating Jeff's birthday.
We played pub trivia (and won!), visited The Back Dough for midnight doughnuts,
and showered Jeff with fun gifts, like a ukulele. 

The boys had the opportunity to participate in a handmade market at Arrow.
They each worked hard to come up with just the right product and were thrilled
that they sold everything they brought and made some serious cash.
Max made molded chocolates. Clay produced many artistic masterpieces.
And Weston had homemade hot chocolate, marshmallows, and whipped cream. 

After the market closed, Clay's Arrow dance class put on a lovely performance.

Clay read about homemade drums in a science book and decided to make his own set.

We celebrated Clay's half-birthday with a few small gifts, doughnuts, and The Grinch

Ruth marched in the Veteran's Day parade in Roanoke,
and Clay and I got to watch the parade while trying to stay warm.

Clay decided to make giant pumpkin doughnuts.

Clay got a few plants for his half-birthday
and has been a very attentive gardener.

We had an eggnog taste test.
(I snapped the pic after the almond nog, which was everyone's least favorite.)

We introduced the kids to Bob Ross, and they are now huge fans!

Playing The Worst-Case Scenario Game was probably
one of the most hilarious game nights of all time! 

Weston has gotten really into debate and had the opportunity
to observe a debate competition, where he dutifully
"flowed" (took notes) so he could improve his skills. 

I happened to be up at Arrow one day
and in the vicinity of Clay's robotics class,
so I caught him in action.

Jeff and I had a super fun, spur-of-the-moment date night in Denton.
We saw Little Shop of Horrors at the community theater, visited East Side Denton
and Paschall Bar, and picked up unique doughnuts at The Back Dough.

Weston had a grand adventure camping and hiking for a week in Palo Duro Canyon.

Along with my parents, we made a little trip to Rusk for the Thanksgiving holiday.
This was our first day at the KOA. We had the cutest little cabin and my parents
brought their RV. The little boys rocked at finding the golden pinecones the
campground staff had hidden, and they were rewarded with ice pops.
Papa taught Weston how to make specialty sandwiches on the griddle.
And Weston delivered his fire building/safety talk and helped us get the fire started.

Thanksgiving Day was gorgeous! We took a walk in the woods, rented quad bikes
from the campground, tossed the football around, had plenty of snuggles,
roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, and wore ourselves out. 

I made gratitude journals for each member of my immediate family,
which had entries for every day from last Thanksgiving to this one,
and I presented them to the family on Thanksgiving Day.
They all said it was one of the best gifts they have ever received,
and making them was truly beneficial and joyful for me as well.

Thanksgiving, KOA style

The day after Thanksgiving was spent playing games,
racing bikes, and chatting around the fire. 

We had a great time in the town of Rusk, visiting the longest footbridge in the nation
(according to the city of Rusk) and seeing some murals and historic homes.

Mom and I slipped off for a lovely hike through the Piney Woods.

On our last night at the campground, we cooked gigantic steaks,
had a mini birthday party for Weston, and stayed up literally all night 
watching the Fightin' Texas Aggies execute an epic win against LSU.

Weston became a teenager, and we had fun celebrating with gifts and Wolf'ems.

I had my first ever experience with Jury Duty
and am now much more knowledgeable about the Voir Dire process.

Ruth achieved the CAP rank of Technical Sergeant.

We kept our annual tradition of having an "Average Birthday Party"
(for those with birthdays and half-birthdays in November) at a Brazilian steakhouse.

We celebrated Ruth's half-birthday.

We made models of water and alcohol molecules
for the boys' Arrow science class.

Non-traditional Thanksgiving

We had to be out of our AirBnb by 11:00 this morning, and even though our flight wasn't departing until 4:30, we decided to go ahead to the airport because we didn't really want to trek all over D.C. with all our bags. At first, I was a little bummed that our Thanksgiving Day was going to be spent mostly in an airport since it's one of my favorite holidays, but we definitely made the most of it and ending up having a great time and making some wonderful memories. We had a long, drawn out lunch in the D.C. airport and had plenty of time for reading and football watching afterwards. Jeff and I surprised the kids with an upgrade to first class to make the day a little more special, and they were so excited when we boarded the plane and they saw where our seats were. And they really loved all the perks that came with them! The icing on the cake was that our plane arrived about an hour ahead of schedule, which never happens! We definitely have so much to be thankful for on this day and every day!

We spotted a turkey in the terminal

Thanksgiving lunch at the airport

My seat partner was pretty pleased with our upgrade to first class

Irish Thanksgiving

Yesterday was a big day. It was Weston's birthday AND Thanksgiving, so we partied all day and consumed almost more calories than the human body can handle. The challenge of trying to prepare a typically American meal in a foreign country is thrilling. It's even more thrilling when your kitchen is equipped only with basic food prep items and lacks things like electric mixers, measuring spoons/cups, and an abundance of baking dishes and mixing bowls. We had so much fun hunting for ingredients and coming up with creative solutions to some of our meal preparation conundrums. The last time we prepared Thanksgiving dinner in a foreign country was in 2008, in Brazil. This time, it was considerably easier, though still interesting. We managed to put together a decent feast that tasted mostly the way Thanksgiving dinner should taste. We had turkey, ham, green bean casserole, dressing, sweet potato casserole, pink salad, fruit salad, and pumpkin pie. And, we were so very thankful that we have a dishwasher in this house, to make cleaning up much simpler. We did miss getting to spend the day with our extended family and getting to nap to the sound of football on the T.V. after the meal (though we were able to get a game later in the day, which made the day complete, particularly for our football lover birthday boy). But, otherwise, it was Thanksgiving as usual. We are blessed beyond belief and have so much to be thankful for, on this day and every day.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie!
(Pumpkin was one of the most difficult ingredients to find.)

Thanksgiving Feast
(And, the all-important dishwasher!)

Thankful and Blessed

Thanksgiving Sunset

Thanksgiving Finale

We have certainly had a full week of fun festivities, and we have so very much to be thankful for, but according to my jeans, it is time to eat a few hundred fewer calories per day for a while. Our Thanksgiving finale took place at the ranch, and here are some of the highlights:

• Clay got to go out to the ranch a couple of days early to help Grandpa build a shed, which explains his absence in our Thanksgiving Day pictures. 
• Weston dropped a six-point buck, with one shot, a feat he is pretty proud of. (I was not there when it happened, so there is no photographic evidence.)
• We enjoyed another delicious Thanksging meal.
• We continued Weston's birthday celebration.
• We celebrated Ruth's half-birthday.
• Several family members reported success with various essential oils: Lavender for eczema, Breathe drops for stuffy nose, Serenity for insomnia, and Frankincense for vertigo. It just makes my day to have something I can offer to help with these kinds of issues when they come up and to hear these happy testimonies! 
• Ruth had another successful driving lesson.
• Max got to go quail hunting for the first time and got very close to hitting one.
• I read a fantastic book called The Traveler's Gift, which I think you should all read just as soon as you get a chance.
• Many hours of football were watched.
• There were appearances by pirates and robbers.
• We took a late night drive around the ranch, with a couple of mostly-working spotlights, with the purpose of counting and categorizing all the deer. The deer were not all that interested in our little project, so most of them stayed in their beds or out of sight. But, we still had a good time and quite a few laughs as we rode around the ranch.

The Bird seems relaxed in his cast iron hot tub,
probably not realizing he is about to be devoured.

So thankful for these amazing people!
(Also thankful for Clay, but he just couldn't stay awake long enough to join us for the meal.)

Just half of the birthday message for the half-birthday girl

Robber Max

The "Buff" Pirate is no one to be trifled with

Mighty quail hunter

Thanksgiving Day

Creepy gingerbread people at Whole Foods

Non-traditional but delicious Thanksgiving lunch at 24 Diner
(The overwhelming burnt orange is a testimony to how much we all love Weston!)

One happy birthday boy!

First Thanksgiving

Though there were no Pilgrims or Indians in attendance, we did celebrate our first Thanksgiving this weekend with my parents and my sister's family. There was plenty of food and good family fun. It was such a great weekend! We have so much to be thankful for!

The boys got to try out the super cool bunk cots

Playing the game of Life with cousins

The great turkey hunters

The lovely view from my parents' lake house

We threw in a little birthday party, too!