We headed to sunny Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. We had a busy but relaxing week full of family and sunshine!
We started out in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. While Daddy worked, the kids and I played at the water park at our hotel.
On Tuesday, we headed up too Sarasota. The kids and I walked around downtown, ate breakfast at the Toasted Mango and then headed back to our hotel for some pool time while Roger worked again. We played games by the pool, Door Dashed lunch in and just relaxed. It was fantastic.
On Wednesday, we headed to Cape Coral to Grandpa and Deona's house. We made a quick stop at Sun Harvest Citrus for some ice cream. Their speciality is their orange soft serve and its delicious!
Happy Florida Thanksgiving from my barefoot little sweeties!
The kids LOVED spending time with Emmett! He's grown up so much since we last saw him. The kids loved playing peekaboo with him and they loved it when he tried to say their names. They could always get a smile from Emmett!
On Thanksgiving Day we relaxed, swam and and ate. The beauty of Florida is that we were able to spend the whole day outside. We even ate Thanksgiving dinner on Grandpa and Deona's back patio.
Rowan has been working for a week or so on trying to figure out how to solve the Rubik's cube. He finally did it!
Roger and the boys enjoyed a relaxing time kayaking in the evening.
On Friday we got to do our favorite activity at Grandpa's house- boating! Grandpa recently got a new boat and it was fantastic!
Emmett was so good on the boat, he even took a nap!
Cruzy and Linda
We spotted dolphins!
I loved catching these two mid conversation!
Always Grandpa's girl.
Grandpa and Deona, thank you SO SO much for having us! We had the best time being with you!
November has been stressful! The election, rising Covid cases, busy evenings... but we are so grateful for all of the ways that God has blessed us this year. He is such a good God even in days that feel dark.... and get dark early. ;)
Voting 2020:
I voted with a few good friends and afterwards, we went out for tacos! Thanks to the masks, the sweet lady at the polling place asked me if this was my first time voting. I guess I'll wear my mask happily if it makes me look 18. ;)
Cruzy:
Cruz is pretty much a mini version of his daddy but we do have the same eye color.
Second Grade Chapel:
Cora's class led Chapel this month! Parents are not allowed in the school for many things this year but we are allowed to sit in the back of the gym when our child's class leads chapel!
Cruz: Benjamin Franklin
Cruz's class completed their "famous Tennessean" project this month where each kid studied a Tennessean who was important during the time of the American Revolution. Cruz's teacher assigned several additional non Tennessean's as well- Cruz got one of those. He was pretty proud of his Pringles Can Benjamin Franklin.
Grammy is 60!!!:
We headed to Chicago for a long weekend to celebrate Grammy turning SIXTY! We had a fabulous weekend full of yummy food and good fellowship. The 11 of us haven't been together since last Christmas and it was such a huge blessing to have this time. The weather was beautiful so we managed to get a few pictures of Grammy and the cousins.
Sanzitizer and wipes.... an ever present fixture in our 2020 photos. ;)
The kids made Grammy cards and we did several group gifts. My favorite was a jar of 60 encouraging notes (6 made by each of us) for Grammy to open through out the year!
We ended the Fall Tournament season this month. This means a little break in the intensity and frequency of practice. I think we're all excited for that.
Cruz perfected the art of bunting this season!
Cruz: 10.5
Sweet Cruz turned 10.5 this month. He's growing into such a dependable kid. I love watching him grow and mature. He's still hilarious and always cracking a joke. He loves being silly and making us laugh. He loves sports, he's a super faster runner and he always gives his all. He had a well check up this month where he learned that he's about 55 lbs and 53 inches tall. Cruz has become so responsible this year. He manages his own homework and projects and almost always remembers to bring home all the things he needs from his locker. He enjoys Math, and Science, is a whiz at Bible memory and still isn't a fan of Reading. Cruz and Rowan are still best friends and Cruz really enjoys nothing more than hanging out together. Cruz gives the best hugs, he loves when things are "fair" and he eats Mac & Cheese like its his job.
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Sport: Baseball
Favorite Pro Sports Team: Cubs
Favorite Food: Mac & Cheese
Favorite Restaurant: Morton's
Favorite Movie: Don't Have One
Favorite Book: Geronimo Stilton Island of Fantasy
Favorite Subject: Math or P.E.
Favorite Bible Verse: John 3:16
Favorite Bible Character: Jesus
Favorite Animal: Monkey
Favorite Friend in Fifth Grade: Gabe
Favorite Person to Play With: Gabe or Rowan
Favorite Fruit: Watermelon
Favorite Dessert: Oreos
Favorite Candy: Butterfinger
Favorite Place to Go: Trampoline Park
Bedtime: 9:00
Favorite Thing About Yourself: That I am funny
For King & Country Concert:
One of our favorite bands, For King and Country came to town in October for a socially distanced outdoor concert. You basically paid for a large parking stall. After you parked, you could put your chairs out in front of your car and watch the concert. It was such a fun experience although it was a little chilly. It was such a blessing to be listening to live music and worshipping together!
Cruz's buddy Tate was parked two stalls over from us!
Middle School Soccer:
Rowan decided to try a new sport this year. I am so proud of him. Middle School has two teams, an A team and a B team. Rowan is on the B team obviously seeing as he hasn't played soccer since he was in Kindergarten. There are several games where only the A team plays. The B team is welcome to go along and watch but they are not required. Rowan decided he wanted to go so that he could learn more from watching and show his coach (who is also his History teacher) that he's dedicated. He was BEYOND excited when they ended up putting him in towards the end of the A game.
His coach also told him how impressed he was with how much Rowan had learned and improved in just a few weeks. He called him the "surprise sleeper."
Soccer skills aside, I'm the most proud of the fact that our sweet #6 has volunteered several times to pray after their games. This is a 7th and 8th grade team so not only his classmates but also older kids.
Fall Festivities:
We went and picked out pumpkins after church!
Rowan did his pumpkin entirely on his own, Cruz did his mostly on his own and Cora got bored after about five minutes. ;)
Dance Costume Party:
Cora and Claire got to dress up for dance this past week. Our little Princess Leia and Rey won the dance costume contest, which they were very excited about!
Trick or Treat:
We went Trick or Treating with our Life Group this year which was a lot of fun. This was the first time we let the boys dress up as something "scary" (which isn't my favorite) but they were excited.
Claire, Carson & Cora were all Star Wars characters.
Rowan, Cruz and Cruz's friend Gabe all wore these same LED masks.
