November Thoughts

Thanks to daylight savings time (which must have been invented by a single man who doesn't care about other people), the first week of November was a little doozy. The kids woke up at 5am, ate lunch at 10:30am and by 5pm they were tired and cranky. Luckily, it only took them a few days to adjust to the 1-hour time difference and then we were back on track. 

I made this picture frame at a friends house one afternoon. Perfect decoration for fall.

November is a month of saying thanks and so we started telling each other at the dinner table for whom or what we are thankful for that day. It is also the month to drop-off our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We chose to pack 3 boxes this year with toys, hygiene articles and school supplies for needy children in the world.  We also included a note, prayer and a picture. It is a simple box filled with a simple message: God loves all the children of the world. Our church will track these boxes so we will know what country they were delivered too. After explaining to the kids the message behind the boxes and showing them pictures online of past recipients, the kids were eager to help me pack the shoe boxes. 

I always love a good opportunity to teach our children how good we live and how we can help others. It is important to instill in them early the need to help and what better way is there to do it right before Christmas season. Next up is the Angel Tree Project, where we will choose a child's name from a tree at our church and then purchase a Christmas gift for this needy child in our community. 

Wednesday was Veteran's Day and Amelia learned in school about the 5 branches of the military and what a soldier/ veteran is. We are thankful to all of our veterans, but especially Daddy and Grandpa, for serving our country. 

My husband when he was stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1990

The first week of November, we had a lot of rain (finally) and some cooler temperatures. When we didn't play outside in the leaves, the kids enjoyed painting or playing with play-dough while I curled up on my chair to read. 

Indy, our cat loves to curl up next to us and Amelia enjoys reading to her:

Last Saturday, the girls went to the mall for a brief shopping trip (I needed some cold-weather clothes) and after a quick lunch, we went to see the Jungle Book at the Davidson Community Theater. Amelia and I enjoyed this performance as it was done by children for children and involved lots of audience participation. In the beginning, my little girl was a bit afraid of the character but then she warmed up to them. 

The next day, Amelia performed with the Cherub Choir at both of the services at our church. For the past 8 weeks, the kids (ages 4-7 yrs) practiced every Wednesday evening for 30 minutes their song. Unfortunately, Amelia as well as a couple of other kids got stage fright during their first performance but relaxed and did well for the second service 2 hours later. Here is my little girl singing her heart out for Jesus: 

Luckily, this week we enjoyed once more some beautiful fall weather with cold nights and sunny days. The kids just love playing outside in the leaves (and they even rake them in order to jump in to them), hanging out in the backyard or swinging away at the playground.

So far, November has treated us well and I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, the annual Christmas parade and the begin of the holiday season.