Leadership & Lots of Activities!

We started off November by recognizing Hanleigh during a leadership breakfast for those who practice habit number three, which is “begin with the end in mind”. This habit basically means that you do all of your work first so that you can enjoy other activities later on. The school counselor stood up in front of all of the other kids and families that were being recognized and read a special note from Hanleigh’s teacher out loud. She stood up in front of everyone and was very proud of herself, judging by the huge smile on her face. That weekend, we gathered all of our recipes to tailgate and cook food for the NC State/FSU football game. We made chili, cornbread, fruit, and had lots of leftover treats from Halloween. Trent and I continued to train for the half marathon by doing our long runs on the weekends. He returned to Raleigh later that week for “work” (he really did work, but it was under the guise of going to the State/Wake Forest game on Thursday night) and enjoyed some teambuilding activities with his co-workers.

Brayden enjoyed a spontaneous afternoon celebrating her best friend’s (Cora) birthday at an escape room. She had never done one before and absolutely loved it! I took the girls to a local holiday market where we were able to start our holiday shopping as well. Hanleigh had a playdate at our house with one of her great friends from school, Emerson, and we met up for dinner with Jackie and her family at Cowfish. That place is so delicious. The next night, we had dinner with the Dunlaps at their beautiful new home on the lake. Brayden had another cotillion class where they continued to learn how to have good manners. Hanleigh had her annual physical and is now 4’3″ tall (57%), 53 pounds (31%). I can’t believe how quickly these children are growing up! Brayden and her BEAM team attended the middle school production of Mary Poppins and I attended my monthly selfish club with my girlfriends, where the theme was ugly socks and yoga pants. There was just a small group of us there, but we laughed so hard and had a blast!

We decided to finally paint our downstairs office the same color as the dining room which led to accessorizing the bookcase and buying a new rug to tie the room all together. It looks really, really good! I think our next project is to work on remodeling our master bathroom, so we need to get started on some Pinterest boards and reaching out to some recommended contractors. We went to Landon’s house to celebrate his seventh birthday where Abby had rented a game truck for all the kids to play video games. They had a blast and so did the parents. That night, we dropped the girls off at the gym for them to play for a few hours while we went to a local bar to enjoy some beer and food. Trent took his dad and Hanleigh to the car show as well. Hanleigh fussed about going for a bit, but then I made it fun for her by turning it into a scavenger hunt where she had to find her favorite car, prettiest color, person wearing a bad outfit, etc. She ended up having a great time!

The end of the month brought the Thanksgiving-related festivities. Here comes the holiday season! This year, we had four parties, so will power was definitely going to come into play here. We went to one of Trent’s workout friend’s parties (Mr. Bean) for some cocktails and appetizers. The next day, Thanksgiving, 18 of us convened at Dad’s house to celebrate turkey day. Kyle, Erin, Trent and I had our own kids table while the little kids were relegated to their own table in the kitchen. That evening, we went to one of Brayden’s school friend’s houses (Maisie) to a party that had about 50 people at it. It was really fun, but we left around 10:30 p.m. because we were exhausted. The next day, we went to Abby’s house in the afternoon for a lunch celebration with her neighbors and their families. I think there was about 20 people at least at her house. It was a great time as well!

Trent and I wrapped up that weekend with a 12-mile run as our last long run before the half marathon. Trent and Brayden attended the cotillion parent/child dance where they learn the foxtrot and were able to put their manners to the test. The last weekend of the month was capped off with the ECU football game.

Brayden-ism:

• I want to do the eucalyptus at the gym on Monday (she meant to say “elliptical”).

Hanleigh-ism:

• One day, both girls ended up wearing the same shirt. Hanleigh was dressed first and Brayden asked her what shirt she was wearing to which Hanleigh showed her. Then, when I picked Hanleigh up from school I said they were twins. Hanleigh looked at Brayden and said “Haha, you copied me. You love me.”
• I asked her, “How was gymnastics?” to which she replied, “It was good, except when I was upside down, I threw up in my mouth and swallowed it, so that didn’t taste very good.”

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