November 2014 Recap

You didn't think I'd be back, did you?  Well as Luke has taken to saying lately when he's victorious, "Ha-HA!"  Here I am again, snuggled in the sunroom at 6am in the morning.  It's my favorite spot in the house, especially this time of year.  The slim Christmas tree in the corner is lit, as are the icicle lights on the back deck.  Sarah McLaughlin's Wintersong is playing on my computer, warm hot chocolate is steaming on the coffee table, and, Lord willin', I have a full hour to get most of this done before someone wakes up.  Here we go:

We started November out in a wonderful way by joining some of our oldest and dearest friends for a Georgia Tech game with some tailgating beforehand.  We have started trying to do this once per year and last year's game was so hot that we aimed for a later game this go-round.  We never imagined it would be as freezing cold as it was!  The girls huddled in the back of our 4Runner with the gate up while we ate delicious Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets (a must when one of the group owns one and one works for corporate), sub sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip, and famous Mama O'Kelley cookies made by one of our friend's moms - a favorite treat since about 1999.  We each had layers upon layers of clothes on and still nearly froze walking over to the stadium.  It was about 32 degrees, which isn't terrible, but the wind was biting.  We managed to stay until the beginning of the fourth quarter so we could do the Budweiser song (a tradition) and then power-walked back to the car.

The first full week, David had to head to California and Colorado for work.  Audrey had Election Day off, which was wonderful.  It's been three months since she started kindergarten and I still miss her terribly.  We didn't do anything super special, just shopped for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, enjoyed lunch out, and visited the park for a long time, but I loved having her with us.  On Wednesday, I had a room mom meeting with my co-leader and we began to map out the "Winter Holiday" party.  Afterwards, I volunteered in the classroom for a couple of hours and stayed to eat lunch with Audrey.  David came home the next day and then, that Saturday, we all headed to Villa Rica for my nephew's third birthday party.  My sister-in-law Jenny had done an incredible job with the bug-themed cake and cute decorations and we let the cousins have a picnic in the family room floor and then listened to them put on a musical performance after James had opened his presents and got a new little microphone.  

The second week of the month, David and I met for a dinner date before attending a meeting at church. Our new campus pastor had approached us about Christmas shopping for a local family on the church's behalf and the meeting had all of the details.  Unfortunately, it lacked the actual family info and shopping list, but more on that later.  The end of the week, we celebrated Audrey's teacher's birthday by baking a pound cake and taking her flowers, her favorite drink, breakfast, and a gift card from the class.  She seemed so appreciative of all of the goodies and as I dropped everything off, I reminded the kids to try extra hard to behave that day.  I imagine it worked for at least twenty minutes.  God bless teachers.  That weekend, we walked the Lanier Under the Lights 5K at Lake Lanier Islands with the kids and David's parents.  Although cold, it was a really neat way to begin the holiday season.  I packed the kids some hot chocolate and we enjoyed seeing all of the cool displays on foot.  

Week three began with church and taking our shoeboxes in for Samaritan's Purse.  The kids had done a fantastic job of shopping for them.  They'd chosen things with careful thought, gently packed them, and prayed over them.  We watched a video online about the kids that receive them and I cried as I once again realized how blessed we are.  I was really thankful that Audrey and Luke seemed to truly "get it" and was so proud watching them tote the boxes into church.  

That Monday evening, I was asked to attend an HOA meeting to present my neighborhood 5K proposal.  Thankfully, it was a small crowd and, Kelly, my sweet small group co-leader surprised me by showing up to offer her moral support.  Everything went well and the general consensus seems to be that it's a go, but they want to gauge neighbors' interest a little more.  They were planning on sending out a resident survey at the beginning of December and will add a question or two about whether a neighborhood 5K would be something people would participate in.  Once they gather those results and see what the response is, they'll make their final decision about granting approval.  

Towards the end of the week, Audrey had a Thanksgiving "play" at school.  Three of the little kindergarten classes participated and the kids were either turkeys, corn, pilgrim women, pilgrim men, Indian women, or Indian men.  She was a pilgrim woman along with about a dozen other little girls and they would say "Mercy Me!" at certain parts of the narrated story.  It was so precious!  They did about eight songs and she sang every word, but didn't look like she was having a blast.  She looked adorable, though, and I couldn't help but sit there and take in the reality that this was going to be one of the last cutsie little programs she would do.  I imagine by first or second grade, this kind of stuff goes away.  

That Friday morning, I took Audrey to school and ran around with Luke gathering donuts and favorite drinks to take in for Audrey's student teacher's last day.  We went up to the school to drop off the food for the class and a gift I'd gotten her from everyone (seriously, not only is being a room mom a part-time job, but it is expensive!)  Between party planning, volunteering, the teacher's birthday, the play, and the student teacher's last day, I am starting to see where the majority of November's money and time was spent.  

That Friday night, the kids went to David's parents' to spend the night while David and I dragged out the Christmas decorations and began to assemble the big tree.  (I know, I know...it was before Thanksgiving!  When you have 25+ boxes of decorations and three trees, you have to start early!)  The kids came back that Saturday to a half-decorated winter wonderland and the six of us all ate a spaghetti dinner together to help me carb up for my race the next day.  

Sunday morning dawned bright and early and...rainy.  I'd made up my mind I was going to run my half marathon as long as it was being held.  As I drove the hour across town to the park where it was going to be, I tried to mentally prepare myself for the challenge.  I sat in the car for as long as I could and then grabbed an umbrella to head to the pavilion where everyone was gathered (no sense in getting drenched before I even started!)  In addition to dry clothes for afterward, I had packed an extra shirt, jacket, socks, and shoes in case I wanted to change mid-race.  They started the clock and we headed for the five loops and an out-and-back course, whose boredom would prove to be a hurdle in and of itself.  The first couple of miles as I watched the water droplets fall off of the corner of my ball cap, I thought "This is amazing!  This is so hardcore!  You are doing this!"  By mile four I was thinking, "This is insane.  This is miserable.  WHY are you doing this!?"  But I knew why - because once you do hard things like run half marathons in single digit wind chills (last November) and pouring rain, something in you changes and you realize "hey, I can do really, really hard things."  That sense of accomplishment can never be taken away.  It gives me strength to draw from when other tough stuff comes.  

Finally, after running for what seemed like days, I crossed the finish line.  Because of the awful weather, David and the kids had stayed home, so it was an anti-climatic and lonely finish, but it was finally over.  Drenched doesn't begin to describe it.  My pants had stretched out from the water so I had run on the bottom of them for most of the race.  My shoes were so water-logged and heavy that my quads ached for days afterward.  My time wasn't the greatest, but it was by far my most mentally challenging race to date.  I'd made it and I had the medal with the wrong date to prove it.  (Seriously.)  Still, there's nothing like that satisfaction and I praised God for giving me the strength and endurance...and hot water for one of the most painful showers of my life (chaffing).

The rest of the week was a breeze compared to Sunday, especially since I had purposely lined up some relaxation and fun so I could think about it during the run.  Audrey was out all week and Monday was spent mainly chilling and relaxing together, with a long afternoon at the park.  On Tuesday, our favorite non-family sitter came over while I went to get my hair done and then...drumroll, please...got a massage.  I'd purchased a Groupon at the beginning of the year and thought I'd have no problem using it.  Turns out I barely made it before it expired.  

That Wednesday afternoon, David got off work early and we drove up to his parents' house to celebrate with his Dad's side of the family.  We ate a ton of delicious food and then Luke tossed a little ball around with people and Audrey played waitress as we sat around and caught up.  We headed home and put the kids to bed and then woke up the next morning and drove to David's aunt's house to celebrate with his mom's side of the family.  It was supposed to be my side's year, but we rearranged things since both sets of my parents had plans.   The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was on and everyone chatted while the finishing touches were laid out.  We stuffed ourselves some more and then topped it off with a huge buffet of desserts.  When everyone's stomachs were sufficiently miserable, David's Aunt Pat gave the kids some toy snowballs and we had a huge fake snowball fight in their mostly empty bonus room.  Everyone had an absolute blast, especially listening to Luke yell "HA!" and watching him hike his leg up to pitch a ball at someone.  It took me 45 minutes to get him calmed down enough to take a short nap, but it was totally worth it.  When he got up, we packed up and headed back to our house to do our traditional tree decorating and lighting. 

The next day was sheer perfection, y'all.  I stayed up pretty late doing some Black Friday shopping online, so I slept in until nearly 7am, which is a rare treat in our house.  We got up and ate breakfast and then decorated our other two trees, the kids' table top trees, and the outside.  We had no agenda and zero place to be.  I kept thinking there was something I was forgetting to do and somewhere we needed to get ready to go to, and then I'd be pleasantly surprised as I remembered neither was true.  We ate and rested and decorated and chilled and ate some more.  It was fantastic.

The next day, we opted to get out and do a little shopping before the crowds got bad.  We hunted around 4-5 different places for a snowman to put in the front yard and finally found one at Walmart, along with the perfect lights for AJ's tree per her request (colored, non-LED with white wire - nearly impossible!  I have no idea where the girl gets her OCD for finding just the right thing she has visualized!)  We ate lunch at Buffalo's and then came home for Audrey and I to change clothes and go see The Nutcracker at the Gwinnett Center.  It was a wonderful girls' afternoon out.  Though the show was a little long for both our tastes (I like my culture in short doses), she truly loved it.  I watched her way more than the actual show.  At one point when the snow began to fall onstage, her mouth literally dropped open.  It was magical to see it through her eyes.  We headed home, got in pajamas, and ate pizza while watching Frosty.  To say it was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend doesn't do it justice.  

The last day of the month we had church and then our small group social that afternoon.  We ended the semester on such a great note, celebrating with friends who had become closer and strangers who had become friends over the course of fourteen weeks.  We'll be co-leading again next semester and are looking forward to continuing to learn and serve with those returning.  

So we started and ended the month on fantastic notes with a whole lot of good stuff in the middle.  It would've been a lot shorter post if I'd just written that, huh?!  Sorry it is so long, but apparently I had a lot to say about all of the cool happenings!

I'm working on gathering, organizing, and editing pictures and will update when they're posted.