Parade and Meeting Santa

Every year after Thanksgiving, we have a parade downtown. Pretty much anyone that wants to be in the parade can be. You just have to have lights on your float. It is to signify the start of the Christmas season. This is also when the Christmas tree is lit downtown. 

Finn and Seven rode on their Boy Scout troop's float with Jeremy.

 Piper and Rilian watched the parade with me.

 After the parade is over, Santa is in one of the banks downtown and we go see him. Mrs. Claus came with him again this year. Piper and Rilian sat on Santa's lap while we waited for Finn and Seven to get there. They had to ride their float all the way back to the starting point of the parade before they could come see Santa.

 Rilian was really excited to see Santa!

Finn and Seven were in their Boy Scout uniforms. They had to wear them in the parade. But they sure look good, huh?

Clark Gardens

Some friends of our took us to Clark Gardens. It is beautiful there! I also got some good pictures (or not so good pictures, you'll see what I mean later) of the kids. I saw this tree with its beautiful orange leaves and thought it would be a nice background for a picture. My kids weren't being the most cooperative about getting their picture taken as you can see below. It's still a pretty picture, though.

This bridge also make a good photo opportunity. Jeremy took several shots here in hopes of getting a good one. This one turned out pretty good.

Then he showed me this one. I cracked up laughing at Rilian's expression on his face! I don't know what he was thinking or doing! (If you click on the pictures, you can see them bigger and see them better.)

Another pretty spot for a picture...Let's go down the row and examine each child...I think Seven was throwing stuff in the water...Piper was making a strange face, just because she could...Rilian had another goofy expression on his face...and Finn, well if we crop everyone else out, it would be a great picture of Finn! I laugh every time I see this picture!

Clark Gardens was having a Christmas type event when we were there and there was a small area where the kids could play with snow. It wasn't real snow, but they didn't care and maybe living in Texas, they couldn't tell the difference. Except for the feel. It had a very soft feel to it. It was kind of weird. It was kind of cold, but not wet. Just soft. Your hands felt kind of weird after touching it. 

Please ignore the little girl talking in the background. She was "in charge".

It was slippery, too. 

Snow in the hair...

The snow wasn't really that cold, but apparently it tasted horrible!

After the kids were done playing in the snow, we found a "gingerbread house" that they could play in. Seven looked through the window first.

Then Rilian found the window...

Seven went upstairs and found a small window...

Piper joined in the picture taking fun...

One of Santa's reindeer was there. It really didn't want much to do with people when we were looking at it. But it had also just gotten out of the trailer and maybe needed time to warm up to its new pen. If the kids tried to pet it, it moved away as fast as it could.

I'm sure you've noticed Rilian making quite the facial expressions in this post. When Jeremy noticed his facial expression in the reindeer picture, it reminded him of Will Poulter from We're the Millers. 

Rilian was SO excited to see Santa! I don't think he could hear the song Santa was singing, so he was just moving his mouth like Santa was...

It looks like he figured out the song in this video...

Back by the "gingerbread house" there were Gingerbread cut outs. Rilian had to stand on a chair to see through the hole.

Family picture!

Now, if you haven't noticed all the funny and weird facial expressions on Rilian's face, go back and look at the pictures again! It will leave you in stitches! I guess that day was the day for him to make faces in all the pictures!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone...but here's what ours looked like...

My brother and his family came into town and we took them to see the farm. My kids (minus Rilian. He was sick.) and my brother's kids got together for the annual Thanksgiving picture.

 My brother and his beautiful family. Too bad Kaden looked the other way...

Mark is one crazy dude!

Of course, they had to have a ride in the bucket of the tractor!

He is a barrel of fun!

Piper and Mabrie got in the barrel, too.

 Seven decided he wanted a tractor ride too, so Finn rode by Jeremy.

 My brother and I...

Mark and his family headed home after lunch. We went to the grocery store and Finn curled up in the basket. He is pretty tall, so this amazed us that he could fit like that!

Poor Rilian, resting and watching a movie...he was better the next day.

Turkey Trot

I participated in my second 5K on Thanksgiving day. The first one was in December 2012, about a year before this Turkey Trot. 

My friend, Angela, asked me if I would run the Turkey Trot with her. I thought, "sure, why not?" I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I had slowly been training and then it got cold and I stopped. I know, excuses...excuses...

I will admit, I had to walk about .10 of a mile. Angela was a great sport and walked with me. I told her she didn't have to, but she was awesome and stuck by my side! Here we are nearing the finish line. I felt like I was about to pass out, so this isn't the most flattering picture of me...

My time and Angela's time....we were in different age brackets. I also need to add that Angela had a baby a few months before this. She did awesome!

You can click on this picture and you will be able to see it better. I will translate the stats... I finished 38th in my age group. (I was faster than half my age group.) My time was 34 minutes, 11.9 seconds. This averaged out to 11 minutes, 39 seconds per mile. Angela came in a few seconds before me at 34 minutes, 6.8 seconds. Averaging out to 11 minutes, 38 seconds per mile. 

I will try to beat this time at my next 5K. I don't have one planned right now, but I know I will run another one. Thanks Angela for asking me to run with you!

Sweet Boy

This obviously was not taken today since we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground...

My kids, just like most kids, love sidewalk chalk! Seven was out back one day and wrote this and had me come out and look at it.

You might not be able to see all of it because of the shadows, but it says, "I love you mommy and daddy". He is such a sweet boy!

Seven's Blue and Gold Ceremony

This is Seven's first year of Cub Scouts and he is really enjoying it! His troop had a ceremony when they earned their Bobcat badge.This means that he has learned the Cub Scout Promise, Law of the Pack, handshake, salute, sign, motto, and the meaning of Webelos.

He was so proud! He is now working on earning his Tiger Badge. (well, this was several months ago).

I had a video of it, but for some reason, I can't get it to play on my computer. It will only play on my phone, which is where I recorded it. So, you will just have to enjoy the pictures. :)