November in a Nutshell

............. and a few more random photos from October.

SO, hello and good bye November!  Did that month even happen?  I was looking at the blog and realized my 2 real posts in November actually took place in October.  This last month had turned out to be a rather stressful month.  And honestly December is NOT looking much better so my posting this month will probably be less than stellar as well. 

First, a few favorites from October that hadn't made it up yet :)

OK, so on to November.  It started out like any other month really.  Until we found out that the homeowners we've been renting from for the last 2yrs are getting a divorce.  Our lease was up in October and instead of signing a new one, they just want to go month-to-month.  Garrett and I both agreed that with 2 little ones and him expected to be gone a lot next year, that was just NOT going to work for us.  Our original plan was to buy at our next duty station, but with the interest rates being crazy low right now, we just couldn't pass it up!  And the search begun.  But we didn't have to look far!  Just across the street from us a house has been up for sale for a while now and it's just about perfect for our family (I'll blog more about the actual house when we close in 2 weeks).  So that was definitely an unexpected challenge for the month.  And December is going to be full of cleaning, painting, cleaning, packing, moving, and some more cleaning.  OH!  And also a major holiday that I haven't even started shopping for yet.  I WANT TO CRY A LITTLE JUST THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT 30 DAYS.  

One high point of the month was a little trip I made, just me, myself, and I, to see my great friend Kassy.  You know who she is, I've blogged about her here.   Her husband is currently deployed, and with the 4-day Veteran's weekend during the month I thought what a perfect girls weekend!  I waffled with the idea for a couple weeks because 1. I hadn't been gone from Gavin that long yet and 2. Garrett had never pulled solo dad duty for an entire weekend before.  Of course I went though, I knew it really would be good for ALL of us in the end.

Oh and what a great weekend it was for me.  We went shopping, saw a chick flick, meals at actual restaurants!  Stayed up late and slept in........ until about 8am.  I don't think my body can sleep past 8 anymore.  It was wonderful to just sit on the couch and relax.  On my drive home I wanted to take a fun route.  Kassy suggested I drive down to the coast and over (and through) the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  Fantastic idea!  Most of my drive looked like this.  Have I mentioned how much I adore Fall......

I didn't really know what to expect when I got to the bridge.  But MAN, what a unique experience!  The bridge goes on for miles........and then quite suddenly it seems to just disappear into the water when in fact the road does dive into a tunnel under the water!

Garrett and the kiddos had a great time.  Everyone survived the weekend and I think it's something that will/must happen again one of these days ;)!

That week after I got home both kids became pretty sick.  First Kayla with bronchitis :(

And then Gavin with an ear infection and a nasty nasty head cold :(

And of course Garrett was in the field that week!  So the kids and I spent a lot of time in the house, avoiding the cold and crowds.........   
(fyi they don't look super sick in these videos because they were taken towards the end of their quarantine)

let me outtttttt!!!!

 

By the end of the week we were ALL ready to pull each other's hair out! 

One good thing about these two getting sick when they did......by Thanksgiving all were well again!  Kayla dressed up like an Indian for her Thanksgiving Feast at preschool.

The big Turkey day morning, Garrett and Kayla got busy in the kitchen making yummy waffles for breakfast.  And since it was a holiday and all we got a special squirt of whiped cream on top. 

Look how much fun he's having carving up our cute little bird!

Gavin had a ball with his mound of mashed potatos!

 

 

 

And that was our November!