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Month: November 2019

30 Nov

November 30, 2019

Christmas tree time!

30 Nov

Tree Time

We planned our Thanksgiving trip very carefully so that we would have time to get a Christmas tree before the kids went back to school on Monday. Wade and I still miss cutting down our own tree but we have never been able to find a tree farm up here that is anything like the tree farms we are used to in our previous homes. In the end, we found ourselves back at The Farmer’s Daughter and found a tree that made us all happy. We also saw a sign for a type of tree we had never heard of before – Korean Fir. The only trees left were under 4 feet but we decided we would definitely get one next year!

29 Nov

November 29, 2019

Headed home.

29 Nov

November 29, 2019

Headed home.

29 Nov

November 29, 2019

Headed home.

29 Nov

November 29, 2019

Headed home.

29 Nov

Travel Day – Day 7

After breakfast we said we our last goodbyes and drove to Nashville for our flight. Thankfully nothing eventful happened and we were home pretty quickly.

28 Nov

Thanksgiving – Day 6

We started the day with the Macy’s parade and ended with a second round of dessert! It was a wonderful day spent with family and the yummy food just made it better.

And just to make this trip even more unbelievable, we had one more crazy incident happen. After Thanksgiving lunch, naps, and family time, a few people were hungry. Judy and I were in the kitchen and going to warm up some leftovers in the oven. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw fire in the oven. I got the words “fire, fire” out. Jerry started looking for the breaker. Judy started looking for a fire extinguisher. The fire went out. It was determined to be a short. How lucky that it happened tonight and not five hours earlier!

28 Nov

November 28, 2019

His favorite part – dessert.

28 Nov

November 28, 2019

His favorite part – dessert.

28 Nov

November 28, 2019

Thanksgiving Day tradition.

27 Nov

Granny and Pop’s – Day 5

We spent the entire day doing everyone’s favorite activities. Teague drove the lawn mower. Kaitlyn played games with Granny. Ben got all the attention. Alex got video game time. We also took the big boys out to the farm for some target practice. It was a great day with family.

27 Nov

November 27, 2019


An afternoon on the farm.

27 Nov

November 27, 2019

Granny gets all the attention.

26 Nov

November 26, 2019

Love these milkshakes!

26 Nov

November 26, 2019

Goodbye Hugs

26 Nov

November 26, 2019

We stopped for the coolest milkshakes ever – The Grind.

26 Nov

Gram’s to Granny’s – Day 4

Today we spent our last morning with Gram. Kaitlyn helped with breakfast but the favorite activity was decorating Gram’s Christmas tree! Then it was time to say good-bye.

We strategically planned our drive so that we could stop for lunch at The Grind. The kids were so excited to return for milkshakes after having them this past summer and couldn’t wait to show them to Wade.

Then we made it to Granny and Pop’s. We spent the rest of the day celebrating Ben’s birthday and playing with toys – everybody’s favorite!

25 Nov

November 25, 2019

Happy Birthday Ben.

25 Nov

November 25, 2019

Happy 2nd Birthday Ben.

25 Nov

November 25, 2019

Thankfully this little guy can’t read a calendar yet! Since we were all sick yesterday we pushed off the celebrating to today.

25 Nov

Gram’s House – Day 3

Today everyone was finally feeling better so we moved on to fun things! We celebrated Ben’s birthday. He loved every minute! The big kids were great about letting Ben be the center of attention and “helping” him with the noise makers (of course Gram had some on hand!) and his presents. Gram is rarely bothered by much and was happy to let Ben truly enjoy his cake in every way. This is what makes Grandmothers great.

24 Nov

November 24, 2019


I grew up with a family saying of “Harpers never get sick.” Pretty much my entire life that has held true. I can think of maybe a handful times in my entire life the kids and I have a been sick. Before today I could also say that we had all never been sick at the same time. Only Ben escaped the wrath of this 24 hour bug – lucky guy.

24 Nov

November 24, 2019

I grew up with a family saying of “Harpers never get sick.” Pretty much my entire life that has held true. I can think of maybe a handful times in my entire life the kids and I have a been sick. Before today I could also say that we had all never been sick at the same time. Only Ben escaped the wrath of this 24 hour bug – lucky guy.

24 Nov

November 24, 2019

I grew up with a family saying of “Harpers never get sick.” Pretty much my entire life that has held true. I can think of maybe a handful times in my entire life the kids and I have a been sick. Before today I could also say that we had all never been sick at the same time. Only Ben escaped the wrath of this 24 hour bug – lucky guy.

24 Nov

November 24, 2019

I grew up with a family saying of “Harpers never get sick.” Pretty much my entire life that has held true. I can think of maybe a handful times in my entire life the kids and I have a been sick. Before today I could also say that we had all never been sick at the same time. Only Ben escaped the wrath of this 24 hour bug – lucky guy.

24 Nov

Gram’s House – Day 2

I should start this part of the story by pointing out that on Thursday-Friday my mom had a 24 hour bug. She was better by about 10 am Friday. She did tell us about it but it never really occurred to any of us that we should alter our plans. (I grew up with the saying “Harpers don’t get sick” and that has proved pretty true for me and the kids.)
It started at 4 am, when I woke up sick. I also noticed that the cousins were awake and playing. I told them to go to sleep but wasn’t okay enough to do anything else about it. I was pretty much out of commission from this part of the day on. From what everyone tells me, I had it the worst. Evidently people kind of dropped like flies all day long, but nobody was as sick as I was.

Ben never got sick and thankfully Gram was there to take care of him. Wade was okay enough to somewhat supervise the other kids. Teague appeared okay at first so Melissa took him to her house when she picked up her kids. He got sick not too long afterwards so she rushed him back to our house. We got a call late afternoon that her house had it too. Mom’s superbug got us all – except for Ben. The good news is after 24 hours we were all good, but that was a round 24 hours!! We did decided to change our travel plans and delay our trip to Memphis. We definitely didn’t want to pass this on to Judy and Jerry.

23 Nov

November 23, 2019

We tend to wake up slowly and in shifts at Gram’s house. That also means the little ones often get cartoons. They usually don’t complain about that.

23 Nov

November 23, 2019

We tend to wake up slowly and in shifts at Gram’s house. That also means the little ones often get cartoons. They usually don’t complain about that.

23 Nov

Gram’s House – Day 1

Today was one of those relaxing days where it’s just fun to have everyone together. The kids enjoyed watching cartoons in the morning. Kaitlyn had been waiting for weeks and weeks to see the new Elsa movie and we had tickets for today. She and Mackenzie even dressed up for the occasion! The rest of the day we hung out at Mom’s house and let the cousins enjoy being together and the adults sit and talk. After the kids were in bed (they were all having a sleepover at Gram’s) we sat around the table and played games. It was a pretty great family day.

22 Nov

November 22, 2019

Headed home for the holidays.

22 Nov

November 22, 2019

Headed home for the holidays.

22 Nov

November 22, 2019

Headed home for the holidays.

22 Nov

Trials Of Flying

We decided to try something new this year and fly home for Thanksgiving. (The flight was Boston to Nashville and then we will rent a car for the week.) We have always driven – even though it means a 17 hour drive and a 2 day trip. We have always favored driving due to several things – the cost, the chaos of having so many kids, luggage, layovers, etc. However, one of the biggest reasons is that I really don’t fly well. I used to, but about 7 or 8 years ago that changed drastically. Anyway, we decided to try it this year and then re-evaluate for next year.

The trip started off with a major hiccup. We had one of Wade’s friends drive us to the airport in our car so that we wouldn’t have to pay for parking all week. We got to the drop-off spot and Wade immediately realized he didn’t have his wallet -meaning no ID. We decided to go inside and see what our options are. (We live about 45-60 minutes from the airport.) My head is already spinning and calculating that it would make the most sense for me to go ahead and fly with the kids if Wade has to catch a later flight. However, the me that hates to fly is saying NO WAY.

Wade normally has Pre-Check (I don’t) but we would normally all get to go through the same line together. We get to the TSA guys and explain the situation. It turns out the kids and I still go through the Pre-Check and Wade now has to go through the regular line but there is hope. Low and behold – they search you like crazy but they will let you fly with some random things for identification. Wade used two prescription bottles as proof of identification.

For those of you wondering about his wallet. Our dear friend overnighted his wallet so that he would have it for our trip (and the return flight).

For those of you wondering how I flew – ehh. It was 50-50 and that was on medication.

For those of you wondering how Ben flew – ehh. He did great the first part of the flight and then grew bored of Thomas the Train. Nothing would entertain him the last part and he was ready to run.

21 Nov

November 21, 2019

We love birthdays in this house.

21 Nov

November 21, 2019

We love birthdays in this house.

21 Nov

November 21, 2019

We love birthdays in this house.

21 Nov

November 21, 2019

We celebrated Ben’s birthday today since we won’t be home for his actual birthday.
2 is a fun birthday.

21 Nov

Celebrating Ben

Ben’s actual 2nd birthday isn’t for a few days, but we will be in Kentucky for his birthday so we wanted to celebrate with him here before we left. He was so excited by the decorations, presents, and general excitement all for him! Because he’s a little young to pick his birthday breakfast, he got our favorite cinnamon rolls and was quite enthralled with the candle. He also got a few morning presents to start the day.

When Dad was home from work and dinner was eaten, then we got to the cake! Ben loved the candles and couldn’t wait to get the diggers off the cake. He was equally interested in playing with the diggers and eating the cake – as it should be for a 2 year old. The big kids couldn’t wait to help Ben open his gifts and thankfully he’s a little too young to be bothered.

20 Nov

All Parents Know

Boxes really are the best. Toys truly are unnecessary.

20 Nov

November 20, 2019

Leftovers and books.

20 Nov

November 20, 2019

It’s leftovers for dinner. While I was fixing everyone else’s plates, Ben evidently decided to dive into the cold black beans.

19 Nov

Take It Or Leave It

Ben is not always a big breakfast eater. He eats a few bites and then easily gets distracted. Today he was much happier sitting in the shoe bin and playing cars on the bench.

19 Nov

November 19, 2019

Pokemon….

19 Nov

November 19, 2019

It’s how we grocery shop.

19 Nov

November 19, 2019

Kaitlyn had her end-of-year Cheer banquet and the trophy was her favorite.

19 Nov

November 19, 2019

I never know what I’m going to find with this guy. Today it was sparkle slippers and hiding in Pepper’s kennel.

18 Nov

November 18, 2019

Give him a good book and he disappears for hours – just like his mom.

18 Nov

November 18, 2019

Teague gets all his exercise this way.

18 Nov

November 18, 2019

The baby express coming through.

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