Long time, no blog.  We have been on the go non-stop the past few weeks!  Mostly fun stuff, thank goodness, minus some school projects and car trouble.  This week we have a “normal” week for the first time in ages.  No random days off from school. no holidays, no major events.  Whew.  I am ready.  I’ve got dinner in the crockpot, laundry in the dryer, and a workout done.

Here are a few snaps from our Halloween.  Just like years past, a big group of friends met up at our house beforehand and we trick or treated as a huge caravan of mom, kids and golf carts.  The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time.  It’s a little crazier now that the kids are older because they tend to split up and run off in different directions, but we made it home with the same number of kids we started with, so I’m calling it a win.  Emery was Pennywise and Bodie was the “Scream” villain.  Scary!

Since we had a long weekend following Halloween, the kids and I headed down to Atlanta for a much overdue visit with friends and family.  I was able to meet up with my sister and a dear friend that I’ve known since we were ten and all of our kiddos.  Watching them all play together made me so happy.  Be still my heart.  Also, how ’bout those Irish!?!?!?  10-0!!!!!!

We also got to attend my nephew’s baseball tournament.  We went to watch just the first game, but they kept winning and we were having so much fun that we ended up staying for the entire tournament, which the Redbirds won!  What a great group of boys.

My mom came into town for a day last week to help me fluff my dining room.  We recently ripped up the carpet in our upstairs hallway and my monogramming room (also known as EmeryBodie LLC headquarters) and installed hardwood floors instead.  My decorator friend, Deidre, picked out some awesome rugs to put down on the wood floors, which led to the realization that I never bothered to get a rug for my dining room….something I’ve been meaning to do for the last six years.  Oops.  My mom found a beautiful and inexpensive rug on Wayfair, but in order for it to work in the dining room I would need to recover my dining chairs.  Mom to the rescue!  I told her what I was hoping to find and she made it happen.  I chose a fun snow leopard fabric and my mom and I spent HOURS ripping off the old fabric and stapling down the new.  Then we rolled out the rug and laid out my table runner and now I’m all set for company next week.  I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but the colors and prints in this room make me so happy.  It’s even better when that long table is full of people I love.

Christmas prep is still chugging along in my world.  Emery and Bodie joined some friends at the country club Saturday morning to fill their shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  We all did our shopping earlier in the week and then gathered together Saturday with coffee, hot chocolate and pastries to assemble and fill the boxes.  It was a lot of fun to see how creative we could get with our boxes.  I’m amazed by how much one can fit in a shoebox!  The kids really enjoyed this event and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to open their eyes to the situations of children around the world.  We also saw the new Grinch movie Saturday afternoon, which is adorable.  And you gotta love the message in that story.

This might be the most random blog post ever.  Emery meets with a tutor a few times per month at Starbucks.  This is such a win-win situation because Emery feels SO grown up studying at Starbucks and she also gets help from an amazing teacher who understands all of this common core math.  Bodie has two first grade projects due next week so we tagged along to Starbucks with Emery and Miss Nickles and set up camp at the opposite end of the long table in the middle of the shop.  This was the best idea ever.  Bodie sat there for over an hour and completed BOTH of his projects while eating a cheddar, bacon and egg sandwich.  I enjoyed a peppermint mocha while guiding him along.  It was such an enjoyable afternoon!  Our weather has been gray and chilly quite a bit lately, so a warm coffee shop was heavenly.

Lastly, our elves made a rare off season visit the other day so I could drop them off to work on a special Christmas project.  More to come on that!  They enjoyed sticking their heads out of my bag for the car ride.  They’re not used to riding in cars!

Have a great week!