Thanksgiving Break

Finley joined Patrick in the woods on the last day of bow hunting. On the drive down he told me wouldn't shoot a deer. From the blind, he texted and asked if I wanted him to shoot a deer, I told him it was his choice 🙈. Finley did take a shot at this deer, but Patrick had him try w/ his crossbow and he wasn't strong enough and teamwork didn't work very well, he missed.

Flat Stanley came with!

I asked Finley if he liked hunting. He said yes, but one part was a little boring. So he played on his ipad and Patrick slept (eyeroll).

And then just before dark, Patrick shot a buck!

Finley was excited...

...I was not.

It was long overdue, but I finally brought lunch to the kids at school. They eat back/back lunch shifts, but when they want hot food w/ ice cream, it requires me to come two days.

Hadley loves to read! They started a new "sharing time" in class to work on voice, speaking/listening and each week they can read a book aloud to the class. She's loving it and takes practicing very seriously. Unfortunately, reading isn't coming along quite like it could be, in fact she's currently a little "below grade level". Not by a lot, but her recent test scores drop her into a group that will be more closely monitored. My hope is the "switch will flip" soon and she'll take off! We have instructions to practice and practice and practice, which is easy because she likes it so much. She doesn't feel like she's struggling (which is great!), so the interest is there!

During Fire Safety Week (mid-October), at the very last minute (the night before), Finley entered a poster design contest for the Fire Dept. It was open to any third-grader in our school district, he drew a map of our house and arrows showing how to evacuate. I thought it was cute, but didn't hold my breath that he'd win.

Well he did!! A group of Firefighters, surprised him at school! Fortunately we knew, so we could be on hand when they surprised Finley. The firefighters did a great job building the suspense before declaring the winner...

...here he is figuring out that it's him...

...it's uncertainty, hopefulness, and pure joy!

Showing off the award-winning poster!

 And the prize?! A brand new bike and helmet from Scheels!

A photo opp w/ the fire engine before going back to class 😃

The kids had the full week of Thanksgiving off, even though they both like school, a break was welcome and needed.

She is a snuggler. She is a random kisser. She loves to tell me that she loves me, I 💗 that about her.

Hadley is seriously sweet. She recently wrote notes to me, Finley, Patrick & Grandma...You are the best brudr in the ho wrod. From Had. The best brudr. We are playing hoge. (brother, whole world, hockey)

Oh I love this little girl...From Hadley I love you so much be kus your my best mom in the wrod. I love you so much. (because, world) 

And even though they drive each other crazy 95% of the time, apparently they feel differently asleep! Patrick was gone for 5 days hunting which means sleepovers w/ me. I almost fell over when I snuck out of bed to run and saw this.

It'd been awhile, but Cookies & Canvas finally worked w/ our schedule, we have new art for our playroom walls.

Hallway basketball happens every day.

W/ friends, we went to a production of Elf Jr! It was sooooooo good!

Two family friends were in the play, which made it even more fun. Will was the lead character Buddy the Elf, he did an incredible job and made the show (in my opinion)!

Will's dad works w/ the production company and after the show, he allowed us to meet the lead characters and get a backstage tour.

The moms & Buddy!

It was a fun afternoon to kick-off the holidays!

The kids chose Angel Tags off the tree at church and each shopped for a child to make their holidays a little brighter.

Given the opportunity, I will always choose to shop alone. But if I have to grocery shop w/ the kids, self-check outs and self-bagging is now the way to do it. I paid, and they did all of the work!

We went to the movies, it was our first time in the new recliner-theater, dang, how comfy. We saw the movie Wonder and it was seriously wonderful. It's the best movie I've seen in a long time. The message might've been a little lost on Hadley, but Finley got it.

We started decorating for Christmas, the kids each got a bigger small-tree to make room for all of their personal ornaments.

My Thanksgiving morning started off w/ the Turkey Trot w/ Melissa & Melissa. It's a fun way to start the day and it was exciting to see over 3,000 people in the community come out for it.

While I trotted, the kids went to visit Grandma Kathleen at the diner for breakfast.

Thanksgiving was spent at Grandpa & Grandma's w/ family and friends.

It was Simon's birthday too!

Fun cupcakes that looked like a Thanksgiving feast!

Hadley was very excited to lose her 5th tooth on Thanksgiving, she officially looks like a 1st grader w/ her full gummy smile. 

Our post-Thanksgiving weekend included time w/ friends, after a week of togetherness, we welcomed the distraction. Henri came to the Blugold game w/ us, it was the first time he'd been to a basketball game.

Hadley spent the day w/ Allie and it became a sleepover! She was soooooooo excited!

Not sure if she let the cat walk at all.

While Hadley slept over, Finley & Patrick went to see Thor.

We finished our weekend watching 2/3 of the boys play hockey. Easton was a super-scorer, he scored over 5 goals!

Nolan wins the cute award, he looked so little out there, it's already hard to remember when Spencer was that new to hockey.

Spencer was the lucky one to hang out w/ us in the bleachers...he might disagree on the "lucky" part 😉

I was totally ready for school to start up again today. W/ less than a month until Christmas and full weekends in December, I took full advantage of Cyber Monday and have been shopping all day from my couch. I'm also super thankful that hunting season is over, w/ an elk, a 10-pointer during bow hunting and another giant buck during gun hunt, I'm officially over hunting-grossness.