thanksgiving week

We only had two days of school this week before a nice long Thanksgiving break.

Wednesday night we had Friendsgiving with our high school friends.  Just missing two of the guys.  

And the girls of the high school crew.  

We went to Jason's Grandma's for Thanksgiving lunch.

Bryce made the middle school wrestling team so the baseball hair had to go.  I think I really liked the long hair and it kind of made him look older.

We celebrated Paul's birthday on Friday as well as had Thanksgiving with my mom and decorated her Christmas tree.

Saturday was rivalry weekend and we were here for it.  Snacks included!

Our two favorite teams were playing at the same time so we brought in an extra tv for optimal viewing. 

Bryce was dressed for both teams.  The Hokies pulled off a win and Auburn played a great game but fell short in the FOURTH overtime.  Crazy!

We're just about decorated for Christmas around here and now it's back to school for three weeks before our next break.  We have lots of things planned to enjoy this wonderful season. 

a fun weekend

Our weekdays are so busy with work and sports that I don't typically have pictures during the week.  I am happy to report that Bryce had wrestling tryouts for the middle school team this week and he made it!  He's hoping to be a starter in a match or two.

Bryce went to a church youth event on Friday night so Emmy had us all to herself.  She picked Noodles for dinner and then we went to the mall for a little shopping and Starbucks.  We were pleasantly surprised that they were lighting the tree and Christmas decor that night.

We were up and at 'em early on Saturday for Emmy's gymnastics meet.  

She did a great job and improved her scores on all four events!  She placed 2nd on vault, 5th on beam and 4th all around. 

Love watching her improve and have fun doing it!

One must go to Carl's for frozen custard when in Fredericksburg!  They had not opened for the season the last time we were up there for a meet but we caught them just in time before they closed for the season today!

Last night we celebrated our friend Ann's 40th birthday.  They rented out a local restaurant and had yummy food and it was so good to see friends we hadn't seen in so long.

We took about 15 pictures and honestly this was the best one.  I swear I can't take Jason anywhere!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Bryce's team played in their last tournament of the season last weekend.  Now for a slower paced winter practice season.

We moved our living room tree up to our playroom this year since that's where we spend most of our time.  I caught Emmy reading by the light.

The kids went out with Nana on Tuesday so Jason took me out for a dessert date.  Frozen cocktails!

 

I put up my fancy tree in the dining room this week and when I plugged it in more than half the lights were out.  I was going to replace the tree but I just don't like new trees and lights so I wrapped five new strands of lights on it and now it's BEAUtiful.

The kids got a free day off of school on Friday so we took them for a morning of jumping.

I got my favorite tree all decorated on Saturday morning.

Every year when I decorate I feel like everything looks cluttered and mismatched.  I decided to get rid of our stockings because I didn't like all the red.  I know red is a Christmas color, but I needed a change.  These did the trick for now!

I got the kids all cleaned up and they cooperated for a Christmas card picture yesterday.  

CANNOT believe they will be 10 and 13 in February.

Last night was the first night this week we've all had dinner together.  The kids had fun making Christmas shaped pizzas.  

I'm hoping to have all of my inside decorating done tomorrow so I can focus on shopping and then enjoying the season.  I feel like I'm always rushing through the season so I'm trying to get on top of it all so I can just sit and enjoy the lights and togetherness!

halloween and washington dc

Thursday was our sports free night so we carved pumpkins.

Have you really carved a pumpkin if you don't use power tools?

He did his all on his own.

A pumpkin with braces just like him.

Baby Yoda is her favorite.  Her design was pretty intricate so she did just the face and not the body.

Dinner fit the theme of the evening.

A Halloween classic playing in the background.

The level 5 gymnasts challenged Emmy's level 4 team to a costume contest on Saturday at practice.  Emmy had planned to be a gymnast this year but that wouldn't have been fun for the contest so she pieced together this throwback from kindergarten.  And she won!

Bryce was cheering for the Hokies on Saturday.  And they won!

We went to a friend's house for a trunk or treat and Halloween party on Saturday night.  The kids got plenty of candy and played fun games.  I was glad they got to do a little trick or treating since we were missing Halloween this year.

Dressed up for church.

We headed to DC after church on Sunday to take Emmy to see Simone Biles.

5 of the 6 Olympic women's team members were there.  Suni Lee is doing Dancing with the Stars.

We had front row seats!

Emmy ran into two of her teammates there.  Simone Biles' grandmother is behind them (women to the left of the lady in red).

The Olympians were the highlight of the show but there were lots of other gymnasts and dancers.

Emmy had so much fun and thanked us multiple time for taking her.

Bryce missed his 5th grade field trip to DC because of covid so we did a few things for him while we were there.

Lincoln Memorial 

Washington Monument

Arlington National Cemetery - Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

JFK's Eternal Flame

The cemetery is huge but as we were leaving Jason stumbled on my mom's aunt and uncle's grave.  

We also visited the Air and Space Museum.  We had hoped to go the Natural History Museum but they changed their open dates since we planned our trip.