The Turner Times: November Family Update

I would like to begin this blog post with an honest moment. Social media has been driving me NUTS lately with all the show we can seem to put on for ourselves. You know what I'm talking about...posting our best pictures, bragging about things, talking about positives only, and just putting up a front. I'm not saying everyone does that, but I am guilty of it. I want to be open here and explain that my intentions of doing these blog posts are not to make people feel like I have it all together. I post on this blog because our closest family is in Rock Hill, SC (1 hour and 40 minutes away) and our furthest family is in California and Washington state. While I recognize an hour and forty minutes isn't that far compared to what some of you deal with, my point is that this blog is our way of updating our family. I could spend hours on the phone weekly with family updating them on the logistics, or I could do this. So, I like to keep track of our family life for my memory's sake and for our family.

As you scroll through these pictures, please know that there are missing ones. Ones of me losing my cool with the kids, ones of them crying in timeout, ones of them being selfish and taking things from each other, and ones where I am SO DONE for the day. Those are missing, but these are the ones I like to remember.

Mike (far left) invited Jimmy to go to Raleigh, NC and watch his childhood buddy play in an NHL game. They got to have lunch before and go into the locker room as well. Mike's buddy (blanking on his name...I'm sorry!!) just signed a 40 million dollar contract with a team in LA. The boys had a memorable time for sure.

While the boys were watching hockey, I got to watch little Reagan. Her mommy and sister were on their way back from a wedding in SC. These three kiddos had a fun day together!

This picture (along with the next few) are being posted late. Basically they were sent to me and saved in a place on my phone where I couldn't find them...until now! ;) Grace and Maddie are school buddies...can you tell that Grace is short? In her defense, Maddie is very tall for her age.

These two...lol.

Jimmy sneak picture attack

Just hanging out before pre-school: Wesley, Hannah, Maddie and Grace

Grace's pre-school class went on their first field trip to the Children's Home pumpkin patch. Super cute picture! I wasn't able to go, but am grateful for the pictures!

Blake (a.k.a. Blakers) turned 3 this month! We have grown very close to this sweet pea and her parents.

Cait (Caitlin) made this Minnie Mouse themed cake...incredible, right??

If you were a fly on the wall you would most likely watch me "read dis!" A LOT. Wesley loves books and Grace likes them (see the difference?). I read a lot and you know this former teacher won't complain about that. Unless it's a super long book...for the umpteenth time...I will grumble, but I'll still read it...okay, I'll paraphrase it. Sometimes I even get away with it.

Thanksgiving

We drove to Rock Hill, SC to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Wesley darts for the stairs first thing because where do kids flock? Dangerous places in houses.

Pepere took an early morning nap.

This mat is where we usually set up Grace's sleep pad at aunt Cindy and uncle Linton's house. She likes to use it as a ramp.

They both do...clearly.

Memere always has treats for the kids...Wesley loves tractors, of course.

Since dad was still getting over some sickness, Jimmy got to carve the turkey for the first time!

Dad said, "it's a good thing you aren't a surgeon..."

And then he couldn't resist by stepping in to "model" how it's done.

Linton carving the turkey.

This is where I will pout about not taking family pictures for the second year in a row....sigh.

We all spent the night and on our way out of town, Cindy and Linton took us to this awesome brewery for lunch!

The outdoor area was so cool. Lots of picnic tables, games, running space, you name it!

The building where the beer is actually brewed.

Sibling photo op....this was right before Wesley shoved Grace off the side of the place they were sitting.

Jimmy was totally suckered in to putting up Christmas lights. Grace said, "Daddy, how come we don't have Christmas lights on our house??" Boom. Just like that, this man was up on the rooftop (hehe) for about three hours putting up lights.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was a busy one for us! Our friends (thanks Sarah E. and Mark!!) offered to let us have their Wake Forest football game tickets. We spontaneously took them and went to their last home game. The kids had a blast!

Family pic with Demon Deacon

Both Grace and Wesley fell asleep in the car right after we left the football game as we headed to the Polar Express!

Can you tell they were excited?

Major props to the crew that puts on this show. We began by climbing aboard with our golden tickets.

We were at a table and that ended up being a good plan since we had hot chocolate...and a 2 year old.

The waiters did the hot chocolate dance and read a giant sized Polar Express book. Then, we rode around and got off at the North Pole! Side note: After reading about several ideas on how to "deal" with Santa, we have decided to tell the kids that there are lots of Santas that bring Christmas cheer to people around the world. Mommy and daddy help and give presents and that seemed to be good enough for now!